The Slay Ballers 2.0 – FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 – Australia vs England Match Preview

By -

 The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup has been an interesting watch so far and is set to get even more interesting with the current fixtures. While Sweden will be hashing it out with Spain at Eden Park in New Zealand, England will be slugging it with cohost Australia at Stadium Australia/Accor Stadium in Sydney. It is interesting to note that all the teams currently vying for a spot in the final of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup have never won the trophy. Australia also became the only host nation after the United States to qualify for the World Cup semifinals.


England ousted Nigeria in a penalty shootout in their Round of 16 clash, although credit to them for making it happen with a sending-off for Lauren James for a stamp on Nigerian midfielder Michelle Alozie. However, it must be said that the Nigerians struggled to create and bury their chances throughout the contest. Nevertheless, England triumphed in the penalty shootout and set up a date with the high-flying Colombians led by the superb Catalina Usme and tournament darling/teenage Real Madrid attacker Linda Caicedo. Colombia scored first through Leicy Santos, who fired in a shot that looked more like a cross after good work from Linda Caicedo. It just might be a Goal-Of-The-Season tournament contender; that’s how good it was. It would, however, prove to be insufficient, as goals from Lauren Hemp (in first-half extra time) and Alessia Russo (sixty-seven minutes) sealed it for the English after a sublime but deflected pass from Georgia Stanway. It was a test for both teams, but only one winner goes, and the English took their chances well.

Meanwhile, Australia shot out the blocks and maintained pressure all through their faceoff against the French. There would have been no need for extra time had it not been for French midfielder Elisa de Almeida’s goalline clearance in the first half. Not much happened after that, and the match rolled on to extra time and then penalties, where it took twenty spot-kicks to determine a winner. Australia had a retake and used it to good effect, setting up what is sure to be a thrilling semifinal showdown with England.
Australia will be looking to capitalize on home advantage to get to the final, and Tony Gustavsson will be thinking of how to get Sam Kerr on the pitch against the English. Australia has been superb without her, but any team with Sam Kerr in it is sure to raise its game and quality. England will surely be starting Wiegman’s 3-4-2-1 formation, with Ella Toone sticking in for Lauren James and the excellent back three of Alex Greenwood, Millie Bright, and Jess Carter surely staying put to repeat their solid performance against Colombia.


May the best team win!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

World Radio Day 2021

By -
Image
  The 13th of February every year is World Radio Day – a day set aside by UNESCO to raise public awareness on the importance of radio and to encourage decision-makers to use it to provide access to information, and to improve international cooperation among broadcasters. According to the United Nations, this year’s theme – New world, new radio is a tribute to the resilience of radio as a means of communication and highlights its capacity to adapt to changes in the society. Long before there were televisions, computers, and mobile devices, radios were used to educate people and disseminate all sorts of information. They were here since the 1940s and for generations, they have been a source of hope, strength, inspiration, and entertainment for different classes of people. They have been here during wars, epidemics, natural disasters, socio-economic crises, and so on.  As the oldest, most accessible means of disseminating information to everyone and anyone over long distances, they have b
Read more

International Women’s Day 2023: “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality”

By -
Image
  It is International women’s day and this year’s focus is on DigitALL: innovation and technology for gender equality. Currently, there exists a wide gender gap in the IT space and the reason is that, for years, women have beloved that technology was just for men. Given our history, this is actually a ridiculous ideology because the first programmer ever was a woman. A mathematician, Ada Lovelace created a programming code in the 1800s, and paved the way for computers today. In the 1900s, Hedy Lamarr, who doubled as an actress and inventor developed the technology that runs our GPS, Bluetooth Wi-Fi, as we know them now. There are a host of other incredible women in history who has been in the IT field yet a gender gap exists and women still think that sciences are solely for men. These limiting beliefs have cost us and have caused women to be excluded from innovations. As a result, many inventions that have been created haven’t been produced with women in mind. For example, when artifi
Read more

The Slay Ballers 2.0 – FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 – Netherlands vs South Africa Match Preview

By -
Image
  Football fans will surely switch on their watching devices to witness who trumps who when the Netherlands meet South Africa in what is billed to be an interesting spectacle at the Sydney Football Stadium on the sixth of August. Both teams have had different stories to get to this juncture of the tournament and will be looking to add more colour and intrigue to their respective stories. While this is the first competitive fixture between both international sides, having meant each other in only friendly matches previously, Netherlands will be looking to translate their superb friendly match H2H record to a competitive match where it is sure to matter more to help them continue their quest for the trophy. Despite this being just their second appearance at the Women’s World Cup, South Africa have shown that they are a force to reckon with on the pitch. All these factors make for an interesting spectacle, where each team will be looking to come out top and advance in the competition. Sou
Read more