5 July 2022 Lausanne, Switzerland: Nerves were fully on display in the fourth day of Women’s World Cup action in Amstelveen and Terrassa. In the opening match, Chile won a war of attrition with Ireland to record their first ever World Cup win. The next match was a clash between two teams who couldn’t be separated as China and India played out a high tempo game that only produced two goals but was a fascinating encounter from start to finish. If the first two matches were tense, the third match, between Japan and South Africa was thrilling as the African team, led by Onathatile Zulu, completed a great escape after going three-nil down in the first half. New Zealand went into a 3-1 lead over England and held onto that lead with a defiant display of defending. And in the final match of the day Australia stunned Belgium with two quick goals that took the Red Panthers by surprise. Ireland v Chile (Pool A) This was a match that both teams had targeted as a game where points might be available and that awareness really added to the pressure and urgency that could be felt across the pitch. The first three quarters were goalless but full of high-energy running and a lot of attacks on both goals. Claudia Schuler was the busier of the two goalkeepers but both Schuler and Ayeisha McFerran pulled off some vitally important saves. Chile’s work was made harder in the first half with a series of cards – yellow and green – which put the side under some additional pressure. Ireland’s Head Coach Sean Dancer will doubtless be frustrated as Ireland won a series of penalty corners but failed to make any of them count. Chile’s number one penalty corner runners played a vital part in keeping the higher ranked team from scoring. The breakthrough came three minutes into the final quarter. Chile won their own penalty corner and Denise Krimerman Losada made no mistake as she fired the ball into the bottom left corner of McFerran’s goal. Ireland put Las Diablas under immense pressure for the final 10 minutes, winning a number of penalty corners but still failing to find a way past the team in red. A yellow card for Eleana Tice limited Dancer’s option to remove his goalkeeper and Chile held on to record a very important first win in a World Cup. Player of the Match was Manuela Urroz. She said: ‘I am so proud of this team, we have worked hard for a number of years. I am so happy I cannot explain it. I think both teams knew that this was an important game for the group. But this is a big step for us, to win our first game at a World Cup.’ Elena Tice of Ireland said: ‘We knew Chile would be a good team. We are bitterly disappointed. We didn’t convert our penalty corners. We struggled with the execution. We have to do better. Now we have to go out and do better against Germany tomorrow.’ China v India (Pool B) The second match of the day in Amstelveen got off to another tense start as India and China went in search of their first win of the tournament. The first quarter was extremely well balanced with both sides testing and probing each others’ defences but there was only one shot in the first 15 minutes – with India hitting the target but finding China’s goalkeeper Liu Ping in the way. India thought they had scored midway through the second half when Tete Salima pushed the ball over the China goal-line following a pass from Ktariya Vandana. However, a smart referral by China saw the goal discounted after it was judged to have hit the striker’s body. It was China who got the breakthrough. Zhang Xindan played a lovely pass which split the India defence and found Zheng Jiali behind the defence. The subsequent shot flew past Savita to give China the lead in this hugely important encounter. The second half began with China on the attack. First Gu Bingfeng sent a penalty corner just over the cross bar and then Zhang Xiaoxue just missed connecting with a cross that would have definitely produced a second goal. That miss would come back to haunt China when Vandana was able to send a penalty corner rebound flying past Ping. The goal came at a time when India could have been forgiven for thinking they were never going to break through the staunch China defence. With just under four minutes left, China went a player down as Zheng Jiali recieved a yellow card. Despite this, China won a penalty corner but Gu’s shot was well saved by Savita and the danger passed. The final minutes saw China pepper the India goalmouth with speculative crosses but no-one could get on the end of anything and both teams settled for their second drawn result of the tournament. Player of the Match Katariya Vandana said: ‘We are disappointed because we should have won the match. We worked hard and hopefully we will win the next match.’ China’s Cui Xiuxia said: ‘Today we played and worked hard. We should have won and hopefully we will win the next one. We need to score more goals but we enjoyed the one that went in. For our next game, we hope to score from our penalty corners.’ Japan v South Africa (Pool D) Japan got off to a super start as they chased their first win of the World Cup in Terrassa. Captain Nagai Yuri led by example as she was able to poke a rebounded ball past South Africa Phumelela Mbande in the third minute. It took another six minutes before the Cherry Blossoms doubled their lead, this time through the quick thinking of Toriyama Mai, who got in front of her marking defender and lifted the ball over the keeper. South Africa were shell-shocked and for a few minutes there was
