FIFA Women's World Cup: US, Japan make fast starts as England poised to enter fray
AUCKLAND uckland (AFP) - 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, before Japan crushed Zambia 5-0.
European champions England enter the fray at 0930 GMT when they face Haiti and will be looking to stamp their mark on the tournament much like the United States, Japan and Spain have. Sophia Smith was the star of the show for holders the United States at Eden Park in Auckland, scoring twice against Vietnam 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 the goal. They had 27 attempts to Vietnam's none and Alex Morgan missed a 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 re-run of the 2019 final. The US won that game 2-0 to retain their title.
Japan stroll
Japan are not the threat they were in 2011, when they went on to lift the World Cup, but they were much too good for Zambia. Zambia are the lowest-ranked team at the World Cup and they were on the back foot for long periods against a Japan team who looked like scoring every time they went forward.
Much like the US against Vietnam, the scoreline actually flattered the losers and Zambia could easily have lost by more in front of 16,111 spectators in the New Zealand city of Hamilton. Hinata Miyazawa scored twice and Mina Tanaka, Jun Endo and Riko Ueki were also on the scoresheet as Japan joined Spain on three points in Group C.
To cap a disastrous day, Zambia goalkeeper Catherine Musonda was sent off at the death for a second yellow card and conceded a penalty, which Ueki slotted in at the second attempt. Spain cruised past Costa Rica 3-0 on Friday and England will be expected to beat debutants Haiti in Brisbane by much the same scoreline.
However, England's build-up has been overshadowed by a row over bonuses for the Lionesses and their form has been patchy. They are also missing three key players -- captain Leah Williamson, Euro 2022 Golden Boot winner Beth Mead and Chelsea forward Fran Kirby, all ruled out before the tournament with injuries.
In the final match of a bumper day of four games, China face Denmark at 1200 GMT in Perth.
Weight of history
Title contenders Sweden, France and the Netherlands all feature on Sunday. Sweden will not be weighed down by a series of near-misses when they launch their latest World Cup bid, coach Peter Gerhardsson said. The third-ranked Swedes face South Africa and Gerhardsson is adamant that history will not be a factor.
Sweden will be expected to beat the African champions and go on to qualify from their group. That would continue an enviable run of consistency for the Scandinavian side, who have only once failed to advance to the knockout phase at all eight previous World Cups.
But they have never gone on to win the trophy, their best performance being runners-up to Germany in 2003. "History's history and the future is the future, you can only live where we are now," Gerhardsson said. "For us, I like the word 'possibility' because you can feel it, you can win many games and you can win tournaments. "The focus is on the first game, you can't be weighing your mind on what's going to happen after then."
