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Hungary
Football Ferns Finish Ninth At Cyprus Cup
by Jeremy Ruane
The Football Ferns recorded a come-from-behind 3-1 win over Hungary at Tasos Marko in Paralimni on March 8 to secure a ninth-placed finish at the Cyprus Cup, and notch their first victory since beating Colombia at Rio 2016 seven months ago.
Tony Readings' charges dominated from the outset, with goalkeeper Barbara Biro and her defence having to work overtime to keep the black-clad Kiwis at bay. So it came as something of a shock when Hungary opened the scoring in the 25th minute through Loretta Nemeth, who exploited to the fullest what coach Readings kindly described as "calamitous defending to gift them the goal".
Normal service soon resumed, and the Football Ferns finally made the breakthrough they had longed for eight minutes before half-time. Rosie White's pass released Ria Percival down the right, and the captain - her first time sporting the armband - whipped in a cross which Jasmine Pereira gleefully turned home for her first goal for her country.
"The girls played well in the first half without converting their chances", said Readings. "So they went out with a simple message from the half-time break - keep doing what you're doing, but do it better. And they did".
The introduction of Annalie Longo proved a fruitful catalyst to this end, and six minutes after coming on she sent White racing onto a through ball which 'Bambi' battered into the bottom far corner with her left foot in the 61st minute.
Hungary tried their best to get back on level terms, but they were finished off in stoppage time by White, who administered the coup de grace with a right-footed drive into the corner of the net to wrap up a 3-1 win for the Football Ferns, the first victory recorded by any New Zealand team against Hungarian opposition in five attempts.
"It could have been more comprehensive", said Readings afterwards, "but it was good to win. And good to see such competition for places, too. If I had to name a squad of squad of eighteen or twenty tomorrow, it'd be a very hard job".
Readings was particularly pleased with the individual performances of Katie Bowen - "the stand-out player of the tournament", Ria Percival - "captain for the first time, and back to her best after overcoming her injury", and Daisy Cleverly - "very calm and composed" - against Hungary, and takes home from Cyprus some pluses and some things to continue to work hard on.
"The best thing to come out of this tournament", reflects the coach, "is a few more players having put their hands up, which increases our depth and competition for places. Some of the youngsters have stepped up to the mark, along with some of the existing players.
"But we would have liked to have won more games, and to do so, we've got to do better when it comes to both creating opportunities and scoring goals. Our final ball and finishing both need improving".
The Football Ferns now disperse to all points of the compass, with England, France, Germany, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA on the radar for the majority of the squad members as club activities and, in some cases, scholarships, take priority.
While nothing has yet been confirmed, Readings is hoping to secure a couple of games in June against European teams preparing for Euro 2017, and undertake at least one tour - possibly two - later in the year.
Those matches will see a couple of individual milestones being clocked up by long-serving Football Ferns, with the "terrible twins", Betsy Hassett and Annalie Longo, both sitting on 99 caps after the Cyprus Cup, while Erin Nayler is two caps away from becoming the twentieth member of the '50 Caps Club'.
Hungary: Biro (Szocs, 46); Papp, Talosi, Szeitl (Demeter, 68), Szabo (Pinczi, 81); Csiszar, Fenyvesi (A. Nagy, 86); Vago, Racz, Zeller (Magyarics, 64); Nemeth (L. Nagy, 84)
Football Ferns: Nayler (Leat, 46); Percival, Moore, Stott, Green (Riley, 63); Hassett (Longo, 55), Bowen, Cleverley, White; Pereira, Hearn (Puketapu, 70)
In the Cyprus Cup Final, Lara Dickenmann's goal just before the hour mark clinched a 1-0 victory for Switzerland over Korea Republic, the country's first honour in international women's football,
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Match pics courtesy Hungarian FA
 Football Ferns captain Ria Percival pursues the ball against Hungary
 Rosie White on the charge against Hungary, with Betsy Hassett in support
 Betsy Hassett and Daisy Cleverley in the thick of the midfield battle against Hungary
 Beach buddies!
The Football Ferns celebrate a win at long last!
Standing: Aimee Phillips, Anna Leat, Malia Steinmetz, Martine Puketapu, Kirsty Yallop, Ali Riley, Annalie Longo, Ria Percival, Rosie White, Jasmine Pereira, Hannah Wilkinson, Erin Nayler, Amber Hearn, Katie Bowen, Catherine Bott.
Sitting: Paige Satchell, Daisy Cleverley, Meikayla Moore, Betsy Hassett, Rebekah Stott, Anna Green
Absent: Abby Erceg
and one which also proved beneficial for the Football Ferns' Rosie White, who concluded the tournament as the Golden Boot winner.
Goals in the last fifteen minutes from Wi Jong Sim and Kim Ryu Song secured a 2-0 win over Eire for DPR Korea, who finished third at the Cyprus Cup. Meanwhile, Scotland edged Wales 6-5 on penalties to clinch fifth place, after the Home Nations had fought out a scoreless draw in their ninety minute tussle.
Parity was also the outcome in the battle for seventh place, with Belgium's Tina Wullaerts' 64th minute goal cancelled out by Verena Ashauer's equaliser for Austria fourteen minutes later.
Austria's Sophie Maierhofer was sent off in injury time for committing her second bookable offence, and things were to get worse for her team, with Belgium prevailing 3-2 on penalties to clinch the play-off and seventh place.
Having shipped six goals in their final group match, Italy bounced back to hit the Czech Republic for six in the eleventh place play-off, coming from behind to prevail 6-2 after Jitka Chlastakova had given the Czechs a ninth minute lead.
It remained that way until seven minutes before half-time, when Cristiana Girelli struck from close range to trigger a five-goal avalanche in sixteen minutes. She chimed in again two minutes later, before Alice Parisi made it 3-1 on the stroke of half-time.
Barbara Bonansea increased Italy's lead still further three minutes into the second half, and Melania Gabbiadini made it a nap hand six minutes later. Katerina Svitkova pulled one back from the penalty spot for the Czechs seven minutes from time, but Manuela Giugliano restored the Italians' four-goal margin in stoppage time.
Cyprus Cup details:
Final: Switzerland 1 (L. Dickenmann (58)), Korea Republic 0 HT 0-0
3rd: DPR Korea 2 (Wi Jong Sim (75), Kim Ryu Song (85)), Eire 0 HT 0-0
5th: Scotland 0, Wales 0 - Scotland, 6-5 on penalties
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7th: Austria 1 (V. Aschauer (78)), Belgium 1 (T. Wullaert (64)) HT 0-0 - Belgium, 3-2 on penalties
9th: New Zealand 3 (J. Pereira (37), R. White (61, 90)), Hungary 1 (L. Nemeth (25)) HT 1-1
11th: Italy 6 (C. Girelli (38, 40), A. Parisi (45), B. Bonansea (48), M. Gabbiadini (54), M. Giugliano (90)), Czech Republic 2 (J. Chlastakova (9), K. Svitkova (83 pen)) HT 3-1
In Portugal, Spain took out their maiden Algarve Cup title, edging previous holders Canada 1-0 in the final thanks to Leila Ouahabi's fifth minute goal, which gave the UEFA U-17 champions in 2015 their first senior title. Spanish defender Irene Hernandez was named the tournament's Best Player.
Denmark clinched third place in a penalty shoot-out from Australia, prevailing 4-1 on spot-kicks thanks to two fine saves from Stina Lykke, who had been beaten by Kyah Simon's 36th minute opener for the Matildas, only for Pernille Harder to level the scores in fine style ten minutes from time - 1-1 the final score.
Holland and Japan produced a cracking game in the battle for fifth, with the European team prevailing 3-2. Anouk Dekker gave the Dutch a thirteenth minute lead which Lieke Martens doubled six minutes later.
Kumi Yokoyama halved the deficit for Japan with a thumping twenty-five yarder half-way through the half, with the former world champions' hopes further boosted when Mandy Van den Berg committed her second bookable offence of the match on the hour.
Japan made their numerical superiority count thirteen minutes from time to level the scores via a Dutch own goal, but the ten women had the last laugh, with Vivianne Miedema scoring an injury time winner to clinch fifth place for Holland.
Sweden made no race of it in their clash for seventh place with Russia, storming to a two-goal lead inside the first ten minutes through Kosovare Asilani and Nilla Fischer. The former bagged her second of the game ten minutes before half-time, while Fridolina Rolfo rounded out the 4-0 win with thirteen minutes remaining.
Goals early in each half from Malfriour Siguroardottir, either side of a Wang Shanshan effort for China, clinched a 2-1 win and ninth place for Iceland, while Norway prevailed 2-0 over Portugal in the battle to avoid the wooden spoon courtesy goals in each half from Ingvild Isaksen and Guro Reiten.
Algarve Cup details:
Final: Spain 1 (L. Ouahabi (5)), Canada 0 HT 1-0
3rd: Australia 1 (K. Simon (36)), Denmark 1 (P. Harder (80)) HT 1-0 - Denmark, 4-1 on pens
5th: Holland 3 (A. Dekker (13), L. Martens (19), V. Miedema (90)), Japan 2 (K. Yokoyama (22), "oggie" (77)) HT 2-1
7th: Sweden 4 (K. Asilani (6, 35), N. Fischer (9), F. Rolfo (77)), Russia 0 HT 3-0
9th: Iceland 2 (M. Siguroardottir (9, 47)), China 1 (Wang Shanshan (36)) HT 1-1
11th: Norway 2 (I. Isaksen (13), G. Reiten (66)), Portugal 0 HT 1-0
France claimed the SheBelieves Cup in emphatic fashion on the final day of the tournament on March 7, trouncing host nation the USA 3-0 to clinch just their third honour at senior level, following Cyprus Cup wins in 2012 and 2014.
The French exploited the USA's 3-5-2 formation mercilessly, scoring twice inside the opening ten minutes to leave the reigning world champions with a mountain to climb. Camille Abily potted an eighth minute penalty after Eugenie Le Sommer had been brought down in the area, while sixty seconds later Le Sommer put France firmly in the driving seat, after captain Wendie Renaud had picked her out with a raking pass.
Abily iced the cake just after the hour mark to wrap up an unbeaten week for France, whose only blemish was a scoreless draw against Germany. The Olympic champions edged England 1-0 to clinch second place in the four-team tournament, courtesy Anja Mittag's strike on the stroke of half-time, a result which meant England finished third, ahead of the USA, who lost consecutive matches for the first time since 2000.
SheBelieves Cup details:
Germany 1 (A. Mittag (44)), England 0 HT 1-0
USA 0, France 3 (C. Abily (8 pen, 62), E. Le Sommer (9)) HT 0-2
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