Hosts and defending champions Germany got their women’s World Cup campaign off to a flying start on Sunday when they beat Group A rivals Canada 2-1 at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium.
Having won both the 2003 and 2007 editions, Germany are bidding to complete a hat-trick of titles on home soil and they had few problems against Canada, who threatened the goal only on rare occasions.
First-half goals by Kerstin Garefrekes and Celia Okoyino da Mbabi put the hosts in control, before Canada captain Christine Sinclair, who broke her nose in the first half, slotted home a late free-kick for the guests.
Photo: Reuters
“It was the first game, so we were a bit nervous. There is room for improvement and we will improve,” said goal-scorer Garefrekes, who also supplied the pass for the second goal.
The win puts Germany top of Group A.
“We got two goals in the first half and didn’t play so well, then in the second half we were much better organized, but we couldn’t score,” Germany coach Silvia Neid said. “Things got tight at the end and it could have been 2-2, so I am very happy we won the first game.”
The hosts squandered a string of second-half chances, while Canada grew in confidence as the game wore on.
“The first game in a World Cup tournament is always tough and maybe were a bit intimidated at the start, but I think we did well,” said Canada coach Carolina Morace, who paid tribute to her plucky captain Sinclair. “Christine is a fantastic player and she took her chance well. The doctors have told me the nose was broken, but she insisted on playing on. She knows what she can do and it would have been hard to take her off with her experience.”
With Germany having gone through the entire 2007 campaign without conceding a goal, Sinclair became the first player to score against them at a World Cup since Sweden’s Hanna Ljungberg in Germany’s 2-1 win in the 2003 final.
After a glitzy opening ceremony when a giant mirror ball released hundreds of ball-shaped balloons into the Berlin sky, Germany got their campaign off to a good start with the first goal coming after just 10 minutes.
Having been denied from a crisp shot just moments before, right winger Garefrekes headed home a cross from fullback Babett Peter to put the hosts ahead in front of a sell-out crowd of 73,680.
Germany then punished some sloppy defending as center forward Okoyino da Mbabi made it 2-0 just before the break. A towering long ball from Garefrekes put Okoyino da Mbabi — who turned 23 yesterday — away and with the Canada defense nowhere near her, she slotted her shot past goalkeeper Erin McLeod on 42 minutes.
It was the Germany midfielder’s fourth goal in her last five games.
Canada’s Italian coach Morace made two changes at halftime, while Germany’s Neid opted to switch captain Birgit Prinz for 20-year-old Alexandra Popp, while Okoyino da Mbabi made way for the experienced Inka Grings.
Both Popp and midfielder Kim Kulig clipped the crossbar with second-half shots as the hosts failed to add to their tally, before Sinclair curled in a late free-kick to pull one back.
The last time Germany lost was in March last year when the US beat them 3-2 in the Algarve Cup.
Two-time women’s World Cup winners the US open their Group C campaign against North Korea in Dresden today.
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds said it felt like an “impossible dream” when fellow Hollywood A-lister Rob McElhenney first floated the idea of buying soccer club Wrexham, along with a pitch for a documentary. The ultimate goal was reaching the Premier League. Four years after they purchased the north Wales outfit, Wrexham are one league away from achieving their lofty goal after a 3-0 win over Charlton Athletic on Saturday saw them promoted for a record third consecutive time. “We were standing there doing a press conference four years ago, and said our goal is to make it to the Premier League, and
RSS