The United States and Germany are being tipped as the favourites to lift the Women's World Cup when the competition kicks off in Vancouver next week. Noted statistician and data journalist Nate Silver of ESPN's fivethirtyeight blog published his predictions in the latest issue of ESPN: The Magazine.
Silver gives the United States Women's National Team a 28% chance to win the tournament, the highest among the 24 competing nations. Current world number 1 Germany trails by a hair at 27% odds. The US and Germany are the only teams with more than a 1-in-10 chance of being named champions of the world.
According to Silver's model, their next closest competitors are reigning and defending champions Japan at 9% and France as well as host nation Canada, who both have a 7% chance to win. Rounding out the list of contenders are Brazil and Sweden at 6% and 5% respectively.
Other notable facts from Silver's analysis show that he views the US women as a near lock to pass the group stages at 96% and gives them a 41% chance of making to the final.
The US women look to avenge their shock defeat to Japan in the 2011 World Cup held in Germany. The United States, who were heavily favoured entering the match, lost to Japan 3-1 in a penalty shootout after being deadlocked 2-2 at the end of extra time. A win for the US would mark their third Women's World Cup. They previously won the inaugural tournament in 1991 as well as the 1999 edition.
Number 1 ranked Germany is also looking for their third trophy. Prior to Japan's win in 2011 they won back to back cups in 2003 and 2007. A win for the German team would mark the first time in history a country has held both the Men's and Women's World Cups simultaneously.
