This week, we review the 2022-23 Clausura (Closing) Championship in Mexico and talk with Calgary Foothills head coach Jay Wheeldon of the UWS, about his club's work to be ready to start play in the Canadian Professional League in 2025.

Also this week, we begin our extensive 2023 Women's World Cup Preview by examining key news, rosters and tournament projections for Groups A and B, which include the co-hosts from New Zealand and Australia respectively.

2023 Liga MX Femenil Clausura Review

Tigres Femenil won the Liga MX Femenil Apertura (Opening) Championship for the 2022/23 season by defeating Club America in the final series two legs (3-0 on aggregate) for their fifth title in the league out of eleven championships held (two a season). See our review of the opening championship in: (The Week in Women's Football: Tigres win Liga MX with record crowds and TV viewing figures - Tribal Football)

The total league average attendance per game for the 2022 Apertura was solid at just over 2,000 a game and well over most leagues in Europe, but only three clubs exceed the league average: the two Monterrey teams and Guadalajara.

In the Closing Championship which ended last month, Club America of Mexico City won their second league crown by defeating Pachuca 4-2 on aggregate in the two leg final. In the second leg at home in the iconic Azteca Stadium in the south side of Mexico City, a league record crowd of 58,156 saw their hometown Aguilas [Eagles] win the title, despite heavy rains during the match. It surpassed the previous record of 52,654 fans during the Apertura 2022 Tournament match between América and UANL Tigers.

In the first leg in Pachuca, Club America won on goals by Spanish international defender Andrea Pereira (67th minute) and Mexican international Katty Martínez (9th minute), while Pachuca's Mexican international Charlyn Corral (who has played in Finland, Spain and in the U.S.) scored in the eighteenth keep the Gophers in the tie for the second leg.

In the second leg before the huge crowd at Azteca, Katty Martinez opened the scoring in the seventh minute. By half-time, CA was up 3-1 and French international Aureli Kaci (who joined CA this season from Real Madrid and has played in the past with Olympique Lyon and Paris St. Germain—she scored six goals in 41 matches across the two championships) extended the lead to 4-1 before Pachuca scored a late equalizer. Mexican youth international Alice Soto (17) scored in the 85th minute and narrowed the overall aggregate scoreline to 2-4.

In the 2023 Clausura Regular Season, Toluca and Cruz Azul, who made the playoffs in the Apertura, were replaced this time by Atlas of Guadalajara and first time playoff side Ciudad Juarez.

In the Quarterfinals, held between May 19 and May 23, number one ranked Monterrey played number eight seen Tijuana with both games televised live in the U.S. on Fox Desportes. In the first leg in the border city, Xolos won 2-0, but in the second leg in Monterrey, Tijuana took a 3-0 aggregate lead with a 32nd minute goal by Mexican international Monica Alvarado, who was born and grew up in the States. Mexican international Daniela Solis, who was born in Mexico but grew up in Oregon and played at Portland State University, scored an important goal in the 45th minute to tie the match and reduce the aggregate deficit to two goals.

Monterrey began a famous fight back in the 70th minute with a goal by Mexican international Rebeca Bernal goal. From the 80th minute on, Monterrey scored four goals, with a brace from Mexican international Monica Monsivais (who played briefly during the first half of the year with Glasgow City in Scotland and has played in Toronto in the old W-League with the Lady Linx in Canada and Kazakhstan power BIIK Shymkent), including a goalzo from outside of the penalty area on a partially cleared ball by Solis. Aylin Avilez, a Mexican youth international who made her full debut as a late substitute last October against Chile as a 20-year-old, scored the final goal for the winners in the 92nd minute.

Number two seeded and reigning champions UANL Tigres blasted number seven Atlas of Guadalajara 5-0 as Lizbeth Ovalle, who has played with the club since the 2017 Apertura when she was 17, scored three consecutive goals between the 16th and 56th minutes and then won 2-0 in the second leg for a 7-0 aggregate victory.

Number three seed Club America defeated number six Juarez 3-1 in the latter's stadium on the Rio Grande River, just across the border from El Paso, Texas, in front of a Quarterfinal top crowd 11,628. The Aguillas blasted Juarez 5-1 at home in the second leg for an 8-2 aggregate win.

Number four Guadalajara and number five Pachuca tied 3-3 at the Gophers home in front of 7,558 at Stadium Hidalgo. Back in Guadalajara, Pachuca turned the tables with a 3-1 win (4-6 on aggregate) as Spanish international Jenni Hermoso had three of Pachuca's six goals in the series.

In the Semifinals, America defeated Tigres 1-0 in Mexico City in the first leg on May 26 in front of 10,659 on a goal with Mexican international Alison Gonzalez (21) in the 32nd minute—she began her career as a 16-year-old with UANL Tigres and then moved to Atlas in Guadalajara in 2019. America won the second leg 1-0 on May 29 to take the tie 2-0 on aggregate. Pachuca tied Monterrey 0-0 at home on May 26 but won the aggregate tie with a 1-0 win in the second leg

Of the top nine scorers in the Clausura, six were natives of Mexico, led by Golden Boot winner Charlyn Corral of Pachuca with 20 goals. Corral was followed by three imports: Jennifer Hermoso, also of Pachuca and a Spanish international, with 18 goals was second, then American Christina Burkenroad of Monterrey was third with 15 goals, while tied for fourth with 13 goals was 2022 NWSL number 1 draft choice of the Orlando Pride Mia Fishel, who went to Mexico to join UANL Tigres, along with Mexican international Kiana Palacios of America. Alcia Cervantes of Guadalajara had 10 goals to place sixth, while Natalia Mauleon of Club America and Lizbeth Ovalle of UANL Tigres were tied for seventh with 9 goals and then American-raised Mexican international Renae Cuellar of Tijuana had 8.

The league average attendance per game for the Clausura was 2,483—about 400 more per game than in the Opening Championship. Monterrey, Guadalajara and Tigres were again well above the average, with Club America just under and Juarez showing a huge increase over the first half of the season as they crashed the playoffs for the first time ever. Juarez increased their attendance from 881 per game on average in the Apertura to sixth in the Clausura with a three and one half increase to 2,888 fans per game. That part of Northern Mexico is football-mad and has always been a good base for women's football international games; now they have a competitive side and the community is excited.

In other news in the Mexican league, former Canadian women's national team player (with 94 caps) Carmelina Moscato resigned as head coach at Tigres UANL after the playoffs ended. She became the first foreign coach to win the league title with the 2022 Apertura. She joined Tigres from FC Nordsjaelland in Denmark. She could ultimately end up in the new Canadian Professional League in 2025—which she has supported as way to develop players and coaches. This writer expects her to move to a NWSL side, with Angel City FC just dispatching with Freya Coombe, that could be a possibility, as the two clubs have a two year partnership, including defeating Tigres 1-0 in Los Angeles last summer.

Calgary Foothills

Calgary Foothills, a Western Conference powerhouse in UWS, is preparing for 2025, as they are a charter member of the Canadian professional women's league.

The Calgary Foothills of Canada UWS side won the Western Conference Championship in 2018, 2019, and 2022 and was voted the UWS franchise of the year in 2019. The Foothills women advanced to the UWS National finals three times, losing in 2018 in the national semifinals to the Houston Aces (3-1), in 2019 as host side in Calgary in front of 1,500 fans at Mount Royal University, they fell in the final to the Los Angeles Galaxy Soccer Club (1-0), with the winning goal coming from current Olympique Lyonnais and currently injured U.S. women's national team star Catarina Macario. In 2022 they entered the National Championship with a 10-0-0 W-T-L) record. After a dominant 4-1 win in the semi-final over FC Buffalo, they lost the Final again to the Chicago Mustangs (2-1).

On June 3, after the Calgary Foothills UWS side defeated FC Arizona 3-1 in Gilbert (suburban Phoenix), Arizona, TribalFootball.com talked with head coach Jay Wheeldon, who is in his first year as head coach of the UWS side. He is a native of the South Coast of England and has been a coach in the Foothills organization since 2012.

TribalFootball.com asked coach Wheeldon about his club moving up to the professional Canadian Pro League in 2025 and he was very positive about the impact it would have on local Calgary soccer players: "A lot of players that you see today have aspirations to get to that professional level. Our job as a club is to help get them there." From the operations side, he said that the club has been working hard on the effort: "We have a committee, funding, sponsors; we have everything we need to support women's professional soccer. We are set; we have the staff and infrastructure already set. The next steps are [to] start building a stadium and start advocating the women's pro league."

Foothills club has about 350-400 women involved; about two-thirds of the players in the academy are men. He did see the number of female athletes growing with the advent of the pro team, saying: "We have a pro team on the men's side. We need that [a women's pro team] and hopefully that will grow the amount of girls who want to play football."

When asked if the club would try to build a team from their local base and then add some others from around Canada or even internationally, he said: "The dream is to have as many local Calgarians as we can but there will also be top Canadian players and some of the best players from around the world as a market for the league. You will always have foreigners but we would love to see local Calgarians involved."

The successful two-game road trip for Calgary featured a 5-0 win against the Reno Vikings and the 3-1 win against FC Arizona. The next weekend, on June 11, Foothills WFC entertained FC Arizona in Calgary and won 2-0 and to take their start to the 2023 season to a perfect 4-0-0 record and lead the five team West Division with 12 points, three ahead of Santa Clarita Blue Heat of Southern California with nine, who have a game in hand. Calgary then defeated Santa Clarita 1-0 on June 17 at home to take their points total to 15 points, six ahead of the Blue Heat—who won the league title in 2021 but fell in the final game in 2017 to Grand Rapids FC (3-1) aet—but the Southern California side still have one extra game to play.

FIFA 2023 Women's World Cup Review

This week, we begin our 2023 Women's World Cup preview, starting with Groups A and B, featuring the latest news for the teams as well as preliminary or final team rosters.

For the first edition with 32 teams, the 2023 Women's World Cup should see fewer surprises advance to the Round of 16, particularly since four groups have two European sides, except for Group B with Ireland, Group C with Spain, Group F with France and Group H with Germany. There are eight teams making their WWC debuts this summer: Haiti, Ireland, Morocco, Panama, Philippines, Portugal Vietnam and Zambia.

Group A in New Zealand—New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Switzerland

Norway should lead the way in this group and make amends for some past disappointing Finals tournaments—they had a terrible Women's 2021 EURO Finals, not advancing beyond the Group Stage last summer, including receiving an 8-0 shellacking from the ultimate Women's EURO winners England, by finishing third in their group after a 1-0 loss to Austria and a 4-1 win over Northern Ireland. At the 2017 EUROS in the Netherlands, the highly rated side did even worse by finishing the first round at the bottom of their group with losses to ultimate champions Netherlands, finalists Denmark and Euro debutants Belgium, who finished in third place. At the 2019 Women's World Cup in France, Norway defeated Australia on penalties in the Round of 16 after a 1-1 tie and then fell to England (3-0) in the Quarterfinals.

This team does have global superstars, such as Ada Hegerberg (Olympique Lyon of France) and Caroline Graham-Hansen (Barcelona of Spain), to provide the firepower to go far in 2023. Frida Maanum (Arsenal of England's WSL) had a strong 2022-23 season with nine league games in 22 games and added five goals as Arsenal made it to the Women's Champions League semifinals this campaign. Chelsea's Guro Reitan added nine goals in 21 WSL league games and two goals in the Women's Champions League tournament as Chelsea fell to Barcelona in the WCL semifinals. Hege Riise is the head coach and was a World Cup winner as a player for Norway. She also won the Norwegian league four times as a coach with LSV Kvinner and led the Norwegian Under-19 team to the UEFA Championship final in 2022, where they won the silver medal.

Norway's potential 2023 Women's World Cup 2023 squad is comprised of their most recent call ups (22), including nine players based at home, seven in England, three from clubs in Italy and one each playing in France, Germany and Spain.

• GK: Guro Pettersen (Vålerenga)
• GK: Sunniva Skoglund (Stabæk)
• GK: Aurora Mikalsen (Brann)
• DF: Anja Sønstevold (Inter Milan—ITA)
• DF: Mathilde Harviken (Rosenborg)
• DF: Tuva Hansen (Bayern Munich—GER)
• DF: Maren Mjelde (Chelsea—ENG)
• DF: Marit Bratberg Lund (Brann)
• DF: Malinn Brenn (Como—ITA)
• MF: Ingrid Syrstad Engen (Barcelona—SPA)
• MF: Vilde Bøe Risa (Manchester United—ENG)
• MF: Guro Reiten (Chelsea—ENG)
• MF: Thea Bjelde (Vålerenga)
• MF: Amalie Eikeland (Reading—ENG)
• MF: Julie Blakstad (Manchester City—ENG)
• MF: Frida Maanum (Arsenal—ENG)
• MF: Elisabeth Terland (Brighton—ENG)
• MF: Cesilie Andreassen (Rosenborg)
• FW: Karina Sævik (Avaldsnes)
• FW: Ada Hegerberg (Lyon—FRA)
• FW: Emilie Haavi (Roma—ITA)
• FW: Anna Jøsendal (Rosenborg)

We do believe that Philippines could finish second over Switzerland. Sarina Bolden, who spent the end of the A-League Women season with Western Sydney Wanderers, is the real thing in attack and has 21 international goals since 2018. Fellow Californian Quinley Quezada, who played at University of California at Riverside, has scored 22 times for the Philippines in 45 appearances. She has played professionally in Taiwan, Japan and spent the 2022-23 season with Red Star Belgrade in Serbia. This side is heavily reliant on their diaspora—mostly from America—who are now dispersed with clubs around the world. Reina Bonta, another Philippines import from California who began playing with the national team last October, is playing club ball in Brazil for Santos FC after her college career at Yale University.

Bonta told Soccer America that Santos, located about 45 minutes by car outside of Sao Paulo, has to make extensive trips around the country to far-flung cities such as Porto Alegre in the South as well as Belo Horizonte and Brasilia in the North: "Our away games are quite spread out across different parts of the country. We often take planes or long bus rides to them. I've been reflecting on that a bit lately, since it seems so much of my life is spent on busses lately. Also with the Philippines team, we see the hotel, the field, and the road to and from the former and the latter."

Former Canadian international defender Jacyln Sawicki spent the past season as captain at Western United in Australia, who made the A-League Women Grand Final in their expansion season.

In the Southeast Asian Games Women's Football Tournament, Sarina Bolden scored two goals, including a 98th minute winner against Malysia (1-0) and then a successful penalty in a 2-1 win over Vietnam, but the Philippines did not make it out of their four team group—Indonesia withdrew before the tournament—because of a 1-0 loss to Myanmar, with the winners advancing to the semifinals with a better goal difference (+3 to +1). Fellow 2023 WWC finals debutants Vietnam won the tournament in Cambodia after defeating Myanmar 2-0 in the final in May.

The Philippines preparation matches have been extensive since qualifying early in 2022 and this February they played in Europe for the first time, losing to Wales (1-0), Scotland (2-1) and Iceland (5-0) at the Pinatar Cup in Murcia, Spain. Their national team head coach Alen Stajcic, former Australia Women's national team head coach at the 2015 WWC Finals in Canada, will have his players well-rehearsed in terms of what to expect against the two European sides and the Oceania co-host in their group.

The second game between Philippines and New Zealand is crucial to both teams. Captain Ali Riley said the Football Ferns want to win a game and advance from their group to the next round for the first time ever, and even though New Zealand beat Philippines last September in Los Angeles (2-1), these goals seem beyond them. New Zealand has not had a win since their victory, with eight losses and two ties in friendlies against teams that are playing this summer in the Finals (except for Iceland).

They have really struggled in some games, particularly against the U.S., Portugal and Nigeria. Some have asked about whether Jan Slivkovich was the right choice as head coach, but at this point you have to go with her. We hope New Zealand is not eliminated after their first two games—as Qatar was in the men's tournament late last year—which could severely dampen interest in a country that is staging 29 games. The issue becomes, unlike Qatar, will there be sufficient traveling fans for the 16 teams in the first round in case New Zealand fans stay home if/when the Football Ferns are eliminated?

For Switzerland—who made the Round of 16 at their debut and only previous finals in 2015 in Canada, falling to the host 1-0 in Vancouver in a game that this reporter covered, WSL Super League veteran forward Alisha Lehmann (24) is a headliner, in part because she has an incredible 13.4 million Instagram followers and 8.6 million on Tiktok, more than most women's athletes in any sport. She had five goals in 22 games with Aston Villa this season, her second with the club. She previously spent one season with Everton and three with West Ham United, scoring six times in 20 games in her first WSL season in 2018-19 with the Hammers. Alisha Lehmann has 42 goals in 145 games in her club career, including time at home with BSC Young Boys of Bern, and seven in just under 40 games for her nation.

Group A Prognosis:

We predict that Norway will win the group and move on to the knockout stage along with the Philippines, with Switzerland tripping up by not taking full points against their three opponents. Norway will be underestimated, but if they can come together, they have the talent to make the semifinals. New Zealand will have a lot of support at home and from neutrals, but their goal to make the Round of 16 seems too rich, though they could pick up a few points due to their experienced defenders, such as Ali Riley (Angel City FC) and C.J. Bott (Leicester City FC).

Group B—In Australia—Australia, Canada, Nigeria, Republic of Ireland.

This will be a close-run group and again, we could see a surprise in the second team to accompany co-host Australia, who should win the group as they should be swept up with fantastic fan support throughout the country. Australia finished fourth—their best ever finish in an Olympics or World Cup—in 2021 in Japan at the delayed Olympic Games Finals but, since then, with their Swedish head coach Tony Gustavsson, they have had a mixed run of results, going 1-2-2 (W-D-L) to finish 2021 in friendlies after the Olympics and 12-2-5 in 2022 (including losing a pair of games against Canada at home in Brisbane and Sydney). In 2023 they have won four of five games, losing only to Scotland 1-0 in April, with their highlight being a defeat of England 2-0 at Brentford, which was the Lionesses first loss under head Coach Sarina Weigman in 31 games, since she took over after the Olympic Finals.

Sam Kerr (29) of Chelsea in the WSL is still their most lethal goal scorer; she will be supported by Caitlin Foord (28) of Arsenal, who had two stints in the NWSL (Sky Blue FC in 2013-2015 and Portland Thorns in 2018-2019), with only 3 goals scored in 72 games compared with 20 in 56 matches in her three seasons with the Gunners, and Hayley Raso (28) of Manchester City, as well as the younger guard led by Mary Fowler (20) also with City, Cortnee Vine (25) of Sydney FC and defender Charlotte Grant (21), who is in her second season at Vittsjo GIK in Sweden and scored the second goal in the April win over England.

Gustavsson named 29 players to his provisional WWC Finals side on June 19. Melbourne City winger Holly McNamara was a surprise omission. Kyah Simon tore her ACL last October and has had limited minutes with Tottenham Hotspur of the WSL—she missed out on the 2019 tournament due to carrying an injury for a long time. Defender Alanna Kennedy also missed most of the WSL season for Manchester City, only playing in eight games.

On the provisional roster, ten play in England (including Courtney Nevin, who played on loan from Sweden's Hammarby), six are in Sweden, four are based in Sweden, three in the U.S. (two in the NWSL and one in college), two are based in Norway and one plays in France. Three players are unattached or out of contract: Emily Gielnik played last season with Aston Villa in England, playing in nine games with one goal; Hayley Raso—who had one goal in 16 regular season matches last season with Manchester City, her second with the club--and Kyah Simon, who played only 16 regular season matches over the past two seasons with Tottenham Hotspur.

Australia provisional Women's World Cup squad

Canada is the reigning Olympic Games Campions and still has evergreen Christine Sinclair (40)—who is a wonderful leader and scorer who tops the all-time list of international goal scorers with 190 goals in 323 internationals —along with talented, world-class defenders in Kadeisha Buchanan (131 caps) and Ashley Lawrence (117 caps). Other veterans for the Maple Leafs include midfielders Sophie Schmidt (221 caps), Desiree Scott (186 caps) and Jessie Fleming (115 caps), defender Alyssa Chapman (96), and forward Adriana Leon (96), so they have lots of experience but will they all be healthy in time for the start of the WWC as they have encountered a string of injuries?

Most damaging to Canada was their loss of forward Janine Beckie (presently with OL Reign and who spent four years with Manchester City in the WSL) to an ACL tear during the NWSL preseason. She has 36 goals in her 101 caps for the Maple Leafs and will be missed. In addition, Deanne Rose and Nichelle Prince are both recovering from ACL tears while Desiree Scott had offseason surgery and Shelina Zadorsky missed the April camp and game in France with an illness.

Canada's women's national team players have also had to deal with considerable turmoil this year with their Canadian Soccer Federation over money and resources; the players even staged a brief strike in February during the SheBelieves Cup in the US. Speaking of federation turmoil, their last preparation game before they start play in Australia next month was against France in April as the federation did not have the funding for any more games, even to bring a team to Canada for a farewell match. Again, keep in mind that they are the Reigning Olympic Gold Medalists—it's a stunning situation.

Note: Canada did recently agree to a closed door match against England on July 14 on the Gold Coast of Australia.

I can't help but think of the 2011 Finals in Germany—which was only eight years since Canada's breakout fourth place finish at the 2003 WWC in the U.S. under Norwegian genius head coach Even Pellerud--which I watched in horror in Bochum as Canada crashed out of the tournament in their second game after a comprehensive 4-0 loss to France and the shellshocked and disheartened team finished bottom of the 16 team tournament, as they also lost group games to Germany (2-1) and Nigeria (1-0) Their head coach at the time, Italian native Carolina Morace, resigned later that month in a budget dispute with the federation—what a surprise for both parties as she has had payment issues for her and her staff when she later coached Trinidad and Tobago's WNT and was even a finalist for the Australian job for this cycle.

Though having won a global title less than two years ago, this year Canada—with the injuries and conflict with the federation—could be too distracted and thus it could transpire that they may miss out on the knockout stage. If it does happen, the blame has to fall solely with the federation as they have handicapped this side and head coach Bev Priestman. As you can see from other preliminary rosters from other sides, Canada is taking a much small squad (25 players in total) and support staff than other nations (see below) for their training camp in Australia. This was another issue that the players were upset about and the smaller roster provides little in the way of backup players; while most teams have four alternates that they can bring in, but for Canada, it appears that they will only have two.

Canada's preliminary WWC squad of 25 includes 11 from U.S. teams (9 in the NWSL and two in college), six from England, three from Portugal, two from France, two from Sweden and one based in Italy:

GK- Sabrina D'Angelo | ENG / Arsenal FC
GK- Lysianne Proulx | POR / SCU Torreense
GK- Kailen Sheridan | USA / San Diego Wave FC
CB- Kadeisha Buchanan | ENG / Chelsea FC
CB- Vanessa Gilles | FRA / FCF Olympique Lyonnais
CB- Shelina Zadorsky | ENG / Tottenham Hotspur
CB/FB- Jade Rose | USA / Harvard University
FB- Allysha Chapman | USA / Houston Dash
FB- Ashley Lawrence | FRA / Paris Saint-Germain
FB- Jayde Riviere | ENG / Manchester United FC
M- Quinn | USA / OL Reign
M- Marie-Yasmine Alidou D'Anjou | POR / Famalicão
M- Simi Awujo | USA / University of Southern California
M- Jessie Fleming | ENG / Chelsea FC
M- Julia Grosso | ITA / Juventus FC
M- Sophie Schmidt | USA / Houston Dash
M- Desiree Scott | USA / Kansas City Current
F- Jordyn Huitema | USA / OL Reign
F- Cloé Lacasse | POR / SL Benfica
F- Clarissa Larisey | SWE / BK Häcken FF
F- Adriana Leon | USA / Portland Thorns FC
F- Christine Sinclair | USA / Portland Thorns FC
F- Nichelle Prince | USA / Houston Dash
F- Deanne Rose | ENG / Reading FC
F- Evelyne Viens | SWE / Kristianstads DFF

Sweden's Damallsvenskan forwards Clarissa Larisey from BK Häcken FF and Evelyne Viens from Kristianstads DFF will not be released immediately as the Swedish season runs Spring to Fall (with a mid-summer break); they will be released at the start of the official FIFA International Window on July 10.

The Canadians will report to the Gold Coast, Australia on June 28, and all 25 players are in contention to make Priestman's final roster, which will be announced on July 9. Two players will need to be dropped to make the FIFA requirement of no more than 23 players and many expect that it will be Marie-Yasmine Alidou (28) and Clarissa Larisey (23). Alidou was in camp ahead of Canada's last friendly against France but did not play, while Larisey entered that game as a substitute in the 77th minute; out of the eight forwards currently named, she has the least experience.

Defenders Bianca St. Georges (Chicago Red Stars) and Gabrielle Carle (Washington Spirit) did not make the cut for the Finals, despite both regularly start for their club teams. Carle was part of Olympics winning side in 2021 while St. Georges was one of the final cuts there as well.

Some good news for Canada is that Ashley Lawrence appears to be moving from Paris St. Germain, after seven seasons, to Chelsea this summer, where she will join fellow Canadian national teamers midfielder Jessie Fleming and defender Kadeisha Buchanan, who she played with in college at West Virginia University. In 2021, both Fleming and Lawrence were nominated for the Ballon d'Or Feminin, the most prestigious award in soccer.

Forward Jordyn Huitema (22) could be a difference maker for Canada—she scored their lone goal in a 2-1 loss to France in a friendly, held in Le Mans, France. She has also been lethal for OL Reign of the NWSL with four goals in 11 regular season matches thus far in 2023. She is in her second season at OL Reign after spending three seasons in France at Paris St. Germain, scoring six goals in 45 matches.

Jayde Riviere (22) of Pickering, Ontario signed this spring with Manchester United through the 2024-25 season and played in one regular season game this spring. She played at the University of Michigan and won an Olympic Gold Medal for Canada in Tokyo in 2021 and has 37 caps in total at the senior level after debuting as a 16 year old. She played for AFC Ann Arbor in the USL's W-League in 2022 and did not declare for this past January's U.S. National Women's Soccer League draft. Manchester United finished second to Chelsea in the WSL but will play in the UEFA Women's Champions League this fall. She could also have played for tiny Dominica in the Caribbean where her father was from or for Hong Kong, where her mother hails from. She has recently signed a high profile sponsorship agreement with sports apparel manufacturer Under Armout.

Julia Grosso (22) was named as the Serie A Femminile's best midfielder for Italy's Juventus this season. She scored three times and had seven assists in 20 games as Juve finished second in the league to Roma (see last week's column: The Week in Women's Football: Reviewing Spanish, German & Italian leagues - plus US indoor season - Tribal Football). Juventus did win the Coppa Italia Femminile and will play in the 2023-24 UEFA Women's Champions League. The ex-University of Texas star was another Olympic Gold Medalist for Canada in 2021, and scored the winning penalty kick to defeat Sweden to capture their first international title. For Canada, she already has a half-century of appearances. In a season and a half, she has played in 29 league games and won four trophies in Italy. Her contract with Juventus expires next summer but Juve could offer her an extension which she could sign. She has had interest this year from Manchester City of the WSL and bids are expected for her next year from clubs such as French champions Lyon, Spanish giants Real Madrid, and the North Carolina Courage and Orlando Pride of the NWSL.

Nigeria always seems to present a masterclass of federation and organizational dysfunction for major tournaments on the men's and women's side and recently there were reports that the Nigerian Football Association (NFA) had given an ultimatum to American head coach Randy Waldrum to give up his University of Pittsburg women's team head coaching job, either permanently or on a sabbatical basis for the World Cup. That's like asking someone to give up a six-figure automotive factor job to work in a money-losing car wash that could fold at any time, and for a minimum wage at that. Thankfully they left Waldrum in charge but player unrest over who will captain the side, between former captain Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona) and current captain Onome Ebi (Levante of Spain) could scupper the Nigerian's ship in Australia/New Zealand.

Waldrum recently released his 23 players for the 2023 WWC, with 21 playing abroad and only two at home. On the Finals roster, it is comprised of players from ten different countries: France 5, Spain 5, U.S. 4 (3 in the NWSL and 1 in college), Nigeria 2, Turkey 2, and one each in China, England Portugal, Russia and Sweden. Their goal is clearly to make the Knockout stage—they have played in all previous editions of the Finals but only made it out of their group twice, in 1999 in the U.S. and in 2019 in France, where they lost to Germany 3-0 in the Round of 16. They arrive in Australia on July 4 for a 15 day training camp.

SUPER FALCONS FIFA WORLD CUP SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Chiamaka Nnadozie (Paris FC, France); Tochukwu Oluehi (Hakkarigucu Spor FC, Turkey); Yewande Balogun (AS Saint-Etienne, France)

Defenders: Onome Ebi (Abia Angels); Osinachi Ohale (Deportivo Alaves, Spain); Glory Ogbonna (Besiktas JK, Turkey); Ashleigh Plumptre (Leicester City, England); Rofiat Imuran (Stade de Reims, France); Michelle Alozie (Houston Dash, USA); Oluwatosin Demehin (Stade de Reims, France)

Midfielders: Halimatu Ayinde (Rosengard FC, Sweden); Rasheedat Ajibade (Atletico Madrid, Spain); Toni Payne (Sevilla FC, Spain); Christy Ucheibe (SL Benfica, Portugal); Deborah Abiodun (Rivers Angels); Jennifer Echegini (Florida State University, USA)

Forwards: Uchenna Kanu (Racing Louisville, Kentucky, USA); Gift Monday (UDG Tenerife, Spain); Ifeoma Onumonu (NY/NJ Gotham FC, USA); Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona Femenine, Spain); Desire Oparanozie (Wuhan Chegu Jianghan, China); Francisca Ordega (CSKA Moscow, Russia); Esther Okoronkwo (AS Saint-Etienne, France)

The Republic of Ireland's first major tournament Finals qualification was certainly the most surprising story from the UEFA qualifiers and a wonderful boost for the women's game in the country that has always battled the local Gaelic Football game for recognition and players, but the jury is still out Vera Pauw's late hunt for diaspora—a definite plus is midfielder Sinead Farrelly (though she hadn't played professionally in six years before making Gotham FC as a non-roster invite through training camp) though her fitness could be an issue, but she is very talented with the ball and slows the game down for those around her.

Midfielder Marissa Sheva still is a questionable pick in my mind—at 26, she only has played 17 games in four years in the NWSL (she missed all of the 2021 season with Utah due to hip surgery); she has never scored in the league and only once in a Challenge Cup game this season. After graduating from Penn State University, she joined Deportivo Alavés Gloriosas of Spain's Segunda División Pro in 2020 but left shortly afterward for the Utah Royals FC. This Irish team desperately needs goal scorers and Sheva does not seem to add that. She would be the fourth diaspora member from the U.S., along with Courtney Brosnan, Kyra Carusa, and Farrelly. Ireland has diaspora all around the world but they have always been reticent to do wholesale importing of these players and, particularly this season, rightly so, many of their players are now playing in England's WSL 1 or 2.

The Irish defense is solid but their inability to score will be a major impediment to advancing; they will not be an easy team to beat but a loss to Nigeria in their final group match in Brisbane could see them go home in fourth.

The Irish have practice matches before the WWC Finals at home in Dublin against Zambia (June 22) and France (July 6). They also added a closed door match against Colombia at Meakin Park in Brisbane on July 14.

Head coach Vera Pauw called in 27 players for a four week training camp in Dublin on June 12, with four more coming in after the Zambia game.

The federation explained in a press release that: "Using periodisation, the training camp schedule will factor in when players finished their respective club seasons, the loads that they can and need to take on plus the recovery times and routines that they require. This is to ensure that all players will be in line with each other when entering the final stage of preparation in a safe way. This will be achieved through the use of STATSports technology monitored closely by the team's sport scientist and technical staff. The training sessions will be split between UCD [University College-Dublin] and the FAI National Training Centre over a four-week block."

Four players from the local SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division—two each with Shamrock Rovers and Peamount United—are part of the group, including uncapped Erin McLaughlin, who has done well in WNT Home-Based Training Sessions.

The final squad for the World Cup, consisting of 23 players, will be signed off on by June 29 ahead of the send-off game in Tallaght Stadium against France. The vast majority of the 31 woman roster play in England (20), with four from the U.S. (one in college and 3 from the NWSL) and two with clubs in Scotland and one from Germany, along with the Ireland-based quartet.

Ireland WNT Squad
Goalkeepers: Courtney Brosnan (Everton—ENG), Grace Moloney (Reading—ENG), Megan Walsh (Brighton & Hove Albion—ENG), Sophie Whitehouse (Lewes—ENG)

Defenders: Harriet Scott (Birmingham City)—ENG, Áine O'Gorman (Shamrock Rovers), Louise Quinn (Birmingham City—ENG), Niamh Fahey (Liverpool—ENG), Diane Caldwell (Reading—ENG), Hayley Nolan (London City Lionesses—ENG), Claire O'Riordan (Celtic—SCO), Megan Campbell (Liverpool—ENG), Chloe Mustaki (Bristol City—ENG), Tara O'Hanlon (Peamount United)

Midfielders: Katie McCabe (Arsenal—ENG), Denise O'Sullivan (North Carolina Courage—USA), Megan Connolly (Brighton & Hove Albion—ENG), Ruesha Littlejohn (Aston Villa—ENG), Jamie Finn (Birmingham City—ENG), Ciara Grant (Hearts—SCO), Lily Agg (London City Lionesses—ENG), Sinead Farrelly (NY/NJ Gotham—USA), Lucy Quinn (Birmingham City—ENG), Erin McLaughlin (Peamount United)

Forwards: Heather Payne (Florida State University—USA), Leanne Kiernan (Liverpool—ENG), Abbie Larkin (Shamrock Rovers), Kyra Carusa (London City Lionesses—ENG), Amber Barrett (Potsdam Turbine—GER), Marissa Sheva (Washington Spirit—USA), Saoirse Noonan (Durham WFC—ENG)

Captain Katie McCabe, along with the three US-based players from the NWSL: Denise O'Sullivan, Sinead Farrelly and Marissa Sheva, will link up with the squad after the Zambia game, while defender Aoife Mannion (Manchester United) is being monitored after picking up a knock in club training recently.

Group B Prognosis:

Australia should win this group and, with the support of their fans, could make the semifinals of a Women's World Cup for the first time ever. If Canada falters, I would give the second spot to Nigeria based on their higher goalscoring prowess than the Republic of Ireland. For the latter, they will have huge support in Australia from their considerable diaspora and traveling fan base; they would need a few timely goals and their defense to lock their opponents down to see them home and dry, as they did in key European qualifiers to make their debut Finals.

Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women's football. Get yours copy today.

Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey