Carli Lloyd says 2023 Women's World Cup will be the most competitive one yet

BOSTON -- The U.S Women's team is going for their third straight World Cup title this year, but 31 other nations are hoping to knock off the defending champs. 

Team USA's title defense will begin Friday night against Vietnam in New Zealand, and they head into the tourney the overwhelming favorites. But a member of the last two title teams says that completing a threepeat won't be easy for the USWNT.

In fact, making any predictions for this year's Women's World Cup is no easy task, two-time World Cup champ Carli Lloyd told WBZ-TV's Steve Burton.

"This is going to be the biggest, the best, and the most competitive World Cup to date," said Lloyd. 

Lloyd is now retired after helping the U.S. claim titles in 2015 and 2019. While Team USA is the heavy favorite this year, Lloyd said that England, Germany, France, Spain, Brazil, and host country Australia are all good enough to win it all.

"There is a slew of teams that could potentially win that trophy. I think it's going to be really exciting and will ultimately come down to which team is playing at its best and makes it to that seventh game," she said, adding that Zambia could spoil someone's run after they recently beat Germany in a friendly match.  

"It's going to be tough to get to the end, which is what makes it so exciting this year," said Lloyd.

But before anyone can think about the end, teams need to focus on group play. Lloyd's best advice for this year's USWNT squad is very simple.

"One game at a time. You have the big goal of wanting to win a World Cup, but you can't be thinking about the Final before you play your first group match," she said. "It's about having that tunnel vision to stay in the moment and know that not every game is going to go the way you think it's going to go. It's important to focus on one game at a time, and when you get out of group play and into the knockout round, it's about finding a way to win. It doesn't have to always be pretty, but you have to find a way to advance and win.

"Nothing is ever a guarantee and it's important to appreciate the moment, be grateful," Lloyd added. "But never think there's a free ticket into that final game. You have to fight and claw your way."

That fight starts for the U.S. Friday night against Vietnam, and then continues next Wednesday against the Netherlands. Both of those matches kick off at 9 p.m. local time, so late nights are in order for U.S. soccer fans.

And then comes a really late night -- or a really early morning -- on Aug. 1 when the U.S. plays Portugal at 3 a.m. in group play. To help with all the tired mornings that will come from watching the USWNT, Lloyd has teamed up with FanDuel to promote "FanFuel Extra Kick Coffee", a custom blended coffee that will give fans a little extra push. There will be a FanFuel truck in Boston the morning after each of Team USA's Group stage matches, which fans can track here to get some of that special brew.