The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and OpinionsDay one of the 7th FIFA Women’s World Cup saw the hosts Canada face China PR whilst New Zealand were up against debutant’s Holland as Group A got underway at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.
CANADA 1 CHINA PR 0
The host nation initially struggled against a resolute China PR team in the tournament’s opener on Saturday night. The match was a tense affair with both sides guilty of giving possession of the ball very cheaply.
Both sides however, did manage to hit the framework of their opponents goal. First to do so were the Chinese as Wang Lisi in the 23rd minute, sent a curling free-kick towards goal, only to see ,after beating Canada’s Erin McLeod, the ball hit the left post and bounce out to safety from the other.
The other unlucky player was Canadian Josee Belanger, playing at right back, found herself on the edge of the area, where she sent a thunderous right footed shot at China’s goal but was denied by Wang Fei’s crossbar.
As the game wore on it did look as if both sides would share the spoils but for a harshly given penalty to Canada in stoppage time after Ukraine referee Kateryna Monzul ajudged Zhao Rong had fouled Adriana Leon in the box. Captain Christine Sinclair duly slotted home to spot kick and notched her 8th World Cup goal to send coach John Herdman and the partisan crowd into raptures.
Canada: 4-3-3: E. McLeod, J. Belanger, K. Buchanan, L. Sesselmann, A. Chapman, A. Lawrence, D. Scott (71′ J. Fleming), S. Schmidt, M. Tancredi (77′ A. Leon), J. Filigno (61′ K. Kyle), C. Sinclair (c)
China: 4-2-3-1: F. Wang, H. Wu (c), R. Zhao, D. Li, S. Liu, R. Tan, G. Ren, L. Wang (42′ P. Han), Y. Li (62′ R. Zhang), Y. Gu (87′ J. Ma), S. Wang
LVG Player of the Match: Sophie Schmidt (Canada)
