Mary Earps Praised by Sarina Wiegman after England Victory in World Cup Opener
England’s World Cup campaign got off to a winning start, with Mary Earps’ performance in goal praised by manager Sarina Wiegman. The reigning European Champions were expected to record a convincing win over rank outsiders Haiti, but found the going tough in Brisbane. Ultimately, it was just Georgia Stanway’s retaken 29th minute penalty that proved to be the difference between the two sides as England were left to rue missed opportunities and be grateful for the errant finishing of their opponents.
On the occasions that Haiti did hit the target, they found Earps in inspired form much to the relief of Wiegman. ‘Mary didn’t have to do a lot of things and all of a sudden be there, that’s crucial for us so I’m happy with that,’ said Wiegman afterwards. Matchwinner Earps added: ‘She’s very good, a top keeper. Those are the moments that makes them become a top keeper. The most important thing is the three points, it’s a good start.’
England Struggled to Assert Themselves
It was, in truth, a slightly underwhelming start for one of the pre-tournament favourites and Wiegman admitted that big-game players like Stanway struggled to assert themselves, particularly in the opening half. She said: ‘In the first half, Georgia was struggling, she needed to pass it quicker. She picked up later so that was good for the team. It was a very hard game, I’m very happy with the three points. They were very unpredictable, very transitional. That’s what they showed and we struggled with that. We did create chances but we lost the ball and then they were gone. That was hard for us. We want to finish our chances. We did it with the penalty which was good because the win is the most important thing. We were very close, we were sometimes too close to the goalkeeper, who was courageous. Sometimes we had the last pass instead of shooting ourselves. I hope the next game in open play we can score a goal.’
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England will hope for a more convincing performance when they take on Chile in their next Group D fixture on Thursday evening. For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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