Day One Recap & Looking Ahead

The virtually unblemished historical record of WWC hosts continued unabated on Day One as both Australia, as expected, and New Zealand, in a shock, won 1-0 in tense and entertaining matches.

Most Disappointing: Norway, clearly. Looking back at the match it was as if the defenders, midfielders and attackers had been training separately for a month. There was no cohesion in their play and, given their theoretical talent advantage, it was remarkable that they didn't manage to pull NZ out of their defensive structure. On the rare occasion they created a half chance it was down to a slip or misjudgement through over commitment from a Kiwi defender. They need to figure out how to get Reiten and Hansen on the ball in dangerous areas if they are going to do anything in this tournament.

Most Impressive: The obvious answer is New Zealand but I want to highlight Ireland's performance in the last 20 minutes against Australia. Larkin and Payne, supported from deeper by O'Sullivan and McCabe, forced the Aussies into a series of mistakes and they really could have snatched something from the match. The way in which they attacked en masse forced defensive changes from Tony Gustafson which, as it turned out, didn't solve the problems but only invited more pressure. If they can show a little more composure when getting into promising positions I wouldn't put it past them to upset Canada.

Looking ahead to day two, we have three matches. Given the timings, I'll be back covering Spain vs Costa Rica live but hope to catch up on the Canada/Nigeria and Switzerland/Philippines matches in some form. Very excited to see Alexia Putellas tomorrow. If she's anywhere near full fitness I quite fancy Spain in this tournament. Take care!