On the afternoon of July 20, Beijing time, the 2023 Women's World Cup ushered in the opening match, with Norway playing against the host New Zealand Women's Football Team. After a lackluster attack in the first half, the host New Zealand Women's team scored in the second half through a world-class counterattack, and the 46,000 New Zealand fans on the scene instantly boiled, which was also the first goal of this Women's World Cup, and finally the New Zealand women's team relied on this goal to win.
As the 1995 Women's World Cup champions, Norway is one of the traditional powerhouses, never missing the World Cup finals, and has qualified from the group stage seven times in the previous eight tournaments. In recent years, the professionalization of European women's football has developed rapidly, but the Norwegian women's football team has not caught up, and last year's European Championship was bloodied by the English women's football team 0-8, creating a humiliating record in team history.
Now in the World Cup, Norway is eager to prove itself, opening up against New Zealand women, who have never qualified for the knockout rounds, and Norway's previous three official matches against New Zealand women's football team have won all three of their previous matches.
In the latest world ranking, the Norwegian women's football team ranked 12th, the New Zealand women's football team ranked 26th, and the overall strength of the Norwegian women's football team is clearly superior, creating threatening offensives many times.
In the opening 7th minute, a barb shot from inside the Högelberg penalty area was saved by the New Zealand women's goalkeeper. In the 20th minute, Monum volleyed high over the goal from inside the box. In the 36th minute, Hansen broke through to the box from the right and sent in a cross, and Högberg's shot was blocked, missing a good opportunity. In the first half, the score was still 0-0.
Back on the pitch in the second half, the New Zealand women's team suddenly made a splash and changed the scoreline. In the 48th minute, Hande broke through from the right and sent a cross to assist Wilkinson's easy push to score to help the New Zealand women's team take a 1-0 lead, which was also the first goal of this Women's World Cup, and the team celebrated wildly.
Slow motion shows that the goal of the New Zealand women's football team can be called a textbook counterattack to break the goal, first the goalkeeper is assigned to the wing, the full-back transitions to the midfield teammate, the full-back then gives the front Hand, Hender with the ball to force a breakthrough, see Wilkinson outflanked in place, a kick to the goal, Wilkinson pushed into the net, only 4 feet passed, 5 people combined to complete, it took only 9 seconds, easily tore the Norwegian women's back line.
Seeing the home team break the goal, the New Zealand fans at the scene instantly boiled and there was hope to witness the team make history on the spot.
As one of the hosts of this tournament, the New Zealand women's football team has never won a ball in the previous five World Cup trips, winning all 15 games, with a record of 3 draws and 12 defeats, which is the most winless team in the history of the Women's World Cup, and has never reached the knockout stage.
After that, the Norwegian women's team did not equalize, and eventually lost 1-0, giving the New Zealand women's team their first World Cup victory.
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