As the U.S. women’s national team prepares for the 2023 World Cup, Just Women’s Sports is taking a look at its opponents — including its three group-stage adversaries and its likely matchups in the knockout rounds.

Next up is a team the U.S. is on a crash course to facing in the Round of 16: Italy.

Manager: Milena Bertolini

Milena Bertolini, 57, has helmed the Italian squad since 2017, helping the team to its third World Cup in 2019 and its first in 20 years. An accomplished player, Bertolini was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame in 2018.

Key Player: Cristiana Girelli

Cristiana Girelli is one to watch. A striker for Juventus, the 33-year-old is one of the few high-powered goal scorers on the Italian squad. Back in February, she became the first Juventus player to reach 100 goals for the club.

“Besides (being) a technical player on the pitch, in my opinion when you see that you have a striker like her, you feel more at ease playing,” Juventus and Italy teammate Barbara Bonansea said of Girelli. “She makes all her teammates more at ease.”

Notably, longtime captain Sara Gama was left off the squad after leading Italy to the World Cup quarterfinals in 2019. The roster does, however, feature 16-year-old midfielder Giulia Dragoni, who plays professionally for FC Barcelona.

World Cup history

The Italian squad will be making its fourth World Cup appearance, having last gone in 2019 – its first appearance in 20 years at the tournament. They made the quarterfinals in 2019, tying their best-career finish from 1991.

Group stage schedule

Italy will play in Group G alongside Sweden, South Africa and Argentina. Take a look at the schedule below, or check out the full World Cup schedule.

• Monday, July 24 – 2 a.m. (FS1)
  • Italy vs. Argentina
• Saturday, July 29 – 3:30 a.m. (FS1)
  • Italy vs. Sweden
• Wednesday, Aug. 2 – 3 a.m. (FS1)
  • Italy vs. South Africa

Sweden is the highest ranked team in the group (No. 3 in the FIFA world ranking), followed by Italy (No. 16). If the rankings hold true in the group stage, Italy would advance as the runner-up from Group G and would be in line to play the Group E winner — likely the No. 1 USWNT — in the round of 16 to start the knockout stage.

Keys to beat the USWNT

Italy went winless at last year’s Euros, with one draw and two losses. The squad scored just two goals, drawing 1-1 with Iceland but losing 5-1 against France and 1-0 against Belgium. But Italy played much better in World Cup qualifying matches, winning nine matches and losing just one to clinch a berth in the tournament.

In April, the Italians beat Colombia 2-1 before drawing 0-0 with Morocco in a pair of friendlies. In order to make it out of their group, they’ll need to find some consistent goal-scoring, especially against a high-powered team like Sweden. (Italy played Sweden to a 1-1 draw last February before losing in penalties.)

If Italy manages to advance out of the group, it will need to find a second gear against its likely opponent in the USWNT. Even a stout defense could be hard-pressed to stop the explosive potential of the USWNT’s front line, which features Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith, Alex Morgan and more. And the USWNT has shown it can wear down a defense over the course of a game. Italy will need to maintain its composure for a full 90 and likely will need to get some goals out of its top scorers.

Intensity is the name of the game 😤#FIFAWWC #Azzurre pic.twitter.com/yF2HrcB6w4

— Italy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@Azzurri_En) July 12, 2023

Adding to their already historic season, 2024/25 WSL champions and 2025 League Cup winners Chelsea FC handed Manchester United a 3-0 defeat in Sunday's 2025 FA Cup final, completing the club's second-ever domestic treble.

Though the Blues first claimed an elusive treble in the 2020/21 season, this year's roster did so without dropping a single match in any of the three domestic competitions.

"I could not have expected this," said first-year Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor about her debut success leading the Blues. "It is almost ideal in terms of domestic dominance."

To clinch that dominance, Chelsea upended the defending FA Cup champs Manchester United at London's iconic Wembley Stadium behind a brace from French fullback Sandy Baltimore and a header from USWNT attacker Catarina Macario.

Baltimore gave Chelsea the lead by slipping a late first-half penalty past 2024/25 WSL Golden Glove winner and USWNT goalkeeper prospect Phallon Tullis-Joyce, and the Blues never relented, with second-half sub Macario doubling their scoreline in the 84th minute before Baltimore tacked on a final goal in stoppage time.

"It's a very emotional day," an emotional Macario told the broadcast after finishing her first season following a long ACL recovery. "It's a trophy we always wanted to win."

"All the credit to my players," said Bompastor. "We showed our mentality and our values in this game so we ended the season in an almost perfect scenario – we won, we were playing at Wembley, the stadium was nearly sold out, and we had a strong performance and result against a strong opponent."

"It is an almost ideal way to finish the season."

FA Cup crowds prove sustained demand for women's soccer

Chelsea FC's undefeated treble-winning season wasn't the only notable victory on Sunday, as the FA Cup final drew a crowd of over 74,000 fans for the third straight year.

Sunday's 74,412 attendance mark was just shy of both last year's crowd of 76,082 and the 77,390 fans who watched Chelsea defeat the Red Devils in 2023 — all well beyond the tournament final's previous record of 49,094 attendees achieved in 2022.

Fueled by the football fervor following England's 2022 Euro victory — the country's first international trophy, men's or women's, since the 1966 men's World Cup — the 2023 FA Cup final still stands as the largest crowd at a domestic women's soccer match across all nations.

With Sunday's match joining the over-74,000 attendance club, it's clear the post-Euros enthusiasm wasn't a blip, but a boost to the continued growth and sustained success of the women's game.

While most WNBA stars hit the court running this weekend, a few saw their 2025 campaigns already shortened as teams released season-opening injury reports.

Phoenix forward Kahleah Copper will miss four to six weeks of play, the Mercury reported on Saturday, after the 2024 Olympic gold medalist underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on her left knee last week.

Another knee injury has LA's Rae Burrell sidelined for the next six to eight weeks, after the fourth-year guard took a knock to the right leg just 41 seconds into the Sparks' 2025 debut win over Golden State.

On Friday, the Mystics released updates on both second-year forward Aaliyah Edwards and rookie guard Georgia Amoore. While another assessment of the Unrivaled 1v1 runner-up's back injury will occur in two more weeks, Washington confirmed that the Australian standout will miss the entire 2025 WNBA season after undergoing a successful surgery to repair her right ACL.

Seattle's Katie Lou Samuelson is also out for the full 2025 campaign, with the 27-year-old Storm forward recovering from last week's successful surgery after tearing her right ACL in practice on May 1st.

Kitley makes long-awaited WNBA debut as Brink eyes return

In more uplifting news, LA's Cameron Brink is on track to return to the Sparks sometime next month, one year after her standout rookie season came to a halt in a left ACL tear.

Already celebrating, however, is 2024 second-round draftee Elizabeth Kitley, who battled back from injury to make her WNBA debut and score her first league points in Las Vegas's Saturday loss to New York.

The Aces took a draft chance on Kitley, despite the center suffering an ACL tear in her final NCAA postseason. In response, the former Virginia Tech star successfully translated her year-long delayed shot at a pro career by surviving Las Vegas's brutal 2025 roster cuts.

Notably, Kitley's close friend and collegiate on-court counterpart with the Hokies is the aforementioned Amoore, who will aim for a rookie-season redo of her own next year.

The No. 1 Kansas City Current strengthened their grip on the 2025 NWSL Shield race on Friday, taking down now-No. 3 Orlando 1-0 on the road to earn a four-point lead atop of the NWSL table.

Reigning league MVP Temwa Chawinga scored the top-table game's lone goal. With five goals in nine matches, Chawinga now sits in a four-way tie for second place in the 2025 Golden Boot race.

"If you don't come with heart, you have no chance," Current head coach Vlatko Andonovski said after the match. "And today I think we showed heart."

Kansas City now stands 7-2-0 on the season, putting the NWSL Shield firmly within their grasp.

Kansas City's rise aside, the weekend's biggest drama hovered near the playoff line.

Gotham FC fell to No. 2 San Diego 1-0 on Friday, sending the Bats skidding to No. 8 on a three-game winless streak while boxing No. 9 North Carolina out of playoff contention — despite the rising Courage securing their third win in four games with Saturday's 2-0 victory over last-place Chicago.

"Obviously, we were hot for a little bit, and teams have slumps all the time, so now it's just finding a way," Gotham midfielder Jaelin Howell said of the team's recent struggles.

While some rebuilds soar, last year's postseason contenders are still finding their way as the league moves into the second third of the 2025 season.

Indiana's 35-point blowout win over Chicago wasn't Saturday's only newsmaker, as a controversial foul on Sky forward Angel Reese by Fever guard Caitlin Clark sparked intense off-court conversations and a WNBA investigation into subsequent fan misconduct.

Clark's third-quarter foul against Reese incited a brief dust-up between the second-year stars, with Clark's offense upgraded to a Flagrant 1 while Reese and Fever center Aliyah Boston picked up a pair of offsetting technicals for their reactions.

"Basketball play. Refs got it right. Move on," Reese said after the game, while Clark told reporters, "It was just a good play on the basketball. I'm not sure what the ref saw to upgrade it, and that's up to their discretion."

Immediately following the flagrant ruling, however, Indiana fans allegedly directed racially charged remarks toward Reese, prompting the league to open an investigation on Sunday.

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Officials acknowledged allegations of racist abuse inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse, saying the WNBA "strongly condemns racism, hate, and discrimination in all forms," and that they're "looking into the matter."

"We stand firm in our commitment to providing a safe environment for all WNBA players," said Pacers Sports & Entertainment CEO Mel Raines, who oversees the Fever, in a statement.

"We will do everything in our power to protect Chicago Sky players, and we encourage the league to continue taking meaningful steps to create a safe environment for all WNBA players," echoed Sky CEO and president Adam Fox.

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time Fever-related fan misconduct has taken center stage, as last season's storylines start to spill over into the 2025 WNBA campaign.

In anticipation of the issue, the league launched "No Space for Hate" on Thursday, describing the campaign as "a multi-dimensional platform designed to combat hate and promote respect across all WNBA spaces — from online discourse to in-arena behavior."