Round of 16 action at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup continues on Monday with another double-header. The second fixture will see Australia take on Denmark at Olympic Park in Sydney from 8pm (AEST). It should be a cracking match in front of what will be a raucous Aussie crowd cheering on their Matildas.
We preview Monday night’s Australia vs Denmark fixture below and provide our best bet. Good luck to everyone following!
2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup Betting Tips
Australia vs Denmark
Monday 8:30pm AEST, August 7th, Olympic Stadium (Sydney)
32 teams became 16 at the end of the group stage and now only the best of the best remain. Among the 16 are Australia and Denmark who will clash in their Round of 16 knockout match on Monday night.
If there isn’t a winner after 90 minutes, 30 minutes of extra time will be played, and if the scores are still tied, the match will be decided by a penalty shootout! Let’s take a look at how each team have made it to this point.
Australia
Possible Lineup: Arnold — Carpenter, Hunt, Kennedy, Catley — Raso, Gorry, Cooney-Cross, Foord — Van Egmond, Fowler
Australia entered their third and final group stage match against Canada sitting in third spot and needing a win to advance, and they certainly didn’t disappoint as they destroyed the #7 ranked Canadians 4-0. Coach Tony Gustavsson opted to go with a different look in the final third, playing Caitlin Foord out on the left, and that ended up being a master stoke as Foord terrorised her opposite number for 90 minutes and created an abundance of chances for the Matildas.
The talking point leading in to their match against Canada was again the fitness of superstar striker and captain Sam Kerr. It was declared Kerr was available to play despite starting on the bench, although with the scoreline heavily favouring the Matildas, Gustavsson was able to resist temptation and afford Kerr some more valuable rest. Now with another seven days of recovery under her belt, it’s expected that Kerr will almost definitely take to the field this Monday night.
Denmark
Possible Lineup: Christensen — Sevecke, Boye, Ballisager, Veye — Holmgaard, Hasbo, Moller Kuhl — Vangsgaard, Harder, Sorensen
Only requiring a draw to advance to the final 16 while heading into their final group game, Denmark were able to get the better of minnows Haiti with a 2-0 win. Although the scoreline indicates it was a relatively comfortable win, the key statistics from the match were much close than they should’ve been considering they were ranked 40 places higher by FIFA (Denmark #13, Haiti #43).
Regardless, The Danes would be thrilled they’ve been able to advance out of the group stage for the first time since 1995 where they made the quarterfinals. In fact, they have failed to even qualify for the Women’s World Cup in the past three editions. They are one of many teams that have benefitted from the tournament being expanded from 24 to 32 teams in 2023.
Match Prediction
Although these teams are ranked only three places apart in FIFA’s World Rankings (Australia #10, Denmark #13), it is known by all keen followers of the women’s game that Australia are the much better outfit when at full strength. This is indicated in the odds for the match which has Australia priced as $1.95 favourites to win in normal time compared to Denmark’s $4.25 underdog tag.
These teams met as recent as October last year and it was the Matildas who dominated the match to win 3-1 despite falling behind by an early goal. The chances of the Australians winning are only increased by being the hosts on this occasion, and anything other than a win in normal time for the favourites would be a surprise.
