Preview: Brazil Women vs. Panama Women
Brazil Women will take to the field for the first time at the Women’s World Cup 2023 when they face Panama Women at the Hindmarsh Stadium on Monday.
Panama are making their first appearance at the tournament, while Brazil are one of seven teams to feature at all nine Women’s World Cup finals.
Brazil head into the tournament as the reigning champions of South America after they won their fourth consecutive Copa America title last summer.
Debinha’s penalty in the final against Colombia secured a 1-0 victory, ensuring the record winners lifted the Copa America trophy for the eighth time in their history.
The Selecao are still yet to get their hands on the World Cup, but they went close in 2007 when they made their way to the final before losing 2-0 to Germany.
After finishing as runners-up 13 years ago, Brazil went on to reach the quarter-finals in 2011, before falling at the last-16 stage at the last two tournaments.
Impressively, Brazil have won all of their previous eight World Cup openers, and they will be determined to continue to maintain that 100% record on Monday.
Panama, meanwhile, are preparing to make their World Cup debut after securing qualification via the intercontinental playoffs.
After beating Papua New Guinea 2-0 in the first round of the playoffs, Panama advanced to the final stage, where they faced Paraguay for a place in the World Cup finals.
The contest appeared to be heading towards extra time, before Lineth Cedeno scored the all-important goal to etch her name into Panamanian football history.
Las Canaleras will be desperate to give a good account of themselves in a difficult group that contains Brazil, France and Jamaica.
However, a 7-0 defeat to Spain and a 5-0 loss to Japan in their final two warm-up games would have dented their confidence ahead of their tournament opener.
Brazil Women form (all competitions):
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Panama Women form (all competitions):
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We say: Brazil Women 5-0 Panama Women
With a difficult game against France to come in their second group fixtures, Brazil will be keen to get off to a positive start on Monday, and we think they will have far too much quality for their opponents, which could see them begin the tournament with a commanding victory.