World Cup: Young people guarantee victory for favorite teams – 07/22/2023 – Sport

On the third day of the 2023 Women’s World Cup, the favorite teams of the round, which are also expected to fight for the title, confirmed their strength and debuted with victory thanks to the performance of young athletes who already stand out in important national championships.

Players like the American Sophia Smith, the English Georgia Stanway and the Japanese Jun Endo showed in the field the high potential of the renewal process of the sport’s main teams.

The star of the third day of the World Cup (Friday night, the 21st, and early Saturday morning, the 22nd, in Brazil), was Sophia Smith, 22 years old, who scored two goals and an assist in the United States’ triumph over Vietnam by 3-0 in the opening of Group E. No room for dispute, shirt number 11 took the man of the field trophy in what was its debut in World Cups —the Vietnamese team also made its debut in the World Cup, considering both the women’s and men’s teams.

The Portland Thorns striker, from the USA, is already used to the spotlight and individual awards, the main one being MVP (most valuable player) last season in the NWSL, the country’s national league. Smith was the youngest athlete to achieve this feat, with 14 goals and 3 assists in 18 regular season appearances for the club.

In addition, she was also elected the player of the year in 2022 by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF). In the strongest team in the world according to the Fifa ranking, he already has 14 goals in 31 official appearances.

Another decisive performance this Saturday was that of attacking midfielder Georgia Stanway, already in her second Cup at the age of 24. It fell to her to take the penalty that ensured England’s victory over Haiti by 1-0, in a surprisingly difficult duel in group D for the English, current champions of the Eurocup.

Stanway has been playing since last year for Bayern Munich in the Frauen-Bundesliga, the German Championship. Before, she played in the home country’s league with Manchester City’s uniform. Thanks to her performance in the English team, she was chosen by UEFA as one of the 11 players in the ideal selection of the Champions League in the 2017-18 season.

Striker at the beginning of his career, shirt number 8 still shows efficiency when it comes to scoring. He has already scored 16 goals in 47 games for the England senior team, fourth in the FIFA rankings.

In Group C, Japan (11th in the Fifa ranking and champion in the 2011 edition of the World Cup) had four goals scored by athletes aged 23 to beat Zambia (77th) by 5-0, the most elastic score of the tournament so far.

Under-20 world champion in 2018 and newcomer to the Cups, attacking midfielder Hinata Miyazawa scored twice and won the man of the match award. She plays in the Japanese league (WE League) for MyNavi Sendai.

Forwards Riko Ueki, from Tokyo Verdy Beleza (WE League) and Jun Endo, from Angel City (NWSL) each scored a goal.

Both also won the under-20 World Cup and were called up to the senior team that would compete in the 2019 World Cup. Ueki ended up out of injury, while Endo played three games in the tournament, with just 19 years old.

In the match that ended the Saturday of debuts on Oceania’s lawns, Denmark (13th in the ranking) beat China (14th) by the minimum score, already in the final moments of the duel. The goal was scored by striker Amalie Vangsgaard, 26, who plays in the Division 1 Féminine for Paris Saint-Germain, in France.