Women’s World Cup 2023: Team of matchday two

Matchday two in the 2023 Women’s World Cup group stage is already over, with the knockout stages of the competition now rapidly approaching.

Sunday’s fixtures saw the last sets of teams play their game, while some began matchday three.

There were some huge results of note, in round two of the group stage, including historic wins for Philippines, Jamaica and Morocco, a monumental performance from Colombia, as well important results for Nigeria, Spain, France and Sweden.

Read on to see who made it into 90min’s team of matchday two.

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GK: Olivia McDaniel – An outstanding save in stoppage time against New Zealand preserved a clean sheet and secured a first ever World Cup win for Philippines.

RB: Hanane Ait El Haj – The Morocco full-back provided the cross for her country’s first ever World Cup goal, yet it was also a smart defensive performance.

CB: Allyson Swaby – A huge performance underpinned Jamaica’s first ever World Cup win, only days after their first ever points. Scored the only goal against Panama.

CB: Amanda Ilestedt – The Sweden centre-back is bizarrely among the World Cup’s leading scorers thanks to her ability to keep getting on the end of balls from Jonna Andersson.

LB: Manuela Vanegas – Colombia’s matchwinner against Germany not only had an impact by scoring the decisive stoppage time goal, but was defensively sound as well.

CM: Filippa Angeldahl – Did Sweden’s dirty work in midfield to stop Italy from gaining a foothold, battling hard and winning the vast majority of her duels. Used the ball well too.

CM: Teresa Abelleira – Still the largely unsung hero in Spain’s midfield, although it will be harder to go under the radar after scoring a screamer in their rampant win against Zambia.

CM: Alexia Putellas – The back-to-back Ballon d’Or winner started her first competitive game in 14 months in matchday two and it was like she had never left.

RW: Rasheedat Ajibade – The goals came from elsewhere in Nigeria’s victory over Australia, but the winegr did an excellent job out of possession by pressing from the front to force mistakes.

ST: Jenni Hermoso – The veteran forward is making up for lost time after missing out on Euro 2022. Two more goals for Spain against Zambia took her tally for the tournament to three.

LW: Linda Caicedo – It was only three years ago that the Colombian teenager was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, but she is now on top of the world and scored a stunner against Germany.

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Former Italy international Arianna Criscione, Dulwich Hamlet’s Brittany Saylor and Football for Future founder Elliot Arthur-Worsop join Katie Cross to have football’s climate conversation about the Women’s World Cup and tournament football’s carbon footprint. Pledgeball’s Heather Ashworth also gives an update on the Pledgeball’s new Women’s World Cup initiative.

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