Women's World Cup: Historic win for host New Zealand over Norway

New Zealand, one of the two host countries of the FIFA Women's World Cup alongside Australia, kicked off their participation in the global finals with a victory over Norway, winning 1-0 on Thursday in the opening match at Eden Park Stadium in Auckland in front of 42,317 spectators.

Hannah Wilkinson scored the only goal of the match in the 48th minute, while her teammate Ria Percival missed a penalty in the final minute of regular time.

The audience observed a minute of silence after two people were killed in a shooting incident that occurred a few hours before the opening match.

This win is historic for New Zealand as it is their first victory in the finals in six participations (12 losses and 3 draws in previous editions).

New Zealand, under the guidance of Czech coach Jitka Klimkova, can dream of reaching the Round of 16 for the first time in their history if they achieve positive results against the Philippines and Switzerland consecutively in Group A.

As for Norway, the 1995 World Cup champions, they have significantly declined in recent times, as evidenced by their disastrous 0-8 defeat to England in the group stage of the 2022 European Championship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AFP