Georgia leads the (Stan)way for England in their opening World Cup game

It is the start of the women’s 2023 world cup for England and on they have great hope for after their spectacular Euro 2022 win. Even with players such as Kirby and Mead out with injuries, they still have a huge amount of confidence heading into the group stage against Haiti, China, and Denmark.

The lionesses get their tournament underway on Saturday against Haiti and it was a game they had to be winning to build momentum and prevent any added pressure. England dominated much of the game (as they should have) but a lot of credit needed to be given to Haiti who scared England on multiple occasions and produced some lovely chances themselves. Both sides created and missed plenty of chances throughout the game but the first key moment of the game was when Bright headed the ball across the face of the Haiti goal, everyone in the middle missed it and when Kelly tried to hook the ball back towards the centre she was seemingly fouled. Huge appeals from England lead to a VAR review but although Pierre-Louis did scrape her studs down Kelly’s shin, there was a foul in the build up by Russo. No penalty. The lionesses continued to be frustrated by Haiti but ten minutes later another cross from England led to another penalty appeal and VAR review. A corner from Kelly brushed the hand of Louis (which was in an unnatural position) and after a quick review, England had their penalty. Stanway stepped up and smashed the ball towards the top left corner but at full-stretch the Haiti goalkeeper tipped it past the post. A magnificent save. However, Haiti’s joy did not last long because Theus had stepped off her line, forcing the penalty to be retaken. Take two for Stanway and this time she made no mistake cooly slotting her penalty into the bottom corner. To no surprise, England continued to create many chances, but Haiti stayed solid at the back while creating a few more chances of their own. England went in 1-0 up but it was Haiti who were they happier of the two sides.

The second half started with Haiti being the dominate team and multiple chances fell to the likes of Dumornay and Mondesir but saves from Earps kept England ahead. Haiti’s dominance did not last more than 10 minutes, and England found their flow again which forced the Haiti goalkeeper into action on many occasions. It was chance after chance for England, but they could not find that second goal, which they needed to calm the nerves. Thankfully, for the Lionesses they did not need a second goal after a strong defensive performance kept them in the lead all the way to the final whistle. 1-0 England and a much-needed win in their opening game thanks to a composed penalty from Stanway.

A remarkably similar slow start to England’s Euro campaign and hopefully a similar end…