England W vs Haiti W prediction: WORLD: World Cup Women betting tips on match 2023-07-21 09:30.
Arriving down under as one of the pre-tournament favourites, England will be aiming to cap off a historic 12 months by being crowned FIFA Women’s World Cup (WWC) champions for the first time ever. Already victorious in the European Championships and La Finalissima, coach Sarina Wiegman believes her team are in a “good place” ahead of their opening clash – a first ever H2H against minnows Haiti.
Tournament preparations have been far from smooth for the Lionesses though, as discussions with the FA over performance-related bonuses were only put on hold on Tuesday – a saga that left the squad “disappointed”. A number of key players such as Leah Williamson and Beth Mead will miss this WWC through injury, and perhaps their presence has been sorely missed as England find themselves in the midst of a two-match winless streak which has seen them fail to find the net in both matches (D1, L1).
Haiti will be keen to capitalise, and they’ve made a habit of upsetting the odds of late, overcoming Mexico, Senegal and Chile en route to their first-ever WWC appearance. That inspirational run to this tournament has players and fans believing, with midfielder Ruthny Mathurin stating that they aren’t just here to make up the numbers, they’re “here to make history”.
Set against the backdrop of significant unrest back home, the Haiti players will need to conjure every source of motivation they can find to overcome such illustrious opponents as England. Les Grenadières have won just four matches across five major tournament appearances since a fourth-placed finish at the 1991 Concacaf Championship, and there appears little chance of that improving here as they head into the WWC having lost five of their last six outings (W1).
Key battle: England didn’t concede a single goal in their faultless WWC qualifying campaign, and star defender Lucy Bronze has continued her ruthless nature for club side Barcelona by conceding in just three of her 20 league appearances for the Blaugrana. Haiti forward Nérilia Mondésir may well have something to say about that as she’s averaging over a goal per game for her country (P12, G18).
Hot stat: England boss Sarina Wiegman has won 18 of her 19 managerial matches at major tournaments (L1), with that sole defeat coming in the 2019 WWC final whilst in charge of the Netherlands.