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3 biggest surprises from the Women’s World Cup group stage thus far

By Caden Charpentier

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA - JULY 30: Sofia Bouftini of Morocco celebrates after the team's 1-0 victory in the during the FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 Group H match between South Korea and Morocco at Hindmarsh Stadium on July 30, 2023 in Adelaide, Australia. (Photo by Sue McKay/Getty Images)
ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA - JULY 30: Sofia Bouftini of Morocco celebrates after the team's 1-0 victory in the during the FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 Group H match between South Korea and Morocco at Hindmarsh Stadium on July 30, 2023 in Adelaide, Australia. (Photo by Sue McKay/Getty Images) /
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BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – JULY 31: Michelle Alozie of Nigeria celebrates after the team advanced to the knockouts during the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 Group B match between Ireland and Nigeria at Brisbane Stadium on July 31, 2023 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – JULY 31: Michelle Alozie of Nigeria celebrates after the team advanced to the knockouts during the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 Group B match between Ireland and Nigeria at Brisbane Stadium on July 31, 2023 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images) /

A 32-team pool at the Women’s World Cup has not disappointed, and as the competition transitions to the knockout stages in a few days, we look at the surprises so far. 

2023 Women’s World Cup surprises: African nations combining for three wins and three draws

No longer is it just Nigeria that is making all the noise for Africa on the world stage of women’s football. Both Morocco and Zambia collected wins while South Africa led its first two contests including one against a European juggernaut.

Morocco took down South Korea while Zambia put up three against Costa Rica for their respective first triumphs on the world stage. Neither the Copper Queens nor the Atlas Lionesses progressed past the African Cup of Nations group stage until 2022. For those two countries to have earned a win while South Africa competed against a top-three ranked FIFA side on top of Nigeria’s success shows that African women’s football is on the up. Few predicted it, but going forward, this continent is more than capable of playing spoiler.

Given how the two began the tournament with losses by five or more goals, seeing those two earn three points was impossible to comprehend. The expanded pool of 32 has allowed for confederations to show exactly how deep and talented they are. The Confederation of African Football is the perfect example of that. Many thought the Super Falcons would contend for a knockout stage berth, but nobody saw the three other nations sitting in the top three of their respective groups.

https://twitter.com/FOXSoccer/status/1685510432969134080?s=20

For the first time in Women’s World Cup history, four African nations qualified for the competition. Heading into this tournament, African countries combined for just eight victories. Nigeria became the third Africa women’s football team since 2003 to make it out of the group stages.

The gap in women’s football has decreased significantly, and that mostly has to do with the disruption Africa has made so far in this tournament. Three out of the continents’ four teams represented are among the top 50 teams according to FIFA. A ranking is merely a number. For African women’s football, this is a massive step in the right direction.