Canada win U17 opener, but New Zealand show great heart
Posted by Hamish McBrearty on October 28th, 2008
The Fifa Under 17 Women’s World Cup got underway as the hosts New Zealand took on Canada at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland.
New Zealand may be known for being mad about rugby, but 13,123 fans turned up to see the opening game of this inaugural tournament, a record for a women’s sport, beating the world champion netball team the Silver Ferns.
The game got off to a frenetic start as both teams tore around the park at lightning speed, something that favoured New Zealand’s pace. As both teams found their rhythm the game settled down, with New Zealand retaining the upper hand in the early exchanges.
Both Hannah Wall and Annalie Longo had chances as long balls split the Canadian defences open, but were denied the tournament’s opening goal by some excellent goal keeping from Genevieve Richard.
New Zealand’s fast pace saw their midfield lose shape and allowed momentum to shift to Canada. Star player Tiffany Cameron created a number of chances for herself and Nkem Ezurike but were unable to get the ball past Victoria Esson and the teams went into the shed at 0-0.
The second half had New Zealand putting a great deal of pressure on the Canadians, forcing a number of corners. One corner saw New Zealand push eight players into the box, outnumbering the defenders and creating a chance for Sarah McLaughlin who headed the ball just over the bar.
But just as the hosts looked to press home their advantage Canada’s Rachel Lamarre picked up the ball on half way, wove her way past several defenders and slotted the ball into the bottom left corner of the net for the first goal of the tournament.
Despite the Canadian goal, New Zealand continued their dominance, holding the ball in the visitor’s end and applying pressure. Some excellent defending from Canada saw the hosts unable to turn their dominance into any real chances.
New Zealand’s best chance of the night fell to Caitlin Campbell who struck a magnificent free kick from around 30 metres, only to have the ball hit the crossbar and go over.
As the match wore on, the high tempo of the game took its toll and the initially high skill level dipped a little and New Zealand began to lose their shape. The tournament also had its first injury during this period as Cameron was forced to leave the ground on a stretcher.
New Zealand pounded on the Canadian goal in the closing moments of the game, with chances falling to Rosie White and Wall but both saw their shots go agonisingly wide.
In the end Canada were the better team on the night but New Zealand really did deserve a point for their tremendous heart and grit that they showed. While they may have come away with no points from the game, the Young Football Ferns certainly did capture the attention of the nation.
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The Canada win U17 opener, but New Zealand show great heart by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
