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Football Ferns And Canada Share Spoils In Scoreless Epic
by Jeremy Ruane
The Football Ferns' hopes of progressing to the knockout stages of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Finals remain very much alive after they battled out an epic scoreless encounter with Canada at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium.
The initial drama in the match, aside from the downpour in which it kicked off, came about when referee Bibiana Steinhaus called play off after four minutes, a massive clap of thunder overhead prompting a half-hour delay in proceedings, during which time the 35,544-strong crowd was evacuated to the concourse in the interests of their safety.
Once play resumed, the Football Ferns edged the first half exchanges, which were as tight and tense as you'd expect between teams who have been influenced by the same coach at various stages of their progression.
Nip and tuck was de rigeur, with plenty of sturdy challenges, nicking of possession … a good, hard-fought tussle between two well-matched rivals, the energy brought to the battle by Betsy Hassett giving the Kiwis the edge in midfield.
Chances were at a premium, the first of them materialising in the eleventh minute. Ria Percival picked out Amber Hearn with a free-kick which the striker sent bulleting towards the top corner of the net with her header. Erin McLeod pawed the ball over the bar.
Eleven minutes later, Canada's first chance materialised. Abby Erceg defended well in denying Melissa Tancredi space to progress, but her clearance went straight to Sophie Schmidt. Her cross picked out the head of Jonelle Filigno, but Erin Nayler flung herself to her right to save soundly.
Seconds later, Nayler made a superb save, denying Christine Sinclair in a one-on-one situation after Ashley Lawrence had latched onto a loose ball in midfield and sent Canada's captain haring through the Football Ferns backline, which, to this point, had performed very solidly.
It continued to do so after this incident, providing a sturdy foundation on which Tony Readings' charges could press on further forward. They did so, and in the 31st minute gained due reward when Hassett won a tackle and slipped the ball to Hannah Wilkinson, who was promptly brought down in the area by Allysha Chapman's ill-timed challenge.
Referee Steinhaus instantly pointed to the penalty spot, from where Hearn had a golden chance to break the deadlock. But her rising effort cannoned to safety off the crossbar, much to the relief of the Canadian crowd, who roared their delight at every opportunity whenever things favoured the host nation's charges.
They were booing on the verge of half-time, however, Melissa Tancredi rightly being called offside as she turned the ball home following a Schmidt free-kick, which came about soon after Nayler had dealt with a tame long-range effort from Lawrence, struck on the counter-attack after the Football Ferns had piled on the pressure through a string of set-piece openings, each of which was defiantly defended by the Canadian team.
The Football Ferns shaded the first spell, but the natives held the upper hand in the second half, with their first effort coming just two minutes after the resumption of play. Erceg headed the ball clear, but it dropped perfectly into Sinclair's stride.
She unleashed a ferocious dipping volley which was goal-bound until Nayler produced a stunning fingertip save to turn the ball onto the bar, a denial FIFA's Player of the Match later declared the most
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challenging save of all those she made in the match.
Two minutes later, a teasing cross from Ali Riley was guided by Annalie Longo - a lively display - into Hearn, who hooked a volley around a covering defender, the ball flashing just past the post.
Back came Canada, a decent penalty claim being waved away by referee Steinhaus as Filigno went down under Rebekah Stott's challenge. The central defender then dodged another bullet on the hour when she lost control of a Nayler goal-kick, gifting the ball to Filigno, whose first-time snapshot flew past the post.
The ebb-and-flow nature of the match continued unabated, with the Football Ferns soon back in the ascendancy. In the 65th minute, Ria Percival made impressive progress down the right before linking with Longo, who worked a one-two with Hassett before going down in the area under the challenge of Kadeisha Buchanan, who got the ball but also caught the player from behind.
Referee Steinhaus pointed in the direction of the corner flag, rather than the penalty spot, and from Percival's resulting delivery, Hearn's goalbound header was cleared off the line by the combination of Schmidt and McLeod, who was injured by her team-mate in the process.
Once play resumed, Canada's penchant for under-hitting passes in their defensive third nearly presented Hearn with a chance to score. Josee Belanger's pass forced McLeod to hurtle off her line and hoof the ball to safety a stride before New Zealand's most prolific markswoman could pounce.
Back came Canada, Schmidt thrashing the crossbar with a twenty-five yard free-kick before Nayler came up with a massive save to deny Tancredi, who found herself in yards of space on the left after being picked out by Sinclair in the 76th minute.
Erceg then calmly mopped up the threat posed by a Tancredi cross six minutes later. But the Football Ferns were living dangerously, Belanger next to get clear on the flank, this time on the right. Her cross picked out Sinclair, whose low ten-yard drive skidded inches past Nayler's left-hand post five minutes from time.
In the dying minutes, Football Ferns substitute Rosie White twice came close to clinching all three points for her team. Longo was the architect of the first move, charging past two players before slipping a delicious reverse pass in behind the defence, anticipating White's angled run.
The striker arrived on the scene, but found herself playing the role of the meat in a Canadian sandwich, with McLeod at the bottom of the pile. Quite how a defensive free-kick could be awarded as a result defied logic, but the Football Ferns just got on with things, and in injury time, had the chance to win the match.
Riley's early ball forward found its way to Hearn, who laid the ball off to White, some twenty-five yards from goal. She opted for a snapshot, but much to the relief of the Canadian fans, the ball cleared the crossbar, the final act of an epic encounter between two well-matched sides, both of whom will be disappointed not to win this fine advert for women's football.
Canada: McLeod; Buchanan, Sesselmann (booked, 31) (Moscato, 68), Chapman; Belanger, Scott (Leon, 73), Lawrence, Schmidt; Filigno (Kyle, 63), Sinclair, Tancredi
F'ball Ferns: Nayler; Percival (booked, 52), Stott, Erceg, Riley; Hassett (Bowen, 77), Hearn, Duncan, Longo; Wilkinson (Pereira, 89), Gregorius (booked, 72) (White, 79)
Referee: Bibiana Steinhaus (Germany)
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