Monday's Women's World Cup 2023 action gets underway with a meeting between Italy Women and Argentina Women at Eden Park in Auckland.

Italy will be hoping to make it out of the group stage for the second straight World Cup, while Argentina are aiming to advance to the knockout rounds for the first time.

Match preview

Le Azzurre are making their fourth appearance at the World Cup after previously featuring at the tournament in 1991, 1999 and 2019.

Italy would have been proud of their performance in France four years ago, as they made their way to the quarter-finals before being beaten by eventual runners-up Netherlands.

After experiencing a disappointing group-stage exit at last year's European Championships, Italy will be hoping to fare better in a competitive World Cup group that contains Argentina, South Africa and Sweden.

Milena Bertolini's side head into the tournament in reasonable form, having won three and drawn one of their last four internationals.

They will also be encouraged by the fact that they have avoided defeat in all of their previous three World Cup openers (W2, D1).

Like their opponents, Argentina are also making their fourth appearance at the World Cup, having previously done so in 2003, 2007 and 2019.

The South Americans are still searching for their first win at the tournament after drawing two and losing seven of their nine World Cup matches.

Argentina, who are ranked 28th in the world, know that they will have their work cut out to secure a place in the knockout rounds, with Sweden and Italy sitting inside above them in the FIFA World Rankings.

La Albiceleste have built momentum in the lead-up to the tournament, recording five victories in their last six matches.

With all five of those victories producing clean sheets, Argentina will be hoping to record a shutout at the World Cup for just the second time in their history.