Sweden Women will begin their Women's World Cup 2023 against South Africa Women at the Wellington Regional Stadium on Sunday.
The European side have never missed a World Cup, while South Africa are making their second appearance at the tournament.
Match preview
Sweden have a respectable record at the World Cup, having finished as runners-up in 2003 and in third position on three occasions, including in France four years ago.
They managed to salvage third place in 2019 with a 2-1 win over England after their hopes of winning the tournament were ended with an extra-time defeat to the Netherlands.
Sitting in third place in the FIFA rankings, Sweden will be hoping to go deep into the tournament, but first, they must focus on getting out of a group that contains Argentina, Italy and South Africa.
Peter Gerhardsson's side have struggled to find their best form in recent times, with their last five matches producing one win, two draws and two defeats.
However, they will be able to take inspiration from the fact that they are unbeaten in their previous four World Cup openers.
South Africa, meanwhile, have qualified for the World Cup for a second time after they made their first appearance in the 2019 tournament.
With the 2022 Cup of Nations serving as World Cup qualifying tournament, South Africa knew that a semi-final berth would secure their ticket to Australia and New Zealand.
They sealed their World Cup spot with a quarter-final over Tunisia, before going on to claim victories against Zambia and Morocco to lift the Africa Cup of Nations trophy for the first time in their history.
After losing all three of their group games in 2019, South Africa will be looking to give a better account of themselves this time around, but as the lowest-ranked team in the group, they might have their work cut out to pick up positive results.
South Africa would have taken confidence from the 2-0 win that they recorded against Costa Rica earlier this month, which ended a three-game winless run.
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Team News
Jennifer Falk will start in goal for Sweden, and she will be protected by the central defensive pairing of Lina Sembrant and Magdalena Eriksson.
Fridolina Rolfo, who scored 16 goals in 21 league games for Barcelona last season, will be key to Sweden's attacking efforts during the tournament.
The 29-year-old could be joined in the front three by San Diego Wave's Sofia Jakobsson and Arsenal's Stina Blackstenius.
As for their opponents, Bambanani Mbane is expected to line up in the centre of the South African defence alongside Bongeka Gamede.
Sassuolo's Refiloe Jane is set to start in the centre of midfield, and she could be joined in the middle of the park by Kholosa Bayana.
South Africa boss Desiree Ellis could present Juarez striker Jermaine Seoposenwe with the chance to lead the line on Sunday.
Sweden Women possible starting lineup:
Falk; Bjorn, Sembrant, Eriksson, Andersson; Bennison, Asllani, Angeldahl; Jakobsson, Rolfo, Blackstenius
South Africa Women possible starting lineup:
Dlamini; Ramalepe, Mbane, Gamede, Dhlamini; Cesane, Jane, Biyana, Molthalo; Magaia, Seoposenwe
We say: Sweden Women 3-1 South Africa Women
Although Sweden have won only one of their last five matches, we think that they will prove too strong for South Africa and begin their World Cup campaign with a victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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