The Vietnamese women’s football team will face the U.S., the Netherlands, and an as-yet-unknown playoff winner at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup as a draw on Saturday put the Southeast Asian side in the tough Group E.

This is considered a hard row to hoe for Vietnam, which are currently 34th on the world ranking and will be playing in the World Cup for the first time.

The U.S. are the defending and four-time champions in 1991, 1999, 2015, and 2019 and the number one team on the world ranking, while the Netherlands are eighth.

The final team of Group E will be either Thailand, Cameroon and Portugal.

Vietnam are one of the six qualified teams in Asia, besides China, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and hosts Australia.

The month-long competition will kick off on July 20, 2023 in Australia and New Zealand - the first co-hosts in the history of the Women’s World Cup.

Vietnam’s first game will be against the U.S. in Auckland and also be Group E’s opener.

Next summer’s World Cup will be the largest women’s sporting event in history with 32 countries, up eight from the previous tournament and double the number in 2011. 

Twenty-nine teams have already qualified, with Morocco, the Philippines, Ireland and Zambia joining Vietnam in making their tournament debuts. 

Ten others will be competing in three intercontinental playoffs in February, when the last three invitations will be handed out.

The top two teams from each four-team group will advance to the knockout rounds.

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