Euro winners England begin their quest for the Women’s World Cup title against debutants Haiti on Saturday.
ENG-W vs HAI-W Match Details
Date: Saturday, 22 July 2023
Time: 15:30 (IST) / 20:00 (ACT)
Venue: Lang Park, Brisbane
ENG-W vs HAI-W Match Preview
An emphatic display last summer as England claimed the Women’s European Championship by winning every game of the tournament. The aim will be now to seize the biggest platform of women’s football but they have to do it without key contributors to that win. The Lionesses lost Golden Boot winner at the Euros, Beth Mead and Fran Kirby while later captain Leah Williamson also went down with an ACL injury during the club season. Chelsea’s Millie Bright also gave a scare with a knee injury but has made full recovery to feature in their opening group stage game at the 2023 Women’s World Cup. England have players to fill in their position although there are questions whether they can set the same standard. Sarina Weigman’s side also saw their levels drop down a bit this year with their unbeaten run under the manager coming to an end against Australia and goalless draws with Portugal and Canada have raised concerns. They hope to turn up in the finals and topple USA’s dominance whom they lost in the semifinals four years ago. Weigman’s Netherlands lost to the holders in the final too so there will be an urge from the manager herself. Denmark is the notable threat for the Lionesses in the group but they cannot take Haiti’s challenge in the opener lightly either.
Haiti took the most difficult route through the Confederation playoffs but scripted a fairytale when they beat South American counterparts Paraguay and Chile to make it to their debut Women’s World Cup. Those wins were not scrappy or obtained after everyone sat in a low block rather Les Grenadières dominated those outings scoring six goals over two matches conceding just one late to Chile in the final. They got into the playoffs in the first place by finishing third in their 2022 CONCAF Women’s Championship with the format increase to 32 teams helping in that. Most of the scoring happened due to 19-year-old Melchie Dumornay who is already the talisman for her nation. Fondly known as Corventina, she will look to disrupt the Millie Bright-Alex Greenwood centre-back partnership or any other pairing at the back in the opener against England. Playing your debut game against Europe’s best at a World Cup stage is never easy so Haiti want to extract any sort of optimism from the match and carry it to the next games. That being said they are in a very tough group with Asian champions China and Denmark after a long period of absence from the stage will have their say.
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ENG-W: DDLDW
HAI-W: LWWLW
ENG-W vs HAI-W Predicted Lineups
ENG-W: Mary Earps; Lucy Bronze, Millie Bright, Alex Greenwood, Jessica Carter; Georgia Stanway, Keira Walsh; Lauren James, Ella Toone. Lauren Hemp, Alessia Russo
HAI-W: Theus; Surpris, Limage, Joseph, K. Louis; Jeudy, Pierre-Louis; B. Louis, Dumornay, Mondesir; Borgella
Also check out England 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup Squad and Haiti Squad for FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023
ENG-W vs HAI-W Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Earps (8)
DEF: Bronze (9), Bright (8.5), Louis (8.5)
MID: Dumornay (9), Toone (8.5), Limage (8.5), Hemp (8.5)
FW: Jeudy (9), Russo (9), James (7.5)
Vice-captain: Lauren Hemp
Captain: Alessia Russo
