08:00 Thursday

New Zealand vs Norway Women – Norway & Over 2.5 Goals

The 2023 Women’s World Cup kicks off with co-hosts New Zealand hosting Norway. New Zealand are heavily unfancied and will hope to get out the group, but Norway are expected to win this one.

New Zealand are making their 6th appearance at the Women’s World Cup, but they have never won at a World Cup finals, and they have drawn just three of the 15 games they’ve featured in, losing 12 times.

As for the Norwegians, they have been ever present at the World Cup and have reached the semi-finals in four of the first five World Cup finals, but haven’t reached that stage in the last three editions.

Despite that, we really expect them to win comfortably here, with over 2.5 goals in the game being a real possibility, as they look to put down a marker for their success.

11:00 Thursday

Australia vs Republic of Ireland Women – Sam Kerr Anytime Goalscorer

Australia welcome the world of women’s football to their homeland this summer for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, and their first opponent is Republic of Ireland Women. Of all the stars competing, one name stands out for the hosts, and that is Chelsea Women’s two time Player of the Year, Sam Kerr.

Kerr has scored 90 goals in 116 Chelsea Women’s games since joining in 2020, a quite impeccable record, and has been a major part of their success over the last few years, winning back-to-back-to-back Women's Super League titles.

It would be no surprise to see Kerr on the scoresheet against a Republic of Ireland side who are playing in their first major tournament. Their build up to the tournament has been chaotic, as their final warm-up game against Colombia was abandoned after 20 minutes as Ireland felt that the match had become "overly physical".

Australia have won five of the last six games, whereas Ireland have won just twice of their last six. Sam Kerr is expected to be one of the contenders for the Golden Boot, and we think she’ll kickstart her bid for the top scorer accolade with a goal against the Girls in Green.

19:00 Thursday

Fiorentina vs Parma – Fiorentina to win

A friendly game to finish off our Thursday treble, as Fiorentina face Parma.

The hosts were unfortunate to lose their UEFA Europa Conference League final to West Ham last season and will hope to go one further in this season.

Parma will be in Serie B for another season after losing to Cagliari in the promotion play-offs semi-finals.

With every friendly game, the result is never the main objective, as it’s mostly about minutes in the tank going in to the regular season. However, with Fiorentina’s quality, we expect them to pick up the win here.