A dogged performance by Jamaica saw them hold group favorite France to a 0-0 result in their opening game of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup inside the Sydney Football Stadium in Sydney, Australia on Sunday.
Following a string of below-par performances from a number of the more elite teams, France, beaten quarter-finalists at their own World Cup four years ago, and the number five-ranked team in the world, were odds on to get a result against the number 43rd-ranked Jamaicans.
However, the Europeans were made to work very hard for every blade of grass in the Group F encounter. They went closest to opening the score late in the second half when attacker Kadidiatou Diani crashed a header off the cross-bar and the right upright.
Jamaica, through captain Khadija Shaw, forced goalkeeper Pauline Peyraud-Magnin into a diving save following a rasping free-kick.
Shaw was later shown a second yellow card by referee Maria Belen Carvajal and will now be suspended for Jamaica’s second game against Panama in Perth on July 29.
