In two day’s time, the England Women’s national team will open their Women’s World Cup account against Haiti.
The Group D match kicks off at 7.30pm local time (10.30am UK) at the Brisbane Stadium, and Sarina Wiegman’s credentials will be put to the test by Nicolas Delepine’s side.
The Three Lions can’t take things lightly despite this being the Haitian’s debut in the showpiece competition. If they want a reminder of what complacency can do, they only need to look at Argentina’s opener against Saudi Arabia in the men’s World Cup from last winter.
Or if they want an even more recent and succinct reminder, they can take a look at the seismic result from the opening game of the Women’s World Cup on Thursday where New Zealand, ranked 26th in the world per FIFA, shocked Norway (ranked 12th) by edging the match 1-0 thanks to a superbly worked goal that was finished off by Hannah Wilkinson.
We have lift-off at the #FIFAWWC! ?
Hannah Wilkinson scores the opening goal for co-hosts New Zealand! ???#BBCWorldCup #FIFAWWC pic.twitter.com/MJ5r2coFX4
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 20, 2023
All England need to remember is to execute Wiegman’s tactics in exactly the same way as they did on the way to victory in the European Championship.
With players such as Chloe Kelly, Alessia Russo, Lucy Bronze and others, they are a squad that are chock full of women’s footballing talent.
Given their previous experience in this type of tournament too, no opponent should hold any fear for them.
How far they go in the competition will largely be down to what they hear in between their ears as much as how well they do their talking with their feet on the pitch.