Debuts and clean sheets - Women’s World Cup week one round-up

The first week of the 2023 Women’s World Cup has passed, and six of our Lilywhites who were called up to represent their nations have got minutes in the tank at the tournament.

Co-hosts New Zealand got off to a perfect start with their first ever World Cup win - a 1-0 victory against Norway last Thursday - before losing 1-0 to Philippines on Tuesday.

At her fifth World Cup, Ria Percival played 174 minutes across the two fixtures.

Elsewhere in Group A, summer signing Luana Bühler was part of the Switzerland defence to keep a clean sheet in their 2-0 win against Philippines on Friday, before sitting out of Tuesday’s 0-0 draw with Norway.

New Zealand and Switzerland go head-to-head in a bid to advance to the knockout stages in this Sunday’s 8am kick-off.

Canada are top of Group B following a 0-0 draw with Nigeria and a 2-1 win against Republic of Ireland.

Shelina Zadorsky came on at half-time in the latter as Ireland were eliminated from the competition.

Over in Group F, Jamaica began their campaign strongly with a respectable 0-0 draw against France on Sunday. Rebecca Spencer was between the sticks for the Reggae Girlz, holding onto the clean sheet following the sending off of Khadija Shaw. Drew Spence also played 90 minutes of Jamaica’s first ever World Cup game.

Last but not least, Rosella Ayane played 94 minutes of Morocco’s 6-0 defeat to Germany on Monday. Morocco are bottom of Group H but have two games still to play against Colombia and South Korea.

Click here for the full guide to our seven Lilywhites who are involved in this summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.