Penalties, parity & Concacaf repping well
Notes from the first round of games in the 2023 World Cup
... from the USA, for now …
Just past midnight Tuesday morning on the American east coast, Colombia celebrated victory over South Korea in Sydney. Radiating through our screens from far-off, came an elated mass of Colombians, celebrating every move from start to stop, waking us from midnight slumber.
The match (which ended 2-0 in Colombia’s favor) saw 16-year-old Jersey-born Casey Phair debut for South Korea as the youngest ever player in the World Cup. On the other end, cancer survivor turned football virtuoso, Linda Caicedo, scored in her World Cup debut at just 18 years old.
The match also marked the 16th test of the group stage, thus ushering in the next round of games as every nation has, as of today, played officially at least once.
A few things I’m chewing on after that first batch of games:
Penalties
In what first felt uncanny before settling down at a steep pace, the first eight games of the tournament featured a penalty in each one.
Australia’s opening match (a rather physical near-truce that was absent Aussie striker Sam Kerr) was decided by one. Steph Catley’s fire from the spot secured the host nation victory 1-0, enough to give 75,000 fans in Sydney a reason to erupt.
New Zealand overcame Norway 1-0 in a historic opener of their own, despite a penalty flub within, that could have increased the margin (a flub that may come round to haunt them in a tightly contested group).
Canada’s 0-0 draw with Nigeria may have gone another way had Christine Sinclair made history with her penalty, a moment that would have marked a Sinclair-goal in six straight World Cups.
Alas, she has time. Perhaps against Ireland in the morning.
Of Switzerland’s two-goal victory over the Philippines, one was Ramona Bachmann’s pen. A cool strike to the left corner past California-born McDaniel made it 1-0, and the Swiss controlled fate from then on.
Spain’s (And Barcelona Femeni’s) all-time leading scorer, Jenni Hermoso, botched from the spot what could have been a fourth goal for Spain against Las Ticas.
Later that day, Alex Morgan did the same against Vietnam.
Japan’s fifth of five goals was a penalty in stoppage time, as Zambia had their keeper Catherine Musonda sent off.
Georgia Stanway’s penalty is all that took England past Haiti 1-0, despite the opportunities conjured beyond. (They outshot Haiti 21-7, and Haiti’s keeper made a remarkable 10 saves).
Following that match, a remarkable stat became evident: the first eight games of the tournament, all listed above, each featured a penalty.
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