Women's World Cup

Italy Shock the Matildas While England and Brazil Beat Debutants

Steven Danis

Women’s World Cup Correspondent

 

There was yet another bad result for the Asian representative last night, as Australia loss against Italy in Valenciennes. The Matildas took the lead in the first half, but a brace from Juventus striker Barbara Bonansea stole the win from Australia.

The Azzurre, who were playing in their second World Cup after their 1999 campaign, thought they had taken the lead after 9 minutes, as Bonansea got a through pass from Manuela Giugliano, running ahead of the Australian defenders and beating Lydia Williams with a low shot. However, Melissa Borjas from Honduras claimed that the 27 years old striker was in an offside position, and disallowed the goal. 

On the other hand, the Matildas found the net to open the scoring in the 22nd minute after Sam Kerr was fouled on the penalty box by Juventus skipper, Sara Gama. Even though Laura Giuliani successfully managed to block her penalty, the Chicago Red Stars forward managed to find the net from the rebound. Kerr’s strike was her 32nd goals for Australia from 78 caps. 

Italy finally found the equalizer at the 56th minutes after Barbara Bonansea ran down the left side, stole the ball from senior defender Claire Polkinghorne and blasted the ball into the far post of Williams’ net. The match continued to heat up after Australian veteran, Lisa DeVanna, looked like she committed a handball offense in the 69th minute, but there’s no penalty for the Azzurre. They fashioned yet another chance in the 82nd minutes from substitute Daniela Sabatino, but the Milan striker caught offside.

Bonansea finally stole the win for Azzurre after she scored with a header in the game’s dying minutes after converting a ball in from a free-kick to give Italy a remarkable win, ending their 20-year wait for World Cup action in style. 

 

Other Results

England and Brazil claimed first win of this year’s tournament after playing against debutants Scotland and Jamaica respectively. As Canarinhas won 3-0 against the Reggae Girlz with a hattrick from Cristiane, while The Lionesses narrowly won 2-1 against their neighbor in the classic British rivalry. 

Brazil played without their living legend Marta but looked dominant regardless as Cristiane open the scoring with a header after 15 minutes.

Five minutes later, Jamaica presented a threat of their own when Havana Solaun sent a through pass to Khadija Shaw on the right side. The 22-year-old player, who already announced her moves to French club Bordeaux, blasted a long shot from outside of the penalty box that was tipped away by Brazil goalkeeper, Barbara.

Another interesting scheme came eight minutes later as 19 years old goalkeeper, Sydney Schneider, denied a golden chance for As Canarihas after Allyson Swaby was caught for a handball on the penalty box. Schneider successfully to blocked an attempt from Barcelona’s midfielder Andressa Alves, meaning the first half ended 1-0 with Brazil in the lead. 

But then Cristiane scored a brace in the second half to complete her hattrick for As Canarinhas in the 50th and 65th minutes. Both goals needed to be confirmed by Goal Line Technology after first nearly blocked by Jamaican defender and the other one, which was from a free kick, just hit the bar before bouncing into the net. 

This is the first hattrick for a Brazilian player in the World Cup in 20 years, when they thrashed Mexico 7-q in the USA 1999 edition. 

The match is also remarkable for Formiga, the 41 years old midfielder from PSG, who is playing in her seventh World Cup.

The third day of 2019 Women’s World Cup was closed off by an interesting game between England and Scotland. The Lionesses looked dominant as they opened the score at the 14th minute, after Scotland left-back, Nicola Docherty was caught for a handball, and Nikita Parris successfully scored from the spot.

New Manchester City striker Ellen White rattled Lee Alexander’s net in the 23rd minute but was caught offside after getting a cross from the midfield area and heading the ball into the net. She’s finally scored the second goal for England five minutes before the first half ended.

However, the match suddenly sprung to life for the last ten minutes as Claire Emslie got a pass from Lisa Evans and finally found the net and closed the gap for Scotland. The ex-Manchester City winger, who will move to American club Orlando Pride after this World Cup campaign, scored the first goal for the Scotts in World Cup history.