Day 3 at the Women’s World Cup and Arsenal players were again in action for their countries. Not in the 2am UK kickoff between USA and Vietnam however, which the US won 3-0.
Japan’s 5-0 win over Zambia at 8am also didn’t feature any Gunners but the two later games did. Alessia Russo led the line for England, playing for 76 minutes as the Lionesses got off to a winning start against Haiti, squeezing out a 1-0 victory thanks to Georgia Stanway’s first half penalty.
Your #Lionesses for our first game of the tournament! 🏴 pic.twitter.com/npKM72s0sD
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 22, 2023
Lotte Wubben-Moy was an unused sub for England in that game. In the final game and in England and Haiti’s group, Arsenal’s Katherine Kuhl played for 63 minutes of Denmark’s 1-0 victory against China. That leaves Friday’s encounter between Denmark and England delicately poised.
Arsenal’s Katherine Kuhl starts for #DEN against #CHN today. https://t.co/2ouPTqPAEP
— Tim Stillman (@Stillmanator) July 22, 2023
There is plenty of Arsenal interest tomorrow as Amanda Ilestedt, Stina Blackstenius and Lina Hurtig’s Sweden kick off their tournament against South Africa at 6am UK. Then at 8.30am, Victoria Pelova’s Netherlands take on Portugal. France v Jamaica completes the line-up at 11am.
Come on ladies
Rather than blaming “rusty” players who have not long finished their domestic seasons and have been together for almost a month, you have to question if Wiegman wants the Lionesses to win. The wingers were doing quite well until she decided to swap them over at which point they both became less effective. Then she took off Hemp for James and Lessi for Daly while leaving both Toone and Walsh, who provided absolutely nothing between them, on the pitch. If it wasn’t for Mary Earps that could have been quite a large embarrassment!
Not an embarrassment exactly because Haiti looked very dangerous! But yes, that was a real “phew, got out of jail” game.
I have to largely agree but, on her record, I really want to believe that Sarina has the situation under control. But four games with no goal from open play? It’s difficult to understand why so many are playing at a level below what we know they can achieve. The only one who currently looks world class is Mary Earps. However, a successful World Cup campaign can stutter at the start. In 1966 there wasn’t a lot of optimism about England after the first uninspiring 0-0 draw against Uruguay. And for those whose memories don’t go back as far as… Read more »
I am so relieved for Denmark, getting their win. I remember China from the Olympics, such an annoying side. I have everything crossed that Kühl and the gang get through the group along with England. Japan were superb, but they will need to be more clinical against better sides. The less said about Zambia the better. The US were excellent too. Vietnam defended stoutly but had no clue as to what to do on the occasions when they broke out. Sophia Smith is something else. I find this US team more entertaining and technical than previous versions. Spain are awesome… Read more »
Agreed about Riise. She is straight from the Numpty Neville and Hope Powell school of coaching basing selection on reputation rather than current form. I thought bringing in Wiegman was going to be a breath of fresh air initially but the run up to the World Cup would have been and ideal time to experiment but she didn’t because she was getting results. Now changes have been forced on her due to major players suffering long term injuries she seems as lost as the previous coaches.
I’m going to have to disagree on two fronts. Hope Powell is a good manager, made England professional in attitude. Not a great manager, we were never going to win anything major with her in charge BUT we were behind other nations when she took over and there was a stage we had to go through to get to where we are today. Off the pitch was where she was really important, forcing women’s football into the consciousness of the FA and laying the foundations. Decent for Brighton and much loved there, I think. Phil Neville was indeed a numpty… Read more »
Don’t get me wrong, I admire what Hope Powell has done for the women’s game in the UK both as a player and off the pitch. There are two incidences I recall that convinced me that we needed a change. I cannot recall the tournament but we were chasing a game that we needed a result from and she brought on Kelly Smith. Now I agree, Kelly Smith in her day was probably the only world class player we had but her leg was barely out of plaster after being broken some time earlier. What was she even doing there?… Read more »
Yeah, fair enough – those were not great decisions!
And actually that makes me think of Sarina Wiegman starting a half-fit Lieke Martens over a fully fit DvD in the Euros of 2017…
Amen to that but as a Kiwi I’m glad they didn’t!
Daly should be the starting CF for England, not Russo. She’s more dynamic, IMO.
Any thoughts about Sweden’s game? Stina played very much as she does for us so I did try to concentrate on Amanda Ilestedt. I was a little concerned about her pace but she positions herself well and is good at keeping an eye on the positions of the other players. She was very conservative in her distribution of the ball, most of the time making short passes to Magdalena Eriksson (perfectly sensible when playing alongside a player of that quality). It wasn’t until the 78th minute that I saw her make a long pass – but then when she did… Read more »
First match, big tournament, I thought she did quite well. With a goal under her belt her confidence should be high so let’s see how the next couple of games go before jumping to conclusions.
Interesting you didn’t comment on Lina Hurtig’s performance. I know she was there she is in the goal celebration photos!
She was only came on late in the game and didn’t have any real opportunity to get involved.