Women’s World Cup LIVE: New Zealand welcomes Norway to open tournament

New Zealand Co-Captain Abi Riley: “We have done everything we can to be ready for this moment. The noise, that will give us energy. But I also know what that can do for any little girl, to see these players, these amazing women and athletes, confident and empowered just living their dreams.”

A minute’s silence will be held before today’s opening two matches following this morning’s shooting in Auckland, while FIFA said there are “no security concerns” ahead of the tournament’s opening match between New Zealand and Norway.

“We appreciate the collaboration with the New Zealand authorities from the very beginning of this tragic incident,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement.

“We have been involved in ongoing communication from the start, and have also received the necessary assurances from the Minister for Sport and Recreation, Grant Robertson, regarding the safety of participating teams and fans at the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand.

“Fifa extends its deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims who lost their lives, and our thoughts and prayers remain with those who were injured in this tragic incident.”

Robertson said: “This incident is in no way related to the upcoming Women’s World Cup tournament and there are no national security concerns.

“We have provided the necessary guarantees on the security of the tournament to the FIFA leadership this afternoon.

“There is a comprehensive security plan in place around our organization of the Women’s World Cup, and we will continue to work with the police who have been part of the operational planning group for the tournament and as such have plans in place and are well placed to deal with this morning’s incident.

New Zealand have never won a match in five previous Women’s World Cup appearances and while they have a strong chance of beating Norway in Thursday’s opener at Eden Park, co-captain Ria Percival said the Football Ferns are enjoying the underdog role.

Playing in the same Auckland stadium where the ‘Black Ferns’ clinched their sixth Rugby World Cup women’s title last year, New Zealand are determined to give home fans more reason to celebrate by beating the 1995 champions.

“We are always seen as the underdog,” Percival said Wednesday. “And for us, we’ve always taken it easy and we’ll do the exact same thing with Game 1 tomorrow, but for us we’re excited to be here, we’re ready to go.”

Norway, which has 2018 Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg back in the mix after a prolonged absence caused by a dispute with her federation, is a dangerous attacking team and New Zealand must find a way to neutralize their threat, Percival said.

“They can provoke an attack,” he added. “So for us, it’s just focusing on our work that we want to do to avoid obviously being dangerous.”

On the eve of the tournament, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said that women’s football has seen incredible growth in the last 10 years and he is confident that the World Cup will win over anyone who remains skeptical about the merits of women’s football.

The sport’s governing body expects 2 billion people to tune in to the 64-game tournament co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, with the event kicking off in Auckland on Thursday.

“A lot of people who think that women’s soccer isn’t a great game yet, or that it’s not as entertaining, or that it’s some kind of bad copy of men’s soccer or things like that, well, when they watch a game for the first time, it’s actually a fantastic game,” Infantino said.

“The level has grown incredibly in the last 10 years and the best comes here.”

Infantino said that if there was a sport in which the women’s game could compete with the men’s, it would be soccer.

“I mean, it’s 50% of the population, women all over the world, more or less, right?” he said.

“It’s really inconceivable, intellectually, that there isn’t a single sport that can compete with some of the men’s sports.”

All eyes will be on New Zealand when the co-hosts kick off the Women’s World Cup against Norway; Expectations will be high, but the Football Ferns will have their sights set on achieving a more humble goal. World Cup history looms over New Zealand: in five previous tournaments and 15 matches, they have yet to record a win or advance to the knockout stages.

The chance to play at home is a huge boost, but New Zealand has very few positive signs elsewhere. Under coach Jitka Klimkova, New Zealand went on an 11-match winless run before beating Vietnam a week before the tournament, their first win since last September. The New Zealand squad is solid but not spectacular and the absence of a breakout star could be deeply felt against the European nations in Group A, where Norway and Switzerland will be looking to bounce back from disappointment at the European Championships last summer.

The Women’s World Cup will “proceed as planned” following a shooting in Auckland, just hours before the city is set to host the first game of the tournament.

Ahead of the opening match between hosts New Zealand and opponents Norway in Auckland, a gunman was reportedly found dead after killing two people and injuring numerous others in the city on Thursday (July 20). The shooting took place at a construction site in the Auckland city centre.

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said: “Clearly, with the FIFA World Cup kicking off tonight, there are a lot of eyes on Auckland. The government spoke with FIFA organizers this morning and the tournament will go ahead as planned.

“Aucklanders and those watching around the world can rest assured that the police have neutralized the threat and are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident. The safety of New Zealanders and the safety of our visitors is our first priority.

“Obviously there will be an increased police presence in Auckland to provide reassurance to the public, but police have indicated that they do not believe there is a continuing security risk.”

As teams have been adjusting to Australia and New Zealand over the last few weeks, many coaches and staff have been doing what the rest of the public is doing, jumping on news about the different teams to see how they’re doing. It’s the point at which an international tournament takes on that enticingly self-contained quality. All eyes are still on the US, especially since this is Megan Rapinoe’s last World Cup, and her team looks to send her off with a historic third straight win.

However, when defending champions look around the field, they don’t see what they used to. There is the usual confidence, of course, but also some caution. The gap between them and the rest of the teams is not that big. Rapinoe’s retirement may well close out a larger era, as the dominant factor in women’s soccer for the past decade has been how the US has enjoyed much longer-term development than the rest of the game. That has been seen as especially influential when it comes to fitness, but the general feeling is that the European game and Australia have caught up.

For UK viewers, all games will be available to watch on BBC and ITV.

For the BBC, there will be live TV coverage as well as the BBC Sport website with live audio commentary available on BBC Radio 5 Live, 5 Sports Extra and the BBC Sounds app.

For ITV, live coverage will be available on television and online via ITVX.

So far, the BBC and ITV have only announced the schedule for the group stage, although the BBC has said it will broadcast both semi-finals with the final available on both channels.

Here is everything you need to know

The biggest Women’s World Cup in history kicks off this morning with both co-hosts in action on opening day, as New Zealand take on Norway in Auckland and Australia take on the Republic of Ireland in Sydney.

The first ever 32-team Women’s World Cup will kick off as New Zealand attempt to clinch a historic tournament victory – the Football Ferns have failed to win a World Cup final match in 15 previous attempts – but they will be cheered by the home crowd at Eden Park when they take on the star-studded Norway.

Australia will then be hoping to get their campaign off to a perfect start when the Matildas take on Ireland in front of what is expected to be a record-breaking crowd at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium. Australia have emerged as one of the tournament favourites, with star Sam Kerr leading the way, and a winning start is vital with Canada and Nigeria forming the ‘group of death’.

Follow all the updates and preparation ahead of the tournament’s opening game on today’s live blog.