WWC day one and Dear England....I hate you
Amazing start to the tournament, not so great theatre trip
The first day of the Women’s World Cup absolutely delivered.
Even though I’m gutted I won’t be out over in Australia and New Zealand for the whole tournament, there is something very special about breakfast football. The 8am kick off for New Zealand-Norway was extremely civilised (less so for some of the 3.30am games coming the rest of this week), and I rolled out of bed and straight into the action.
New Zealand headed into this World Cup having never won a game at a Women’s World Cup. I spoke to captain Ali Riley recently on my podcast and she mentioned how her main goal for this tournament was to just win a match. Plenty of New Zealand’s team don’t play in big European leagues, they play in the semi pro A-League in Australia and New Zealand. So the expectation for this game was definitely that New Zealand would struggle against a Norway team stacked with top talent.
Well, it didn’t go that way at all. From kick off, New Zealand were aggressive, played on the front foot and just showed more belief and physicality. Norway were embarrassingly off the mark on all accounts. No sense of direction, style of play or plan. On paper there were some very good players out there, Guro Reiten, Caroline Graham Hansen, Ada Hegerberg and Frida Maanum, but in reality it was lots of individuals running around clueless. The midfield was non-existent and Ingrid Engen had a particularly poor game.
As bad as Norway were, and their defence looks an absolute mess right now, New Zealand and especially Hannah Wilkinson and Ria Percival deserve so much credit for the brave way they played. Wilkinson especially took every opportunity to attack Norway’s box and try and find a run in behind, something she did successfully a few times before getting her goal. Percival, although missing that penalty, was the aggressive yet calming presence New Zealand needed.
I’m really excited to see how New Zealand might continue this in the tournament, they’ll play Philippines next, arguably their easiest game of the tournament. Meanwhile, Norway need to seriously sort their shit out, but given the post match comments from today, there’s a bit of a wake up call still required…
Norwegian tabloid VG said the result was “almost as bad” as the 8-0 defeat to England in the group stage of the Euros last summer, which was embarrassing for Norwegian football. Google translate might be getting this slightly wrong but this quote seemed to sum the game up quite nicely - - “‘Fuck you for some damned shit’, says goalkeeper Aurora Mikalsen to VG about the reaction after the late goal at the beginning of the second half”…..well yeah, “fuck you too” I guess.
Let’s get on to the other match of the day, Australia-Ireland. This one started with the bombshell that Sam Kerr wouldn’t feature after picking up a calf injury in training. Also unclear if she’ll be ready for the second group game against Nigeria. That news would have given Ireland a lift and to be fair to them they played smartly, limiting Australia’s space and not letting the speed of Cortnee Vine, Caitlin Foord and Hayley Raso get the better of them. Australia struggled to create good opportunities with the ball and Ireland forced them to play through them, which doesn’t the Matilda’s style.
If it wasn’t for a moment of madness from Marissa Sheva Ireland would have had a point and maybe three given how close they came in the last 10 minutes. It’s definitely a positive for Ireland as they showed what they can do when they push forward, even though the chances are hard to come by. Australia might feel disappointed that in front of a record crowd, in a home World Cup the occasion maybe got the better of them but without their captain and star striker there’s always going to be some adjustments needed.
For a full debrief of the opening game check out today’s Counter Pressed!
Dear England review
Yesterday I went to see Dear England at The National Theatre. The play is written by James Graham one of the leading political playwrights who excels at turning real-life cultural moments into theatre (Ink, Labour of Love, Quiz) and is about Gareth Southgate’s England, the English football cultural revolution and how that has shaped modern society.
The thing is, football is really hard to turn into good TV and film, especially when its based on true events. Good football drama (I thinking Dream Team here or maybe Ted Lasso if that’s what you into) works because its made up, maybe loosely based on people but fiction. The Damned United is autobiographical and sits in its own amazing place. But when you’re building a play based on characters that everyone feels like they know inside out, it’s very hard to pull off. The play instantly felt like a really long sketch from Dead Ringers, with actors doing their best impressions of Southgate, Harry Maguire, Raheem Sterling, Theresa May and Boris Johnson. The Harry Kane character was especially grating given most of the comedy was built around Kane’s voice. As much as it was interesting to explore how Southgate and psychologist Dr Pippa Grange transformed English football, that intrigue disappeared when Theresa May started doing the robot……
It felt like a pier variety show rather than an exploration of football and modern England. I know so many people have loved it and sorry for being a party pooper but honestly I just found it quite cringe.
One more thing…..
I wanted to share an amazing series I’ve been working on with Goal Click, the football storytelling project. This original series takes you behind the scenes of several players’ journeys to the Women’s World Cup. It’s a unique collection of images and personal stories with every player sharing their story in their own words. Some of the players involved include USA’s Naomi Girma, Australia’s Charli Grant, Denmark’s Rikke Sevecke and South Africa’s Thembi Kgatlana. Here are a few images from Naomi Girma’s shots. Check out the Goal Click website to see the rest of the series.
Thanks for reading issue two of the World Cup and catch you tomorrow!