England hold off spirited Haiti to seal victory in World Cup opener
England have got their World Cup campaign off to a winning start after a hard-fought victory over Haiti in their Group D opener.
In a first-half where Haiti stood toe-to-toe with the European champions, the two were only separated by Georgia Stanway’s 29th minute penalty.
Les Grenadières continued to test the Lionesses in the second period with Melchie Dumornay turning in a superb solo performance.
With her side failing to find a second goal, Mary Earps in the England goal was drawn into a crucial save late on to help secure all three points.
Penalty and VAR intervention largely dominated a lively opening half. 18 minutes into the contest, Chloe Kelly was on the receiving end of a nasty challenge but calls for a spot kick were waved away owing to a foul from Alessia Russo on a Haiti player in the build-up.
A blatant handball from Batcheba Louis made for an easier decision for the match official only for Haiti goalkeeper Kerly Theus to produce a stunning save to deny Stanway from 12 yards.
The jubilant Haitian celebrations were quickly muted however with the goalkeeper judged to have come off her line to make the save. A retake was ordered and Stanway made no mistake second time around.
It was an unfortunate setback for Haiti who had defended diligently and posed real threat through swift counter attacks with the superb Dumornay a constant danger.
Among their early chances, Roselord Borgella breached the England backline, fed through by Dumornay only to screw her effort wide of the post.
An equaliser beckoned just before half-time with Borgella missing a point-blank header after a clever corner routine.
There was another warning minutes into the second half with Dumornay bumping Lucy Bronze off the ball and drilling a shot on goal from the edge of the box, drawing a decent save out of Earps.
A sloppy and error-strewn start to the second period from the Lionesses invited Haitian pressure, winning one-on-one duels with ease but lacking real cutting edge in front of goal.
England soon began to tighten their grip on the contest against tiring opposition, able to call upon the likes of Rachel Daly and Lauren James from the substitutes bench as they chased the second goal to kill the game.
But missed chances continued to rack up with Earps called upon to make a superb save down the other end with eight minutes of the match remaining, denying Roseline Éloissaint moments after her introduction from the bench.
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news onFacebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Source: Read Full Article