World Cup NOW: Top takeaways after the first round of the group stage

The first round of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup group stage has officially come to an end as Colombia defeated South Korea 2-0 on Monday.

After seeing all 32 teams play once, the “World Cup NOW” crew — Jimmy Conrad, Heather O’Reilly and Melissa Ortiz — gave their key takeaways from the tournament thus far.

O’Reilly: “Spain is class. They separated themselves, for me, as the class of the tournament. By far, the best team we’ve seen so far. Here’s the thing … eighty-percent possession. Yeah, yeah, yeah we see this from Spain all the time. No. Now they’re scoring goals. Twenty-six shots. Right, so not only are they keeping the ball – death by a million passes as we used to say – but they’re getting teeth now … Esther playing No. 9, she’s super threatening. I thought Bonmati was probably the best player of this first round so far.”

Conrad: “I’m not a believer until they play Japan. Costa Rica’s one thing, but Japan is going to be the real deal. I wish it was the next game they played in the group stages, but it’s actually going to be the last one. One of my favorite games for sure of this group stage … I agree with you though – Spain, different gravy.”

Ortiz: “Let the fun begin. There were so many debutantes, not only just players, but also teams in this first round of matches. So we saw a lot of jitters. And, especially from big sides as well … England’s performance against Haiti, a 1-nil win, you would have expected way more goals … likewise, let’s even say U.S. Women’s National Team, a 3-0 win. Yeah, great win, but they could of scored so many more goals. So, let the fun begin. I expect much more out of hopefully Australia. Let’s see what happens with Sam Kerr in these upcoming matches. France, I mean the tie against Jamaica. Jamaica had a solid game, but we also expected more from France. Then, just Spain … so dominant, so crafty. I love their style of play and I just think we’re going to see much more goals, so let the fun roll.”

Conrad: “I’m gonna go with the tournament feels wide open. And, I had that feeling prior to the tournament starting, and now it’s just been validated by all these different types of performances. The ones that underperformed, the ones that are the favorites, the ones that are sometimes the favorites like Spain, but then really kinda kick it into another gear. So, we’ve seen all 32 teams, and I still feel as vibrant as ever … it’s not just two or three teams that are gonna go run away with it.”