The New Zealand Women’s Football Team have begun their FIFA WC campaign on a high with a win over co-hosts Norway in the World Cup opener on Thursday. Hannah Wilkinson’s solitary goal in the second half ensured that the NZs walked away with their first win of the 2023 World Cup edition.
Playing in front of a packed home crowd at the iconic Eden Parks in Auckland, the Women in Black obviously had the odds in their favor, with the crowd in attendance cheering for the home team. While the first half was pretty lackluster, New Zealand did maintain their dominance throughout the half, maintaining maximum ball possession. The first half eventually ended goalless.
Just three minutes into the second half, forward Hannah Wilkinson fired home from close range from Jacqui Hand’s pinpoint cross in the 48th minute to give NZ team the crucial lead. The goal sparked wild scenes of celebration by the 42,000 home supporters and was nearly followed by a quickfire second, with Riley’s left-footed rocket almost doubling the lead only for Aurora Mikalsen to tip it wide.
Wilkinson was on a rampage throughout the match and almost created a sublime assist for Ria Percival, who drilled just wide from 15 yards. Norway did come close to equalizing when a fiery right-footed shot from Tuva Hansen ricocheted off the crossbar in the 81st minute. This turned out to be their best chance of scoring in the entire match.
Ria Percival got another promising chance in the 90th minute, but she missed her penalty spot. Though the Norwegian keeper dove across in the right direction, her shot went wide over the crossbar. It could have further been a 2-0 victory for the home side. But nonetheless, New Zealand were still able to clinch a motivating 1-0 victory in their first World Cup match here in Auckland.
This was also the country’s first win in FIFA World Cup history, having failed to win a game in a single match in their previous 16 World Cup appearances. Hannah Wilkinson’s strike ensured the host nation got up and running with a victory in this tournament, deservedly seeing off an under-par Norway outfit, despite Ria Percival missing a late penalty.
The victory came as a relief for the New Zealand fans and locals following the tragic shootout event that occurred just a few hours prior to the opening match on Thursday, where two people died and several others, including a local police officer, were left injured.
However, New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins did assure the visiting teams and personnel that security is one of the top priorities of the nation for the World Cup and that there will be no slips in safety during the tournament. In the aftermath of the tragic event, Hipkins had a meeting with FIFA President Gianni Infantino and later confirmed that the World Cup will go ahead as planned.
