The Lionesses and the USA got their World Cup campaigns off to a winning start while Japan hammered Zambia on the third day of the tournament…
ENGLAND 1-0 HAITI
It was a tale of two goalkeepers as England’s Lionesses got their World Cup campaign off to a nervy start with a 1-0 win over Haiti.
Georgia Stanway scored the decisive goal with a 29th minute penalty that had to be retaken after Haiti’s keeper Kerly Theus saved the first effort, only for VAR to rule that the Haitian keeper had moved off her line too early.
And with England defending their slender lead, it took a superb save from Mary Earps to keep out a goalbound shot from Roseline Eloissaint to deny Haiti the equaliser they deserved.
The Lionesses, reigning European Champions, are one of the favourites to win the World Cup but struggled against an unfancied Haiti side ranked 53rd in the world. Alessio Russo started up front in place of Rachel Daly, the WSL’s leading scorer this season, but she could not find a way past Theus.
When defender Batcheba Louis handled a cross shortly before the half-hour mark, Stanway stepped up to take the penalty on the back of a perfect record of nine scored in her past nine spot-kicks. Theus dived to her right to keep out the Bayern Munich midfielder’s kick, but VAR spotted an infringement, ordered a retake and Stanway sent Theus the wrong way.
Both sides had chances to score, but England were less than convincing in front of goal and looked nervy in defence, with captain Millie Bright playing her first game back since a knee operation in March.
Sarina Wiegman admitted: “’It was a very hard game and I’m very happy with the three points. We struggled with their unpredictability and transitions, and they were really tough in the duels. We did create chances but we also lost the ball at dangerous moments, and then they were gone, so that was hard for us. The win is the most important thing. But we need to finish our chances and be a bit better in possession – a bit faster. We’re very close to scoring in open play so I hope we can do that in the next game.”
USA 3-0 VIETNAM
Embed from Getty ImagesThe USA got off to a flier in their bid to win an unprecedented third successive World Cup, with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Vietnam.
Sophia Smith, the young prodigy playing in her first World Cup, opened the scoring in the 14th minute and made it 2-0 in first-half stoppage time, before Lindsey Horan completed the scoring late in the game.
Vietnam goalkeeper Tran Thi Kim Thanh was the outstanding player, however, saving a penalty from Alex Morgan as well as a clutch of good stops throughout the game, as the USWNT failed to make the most of their dominance in terms of possession and chances.
Vlatko Andonovski, the USWNT coach said: “We want to win every match, so it’s one down and now we move on to the next. We created a lot of opportunities and wanted to score more goals, but it is what it is. Hopefully we can improve on that and bring some of the good things we did today when we play the Netherlands. We take everything game by game and that [match is now our focus.”
ZAMBIA 0-5 JAPAN
Embed from Getty ImagesJapan racked up the biggest win of the tournament so far with a 5-0 thrashing of Zambia to show their intent.
Hinata Mizawa scored either side of half-time, while goals from Mina Tanaka, Jun Endo and Riko Ueki later in stoppage time completed a comfortable win to send Japan top of Group C.
Zambia did not manage a shot on goal as they were totally dominated by the Japanese, who shocked the USA by beating them in the 2011 final to win the World Cup 12 years ago.
