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Nadeshiko Late Show Denies Football Ferns Victory
by Jeremy Ruane
Two goals in the final eighteen minutes of play - the first one of the most dubious penalties you’ll ever see awarded - denied the Football Ferns a famous victory over Nadeshiko Japan at the Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Centre Stadium on August 6, as the 2008 Olympic Women’s Football Tournament kicked off in 29C heat.
It wasn’t their best performance by any means, but against the world’s tenth-ranked team, it was good enough to see the Football Ferns silence many a critic both here and at home. Indeed, it’s a measure of this team’s development that they were bitterly disappointed with the outcome, because they would have happily taken a 2-2 draw against Japan as recently as twelve months ago.
But that disappointment stems from the fact they led 2-0 with less than twenty minutes to go, having outplayed the Japanese in the early stages of the match with a solid, composed game-plan epitomised by the ‘in your face’ approach of Emma Kete.
Nadeshiko didn’t appreciate the pressure under which she and the similarly tenacious Amber Hearn put their rearguard, and found themselves unable to get into their stride in the face of the Football Ferns’ willingness to take the game by the scruff of the neck from the outset.
After fifteen minutes, however, the first signs that the classy Japanese were beginning to get to grips with their rivals’ approach were evident. Mizuho Sakaguchi bundled Ria Percival off the ball on the left and quickly linked with Shinobu Ohno and Homare Sawa, who set up Yuki Nagasato for a shot which fizzed past Jenny Bindon’s left-hand post.
Two minutes later, Ohno and Nagasato worked a gorgeous one-two on the edge of the penalty area which saw the former scythe inside and unleash a curling effort towards the far corner of the net. Bindon was equal to it, however, diving to her left to turn the ball to safety.
Four minutes later, Ohno set off on a rattling run through the inside left channel which came to an abrupt end when Katie Hoyle upended her just outside the penalty area. Cue Aya Miyama, Japan’s dead-ball specialist. Her delivery got no further than Marlies Oostdam, who powerfully headed clear to quell this Japanese raid in style.
In the 24th minute, Percival found herself outnumbered on the right, and a wicked ricochet didn’t aid her cause whatsoever. It meant Ohno could cross, but Rebecca Smith stood firm, only for her header to find its way to Sakaguchi, whose rasping drive was dealt with capably by Bindon.
On the half-hour, Smith’s positional sense was seen at its best as she superbly cut out a low cross delivered with menace by Kozue Ando, who had skipped round Oostdam en route to the by-line. Two Nadeshiko strikers were hovering behind Smith had she stumbled, but the Swedish-based professional was calmness personified in the face of adversity.
Japan kept on coming, and seconds later brought out the very best in Bindon’s shot-stopping repertoire. Sawa, the greatest player in Nadeshiko’s history, clipped the ball over the top to send Ohno hurtling through with just the ‘keeper to beat.
Bindon was well equal to the task, however, her full-stretch reflex save to her left denying a striker who was doubtless muttering "Oh no" to herself as she acknowledged a world-class piece of goalkeeping.
The Football Ferns had rarely been sighted as an attacking force after the Japanese began to flex their not inconsiderable clout in this aspect of the game, but in the 37th minute, the underdogs fired a warning shot across Nadeshiko’s bows to remind them that this was a contest in which two teams were capable of breaking the deadlock.
Percival cleverly outfoxed two opponents on the right before linking with Hearn, who steered the ball back to Hayley Moorwood. With Sakaguchi closing fast, the Kiwi captain cracked a twenty-yarder through the legs of the midfielder, her effort forcing Miho Fukumoto to make her first save of the match.
A minute later, the ‘keeper was fishing the ball out of her net as the Football Ferns stunned the bulk of the 10,273-strong crowd by taking the lead. Ali Riley’s right wing rampage saw her gave Miyuki Yanagita the run-around before she fired in a deep cross beyond the far post.
Retreating fullback Yukari Kinga let the ball go past her - a fatal mistake, as it happened, for lurking behind her was Kirsty Yallop. An unerring first-time strike was duly steered across Fukumoto into the far corner of the net, and the player who squandered a hat-trick of chances a month ago against Australia wheeled away to receive the congratulations of her team-mates, having scored when it really mattered - at the Olympics.
Japan swiftly attempted to redress the balance, Sawa leading the charge. A vital tackle from Smith did enough to put her off her stride, with Bindon smothering the loose ball, then grabbing a long-range Yanagita free-kick with aplomb in the shadows of the half-time whistle.
1-0 up at half-time against a top-ten-ranked team - when did any of New Zealand’s senior representative teams last enjoy that advantage on the scoreboard? It was no fluke, either, as the action in the first fifteen minutes of the second spell was to prove.
Five minutes into the half, Fukumoto’s fluffed clearance found a grateful recipient in Riley, who ran at the trembling Japanese defenders and raced through all four of them into the penalty area. Fukumoto made amends for her blunder by blocking the shot with her legs.
Unperturbed, the Football Ferns kept coming, forcing the Japanese to lose their rag somewhat. Sakaguchi was first to incur referee Deidre Mitchell’s wrath when tangling with opponents as New Zealand lined up a free-kick, while a minute later, Azusa Iwashimizu received similar
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punishment for pushing Kete out of the way at a corner.
Unfortunately for the defender, the incident was spotted by the eagle-eyed figure of Mitchell, who pointed to the penalty spot. A second New Zealand goal beckoned, and Hearn duly obliged, powering her spot-kick past Fukumoto to the delight of the Kiwi contingent present in the stands, as well as on the bench.
2-0 up over Japan? This was the stuff of dreams, dreams which the Football Ferns have long held, and were now on the verge of realising.
Back came Nadeshiko, Ando doing Oostdam a treat on the edge of the penalty area prior to pulling the ball back for Sakaguchi. Her volley flashed over the bar, while Moorwood, at the other end in the 65th minute, came within inches of hammering home the nails on Japan’s coffin lid, just failing to get on the end of another inviting cross from Riley, after she had raced down the right once more.
This shot across the bows added further impetus to Japan’s growing fury - the thought of losing to a team they had anticipated defeating comfortably was not one which would sit well with Nadeshiko’s followers, to put it mildly.
Miyama’s 66th minute through ball split New Zealand’s defence, but Ohno was unable to capitalise, as Bindon again denied her, this time with her legs. Seconds later, the ‘keeper pawed out a stinger from Kinga, after the overlapping fullback had been brought into play by the combination play of Ando and the increasingly ominous figure of Sawa.
Cue another Japanese raid, with Miyama getting the better of Percival before sending a screamer crashing into the side-netting off Smith. The resulting corner was cleared, but when the ball was next hoisted into New Zealand’s penalty area, the merest of nudges by Abby Erceg on Sakaguchi, as both looked to leap skywards, saw the Japanese player go to ground a little too easily for comfort’s sake.
It was enough to con referee Mitchell into pointing to the penalty spot, however, and while Bindon flung herself to her left, she was unable to keep out Miyama’s 72nd minute spot-kick - 2-1, and Nadeshiko now with hope to supplement their increasing momentum.
Could the Football Ferns hold them at bay? Or perhaps restore their two-goal advantage? After Ohno had sent a volley searing wide following a run and cross from Miyama, Yallop unleashed a thirty-yard free-kick which required Fukumoto’s intervention in the 81st minute.
Two minutes later, Hearn got the better of Miyama on the right and clipped in a cross intended for Yallop’s head. That of Iwashimizu got to the ball first, however, and Japan breathed easily again.
They were breathing even easier four minutes from time, after Oostdam, who had been well beaten by Ando, tripped the midfielder way out by the touchline to curtail her progress - in the circumstances, a good free-kick to concede, given just two players stood between Ando and "Oh no" from a New Zealand perspective.
As it was, "Oh no" was exactly the Football Ferns’ reaction from Miyama’s resulting free-kick, which she flighted in towards the near post. Running across the gathered throngs to meet it was Sawa, who deftly flicked the ball inside Bindon’s near post without breaking stride to yet again get Japan out of jail on the scoreboard.
It was a heart-breaking goal to concede from New Zealand’s perspective, given they were so close to clinching a hard-earned win. But they still had plenty to do to earn the point they currently held, as Japan fancied their chances of clinching all three points in the time which remained.
Twice they came very close to doing so, initially straight after the equaliser. Miyama picked out Sakaguchi with a cross which saw the midfielder’s angled volley fizz inches past the far post.
Then in stoppage time, a long-range Miyama free-kick was pawed to safety by Bindon, whose saves proved suffice to earn the Football Ferns a hard-earned point against a team which has twice dismissed Australia 3-0 in recent weeks.
"Before our penalty, we were dominated by New Zealand", said Japan coach, Norio Sasaki, afterwards. "In the first half, we played under great pressure, and made adjustments to our strategy. We had a lot of opportunities to score, but it came out differently".
"This result is a measure how far we have come", said Football Ferns’ coach, John Herdman, afterwards, "but a sign of how far we need to go. It was a tough game for us. Japan played with a good flow and rhythm to their game and we could have easily gone away with less. In all honesty, we've performed better in some matches and lost them".
Jenny Bindon reflected her team-mates’ disappointment with the outcome. "We are not happy with the result. We had a good chance to win. That said, it’s a good result. We used to be the underdogs, but tonight we tied Japan 2-2.
"We are a different team now from when we played Japan in 2005. Some of the same girls are there, but now there’s a different spirit, different goals. The girls are disappointed. We didn’t play very well, and we’re sad to draw".
The Football Ferns now take on Norway on Saturday, needing a win, or at least another draw, to keep alive their quarter-final prospects at the Olympic Women’s Football Tournament.
Japan: Fukumoto; Kinga, Iwashimizu (booked, 55), Yanagita, Yano; Ando (Maruyama, 82), Sawa, Sakaguchi (booked, 54), Miyama; Nagasato, Ohno (Arakawa, 79)
Football Ferns: Bindon; Percival, Erceg, R. Smith, Oostdam; Riley, Hoyle (McColl, 79), Moorwood (booked, 30), Yallop; Kete (Leota, 70), Hearn (Tegg, 86)
Referee: Deidre Mitchell (South Africa)
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