New Zealand’s initial goals for the World Cup were extremely modest by the standards of a host country: winning a game would be progress. Mission accomplished. Hannah Wilkinson’s goal in the 48th minute proved decisive on Thursday as New Zealand defeated Norway in Auckland in the opening match of the tournament.
“It’s the best night of my life,” the New Zealand captain, Ali Riley, said. “With the performance, we deserved it. I know we came in as underdogs, I know there was a lot of doubt, a lot of articles being written saying how many times we haven’t won a game, but we believed in ourselves the whole time.”
New Zealand had failed to win in 15 previous World Cup finals matches, exiting in the group stage in all five appearances. Thursday’s victory provides hope that the country, which is co-hosting the World Cup with Australia, can taste knockout football for the first time.
A crowd of 42,137 – a record for a football match, men’s or women’s, in New Zealand – that included the prime minister, Chris Hipkins, was buzzing from the opening ceremony. The energy stood in stark contrast to the grim mood around Auckland earlier in the day after the deaths of three people, including the gunman, in a shooting that took place close to Norway’s team hotel.
CJ Bott said: “What happened this morning was devastating and it’s news no one wants to wake up to, and our condolences go out to those that have been hurt by this. It definitely motivated us.”
On the field New Zealand played direct from the start, looking for Wilkinson in behind the seams of Norway’s unsteady defence. The strategy paid off three minutes after half-time. New Zealand needed three touches of the ball from a goal kick to break down Norway’s shape and play Jacqui Hand in behind. She had Mathilde Harviken for pace,and Wilkinson streaked past two other defenders to tap in the cross.
New Zealand tried that clipped, short goal kick to the right on multiple occasions before it paid off. “We knew Norway were going to try to track us on the left and often when it was played to me, Ada [Hegerberg] was running right at me,” said the New Zealand defender Katie Bowen, who took the goal kick. “I just said to our keeper like, do you want to just try it? Do you want me to take it? I was doing the secret whatever [covers mouth]. I just hit it, CJ [Bott] had a great touch and it ended in a great goal. Absolute elation.”
Despite a surplus of attacking talent, Norway asked few questions of New Zealand’s defence. Hegerberg, the former Ballon d’Or winner, attempted (and scuffed) a bicycle kick five minutes in, but her team failed to produce a shot on target until the 81st minute, when Tuva Hansen’s shot was tipped on to the crossbar by Victoria Esson.
Hansen’s opportunity came following a rare moment of joy for Norway in transition. New Zealand’s Ria Percival controlled the middle of the park as the hosts neutralised Barcelona’s Caroline Graham Hansen and Chelsea’s Guro Reiten.
“Opening game, they are the hosts: We have talked about this,” Reiten said. “We knew they were going to go out there and be aggressive. We knew exactly how they wanted to play, but still, we were so poor, especially in that first half. I’m very disappointed.”
Percival hit the crossbar from the penalty spot in the 90th minute after a video review – including the first in-stadium referee explanation of the tournament – determined that Hansen had handled the ball in the area.
Reiten lamented Norway’s flat performance, saying “everything” went wrong while the holding midfielder Ingrid Engen pointed to New Zealand’s ability to win duels in the middle of the park and cut off service to Norway’s talented forwards. That was a testament to Bowen, Riley and the rest of the backline.
“No secret, it was a team performance,” Bowen said. “I know that I was able to get up Ada’s ass but I knew that I had cover behind me. Ali Riley did a great job against Graham Hansen, but everybody did their jobs around the park and ultimately that led to the 1-0 win.”
The next task for the Football Ferns is getting out of the group, which no Women’s World Cup host has previously failed to do and this victory gives them hope in arguably the weakest of the eight groups at this tournament.
“The expectations, we will put those on ourselves first,” Wilkinson said. “We’ll take momentum from this first win into the next game. It’s incredibly important that we secure a space outside of this group and we can do that in this next game.”
At least for Thursday night, however, they could celebrate. Moments after the final whistle Riley walked across the field with her hands covering her face as she sobbed tears of joy. As she got to the sideline, she briefly put her hand on her heart and waved at the crowd before bending over, hands covering her face again, to collect herself before turning to the camera for a TV interview.
As she did, her teammates – led by Wilkinson hopping and pumping her fist – did a lap around the fabled stadium to wave at the crowd. Among those in attendance were a number of former New Zealand players who, talented as they were, never managed to achieve what this current group did here: win a World Cup game.
“I wasn’t playing for me; I was playing for them,” Riley said. “I was playing for the Ferns that came before us and to inspire the Ferns that will come after me. It meant so much for all of us.
“We put so much pressure on ourselves because it wasn’t just about winning a game, it was about inspiring our entire country. With what happened this morning, trying to do something positive today and honour the first responders. That’s a lot, and I felt like we did it.”
