Australia England had to rely on Mary Earps' saves to preserve a 1-0 victory over Haiti in Group D of the 2023 Women's World Cup on July 22.
Goal scorer: Stanway (29' pen).
The reigning European champions are considered strong candidates for the Women's World Cup, with a talented squad of players at their peak. However, Sarina Wiegman's students did not leave much of an impression in their victory over world No. 53 Haiti.
Goalkeeper Earps (yellow) helps England keep a clean sheet against Haiti. Photo: Reuters
He outclassed his opponents, but the only goal came from Georgia Stanway's penalty in the 29th minute. It took the No. 8 player two attempts to score. Stanway missed his first attempt but was later retaken because the Haitian goalkeeper left the goal line early.
The match saw VAR intervene several times in the first half. Each team benefited once. In the 19th minute, England seemed to have been awarded a penalty after Pierre-Louis kicked Kelly in the penalty area, but luckily for the CONCACAF representative, England's Alessia Russo had previously fouled the Haiti defender.
A few minutes later, England were helped by VAR. They scored thanks to Stanway's second penalty. Leading 1-0, England failed to capitalise on their mental advantage to find another goal. Instead, they almost lost the game late in the half when Borgella headed wide of the post.
Haiti surprised everyone when they played back-to-back games with the world's number four team in the second half. It was thanks to the brilliance of goalkeeper Mary Earps that the "Three Lions" kept a clean sheet in the opening match. Goalkeeper Mary Earps twice saved England from certain defeats, in the 50th and 81st minutes, after close-range shots from Haiti.
Haiti's defeat to the world's fourth-placed team means a CONCACAF team has yet to win a match at the Women's World Cup. No team has won their opening match in their first World Cup appearance since 1991.
In the other match of Group D, Denmark took all three points against China, thanks to their only shot on target in the match, in the 90+1 minute. In the next match on July 28, Haiti will face China while Denmark will face England's women's team.
Vy Anh
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