Canada W vs Australia W prediction: WORLD: World Cup Women betting tips on match 2023-07-30 10:00.
Just a fortnight ago, Canada and Australia may have expected that their Monday meeting in Melbourne would determine nothing more than which path both nations took into the round of 16 of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup (WWC). Instead, they find themselves in a potential knockout affair with anything but a win possibly insufficient depending on how group leaders Nigeria fare against the already eliminated Republic of Ireland.
Canada’s prospects of reaching the knockout stage appeared bleak just minutes into their come-from-behind 2-1 win against Ireland, a result that head coach Bev Priestman declared “could be the making of us”, whilst hailing “the character, the quality, the experience” that saw them overcome not only the deficit, but a largely pro-Irish crowd. That should serve the Olympic champions well in their pursuit of a fourth consecutive win over Australia, two of which were in the September 2022 window (1-0 and 2-1).
Ironically, Australia had not lost a game after scoring first since that latter defeat in Sydney, nor had Canada managed to win in spite of conceding the first goal. However, both trends were snapped in the space of 24 hours when the WWC co-hosts managed to hold their lead for just five minutes against Nigeria in Brisbane (L 2-3). It was a surprisingly poor defensive effort from a side that had conceded 2+ goals just once from 11 outings since losing to Canada, and even that came in a 3-2 victory against top-ten ranked Spain.
Head coach Tony Gustavsson bewildered fans and pundits when assessing the performance as “not a 3-2 loss if I look at the performance per se”, though he admitted that not making any substitutions in the first 80 minutes was an error. He’ll be hoping the recall of inspirational captain and striker Sam Kerr, who declared she is “definitely available” to return from injury, can give them the edge they need to avoid being dumped out of the group stage of a WWC finals for the first time since 2003. Having won nine consecutive internationals since last meeting Canada, her on-field influence cannot be understated.
Players to watch: Adriana Leon’s match-winning goal against Ireland was her 29th for Canada, which also includes all three goals the team scored in the two September wins over Australia. Caitlin Foord is yet to find her best form at this WWC, but could be inspired after scoring in her last two internationals at this venue.
Hot streak: Australia’s last 14 matches all produced a winner (W10, L4).