BRISBANE, Australia — Minutes after England’s nervy 1-0 win over Haiti at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, striker Georgia Stanway summed up the feelings in the camp perfectly. “It takes a little bit of time to find your feet,” she said.
England were overwhelming favourites. They dominated possession and territory, but were fortunate to come away with all three points. That they did was down to 30-year-old goalkeeper Mary Earps, whose fine save with her left foot from Roseline Eloissaint in the last few minutes ensured England kept their opponents at bay.
Opening World Cup matches are rarely perfect, and there’s enough perspective and experience in the group to understand that. Defender Lucy Bronze was there in 2015 when England fell to France in their group opener and went on to finish third. The crux of this team won the Euros last summer and were there for that nervy opening 1-0 win over Austria at Old Trafford. There were echoes of that game in Brisbane — at times England shot when they could’ve passed, the crosses were wayward, and they snatched at chances — but, above all, they got the win.
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Haiti were brilliant and gave England a scare. Their best player — and the best outfielder on the pitch — was Lyon-bound Melchie Dumornay. At just 19 years old, her potential is frightening. Despite her pulling the strings from midfield, according to her manager Nicolas Delepine she was upset with the performance afterwards.
Dumornay was at the centre of everything Haiti did well as they belied their FIFA ranking of 53rd in their first-ever World Cup appearance. They didn’t look like this stage was unfamiliar territory. Instead, as they sat deep and hit England on the counter, they had the Lionesses’ defence scrambling at times. Haiti often found space in the middle of England’s penalty area and had the best chances overall: missing a one-on-one early on, and then late too.
