New Zealand rallies a nation shocked by shooting with its first-ever World Cup win

“This is about inspiring our entire country, and with what happened this morning, trying to do something positive today," New Zealand captain Ali Riley said of her team's historic night.

New Zealand's players celebrate Hannah Wilkinson's goal that gave the nation its first World Cup win.Read moreAndrew Cornaga / AP

by Jonathan Tannenwald

Published July 20, 2023, 10:18 a.m. ET

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — This city, this country, and this World Cup needed a moment of catharsis Thursday night.

As 42,137 fans rolled off the trains and buses to Eden Park in waves of color, the shooting that left three people dead in the heart of downtown Auckland 12 hours earlier was still fresh on everyone’s mind. For the many visiting Americans in town, the scene was achingly familiar, but for locals, it had the shock of true rarity.

By nightfall, the opportunity came to release all the pent-up emotions. A wonderful opening ceremony that showed off the local indigenous Māori culture brought the crowd to its feet, even more when New Zealand’s name came up in the video introducing the tournament’s 32 teams. A big cheer went up for the United States, too, signaling that it had many fans in the stands ahead of the two-timereigning champs’ opener here Saturday vs. Vietnam (9 p.m. Friday in Philadelphia).

Silence fell over the windswept stands once again for a moment of silence to honor the shooting victims. Then, seconds after it ended, a crescendo grew to a deafening roar that accompanied the kickoff.

The noise kept coming as New Zealand surprisingly took the game to Norway’s superior talent. Norway’s squad boasts all-world attacking stars in Ada Hegerberg and Caroline Graham Hansen, but the ball was at the other end of the field for much of the first half.

Two minutes into the second half, the ultimate catharsis arrived. Indiah-Paige Riley sprung Jacqueline Hand down the right wing, Hannah Wilkinson raced up the middle with her, and Hand put the ball on a dime for Wilkinson to slam home.

Cue bedlam in the stands, from the largest crowd to watch a soccer game of any kind in New Zealand’s history; and bedlam on the field, as the entire Ferns team raced down the sideline to swarm Wilkinson with joy.

Wilkinson’s goal, her team’s lung-busting effort all over the field, and a little bit of home luck — especially when Norway’s Tuva Hansen hit the crossbar in the 80th minute — propelled New Zealand to its first win in any senior-level World Cup, men’s or women’s.

“It was a team performance,” said Ferns centerback Katie Bowen, who played for four NWSL teams from 2016-22 before moving to Australia last year. “I know that I was able to get up Ada’s [rear end] — excuse my French — but I knew that I had cover behind me. … Ali Riley did a great job against Hansen. But everybody did their jobs around the park.”

Riley, a Los Angeles native with a New Zealand-bred father, was one of many players who spoke on the importance of using the game to rally the nation.

“We put so much pressure on ourselves, because it wasn’t just about winning a game,” the Ferns’ longtime captain said. “This is about inspiring our entire country, and with what happened this morning, trying to do something positive today, and to honor the first responders. And that’s a lot. … It felt like we did it, and I think we did it.”

Soccer is not New Zealand’s first sport. Rugby comes first, cricket second, and then the field. The order is the same at Eden Park, too, home of this country’s world-superpower national rugby teams and a men’s cricket team with multiple recent titles on its shelf.

But when Wilkinson’s shot flew into the net, this great sporting shrine had another epic chapter in its history books — and the world’s No. 1 sport showed why it can light up the planet like no other, even in places not used to it.

“For it to open its doors and have a women’s football tournament here, it means the world,” said Wilkinson, who played college soccer at Tennessee before embarking on a pro career in Europe and Australia. “I’d like to think that women’s football made an impression today.”

It was so much packed into one day, and it was just the first day of the World Cup. That thought brought joy too, on a night after a morning that took it away.

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