Women's World Cup co-hosts New Zealand are back in action on Tuesday when they face tournament debutants the the Philippines. Norway will attempt to bounce back to winning ways against Switzerland, while Colombia and South Korea conclude the action in the opening round of matches.
Colombia and South Korea will play the final game of the opening round of group matches. Their clash will be the 300th match in the history of the tournament.
All eyes will be on the starting line-ups to see if South Korea's American-born teenager Casey Phair becomes the youngest player to take the field in the history of the World Cup – 26 days after her 16th birthday.
South Korea coach Colin Bell has been eager to shield Phair from "hype".
"She did very well when she came in training with two other young players that we had," Bell said.
"So now she's in the squad, then we just take it day by day, so I don't really want to hype up a young player too much before she's even played."
New Zealand had never won a World Cup match in 15 attempts prior to the 2023 tournament but now the co-hosts find themselves on the brink of the knockout stages when they take on the Philippines
Having stunned Norway 1-0 in the tournament opener, the Football Ferns can dare to dream having beaten the Asian side 20 rungs below them in the rankings in a friendly last year.
New Zealand have struggled to sell tickets for the showpiece event but 42,137 attended their historic win and midfielder Malia Steinmetz hopes their progress can inspire the next generation.
"It's one of our main reasons why we've been trying to push so hard to play in the way that we do, just for the younger generation. We want to inspire the country," she said ahead of the game in Wellington.
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Norway must attack Switzerland and seize the initiative if they are to bounce back, coach Hege Riise has said.
"We know Switzerland will be a tough game for us. Our focus is to give a better performance and realise our actual potential, which we didn't show last time," Riise told reporters.
"Attack is our best medicine. Switzerland may not be a team that frightens many others, but they have good players with individual qualities.
"We became a bit static (against New Zealand). We have talked about this, we've looked at footage and we also worked to deal with this during practice. So you will see a more collective Norway tomorrow."
Riise also said Barcelona winger Caroline Graham Hansen is fit and available for the match after a bout of illness.
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