USA Women's World Cup schedule 2023: USWNT gun for third straight FIFA title in Australia & New Zealand

The U.S. women are primed to defend their Women's World Cup crown, having won each of the last two FIFA tournaments.

Set to take on the Netherlands, Portugal, and Vietnam in the group stage for the 2023 Women's World Cup, the USWNT will be looking to extend a strong tournament record. 

Should they advance to the knockout stage, they will then switch gears towards becoming the first team ever to win three straight World Cup titles, either men's or women's.

The Sporting News brings you the U.S. women's group stage schedule for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, alongside the possible knockout stage paths they would stare down en route towards defending their global dominance.

USWNT group stage schedule, standings

The United States women were drawn into Group E alongside the Netherlands, Portugal, and Vietnam. The group will play all its matches in New Zealand, which is done intentionally to limit travel — all groups are limited to only playing in one host country or the other.

They open the tournament against Vietnam in Auckland before meeting the Netherlands in Wellington and finishing with Portugal back in Auckland.

The USWNT have never failed to exit the group stage of a Women's World Cup, and they have only fallen short of the top spot in the group standings once.

USA Group E schedule for 2023 Women's World Cup

Group E standings for 2023 Women's World Cup

USA World Cup knockout stage schedule

The United States women will be expected to, at the very least, reach the knockout stage at this year's World Cup.

They have never failed to reach the knockout stage in any of the previous eight Women's World Cup tournaments. In fact, they've been a seeded team in the knockout stage in every tournament save one, when they finished below Sweden in the 2011 tournament.

Should they reach this point, the bracket is already laid out for their potential path to the final. The U.S. has two possible paths, depending on whether they finish top of their group, or second.

Either way, they would meet a team from Group G, which features Sweden, Italy, Argentina, and South Africa.

There is one difference from the men's World Cup bracket construction that is notable. Whereas in the men's World Cup, group qualifiers to the knockout stage were all placed on opposite ends of the bracket to avoid rematches before the final, that is not the case here. Since group qualifiers are all separated slightly but still gathered on the same side of the bracket, group rematches are possible in the semifinals.

Knockout schedule if USWNT finish 1st in Group E

If the United States win Group E, they would face the runner-up from Group G in their first knockout match.

Should they advance to the quarterfinals, they would then meet either the winner of Group A (Norway, New Zealand, Philippines, Switzerland) or the runner-up from Group C (Spain, Japan, Costa Rica, Zambia).

Knockout schedule if USWNT finish 2nd in Group E

If the United States finish second in Group E, they would face the winner from Group G in their first knockout match.

Should they advance to the quarterfinals, they would then meet either the winner of Group C (Spain, Japan, Costa Rica, Zambia) or the runner-up from Group A (Norway, New Zealand, Philippines, Switzerland).