USA faces Thailand as outsiders show defense can work

Argentina scored a very first point in the Women's World Cup with a determined defensive display against Japan on Monday, but the United States, the medal holders, can also expect to face a Thai team determined to choke. Tuesday.

At a defense-against-attack day, Argentina held Japan 0-0 in Paris in Group D, while Canada defeated Cameroon 1-0 in Montpellier.

Faced with a finalist team from the last two World Cups, Argentina has barely made a shot at goal since it forced the first draw and blank of the competition and only the seventh in its history.

"Basically, we could not play otherwise against this team," said Carlos Borrello, the coach of Argentina.

Cameroon, which had won two matches in its only previous appearance in 2011, was defeated in a play in the final seconds of the first half.

"We had to be realistic and focus our efforts on defense and the shot against the counterattack," said Alain Djeumfa, the Cameroon coach, who won two of their three group matches at the last Cup of the world.

When the whistle blew in Paris, Paris Saint-Germain's Parc des Princes stadium, the Argentinian substitutes jumped off the bench to join the players on the field and finally earned a World Cup point on the seventh attempt.

"This point is very important to us, I think we are able to think about what Argentina is and what it means as a team," Estefania Banini said. the captain of Argentina who was elected player of the match.

"We were not good enough to break Argentina 's defense today," said Asako Takakura, Japan' s coach.

Given that the group stage only eliminates eight of the 24 teams, the draw leaves Japan and Argentina a victory in their next two games. Both will have to find a way to score.

– & # 39; More points & # 39; –

"We still have two teams to face and they will be really competitive," Banini said. "We have to play football in a very smart and compact way and become a really compact team and I think we can move forward.

"We think we can continue to fight and get more points without going home with one."

In Montpellier, Canada struggled to get shot in the opening of Group E.

Defender Kadeisha Buchanan scored the only goal late in the game to score a corner at the last post and bounce at the head of Annette Ngo Ndom for Cameroon.

"I think Cameroon has done a great job keeping it compact and making it difficult for us," Buchanan said.

The other two teams in the group, the Netherlands and New Zealand, meet in Le Havre on Tuesday afternoon.

Even if the Netherlands are European champions, they will be beaten by the World Cup champions and the US Olympic champions, who will face Thailand in Reims in the third game of the day in Group F. The other two teams in the group, Chile and Sweden, meet in Rennes.

It's a daunting task for the Thais, a team that has only one World Cup appearance and one win against Côte d'Ivoire in 2015.

The United States are undefeated in 28 games since their defeat against Australia in July 2017. They have an average of 3.32 goals per game in this series, but they still have a long way to go to break the record. 57 matches without defeat established by the American women's team. 2004 and 2007.

Thailand coach, Nuengrutai Srathongvian, gave a positive turn to the challenge.

"To face the number one team in the world at the opening match of the FIFA Women's World Cup is a great opportunity for us to test ourselves and evaluate ourselves," she said. she said at the pre-game press conference.