Hockey Women’s World Cup 2018 – 21 July-5 August
The 14th edition of the Women’s Hockey World Cup will be starting up on July 21st and running through to its conclusion on August 5th, 2018. This is the pinnacle of the sport and it is being hosted in England at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre. It is the Netherlands who are returning as the reigning World Champions after success on home soil in the last edition.
Actually, the hosts of the last two editions of the tournament have won the event on their respective home soil. So there could be good news ahead for England who are the second-ranked team, as they take on the challenge. Here is our 2018 Hockey Women’s World Cup betting preview.
2018 Edition
This is the first time that the tournament has had 16 participating teams before. Joining hosts England are the 10 teams from the 2016/17 FIH Hockey World League semi-finals stage, plus winners of regional Cups from around the World.
The first round of action sees the sixteen teams split out over four groups. The winner of each of those four groups will each book themselves a place in the quarter finals. There is a predetermined format, with the winners of Groups A and D going to the top half of the draw and the winners of Groups B and C going to the bottom half of the draw.
The second and third place teams from each of the groups will go into a playoff round. A winner of a playoff match will then go through to face one of the teams who qualified automatically for the quarter finals. So those who do get through as a group winner will have an advantage of having to play a game less. From the quarter-finals, it is then a straightforward knockout going forward.
Pool A
Netherlands, South Korea, Italy, China
The Netherlands are the top seed at the tournament and will be favourites in Women’s Hockey World Cup betting. But there is a competitive group ahead of them here. Arguably they are actually the best team in the world and they won the 2016/17 FIH Hockey World League beating China in the final. They are also the current holders of the EuroHockey Nations Championship. But they are going to have to come out strong because of the challenges ahead. China will likely be the biggest threat to the Netherlands. They finished as runners-up at the 2018 Women’s Hockey Asia Cup, losing to India in a penalty shootout. South Korea finished third at the tournament. There is a decent chance that Italy will bring up the rear.
Prediction: Netherlands win, China and South Korea progress
Pool B
England, United States, India, Ireland
This is a tough group for England to navigate their way through. They take on India who are the current champions of Asia and they will face them in their opener. That’s a tough first match for them to deal with. They will then go up against the USA who won the Johannesburg section of the 2016/17 Women’s FIH Hockey World League, getting a semi-final shootout win over England. England finished third at the tournament. Four years ago the USA finished fourth in the World Cup. Ireland finished seventh in that tournament and make struggle in a competitive group. The second place team in this group would end up being on a path to meet favourites Netherlands in the quarter finals.
Prediction: USA win, England and India progress
Pool C
Argentina, Germany, Spain, South Africa
This appears to be a pretty well-balanced group really and it is wide open. Argentina have won two of the last four editions of the World Cup and the other two occasions they finished third. So they are going to be a threat without question here at least in this group. They lost to England in the third-place match in Johannesburg at the 2016-17 FIH Hockey Women’s World League. Germany finished runner-up in that section so you should have two evenly matched teams here. Germany look to be on a good positive swing at the moment and beat Argentina at the 2016-17 FIH Hockey Women’s World League Semi-Finals. South Africa are a competitive bunch and had a good semi final tournament at that 2016-17 FIH Hockey Women’s World League but Spain are ranked a few places above them but didn’t do as well.
Prediction: Germany win, South Africa and Argentina progress
Pool D
Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Belgium
We get an interesting clash between New Zealand and Australia which will go down in the final round of group stage matches. That’s something to look forward too in 2018 Women’s Hockey World Cup betting and it was Australia who beat the Kiwis in the final of the 2017 Oceania Cup. There won’t be any love lost between those two and they both look strong enough in this group to get through to the next stage without too much stress. Belgium and Japan will be scrapping it out for that extra place in the knockout stage but we don’t see either of them doing enough to get in the frame to win the group.
Prediction: Australia win, New Zealand and Belgium progress
Predictions
The Netherlands are value in the outright winner market just because they are so good. They are the reigning World Champions and the reigning champions of Europe at the same time. They have won seven of the previous thirteen editions of the World Cup. They have to be back in contention here. They do have a tough group against China and Korea, but the Dutch beat them both last year in winning their section of the Hockey World League.
England are very interesting because they will have home soil and home support cheering them on. They are the reigning Olympic champions lets not forget though but have struggled to make a huge impact at the World Cup before, yet to reach a final and having finished in the top four just twice. England did win the bronze at the 2018 Commonwealth games as well.
Australia, if they are able to handle the pressure are a team who can make a positive run at this tournament and we do like how they are shaping up. They have finished runners-up in two for the last three editions let’s not forget. The USA have a very talented team at the moment and then there’s India and China as well who have potential. This is a really deep field.
The other genuine contender we can see are Germany who look to be on an upward positive trend at the moment and who beat both Argentina and the USA, two of the stronger outside choices we could have gone with here at the 2016/17 Women’s HOckey World League Semi-Finals.
It’s tough to break this down but we are looking towards the most likely group winners because of the advantage they will have in playing a game less than the other who qualify for the knockouts.
Pool A: Netherlands
Pool B: USA
Pool C: Germany
Pool D: Australia
So that at least takes a step towards narrowing our field. If that’s the case it means the Netherlands and Australia would be on course for a semi-final clash, with the other two meeting in the other half of the draw. Netherlands are better than Australia while Germany and the USA would be a toss-up. Breaking it all down we see value in the Netherlands winning outright as they have such talent and depth. But Germany could be knocking on the door.
