LAST UPDATE | 22 Jul 2023
THE UNITED STATES launched their bid for an unprecedented third consecutive Women’s World Cup crown with a 3-0 win over Vietnam on Saturday.
The 22-year-old attacker Sophia Smith was the star of the show at Eden Park in Auckland, scoring twice and setting up captain Lindsey Horan for the third in front of just over 41,000 fans.
The only sour note for Vlatko Andonovski’s side, which featured six World Cup debutants at kick-off, was that they were not more ruthless in front of goal.
They had 27 attempts to Vietnam’s none and Alex Morgan missed a first-half penalty.
“At the end I just felt we needed to be a little bit better with the final shot,” said the coach.
“We created opportunities, we had a penalty kick, obviously enough to score a few more goals, but there are lots of positives from game one going into game two.”
Next up for the Americans, who brought veteran Megan Rapinoe off the bench for the last 30 minutes, are the Dutch in a rerun of the 2019 final. The US won that game 2-0 to retain their title.
“I think it is a good place to start and personally it was good to just get a World Cup game under my belt and see how it felt,” said Smith after enjoying a dream debut at the tournament.
“I think it honestly just makes me more excited for the next game.”
Meanwhile, Hinata Miyazawa scored twice as former champions Japan smashed Women’s World Cup newcomers Zambia 5-0 in a rampant start to their campaign.
Japan were a class above the 77th-ranked Africans, creating a slew of chances with their sharp movement and passing in a performance that will have the tournament heavyweights on alert.
Three of the goals came through sweeping upfield movements as Japan scored more than twice in a World Cup game for the first time since the 2011 tournament in Germany, when they lifted the title.
Midfielder Miyazawa bagged her first midway through the first half from an Aoba Fujino assist to put the Nadeshiko a goal up at the break.
Mina Tanaka doubled the lead from Jun Endo’s cross, bringing some relief to the forward, who found the net twice earlier in the match, only to have both strikes ruled out by belated offside rulings.
Tanaka turned provider for Miyazawa’s second goal and Endo drilled home the fourth in front of a crowd of 16,111 in Hamilton.
Substitute Riko Ueki scored the final goal from the penalty spot after she was brought down by goalkeeper Catherine Musonda in the final minute of stoppage time.
It resulted in a second yellow card for Musonda, whose replacement Eunice Sakala made a spectacular save from the spot but was ruled to have moved too early.
Ueki made no mistake with her second attempt as Japan moved to the top of Group C ahead of Spain, who beat Costa Rica 3-0 in Wellington on Friday.
A youthful Zambian side entered the tournament with high hopes after beating Germany in their final warmup game.
However, the lowest-ranked side at the 32-team tournament didn’t create a single clear chance, capping a miserable week in which key attacking midfielder Grace Chanda was ruled out of the tournament with illness.
Written by AFP and posted on the42.ie
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say