Day three of the FIFA Women’s World Cup saw four matches played. Some of the tournament’s favorites begin their tournaments. The USA, Japan, and England all kicked things off against World Cup debutants Zambia, Vietnam, and Haiti. The final match of the day gave us an evenly contested matchup between China and Denmark. Let’s look back at the third day of the tournament!
The USWNT is on a quest to win their third World Cup in a row. They started things off well by beating Vietnam 3-0. While the scoreline is a flattering one, this game was much closer than it seemed at times. Look back at our in-depth recap of the USA’s first win at this tournament:
Day three saw one of the tournament favorites Japan take the field for the first time. They took on debutants Zambia, and early on in the match, it seemed like Japan would be on the front foot for most of the game. Japan love to build up their attacking sequences by keeping the ball and forcing opponents into mistakes. They did this for the entire first half, but they failed to find a goal. Japan thought they had the opener in the 21st minute but were offside. It took 43 minutes to find the opening goal, but when it went in the floodgates opened.
Zambia did well to stay compact and organized in the first half, but couldn’t stop Hinata Miyazawa from scoring just before halftime. After that Zambia ran out of gas. To start the second half Japan’s Mina Tanaka thought she had scored but was ruled offside for the second time in the match. She eventually got her goal in the 55th minute to make it 2-0. Seven minutes later Japan had a third, and Zambia knew the match was lost.
The final 30 minutes of the game were full of action for Japan. They added a fourth goal in the 71st minute to make it 4-0. In second-half stoppage time, Zambia’s frustration boiled over as Catherine Musonda got a second yellow and was sent off. Japan would add their fifth and final goal shortly after from the penalty spot. Zambia had no shots in this match. They couldn’t break the relentless Japanese attack; as a result, they are at the bottom of their World Cup group, while Japan sits at the top.
In the first match of Group D play, a favorite to win the final, England, took on the first-timers Haiti. The beginning of the game was a back-and-forth affair. From the jump, it was clear that Haiti wasn’t going to just sit in. When they repelled England’s advances, they looked to hit them on a counterattack through their star player Melchi Dumornay. The match was moving at a frantic pace until the 28th minute.
England won a penalty kick after a handball in the box by Haiti. England’s Georgia Stanway stepped up and seemed to have her shot saved by Haiti’s Kerly Theus. However, after a VAR review, Theus was deemed to have encroached off her line early to save the shot. Stanway went back to the spot, and slotted home an attempt to make it 1-0 for England in the 29th minute. The match stayed wide open after the goal, and England grew in confidence.
As the match grew into the second half, England kept on coming, and Haiti kept on defending. The star on the day was Haiti’s goalkeeper Theus. Even though she couldn’t stop the second penalty kick, she still made 10 saves in the match to keep Haiti in the game. It looked like Haiti might find a late equalizer, but England’s keeper Mary Earps made a great save to preserve all three points. England will probably not feel that good about these three points; while Haiti will be encouraged to push for points in their next two World Cup matches!
Denmark and China are ranked 13th and 14th in the FIFA world rankings respectively. They met in their opening game at this World Cup and gave us a show. The match was very even, a testament to the closeness of their world rankings. Each nation was able to create opportunities to score, but the quality of those opportunities was lacking.
Denmark was able to create 13 shots, China was able to create nine, and both nations only had two on goal. Of all of those shots, Denmark only created one big chance and China had none. The action came in the buildup play, as both nations looked to use the ball quickly to create attacks. What ended up happening most of the time is the team without the ball was pressing the team with the ball into mistakes. One spot where that didn’t happen was the in the 89th minute.
It looked like the match was destined to end in a draw when Denmark won a corner kick. They then were able to execute a well-worked set piece. While the majority of both Denmark’s and China’s players crowded the six-yard box, a ball was floated out toward the top of the 18. A first-time header from Pernille Harder went into the mixer of players in the box, and Denmark’s Amalie Vangsgaard was first to react. She struck the ball past China’s onrushing keeper to score the winning goal. It was an eventful opening World Cup game for China, but Denmark walked away with all three points.
Tim Lovenguth | Regina Ham | Paul Frenzel | Jimmy King | Liam Jenkins
Mandatory Credit: AP Photo/Abbie Parr, AP Photo/Andrew Cornaga, AP Photo/John Cowpland, AP Photo/Tertius Pickard, & AP Photo/Gary Day
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