Striker Cristiana Girelli got here off the bench to go an 87th-minute winner in Italy’s Ladies’s World Cup opener in opposition to Argentina.
Girelli changed midfielder Giulia Dragoni, who on the age of 16 years and 259 days turned one of many youngest gamers within the match’s historical past.
Azzurre supervisor Milena Bertolini put her religion in teen Dragoni who solely made her debut for the senior aspect on 1 July, however finally it was skilled Juventus participant Girelli who made the distinction.
It appeared as if Italy had been going to be annoyed by a gritty defensive efficiency by Argentina earlier than substitute Girelli, who changed Dragoni within the 83rd minute, nodded the winner.
The vastly skilled Girelli acquired on the top of Lisa Boattin’s cross and looped the ball over Vanina Correa to safe a 1-0 victory.
In entrance of a crowd of 30,889 spectators, Italy had earlier seen objectives by Arianna Caruso and Valentina Giacinti dominated out for offside.
A tetchy contest which included six bookings was stopped quite a few occasions to permit gamers to have therapy.
Italy, who additionally included 18-year-old ahead Chiara Beccari from the beginning, go to Wellington subsequent to play Sweden, who’ve a two-point lead on the high of Group G, on Saturday (kick-off 08:30 BST).
Argentina’s subsequent match is in opposition to South Africa in Dunedin on Friday (01:00 BST).
Teenager Dragoni performs her half
Italy have misplaced their approach since a formidable exhibiting on the 2019 World Cup which included wins over Australia, Jamaica and China.
They upset at Euro 2022 and 13 of Bertolini’s 23 gamers at this match are showing on the World Cup stage for the primary time.
The Italy boss produced a serious shock earlier than kick-off by naming Dragoni in her beginning XI – simply three weeks after the teen made her debut for Le Azzurre aged 16 years and 236 days.
She has been nicknamed ‘Little Messi’ and performed her half in her nation’s win with some assured touches, with {the teenager} ending the match with an 86.4% passing accuracy.
Whereas Dragoni began, ahead Girelli, defender Elisa Bartoli and midfielder Valentina Cernoia – who’ve greater than 200 caps between them and are showing at their second World Cup – needed to make do with seats on the bench.
Girelli made her presence felt after climbing off the bench to settle the match and break Argentina’s hearts.
La Albiceleste thought they’d earned themselves an important level and appeared crestfallen after Girelli struck earlier than Florencia Bonsegundo was denied an equaliser within the closing moments by Francesca Durante.
The hunt for a primary World Cup win goes on for Argentina, who’ve misplaced eight of their 10 video games spanning 4 editions of the match.