The England women were off to a bright start in the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Alessia Russo, Lotte Wubben Moy, and Co. must be elated by the fact that they managed to tame a stubborn Haiti, even if through a penalty that Georgia Stanway converted in the 29th minute of that Group D clash. Much has been said about the Lionesses win, but of all that’s been said, a win is a win. They just have to look forward to their other group games against Denmark (where Russo and Wubben Moy will be facing Kathrine Kuhl) on July 28 and then China in August.
The Lionesses are banking on being confident in their strategy to crown their Euros win last summer with the World Cup trophy, as per their latest hero, Stanway, who said in reaction to the win against Haiti, as per the national team’s website:
“They challenged us and were very dangerous on the counterattack, so that’s something that we’ll work on in training this week.
“We knew they were going to be dangerous; Mary came up with a big save, and everybody played their part.
“We got the three points on the board, and the most important thing is that we got three points, and it’s the first game, so off to a good start.
“The first game is just to settle the nerves; you can build momentum, and it’s just nice to get that World Cup feel after watching for two days.”
She also addressed the penalty re-take and the drama surrounding her penalty conversion: “I was just focused on the ball and I was focused on the situation. You block out everything that’s around you. To be fair, the first one was a very good save, so credit for the save, but obviously, she was off the line.”
About whether she was tempted to change the side she placed the pemalty on the second hit, she added: “A little bit, but then at the same time you’ve just got to be confident in your own strategy; there’s a process that I go through, and I just stuck to that.”
It wasn’t easy, but England will just be happy to have started with 3 points. I’m sure they will improve as they go along…
Michelle Maxwell
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