Defending champions Japan gained a dream draw on Saturday for the 2015 Women's World Cup in Canada while the United States face a rocky road to a potential third title.
Japan's players celebrate with the trophy after the FIFA Women's Football World Cup final match on July 17, 2011 in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany.
The Nadeshiko, seeded atop Group C, will face Switzerland, Cameroon and Ecuador, all first-time qualifiers for the tournament.
The United States face a tough first-round path against Australia, ranked 10th in the world by FIFA, Nigeria and Sweden -- a European powerhouse ranked fifth in the world and only unseeded for "geographic" reasons.
Their Group D, with most of its first-round matches in Winnipeg, immediately appeared the toughest but US forward Sydney Leroux took to Twitter to indicate the Americans are up for the challenge.
"Bring it on," Leroux tweeted.
US coach Jill Ellis said the challenging group was good preparation for the latter stages of the tournament, when the Americans hope to be challenging for a third World Cup title but their first since 1999.
They and Germany are the only two-time winners of the event first played in 1991.
"It's a good group to get us ready to play," Ellis said. "Physically, it's a demanding group, but we've got a lot of depth on our roster and we'll be able to manage against some good teams with some good challenges.
"It's probably the toughest group. That's historically been the path the USA has taken, and we're obviously going to embrace it.
"At the end of the day, you've got to play good teams to win it, and at some point you're going to match up with quality opponents. We'll be ready."
Adding intrigue to the match-up between the United States and Sweden, the Europeans' manager Pia Sundhage guided the Americans to back-to-back Olympic titles before taking the helm in her native country in September of 2012.
The former Sweden international admitted before the draw she thought it was "weird" that sixth-ranked Brazil, rather than fifth-ranked Sweden, got the nod as a seeded team.
"But I'm not the person who can do anything about it," she said, adding the best policy was to "just accept it and go with it."
The seventh edition of Women's World Cup will feature 24 teams for the first time -- up from 16.
The first and second-placed finishers in each group automatically advance to the round of 16.
Hosts Canada will open the tournament in Edmonton on June 6 against China, with New Zealand and the Netherlands rounding out Group A.
Germany, who won it in 2003 and 2007, could also breathe a sigh of relief at their draw in Group B, which includes dangerous 1995 champions Norway but also inexperienced Ivory Coast and Thailand.
- Brazil women seek first crown -
Brazil, led by five-time women's world player of the year Marta, launch their bid for a first World Cup crown against South Korea, fast-improving Spain and Costa Rica in Group E while France, ranked fourth in the world, will face England, Colombia and Mexico in Group F.
First-round matches will be played in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal and Moncton, with the final in Vancouver on July 5.
Japan lifted the trophy with a dramatic win over the United States in Germany four years ago, delivering a boost to their country months after a deadly earthquake and tsunami.
But the United States gained revenge by winning the Olympic gold ahead of Japan in London, with Canada taking bronze and France finishing fourth.
Despite controversy over the plastic pitches for the event, Japanese head coach Norio Sasaki insisted they can adapt after beating Canada in a friendly on the surface in Edmonton in October.