England Women vs Haiti Women – Match preview, live stream, kick-off time, prediction, team news, lineups
England kick off their World Cup campaign on Saturday where they’ll face Haiti.
The European Champions are heavy favourites to win the World Cup – just behind the US. Whilst Haiti, who are playing in their first World Cup, face a difficult group – Denmark, China make up the rest of Group D.
Despite being one of the most favoured teams to win the World Cup, Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses are without several key players – including captain Leah Williamson, Beth Mead and Fran Kirby.
Haiti, meanwhile, sprung a shock just to get this far, beating Chile in their inter-confederations play-off final earlier this year. But they will be determined to compete and not just make up the numbers.
This is perhaps, unsurprisingly, the first time that England and Haiti are meeting. In fact, the Lionesses have never played an official game against any Caribbean nation.
The match takes place at Brisbane Stadium and kick off is at 10:30 am in the UK.
Team news
England captain Millie Bright has been given the all-clear to start their World Cup opener against Haiti, with Sarina Wiegman having a fully-fit squad to choose from.
Bright has not played a competitive match since March but has recovered from knee surgery in time to lead England into their Group D opener in Brisbane.
Wiegman said she has yet to decide her starting line-up, and the manager has decisions to make at left-back and at No 9, where Alessia Russo and Rachel Daly are competing for a place.
Lionesses are without their experienced captain Leah Williamson and last year’s Euros Golden Boot winner and player of the tournament Beth Mead, both of whom miss out with injury along with Chelsea forward Fran Kirby.
Beth England and Ellie Roebuck were the only players in Sarina Wiegman’s World Cup group not to play against Canada.
Meanwhile, for Haiti, Melchie Dumornay is a player to watch, having signed for French giants Lyon this year and being ranked inside the top 100 in The Guardian’s 2022 list of the best female players in the world.
Like Dumornay, many of the squad featured at the 2018 Under-20 World Cup.
England Women possible starting lineup
England XI: Earps; Bronze, Bright, Carter, Greenwood; Walsh, Stanway, Toone; James, Daly, Hemp
WTX Sport predicts England will win 3-0
The Lionesses go into the game off the back of several goalless games following a loss to Australia in a friendly – the loss ended a 30-game unbeaten streak for England. But Sarina Wiegman remains positive and suggests the goalless draw against Canada still showed promising signs. England will need to get an early goal to settle the nerves. It won’t be as easy as some pundits have suggested, but England should win fairly comfortably.
