I’m going to need some oxygen.
I knew I was excited about the opening of the 2023 Women’s World Cup, but I had no idea that the play would be so ferocious right out of the gate.
New Zealand vs Norway
On opening day not one, but BOTH host nations won their openers 1-0. One, New Zealand, was a considerable underdog and played the best game in the history of their country. The other, Australia, lost their captain and best player just hours before kickoff. Both teams had to dig down to prevail. It was an inspiring first day.
If we’re being completely honest, most people expected the opening match between New Zealand’s Football Ferns and Norway’s Grasshoppers to be a bit of a yawner. Sure, the Ferns would be their usual try-hard selves but they ultimately wouldn’t have the armaments to stand tall against the giants from Scandanavia. Seriously, on the pitch, Norway towered over New Zealand. It’s like a group of hyperathletic runway models.
No one gave New Zealand the foggiest prayer of winning. Every AI analysis looked like this:
But it went the other way.
New Zealand came out flying to the ball, pressing like their lives depended on it and making Norway fight for every step. “There’s no way they can keep this pace up.” I told my daughter. But then they did, all throughout the first half. I love so many of Norway’s players – Guro Reiten, Frida Maanum, Ada Hegerberg, Caroline Graham Hansen, Maren Mjelde – it’s like a who’s who of the top names in Europe, but they were decimated by the devil-may-care press from the Ferns.
New Zealand zeroed them out. Caroline Graham Hansen touched the ball like once in the first half and created Norway’s best scoring chance but other than that she was a ghost. How do you play keepaway from players of that caliber for 90 minutes? You hustle like you’ve never hustled before.
The Ferns scored right after halftime on a textbook goal from Hannah Wilkinson and never looked back. Only in the final ten minutes or so of regulation did their legs and conditioning finally give out and Norway was primed to come back. New Zealand got a penalty kick in the 88th minute off a hand ball but the shot sailed inches high and caught crossbar instead of net.
You could feel all the air come out of the home crowd as nine extra minutes of stoppage time were put on the clock. The momentum fully swung to Norway in the final minutes and there were a few close calls but the Ferns managed to pull it out and the 42 thousand fans in attendance erupted as New Zealand got their first ever World Cup victory – men or women.
Instead of calling out the names of those Women’s Super League standouts, instead play was dominated by two of the scrappiest players I’ve seen since the Euros ended.
- Defender CJ Bott Played the game of her life. She was Roy Kent. Here, there and Everyfuckingwhere. I can’t say enough about her hustle, her grit, her toughness, her crazy soft touch and how she always looked for through balls or to send forwards down the field. She was AMAZING.
- Ditto for Malia Steinmetz. She was exceptional. I was blown away by her ability to press, to inject herself into Norway’s passing lanes and her command of the passing game. At one point she walked all the way through the Norway defense and was a step away from rattling off a shot.
- Ferns Captain Ali Riley was rock solid, as usual. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her play a bad game. She was so fired up going into this world cup that when the Ferns scored in the 48th minute I told my daughter “if they can hold on Ali Riley is going to cry her face off.” And she did! Here’s her bawling with joy after the match:
Norway isn’t done. Sometimes the best thing for a team of this caliber is to get punched in the face to clear out the cobwebs. I came away most impressed by the play of 31 year old Emilie Haavi.
To give you a sense of how deep Norway is, Haavi won player of the year in Italy’s Serie-A league and couldn’t even get into Norway’s starting 11. When she came on as a substitute she helped really swing momentum to Norway’s side and fabricated several excellent plays and scoring chances. I love Haavi. She looks like a crazy person sometimes with her intense eyes and she does these insane frog jumps before coming into the game but she’s tremendous. Norway should do everything in its power to get her on the pitch more.
Australia VS IRELAND
The day before this opening match, the Matildas got the terrible news that their captain and the player most favored to win the Golden Boot as the tournament’s high scorer (I have my money on the USA’s Sophia Smith) had a calf injury and would miss two games.
Still, there was a ton of excitement as the Tildas opened up the tournament in front of 78 thousand fans.
On the other side, beloved soccer queen Katie McCabe captaining Ireland’s Girls in Green.
The Tildas are stacked with international talent and professional players. Ireland has McCabe, Denise O’Sullivan and then a bunch of sweethearts that work at the local five and dime. In that way, this matchup felt similar to the Ferns staring down the mighty Grasshoppers. Historically, neither New Zealand or Ireland has had the type of program that has developed homegrown stars.
While the Ferns came out on the attack, the Girls in Green took the more cautious approach and sat back in their 5-4-1 formation, content to play defense from the get-go and look for chances when they came.
The Matildas were expected to dominate, but without Sam Kerr they came out flatfooted. The first half was an inauspicious start for both teams and felt more like a NWSL game than an international one.
Things did pick up in the second half and you have to admire the determination of Katie McCabe. She fought like a titan. Solid on defense. Sending through balls. Doing everything she could to give this team a spark short of throwing punches.
Ultimately there was an unfortunate penalty in the box and captain and Arsenal star Steph Catley made Ireland pay. The game ended 1-0 and Ireland will certainly be crushed to open with a loss in their first ever World Cup game, but it took the Ferns 15 matches before they tallied their first W. Ireland should hold their heads high.
Here’s the lovely Marissa Sheva crying on the sidelines after she committed the penalty that gave the Tildas the win. You hate to see the pain, but you love to see the passion.
As for the Matildas, I chuckled when several reputable soccer pundits favored them to win the whole tournament. I love the Tildas. They’re great. But I feel like we all love Australia so much and the players themselves, that every few years we get hopeful aaaaaaaaand then the Tildas always find a way to let us down. I want to believe, but without Sam Kerr, Australia looked dreadful. There was some notable hustle from Manchester City’s Hayley Raso and Arsenal’s Caitlin Foord, but if Australia wants to make a true run at the title, they’ll need Sam Kerr back and everyone will need to get their game faces on.
That’s it for day one! This is going to be a flat-out corker of a tournament. See you on Day 2!
