After a four year wait the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 has finally started. On the opening day of the tournament New Zealand played Norway and Australia played the Republic of Ireland. Unfortunately the first match was over shadowed by a shooting that took place in New Zealand on the day of the opening match. With New Zealand being one of the host countries this was a big deal. The FIFA Women’s World Cup Continues tonight with more group action as Nigeria take on Canada and the Philippines take on Switzerland.
New Zealand vs Norway
New Zealand played Norway to open up the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023. This was a Group A match. New Zealand scored the only goal of the game in the 48′ minute. Hannah Wilkinson scored the goal. On the fast break they were able to get behind the Norway defenders and find the back of the net. The two defenders the middle let the New Zealand player get past them. I think they were trying to get an offsides call but in that situation on a fast break I think it is better to defend the player in the middle then to let them run free. Both teams had plenty of chances including a missed penalty by New Zealand that went off the crossbar. With close to 10′ minutes of extra time this game really could have gone either way.
It was not a bad game. Most of it was a lot of back and fourth play. Neither team really established consistant pressure. A lot of the game from what I saw was played in the midfield. There wasn’t a lot of spreading the ball out side to side by either team. There was a lot of plays were four to five players from both teams would just bunch up and near the ball leaving wide open areas of the pitch but neither team took advantage of that. I thought Norway would have done better. They never really established any solid offense for any significant amounts of time. New Zealand got the goal and the win proving again it only takes one. This was New Zealand’s first every win at either the FIFA Women’s World Cup or the FIFA World Cup. The Tragic events of what happened and it being their first win will put this game into New Zealand soccer lore forever.
Australia vs Republic of Ireland
Australia played the Republic of Ireland in the other match. This was a Group B match. Australia scored the games only goal in the 52′ minute. The goal was scored by Stephanie Catley. The goal was scored on a penalty kick. Australia held on to their 1-0 lead. Australia secured their first win of the tournament.
This was not a surprising result for me. The big surprise here was the back to back shutouts. Australia beat who they needed to and got a shutout in the process. Now both host countries have won their opening match of the tournament. With these results my mind goes back to Qatar and how they lost their opening and match and were the first host country who lost their opening match at the FIFA World Cup.
Most teams have not played yet. New Zealand leads Group A. Norway are now in last in Group A. Australia now leads Group B. The Republic of Ireland are now at the bottom of Group B
Nigeria will play Canada and the Philippines will play Switzerland. Canada should win their match fairly easy. It could be the first blowout of the tournament. Switzerland should beat the Philippines but it might be a closer match then todays other match.
Zac Electrifly 
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