Carney suggests England "got away with one" as weakness exposed in Haiti win

22 July 2023 , 12:28

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England beat Haiti 1-0 in their opening Women's World Cup fixture (Image: Photo by Elsa - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

England kicked off their World Cup campaign with a 1-0 win against tournament debutants Haiti - but it was not the one-sided affair that was perhaps expected.

Georgia Stanway scored the only goal of the game for the European champions by converting a retaken penalty minutes after her first was saved. The referee called for the spot-kick to be repeated when VAR found goalkeeper Kerly Theus was off her line on the first strike before she successfully parried the ball wide.

There was end to end action that kept fans from both nations on the edge of their seat, including former Lioness Karen Carney, who admitted on ITV after the match: "My anxiety was through the roof. Mary Earps made two fantastic saves. I was a little bit concerned we didn't put in an extra centre midfielder to help that threat, I think we got away with that one today.

"I think that was a really good test for us and we came through. Remember we played Austria in the Euros opening game and that was a 1-0 and didn't look convincing either.

"I don't think Sarina Wiegman will make any changes for the next round, because she likes to build relationships between players."

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Eni Aluko added: "Haiti were not afraid to go at our players, the threat of the transitional attack - we've got to look at that against Denmark. I think Jess [Carter] was calm, steady and defended well.

"Ella Toone didn't have a great game today, could we put Lauren James in there instead? That's the change that I think could create impact for England."

Ian Wright tweeted his frustration with the starting line-up of Sarina Wiegman, with her choice to leave Lauren James on the bench. The England boss also chose Alessia Russo over Women's Super League Golden Boot winner Rachel Daly on the bench.

There has been much debate prior to the game as to whether Wiegman would start Russo or Daly and who she would keep on the bench, with Daly cementing herself as a striker in the past year for England - and getting the golden boot from last season's WSL playing for Aston Villa.

On the hour mark with England stalling, Wiegman played her wildcard. Replacing Hemp, James immediately started twisting and turning the Haiti defence in the manner that has terrified WSL defences all year.

Daly was also brought on to replace Russo with 15 minutes remaining, though it was Earps who was the busiest of England's players towards the finish, making crucial saves to seal the three points.

Louise Wilkes