Women’s World Cup: Penalty drama helps England safe 1-0 win over Haiti of their first match

England have gained their first Women’s World Cup match with a 1-0 victory over Haiti in Brisbane.

It took 29 minutes for Georgia Stanway to push the Lionesses into the lead with a retaken penalty – aiming the ball low into the left nook of the web.

England appeared dominant from the beginning, with Alessia Russo working rings across the defence to take an early probability after 5 minutes.

There was additionally an opportunity with a penalty after 18 minutes when Haitian participant Dayana Pierre-Louis was given a yellow card for a foul within the space.

Russo nearly landed a header after 20 minutes.

The first half turned on two penalties after a handball, with the primary replayed after VAR dominated the Haitian goalkeeper got here off the road.

England saved up the stress within the second half however have been unable to safe a second objective.

Haiti got here tantalisingly near scoring within the 81st minute, however England goalkeeper Mary Earps made a surprising cease together with her ft to dam the try.

“They challenged us and were very dangerous on the counter-attack. That’s something we’ll work on in training this week,” Stanway mentioned after the match.

“Mary came up with a big save and everybody played their part. It’s saves like that that keep us in this tournament.

“The most necessary factor is that we have three factors and it is the primary recreation. Off to a great begin.”

She added: “The first recreation is to settle the nerves, you possibly can construct momentum. It’s simply good to get that World Cup really feel after watching for 2 days.”

Boss Sarina Wiegman mentioned: “It was a very hard game. I’m very happy with the three points.

“Haiti are unpredictable, they’re very transitional, and that is what they confirmed.

“We were struggling with that. I think we had a lot of possession but they were really tough in the duels, they were very quick. We did create chances but we lost the ball at moments where we weren’t expecting it and then they were gone, so that was hard for us.

“Overall what we need to do is end our possibilities. And somewhat higher within the possession recreation. I hope within the subsequent recreation in open play we are able to rating objectives.”

The odds have been stacked in opposition to Haiti’s Les Grenadieres, who have been 49 locations behind England within the international rankings.