Game 8 - England vs Haiti

On paper another mismatch but how cool is it for Haiti, a country that has had to deal with so much devastation, to make an appearance at this World Cup. Their men's team played at the 1974 World Cup, losing all three matches but Emmanuel Salon, who scored both of Haiti's goals at that tournament, was named one of the 100 heroes of the World Cup in 1994. Can a Haitian woman make a similar impact?

2 min: A nervy start from the English. Greenwood gives the ball away under no pressure and Haiti eventually force a corner. It's wasted though and England break.. Lovely interchange between Bronze and Toone down the right and it almost falls for Georgia Stanway in the box. It is a corner though. And another....

5 min: First big chance falls to Russo but it's straight at the keeper. Haiti on their heels a little and allowing England to win the second balls. However, watch out for Dumornay - she shows that this isn't going to be easy for England. Quick feet from her creates some space before she's crowded out. Already Haiti have caused more angst for England than Zambia did for Japan earlier today.

9 min: Dumornay is limping off. Hope she's OK as she already looks exciting. Back on. A little gingerly but she's out there at least.

11 min: This has been a frantic start. Tremendous pace to the game and I feel like England are going to want to slow things down at some point.

13 min: Brilliant work again from Dumornay who spots Borgella's run down the left. She's through one v one but drags her shot wide. Another warning for England.

15 min: A couple of early observations. Haiti are dropping into well organised banks of 4, making it hard for England, and leaving two up front. Every time they break things up they get the ball forward quickly and, with England's full backs pushing high, it is often leaving a two on two and causing problems.

17 min: VAR. Pierre-Louis has gone high on Kelly but I think there's probably a foul by Russo before it gets that far. Yep, right decision. No pen but still a card for the foul by Pierre-Louis. It raises the question of whether you can be booked when the ball is, effectively, dead. Of course you can - my retort to those who argue otherwise is whether you can throw a punch at someone when the ball is out of play...

21 min: Back to the observations. England need to be a bit more patient in their build up. They need to drag the Haitians out of their shape and create some space as the Haitians and organised and athletic enough to deal with direct passing. Not quite enough movement from England at the moment.

24 min: Shattered for Limage. She looks in big trouble and is in tears as she's helped off the pitch. They are working on her knee, which is always a worry.

26 min: Another VAR check. This will be a penalty. What on earth was Batcheba Louis thinking? She jumped with both hands way above her head for no reason and the ball flicked her fingers. Bizarre. Stanway to take. WHAT A SAVE!! Oh no. I think she moved early. Another retake, mirroring Japan's earlier. Stanway again. Goal. 1-0 England.

30 min: Quick update on Limage. She's off, replaced by Mathurin.

36 min: Dumornay leads a counter and tries a spectacular scissor kick from the resultant cross. They break so quickly when given a chance and England look vulnerable every time.

37 min: Interesting to note that Dumornay, yep her again, is marking Keira Walsh very closely whenever England have the ball. It means the European Champions aren't cycling the ball through the midfield which, I suspect, is one of the major reasons they aren't looking particularly cohesive at the moment.

40 min: Great ball from Stanway but Hemp can't quite work out whether to head it or kick it. Ends up hitting her in the midriff and the chance is wasted.

43 mins: Nice cross from Hemp and Russo should have done better with the header. Problem for England is that their chances are coming from broken plays, and balls dropping to their wide players, rather than from incisive passing. Again, Haiti counter and win a corner....Wow, probably should be one all. They take the corner short and Dumonay again creates space for herself and delivers a brilliant cross. Borgella can't quite get her head on it though and England escape.

47 min: Dumornay is awesome. She turns Keira Walsh with ease in the middle of the park and gets it to Borgella who can't capitalise. Both offensively and defensively, Dumornay has had the biggest impact on this match. Also quite impressed by Mondesir who looks tidy on the ball.

50 min: Who else? She's off again and crosses for Borgella who heads over the bar. Dumonay probably should have driven at the defence herself that time.

Half Time: well this has been no mismatch. If anything, Haiti are unlucky to be one nil down. England haven't managed to get Toone or Walsh involved at all and their only threat has been almost entirely down to Hemp on the left wing. Lucy Bronze has had a few moments but England haven't managed to showcase their theoretical technical advantages so far. The challenge for the English now is whether they can draw the Haitian midfield out and create space for their own midfield to have an influence on this game.

Haiti have been extremely well organised and, in Melchie Dumornay, have had by far the best player on the park. She has an innate ability to be in the right place when the ball is up for grabs in the middle of the pitch and has constantly driven past Walsh and caused England problems. Roselord Borgella should have profited from her creativity at least once. I've also been impressed by Haiti's left back, the substitute Ruthny Mathurin. She's kept Chloe Kelly pretty quiet and made it difficult for England to make inroads down the right.

Arguably the best match I've seen to date.

46 min: A switch of wings, perhaps to free Chloe Kelly a bit more, and she immediately causes problems cutting inside off the left flank.

50 min: She's immense!! Dumornay outmuscles Lucy Bronze of all people, drives at England's central defenders and forces a decent save from Earps. Great stuff.

51 min: Hemp deservedly booked for a nasty challenge on Mondesir. Frustration perhaps? Haiti have started the second half well and, so far at least, there is no drop off in their performance.

56 min: England not learning. Millie Bright tries a ridiculous pass from inside her own box. Mondesir intercepts and makes her own rash decision by shooting from about 40 yards. It's going to be her last action by the looks of it - she's been struggling since that tackle from Hemp.

58 min: Sighter for Russo. England press Louis, who gives it away and Russo shoots on the turn. Another shot from Russo - Bronze fires in a ball which she takes on the turn on her chest and the resulting shot forces a decent save from the keeper.

61 min: Lauren James on for Hemp. For those who haven't seen her play, expect excitement!

62 min: Oh Haiti! They mess up a three on two after Carter loses the ball coming out from the back. That was a big chance.

63 min: Mathurin does well to recover in the end but, for the first time, gets caught out by a ball over the top that Kelly almost profits from - she's back on the right wing by the way. James wide left.

65 min: Chance for Bright as the ball drops to her from a corner. Plenty of bodies in front of her though and she volleys well over the bar.

67 min: The game is opening up a little bit - Haiti seem keen to press a bit higher and that is meaning more space for England. Could be an exciting last 25 minutes or so.

70 min: That's really poor from Kelly. Lauren James knocks a great ball in to her feet and Bronze makes a brilliant overlapping run. Kelly just didn't see it, or more worryingly chose not to pass, and the opportunity is wasted.

72 min: England starting to find a bit of space between the lines. Walsh has probably had more touches in the last 5 minutes than the previous 67. Looks a function of Dumornay getting a bit tired or taking a few more risks. She's not as tight to Walsh as she has been for most of the match.

76 min: Haiti definitely tiring now. England maintaining possession higher up the pitch and their movement is much better....possibly because Haiti can't close down the spaces as effectively as they were doing in the first hour or so. Daly on for Russo.

81 min: WHAT A SAVE from Earps. Brilliant football from Haiti - Mondesir spins Carter and sets up Eloissant, the substitute, who is through. She keeps her composure but Earps sticks out a big left foot and manages to save England.

83 min: Up the other end and Chloe Kelly, who is seeing more of the ball now, swings over a great cross and Daly wins the header but it's straight at Theus.

90 min: After 5 minutes of relative control by England, Eloissant intercepts a pass and releases Dumornay who end up winning a corner. Can they??

91 min: No. The corner was curled into the 6 yard box and Earps punches strongly - Eloissant meets it 30 yards out and, inadvisably, shoots. It goes miles wide.

93 min: Have to mention Tabita Joseph, Haiti's 19 year old central defender. She's been composed, disciplined and has run herself into the ground for her team today. Really good performance.

FULL TIME: 1-0 to England but my word Haiti were impressive. Extremely organised defensively, they worked extremely hard to deny Walsh, in particular, any space in the middle of the park. It made England force the ball wide too early and too often, meaning there was a lack of any central threat. Haiti's defenders were quite happy to deal with crosses and, for the most part, England's chances were half ones at best.

England need to learn from this and work on getting Toone and Walsh more involved earlier in the match so they can do a better job controlling the tempo. Hemp and Kelly are good players but neither of them were able to get touches in the box today meaning they were generally restricted to firing in crosses from deep. Neither Bronze or Greenwood managed to get beyond the opposing full backs often enough either so weren't really attacking threats either. So, no real stand out players for the English today. Stanway was decent I thought. Bright defended well even if her distribution wasn't great, and Kelly, Hemp and Russo had their moments without causing any major problems.

Haiti should have ambitions to get out of this group. In Dumornay they genuinely have one of the best players in the tournament and she was ably supported by the likes of Mondesir and Jeudy in the middle of the park. Theus was pretty good in goal and defensively Haiti were very solid. As mentioned, Joseph was excellent.

WOTM - it's obvious - let's not complicate this one. Melchie Dumornay announced herself on the world stage today.