Women’s World Cup: Cohosts New Zealand and Australia get off to winning starts on Day 1

Sports have the rare power to rally populations of people together even in the most difficult of moments. That was on full display Thursday night in Auckland, New Zealand, during the World Cup’s opening match, which pitted the cohosts against Norway.

Hours earlier, tragedy had hit Auckland as a gunman shot and killed two people — and injured several others — at a construction site in the city’s central business district. A moment of silence preceded the opening kickoff and added another layer of emotion to what already was set to be one of the biggest moments in the history of New Zealand sports.

The Football Ferns, as New Zealand’s women’s national team is known, then went out and made the entire nation proud, delivering a performance full of pride and hard work. The result was a 1-0 victory on the shoulders of a well-worked Hannah Wilkinson goal that came just three minutes after halftime. New Zealand held on from there to score a major upset and clinch the country’s first-ever World Cup victory. This was a moment that transcended sports on several levels.

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

The second game of the day featured the other host, Australia, against the Republic of Ireland, which was making its women’s World Cup debut. But the biggest story line filtered out in the hours before kickoff, as Australia star and one of the world’s top players, Sam Kerr, was ruled out for two games because of a calf injury.

The news was a shocking blow for the Aussies, who rely so much on Kerr to carry them. Australia wasn’t completely convincing without its superstar but managed to grind out a 1-0 result in front of a raucous crowd of almost 76,000 in Sydney.

The lone goal came from the penalty spot with Sellersville’s Marissa Sheva the unlucky culprit of the foul. Sheva, who qualifies for Ireland through her mother, bumped into Australia’s Hayley Raso leading to the decision. Steph Catley confidently stepped up in the 52nd minute to dispatch the penalty into the upper corner of the net and send the folks in Sydney into rapture. The Irish fought back over the final 20 minutes or so to create several decent chances, but Australia held on to ensure a 2-0 start for the cohosts.

New Zealand 1, Norway 0

Australia 1, Republic of Ireland 0

Both hosts’ fans showed up in massive numbers to support their teams and create what was a brilliant spectacle and environment. Both countries set attendance records, with the 75,784 on hand in Sydney a particularly staggering number. Two games and a combined crowd of nearly 118,000 fans was a heck of way to kick off soccer’s biggest showpiece.

What else but Wilkinson’s emotional winner for New Zealand against Norway, after a quick transition move keyed by Indiah-Paige Riley and Jacqueline Hand.

“We put so much pressure on ourselves because it wasn’t just about winning a game,” New Zealand captain Ali Riley said following the team’s 1-0 victory over Norway. “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.”

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