Young Football Ferns do their country proud
Posted by Hamish McBrearty on November 10th, 2008
The U17 Women’s World Cup may be over for hosts New Zealand, but this team of schoolgirls showed such heart and passion that they’ve done the country proud – and won a few fans in the process.
No New Zealand team has ever won a game at a Fifa World Cup, either at international or age group level, male or female, until the Young Football Ferns defeated Columbia 3-1 in their final outing of the tournament. Neither team had much to play for, both already eliminated, but New Zealand took the bull by the horns and sewed up the win they so richly deserved.
Opening the tournament against Canada, New Zealand put in a fantastic account of themselves in a 1-0 loss, providing some tense moments towards the end of the game as they battled for the equaliser. In front of 13,000 fans, a record for any female New Zealand team, the young girls did themselves proud even if they did feel the sting of defeat.
A win against Denmark could have kept them alive and looked to be on the cards when the team took the lead through Annalie Longo but it was not meant to be. Longo could have made it two, which may have sealed victory, but her shot hit the post and bounced to the keeper who started a move which gave Denmark the equaliser. Denmark went on to win 2-1.
Up against Columbia, New Zealand could have folded and just played it safe, instead they went all out in cold and wet conditions and came away with the win. Rosie White was the clear star of the game, netting all three goals for the home side in a performance which saw her leap up to fourth on the goal scorers’ list, although she fell back to sixth after the round robin finished.
While White and Longo were the only ones to get their names on the score sheet, there were plenty of other notable performances. Captain Bri Fisher anchored the team’s defense and provided wonderful leadership, Hannah Wall’s blistering pace down the wings troubled most defences, Caitlin Campbell provided a rugged and uncompromising defence and Victoria Esson filled in magnificently in goal after first choice keeper Charlotte Wood was injured in training.
A staggering eight member of this team now head to Chile to contest the U20 Women’s World Cup, but to the entire Young Football Ferns squad I say congratulations, you’ve done your country proud!
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The Young Football Ferns do their country proud by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
November 11th, 2008 at 1:34 am
[...] Young Football Ferns do their country proudA win against Denmark could have kept them alive and looked to be on the cards when the team took the lead through Annalie Longo but it was not meant to be. Longo could have made it two, which may have sealed victory, but her shot hit … [...]