WWC23: England v Denmark

We woke up in Wellington and made our way to the Wellington airport at stupid o-clock for a flight to Sydney. Why Sydney? Because we were going to Australia for the Canada/Australia game on July 31st, so why not pop over a few days early and catch some other first round action? So, off to Sydney we were for some site-seeing and a group stage match between England and Denmark.

We were a tad surprised to discover that the Royal Exhibition Hotel (thank you Hotels.com) was located above a pub and casino. Oh well, the rooms were big, and we would be able to walk to the game.

We dropped off our bags and then headed out in search of food. We found a local cafe serving tasty brunch and then headed to the Waterfront, by way of the ANZAC memorial, some interesting birds, the botanical gardens, and of course, the Opera House.

That ate up the better part of the day, so we hopped on a bus back to our hotel/pub/casino. And then we headed out to find dinner enroute to the game.

We had great seats around the 35 yard mark facing the benches. Instead of the Maori greeting we received in New Zealand, we were greeted by a digirido and a verbally by an elder

England took control of the game quite early, with Denmark relying on speedy counterattacks (which continued to look threatening). However, it was England's posession and control of the game that produced a goal in the 6th minute from Lauren James. Denmark stepped up a bit and nearly equalized in the 27th minute, but English goalkeeper saved the day. The rest of the half continued in much the same fashion with England possessing, controlling, and attacking and Denmark threatening on the counter attack. At halftime, the uneasy 1-0 lead remained.

The second half continued much as the first, but with the intensity ratcheted up just a notch. In the 71st minute, Alessia Russo nearly sealed the match for England with a second goal, but . It was really never a comfortable game; Denmark's counterattacks seemed to become increasingly threatening the closer the game came to the final whistle, but ultimately, England prevailed.