Preview: England Women vs. Haiti Women
European champions England Women will kick off their Women’s World Cup 2023 campaign on Saturday when they face Haiti Women at Brisbane Stadium.
England are making their fifth World Cup appearance, while Haiti are preparing to compete at the tournament for the very first time.
Twelve months on from winning the Euro 2022 on home turf, England are hoping to win the Women’s World Cup for the first time in their history.
The Lionesses failed to make it past the quarter-final stage in their first three World Cup appearances, before going to reach the last four in the previous two editions of the tournament.
After being eliminated in the last four by Japan in 2015, England returned to the semi-finals in France four years ago, but their dreams of lifting the silverware were ended by a 2-1 defeat to the USA.
Sarina Wiegman, who finished runners-up with the Netherlands in 2019, has enjoyed considerable success during her England tenure, winning the European Championships and the Finalissima, while she has only lost one of her 32 games in charge.
In their five World Cup appearances, the Lionesses have lost their opening match on just one occasion (W2, D2), and they will be determined to get off to a winning start on Saturday, before they face Denmark and China in their remaining two group games.
Haiti, meanwhile, had to go through the intercontinental playoffs to qualify for the Women’s World Cup for the first time in their history.
After beating Senegal in the semi-final, Haiti went on to claim a narrow 2-1 victory over Chile to book their ticket to Australia and New Zealand.
Sitting in 87th place in the FIFA World Rankings, the Grenadiers are the lowest-ranked side in Group D, highlighting the size of the task that lies ahead of them in the next three games.
Haiti head into their tournament opener off the back of four consecutive defeats, including a 2-1 loss in a friendly against South Korea earlier this month.
Having conceded 11 goals across their last four games, they will have to produce an improved defensive display on Saturday if they are to trouble England.
England Women form (all competitions):
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Haiti Women form (all competitions):
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We say: England Women 4-0 Haiti Women
England are heavy favourites to win Saturday’s contest, and with a abundance of quality in their ranks, we think they that will brush past Haiti to begin their World Cup campaign with a comfortable victory.