Four years ago at Canada 2015 England were one of the stars of the show in the Women’s World Cup. They took a surprise third place. Following a place at the semi-finals of the Euro’s two summers ago, there will be plenty of hype about the chance of the Lionesses bringing home the World Cup this year.
It is all eyes on France 2019 as Phil Neville’s team looks for some major success. But can they deliver?
Women’s World Cup 2019 Winner Odds*
USA 7/2
France 7/2
Germany 11/2
England 6/1
Netherlands 14/1
Japan 14/1
Australia 14/1
Canada 20/1
Spain 25/1
Sweden 25/1
Brazil 25/1
Norway 33/1
Italy 50/1
66/1 bar
* (betting odds taken from Bet365 on May 29th, 2019 at 00:32 am)
Table of Contents
What is England’s Women’s World Cup History?
This will be the eighth edition of the Women’s World Cup and England have yet to land their hands on the trophy. Four years ago they had their best ever run in a tournament though. At Canada 2015, the tournament was expanded from 16 teams to 24 for the first time ever. Even with the extra challenges of that, England made it through to the semi-finals.
They faced Japan there and the game looked to be heading to extra time at 1-1 as stoppage time came around. There was a cruel end to the game though as Laura Bassett put through her own net in the 92nd minute sending England crashing. After such a tremendous run that was a crushing blow for the Lionesses. To their credit, England did pick themselves up from that to beat Germany in the third-place playoff.
Prior to all of that, they had qualified for three of the previous six World Cups, landing in the quarter finals in each of those appearances.
England’s odds to win the World Cup*
England have been trading well in the Women’s World Cup 2019 outright winner market. They are at 6/1 odds to deliver the title* (betting odds taken from bet365 on May 30th, 2019 at 9:42 pm). That leaves only the three teams at shorter prices than they are at, those being joint favourites USA and France, along with Germany.
Will England win their group?
England are in Group D of the Women’s World Cup 2019 and what awaits them there? It’s actually looking like being a tricky group for them, even though they are 8/13 odds-on to progress as group winners* (betting odds taken from bet365 on May 30th, 2019 at 9:42 pm).
Group D Winner Odds*
England 8/13, Japan 6/4, Scotland 16/1, Argentina 66/1
* (betting odds taken from bet365 on May 30th, 2019 at 9:42 pm)
The Lionesses get a bit of a pressure game to open with on June 9th, 2019. They will be facing a Scotland side who are on the rise. England are 2/9 odds on favourites to win that clash* (betting odds taken from bet365 on May 30th, 2019 at 9:42 pm). It is a big derby match though and the type of occasions where passion and determination may level the playing field against arguably superior quality.
Head coach Shelley Kerr has really pushed Scotland forward and they have a couple of world-class stars in their ranked like Kim Little and Lisa Evans. England and Scotland met in the group stage of Euro 2017 and the Lionesses ran out 6-0 winners against an understrength Scottish side. But two years later, Scotland really don’t have any injury concerns to their key players and they will fancy their underdog chances in getting some revenge against England.
From there, England will face Argentina in what should be the easiest game of the group stage. Then in the final round of action, they get another meeting with Japan. England beat Japan in the final of this year’s SheBeleivesCup, but in the tournament, Japan had solely focused on their younger players, so it’s hard to read much from that. A big game against the runners up from the last edition, isn’t going to give England a comfortable ride in final round of matches. That England v Japan game may be a straight fight for top spot as well.
Qualification for Knockouts
There are six groups of four teams in the first stage of the Women’s World Cup 2019. From that the top two teams from each of the groups automatically get their place in the knockout stage. Joining them there will be the four best third-place finishers.
England’s potential path
If England do turn up and win Group D as they are favourites to do, then that will put them into the top half of the draw and they will face one of the third place finishers in the round of sixteen. If they move through to the quarter-finals then they would play the winner of the match between the Runners Up of Groups A and C which most likely would be Norway and either Brazil or Australia.
So the draw is very nice for the Lionesses if they can win their group. At least through the early rounds. They wouldn’t meet another group winner until the semi-finals where they would be in line to meet either the Group A or Group F winners, which would like be France or the USA. Those two are the joint-favourites. If they finish runners up, they could face group winners all the way, but would likely avoid the big two of France and USA.
England Top Goalscorer Odds
If there is a criticism about England’s setup, then it is that they are lacking a really prolific world class striker. You look at Germany who have Alexandra Popp, France who have Eugenie Le Sommer and the USA who have Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan. Then look to England and the Lionesses do look a bit short in that department in comparison.
They have good solid performers though and it is Nikita Parris, who is moving to Lyon next season, who is going to have all of the main goalscoring pressure on her. She is the 5/2 favourite to be England’s Top Goalscorer* (betting odds taken from bet365 on May 30th, 2019 at 9:42 pm).
However, worth a flutter is Beth Mead who was in great form at the end of the season and is growing in her international role. Mead is a 4/1 option to top score* (betting odds taken from bet365 on May 30th, 2019 at 9:42 pm).
England Top Scorer Odds*
Nikita Parris 5/2, Jodie Taylor 7/2, Beth Mead 4/1, Frank Kirby 9/2, Ellen White 5/1, Toni Duggan 14/1
* (betting odds taken from bet365 on May 30th, 2019 at 9:42 pm)
England Women’s World Cup 2019 Predictions
How far can the Lioness go? It is, of course, nice to believe that they could go all the way and lift the trophy. They are certainly one of the stronger European contenders, however, their style has gone a little bit backwards under new head coach Phil Neville. They are not the same fluent, attacking and confident side that thrived under his predecessor Mark Sampson.
Therefore they may struggle for the goals against the stronger teams when it comes to the knockout stage of the competition. Their key creative midfielder Jordan Nobbs is out through injury and that’s a huge loss. The Lionesses look strong across the back line, but if you stand up their squad against the likes of that from France and the USA, then England have shortfalls.
A minimum of a quarter-final berth should be a realistic target for them. The odds on England’s Lionesses to win the World Cup 2019 are at 6/1* (betting odds taken from bet365 on May 30th, 2019 at 9:42 pm). It’s not a tremendous price and really not worth taking on more than in an each way option perhaps.
