World Cup, Day 5 Analysis
Germany and Brazil lay down a couple of ominous markers, while Italy get a much-needed late victory
Bertolini makes bold calls
Italy had one of the highest average ages of any squad at Euro 2022 last summer, and it didn't end well for Milena Bertolini's side.
A hammering at the hands of France was one they never recovered from and a much-talked about side flopped out of the tournament without a win in the group stage, and a lot of questions have been asked of Milena Bertolini since.
The head coach made some bold calls in leaving the likes of Sara Gama out of the squad, and she made some even bolder ones in order to inject some energy into her team for their opening game against Argentina, with 16-year-old Giulia Dragoni and 18-year-old Chiara Beccari starting.
With one cap between them coming into the game, it was a huge decision from Bertolini, who also left usual number one goalkeeper Laura Giuliani and captain Cristiana Girelli on the bench.
Dragoni didn't look out of place. She drifted across the midfield, always getting on the ball and driving Italy forward, while full-backs Lisa Boattin and Lucia Di Guglielmo were also constantly getting up the pitch.
Centre-back duo Elena Linari and Cecilia Salvai also pushed high to try and force Argentina back and while Italy had general control and looked more composed than 12 months ago, they continued to lack a cutting edge, and when they did a final ball, Caruso and Giactini had failed to keep themselves onside.
They started the second half with a bit more verve in trying to pin Argentina back, but just couldn't find the breakthrough until their leader Girelli came off the bench and took just four minutes to send home a thumping header in the nick of time.
It was harsh on Argentina, but they'd continued to sink bank into their own hald and invited pressure late on, and Girelli was only too happy to give Italy control when it comes to what is expected to be a closely fought battle for second place in the group.
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Germany answer some pre-tournament doubts
Germany were many people's favourites coming into a wide open field of World Cup contenders, but a sticky run of pre-tournament results cast some doubts over Martina Voss-Tecklenburg's side.
Losses to Brazil and in particular Zambia, the latter just a week before the tournament started, raised questions about Germany's unsettled back four, with Giulia Gwinn out with an ACL injury and both Marina Hegering and defensive midfielder Lena Oberdorf missing at least the first game.
There were certainly times Morocco - the second lowest ranked side in the tournament - exposed a few of those frailties in the back line, especially down the right where Svenja Huth is filling in for this tournament as the forward would naturally go forward and leave space in behind, but they never punished it.
While some better teams will, Germany were efficient in the way they attacked. Huth's forward thinking allowed youngster Jule Brand to play inside more, crowding Morocco with Alex Popp dropping deep and the midfield of Sara Däbritz, Melanie Leupolz and Lina Magull swarming all over the Atlas Lionesses.
On the other side, the more natural width of Klara Bühl also caused issues as Germany managed to both stretch the pitch and compact the middle of the park with their set up.
There has been often been the stereotype any Germany team becomes a different animal at major tournaments, and while Group H may not tell us a huge amount about Germany's true credentials until they face potentially one of France or Brazil in the second round, this was a statement they needed to make.
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