When the reigning champions USA managed to only defeat Vietnam 3-0 things looked like they were getting off to a rocky start for the World Cup in New Zealand. People had expected that game to be an absolute blowout with USA putting an estimated and expected 8-10 goals in and while a win is still a win, a mere 3 goals looked like more of a victory for Vietnam than a win for the USA.
The team that came into this tournament seeded in second place was England and they faced a similarly weak opponent in Haiti. The fact that England managed to win this game only 1-0 with the only goal being scored by a penalty kick, is seen as wildly underperforming for the England side as well.
Now I am not trying to take anything away from England but a 1-0 victory against a much lower ranked opponent is pretty abysmal. The fact that the only goal came from a penalty and the game still went on to 101 minutes is a bit sad as well. To make matters worse, the initial penalty shot was actually saved by the Haitian keeper but it had to be re-done because it was ruled that the keeper came off the line too early. This is something that very rarely ever happens in football/soccer and I am sure it was very disappointing to Haiti, who much like Vietnam, had expected to get absolutely destroyed in this opening match.
Haiti failed to have a single shot on goal despite having possession for 40% of the game. England on the other hand had more than 20 shots on goal with 11 of them on target, yet failed to get a single goal and this could perhaps be because of the Haitian goalkeeper making an astounding 10 saves.
The other games of the day, save one, were particularly boring as well with Denmark defeating China 1-0 with an 89th minute goal. The only real excitement of the day came in the Japan vs Zambia game, which I should have watched but opted for the England game because I thought it was going to be exciting - wow was I wrong.
Japan won their match 5-0 and it was easily the most exciting game in the Women's World Cup thus far. It's difficult to tell if Japan can rehash this sort of performance against a higher ranked opponent but if they can bring the heat like this in later matches, they could be headed very far into the tournament.
Japan is one of those nations that I think it is impossible to not root for. Well, I suppose this is true only if they are not playing against your nation's team or if you are Korean. Their players and their fans have a worldwide reputation for being extraordinarily polite including famously cleaning up the stands and the locker room after each game, win or lose.
I think that as far as the group stages are concerned that Japan should easily advance as Spain appears to be the only potential roadblock for them.
I am already enjoying the Women's World Cup a lot more than I thought I was going to, but I'll be honest. I watch it while I am doing something else in my living room and do not watch it intently, which is a good thing seeing as how the only 2 matches I have watched live thus far have been rather disappointing as far as the expected performance of the sides was concerned. I will be watching Japan in their next match vs Costa Rica on Wednesday.