New Zealand dominate to reach PNG in style - WOMEN'S FOOTBALL
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| FIFA.com |
New Zealand will represent Oceania at next year’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Papua New Guinea after cruising through the qualifying tournament in Tonga. The Junior Football Ferns will be a part of a small piece of history, with the tournament to be the first FIFA women’s event to feature two Oceania nations.
PNG, have long been New Zealand’s main challengers in the Oceania region, and the Kiwis profited hugely from their absence in the qualifying tournament. New Zealand proved dominant in the most emphatic fashion imaginable winning all four matches, racking up a remarkable tally of 69 goals without conceding.
The tournament was held over ten days at the Loto-Tonga Soka Centre, which most recently was the site for the opening round of OFC’s 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ qualifiers. Also competing were Samoa, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and the host nation.
Kiwis dominant
New Zealand saw off home side Tonga 15-0 on the opening day of competition setting the standard early for what was to be a recurring theme. They followed that up with a remarkable 26-0 victory over New Caledonia, then 18-0 against Vanuatu, before rounding out their tournament with a 10-0 winning margin against second-placed Samoa.
New Zealand forward Emma Rolston profited most from the goal-fest, notching several milestones along the way. Her 11-goal haul against New Caledonia was the highest ever individual tally by a female player in an OFC match.
Rolston eventually finished on 25 goals, winning the tournament golden boot for the second time running, and surpassing well-known New Zealand goalscorer Rosie White for the most goals ever by an Oceania U-20 women’s player.
Among other notable names featuring for the Kiwis at the tournament were captain Jasmine Pereira, who collected the Golden Ball as the competition’s best player, and midfielder Daisy Cleverley both of whom were part of New Zealand’s squad at this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup™ squad in Canada.
New Zealand qualified last Thursday without kicking a ball, with the Kiwis learning of their qualification via Twitter as they followed the action from afar. A 3-3 draw between Samoa and Vanuatu on the penultimate matchday meant neither of their nearest challengers could catch them heading into Saturday’s tournament finale. The equaliser for Samoa deep into injury time in that six-goal thriller ultimately saw the Polynesians wrap up the silver medal ahead of Vanuatu. New Caledonia finished fourth, and while Tonga ended bottom they did collect two draws suggesting competition amongst the Pacific nations remains tight. Meanwhile, Samoa did collect an honour with Katarina Ah Sui named the best goalkeeper.
“It’s a great achievement and the girls are really excited,” New Zealand coach Birnie said upon confirmation of his team’s qualification for PNG 2016.
“We’ve come here wanting to win and make sure we got qualification, but also put on a good performance in the games and I think we’ve achieved both.”
Now the challenge for New Zealand is to improve upon their all-time high of a spot in the quarter-finals achieved last year in Canada. They had come close on several previous occasions, notably falling agonisingly short of that goal at Chile 2008 and Japan 2012.