…Nigeria in early morning duel plays Canada at 0330 hours of Friday.
New Zealand on Thursday morning made history winning their first ever women’s world cup match clipping former champions, Norway in the 2023 tournament opening encounter.
Melbourne Australia City Striker, 31 year old, tallish with 1.76m height Hannah Wilkinson who also plays Rugby was the tormentor in chief of disappointing Norway and she scored from a thorough pass she received from J. Haud in the 48th minute.
Cover photo is Hannah Wilkinson of New Zealand in shirt number 17.
The Wilkinson goal made the Eden Park stadium to erupt in ecstasy like a volcano but a penalty kick awarded by Ref Yoshimi Yamashita from Japan was lost in the 88th minute by 33 year old Defensive Midfielder, Ria Percival as her shot hit the horizontal bar and was eventually saved.
I report that New Zealand has never scored a penalty in a world cup tournament final but the nation broke one jinx by winning their first match ever, the tournament opener which will surely pop the Champagne. There were 42,137 fans at the stands which was also the highest number of spectators at a football match in the last decade.
New Zealand out played Norway in almost all departments having 12 shots at goal and 2 on target as against Norway’s 13 shots at goal and 2 on target; but Norway had 15 foul calls against 5 of New Zealand meaning they were rough and desperate.
New Zealand is a wasteful team that could not take advantage of 8-2 corner kicks in their favor though the first yellow card of the tournament went to Norway.
Next match in group A will be Philippines versus Switzerland on Friday 21st July; group second round matches will feature Norway trying to redeem their prowess against Switzerland on 25th July same day when New Zealand will trying to overwhelm Philippines for a second win while the final group matches will be played simultaneously on 30th July between Switzerland and New Zealand as well as Norway versus Philippines.
For the records, Ref Yamashita of Japan born 20th February 1986 is an International Ref who officiated in the last Women’s World Cup France 2019 and at the Summer Olympics. She was one of the three women who officiated for the first time in Men’s world cup final at Qatar.. .
New Zealand was there in 1991; 2007; 2011; 2015 and the last tournament in 2019 but made zero impact.
Six times New Zealand met Norway but had only a win on 9th April 2019 at 1-0. She lost thrice; 27th November 2014 0-2; 10th March 2020 1-2; and 25th June 2022 0-2. She earned two draws against Norway on 5th April 2019 1-1; and another 1-1 on 25th November 2014. All matches were international friendly matches.
Norway has a better record in 8th appearances of 1991; 1995; 1999; 2003; 2007; 2011; 2015 and 2019 meaning the Norwegians appeared in every competition from 1991.
Norway was runners-up in 1991 when she beat Sweden 4-1 in the Semifinal and lost to USA 1-2 in the final. Norway won at Sweden 95 after pummeling Nigeria’s Super Falcon 8-0 in the group B games winning all matches to top the group where England was 2nd, Canada 3rd and Nigeria 4th. Norway piped USA 1-0 in the semifinal and lashed Germany 2-0 in the finals before a crowd of 17,158 fans in the match handled by Ref Ingrid Jonsson of Sweden.
In 1999, Norway lost to China 0-5 in the semifinal but lost the Bronze Medal to Brazil via penalty shootout after a goalless match 4-5. In 2007, in China, Norway lost to Germany 0-3 in the semifinal and again lost the Bronze medal 1-4 to USA.
Tomorrow Friday 21st June Nigeria will square up against Canada at 0330 hours (not 1530 hours as I earlier reported) in Group B; Philippines will play Switzerland at 0600 hours while Spain will try Costa Rica for size at 0830 hours all Nigerian time.
There was a serious scare at Auckland before the opening ceremony when an armed man killed two people but Prime Minister Chris Hipkins waved it aside saying it will not affect the tournament as embassies published that there was no harm to their citizens.
Police Commissioner, Andrew Coster said though no arrest has been made, the suspect is a 24 year old who had a pump action short gun on a construction site.
Eniola Olatunji reporting for Patmos Media Line.
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