Disappointing England come away with a win

Disjointed, rusty, wasteful, underwhelming. A few of the words used to describe England’s performance in their opening Women’s World Cup match against Haiti on Saturday.

The European Champions are one of the favourites for the tournament, and many expected the Lionesses to ease past the World Cup debutants. Despite England coming away with all three points, as predicted, it was far from simple, as the young Haiti side made life difficult for Sarina Weigman and her team.

England were in control throughout the match, but their performance was subdued. Lauren Hemp, Chloe Kelly and Alessia Russo each had chances early on, but the best chance of the opening quarter of an hour fell to Roselord Borgella. Clean through on goal after a great pass from Melchie Dumornay, she could only drag her shot wide of the far post against the on rushing Mary Earps.

There was a penalty shout in the 17th minute, Dayana Louis colliding with Chloe Kelly’s lower leg. Whilst there was certainly contact, the penalty was not awarded due to a foul from Alessia Russo in the build-up.

Another came nine minutes later. England awarded a spot kick after a handball from Batcheba Louis. Georgia Stanway stepped up, and saw her effort brilliantly saved by Kerly Theus who pushed the ball round her right hand post.

But the VAR drama didn’t end there. Stanway allowed to retake the penalty due to Theus having been off her line. It was second time lucky for the Bayern Munich midfielder, who went the same way, burying the ball in the bottom left corner, with Theus rooted to the spot. After 29 minutes, England had lift off.

Lionesses supporters would have hoped that after the first goal, the floodgates would open, but in truth, England never really looked like adding to their lead. That’s despite the abundance of shots they took - 22 with 11 on target throughout the match, with finishing below par and Kerly Theus excellent. The same can be said for England’s Mary Earps, who made a vital save with her left foot with ten minutes to play.

England’s build up play was uninspiring, the midfield well stifled by Haiti, Ella Toone struggling particularly. As had been the case in friendlies prior to the tournament, England very often looked to play down the flanks, but Alessia Russo too often had to drop deep, leaving no one in the box to connect with crosses from Hemp and Kelly. WSL Golden Boot winner, and starting left back at last summer’s Euros Rachel Daly, who many tipped to start ahead of Russo up front, didn’t have it much better when she came on, although the debate over who should be England’s starting striker will no doubt rumble on. As will questions over whether Lauren James deserves to feature from the off, having replaced Lauren Hemp just after the hour mark.

Beth Mead, Player of the Tournament and Golden Boot winner at Euro 2022, was always going to be a huge loss. Of course, she’s not the only Lionesses star missing who has had injury woes. Captain Leah Williamson is also out with an Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury, like her Arsenal teammate, her calm presence was also missed within the England defence, which wasn’t as sharp or composed as we’ve come to expect, right back Lucy Bronze’s attacking tendencies leaving her teammates exposed.

Haiti were brilliant on the counter, allowing England to dominate the ball, patiently waiting their turn before springing into action, they executed their game plan really well. 19 year old Melchie Dumornay was the best player on the pitch, causing the England defence no end of problems as she looked to get in behind. If she hadn’t recently secured a move to Lyon, I have little doubt that the rumour mill would now be swirling. This could well be looked back on as the game in which she announced herself to the world.

Haiti looked like a side ranked much higher than 53rd in the world, and may still fancy their chances against Denmark and China, neither of whom looked great in attack as they got their campaigns underway, the Danes 1-0 winners thanks to substitute Amalie Vangsgaard’s 89th minute goal.

For England, the hope will be that the team just need a little more time to gel. Defender Alex Greenwood has said as much. Millie Bright was playing her first game in four months, having been out injured, and the Women’s Super League season finished seven weeks ago, with England having played just the one friendly between then and the start of the World Cup.

Comparisons have been drawn to the opening game of Euro 2022 in which England’s performance was lacklustre as beat Austria by a goal to nil. In the next game they put eight past Norway, in what was expected to be a more difficult fixture. Whilst England almost certainly won’t beat Denmark as easily on Friday, I do think they have enough to make a run to the latter stages of the tournament, they just need to kick into gear.