Five matches, five penalties given (and three missed!).
Three more matches in the books in Australia and New Zealand, and the the average amount of penalties given per match remains at one with the success rate of those penalties at 40%. As for the scorelines, one team will be disappointed they didn’t get a win. Of course, we will start with that team.
Nigeria 0-0 Canada
This was a disappointing result for Canada who entered as one of the dark horses, if not a favorite. The Super Falcons’ defense routinely frustrated the Canadian attack and it culminated with Christine Sinclair’s penalty saved by keeper Chiamaka Nnadozie in the 50th minute. Canada had 16 shots on the day, but only three on target including the missed penalty. The result will benefit Nigeria far more than Canada as the former face Australia next in Brisbane on Thursday (5am CT, FS1/NBC Universo) while Canada play Republic of Ireland in Perth on Wednesday (7am CT, FS1/NBC Universo).
Philippines 0-2 Switzerland
The Philippines nearly made history by scoring first, but VAR would not be necessary to see that Katrina Guillou was offside. However, VAR would give Switzerland a penalty before halftime as it determined that Jessika Cowart had kicked Coumba Sow in the area. Ramona Bachman converted the spot kick and the Swiss were ahead. However, the Swiss would not go off to the races as they would only add one more, and that one they had to grind for after two close misses prior to that before Seraina Piubel scored. The Swiss lead Group A on that goal and will face Norway in Hamilton on Tuesday (3am, FS1/Telemundo). Philippines will try again against New Zealand in Wellington on Tuesday (12:30AM FS1/NBC Universo).
Spain 3-0 Costa Rica
Spain looked like they would be off to the races after they scored three goals in four minutes and hunt for a similar scoreline to the one the men’s side put on the Ticos last November in Qatar. However, the scoring would end after the third goal and Spain would also miss a penalty as Daniela Solero would deny Jenni Hermoso. Despite outshooting Costa Rica an astonishing 46-1, Solero would make nine saves in the end to prevent the scoreline from being worse for the Ticas. Meanwhile, the other talking point was the return to the pitch of Alexia Putellas who came on for 13 minutes. Putellas is recovering from a torn ACL suffered last year. She is still vital to Spain’s plans to go far in this tournament and we’ll see how many minutes she will play (and how many goals Spain will score) against Zambia on Wednesday in Auckland (2:30am CT, FS1/Telemundo) while Costa Rica will fancy their chances against Japan in Dunedin on Wednesday (midnight CT, FS1/NBCUniverso).
On Saturday (NZ time), The USA open their World Cup campaign against Vietnam at Eden Park in Auckland. There are a lot of American fans who have made the journey to Auckland as this reporter has observed during his time here in Auckland. Kickoff is at 8pm CT (Friday night) on FOX and Telemundo. Also, Zambia take on Japan in Hamilton (2:30am CT, FS1/NBC Universo) and England open against Haiti in Brisbane (4:30am CT, FOX/Telemundo). For those in the States, at 7am CT Saturday morning will be Denmark vs. China in Perth (FOX/NBC Universo).
