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NZ Universities 5/7/07
World Cup Women Prove Too Strong For Students
by Jeremy Ruane
Two New Zealand women's football squads who are shortly to represent their country in two of the world's biggest sporting extravaganzas squared off on the North Harbour Stadium Tigerturf on July 5, and while the result went with form, there was plenty to be pleased about from the performances of both sides.
The Auckland-based representatives of the Women's World Cup-bound New Zealand squad conquered their NZ Universities counterparts 2-0 in this friendly encounter, the final game the students will play on home turf before heading to the World University Games in Thailand later this month.
Macky Singh's charges were rarely sighted as an attacking force in this fixture, but that's hardly surprising - after all, they won't be facing any more Women's World Cup finalists with months of preparation behind them any time soon!
Their task, instead, was to be disciplined and patient, and endeavour to contain their more experienced rivals as best they could while making the most of the scraps of possession which befell them every so often.
This they did for the most part, although some defensive sloppiness occasionally undermined their efforts, as did their inability to cherish their hard-earned possession - all too often, the ball would be conceded within three passes of having secured it.
For John Herdman's charges, the match represented another chance to fine-tune their preparations prior to upcoming international opportunities en route to China. And while there were aspects of their game which still require work - finishing, for instance, the intensity and aggression in their play, not to mention their defensive solidity and some particularly incisive interchanges, more than made up for any shortcomings.
The game was played in three half-hour periods, as opposed to the usual forty-five minute halves, to allow the World Cup squad to briefly analyse their performance during each break via a review of the match video - the match marked the first time the “skycam” unit had been employed to look down on the pitch and record their efforts - and the coaching staff's observations pitch-side.
The first thirty minutes was fairly even, with the students looking to penetrate their opponents at every opportunity. But New Zealand's back four was particularly solid, and they were greatly aided by Katie Hoyle, who patrolled the area in front of that quartet as if her life depended on it - a top-notch display.
At the other end of the park, Universities' cause wasn't aided when Alex Hepburn was clattered out of the game by an over-eager Merissa Smith in the sixth minute. Before a replacement could be called upon, Rebecca Tegg - initially named in the Universities squad until receiving the call to train with the World Cup contingent - caught Jen Kendall in possession and swiftly let fly, only for Noran Abaza to save low to her right.
Two minutes later, the NZU custodian was in action again, denying Tegg once more after she had turned Nancy Campbell on receipt of a Priscilla Duncan pass. The resulting corner - a vicious Marlies Oostdam in-swinger - was dropped by Abaza, but Mariah Meagher was on hand to clear off the line.
With Maia Jackman working in tandem with Smith down the right, New Zealand was particularly effective down that flank in the first third of the game, and in the eighteenth minute, the pair combined with Tegg and Hoyle to present Duncan with a shooting chance. Her twenty-five yarder fizzed past Abaza's right-hand post.
Another right flank raid two minutes later deserved better fate. Rebecca Simpson sparked the move with a surging run out of defence, followed by a pass which invited Smith to set sail for goal.
With Maia Jackman working in tandem with Smith
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down the right, New Zealand was particularly effective down that flank in the first third of the game, and in the eighteenth minute, the pair combined with Tegg and Hoyle to present Duncan with a shooting chance. Her twenty-five yarder fizzed past Abaza's right-hand post.
Another right flank raid two minutes later deserved better fate. Rebecca Simpson sparked the move with a surging run out of defence, followed by a pass which invited Smith to set sail for goal.
Duncan doubled round the speedster on the overlap and duly received a pass which she turned into a measured near post cross. Rising high, Tegg met the ball flush with her forehead, but failed to direct her effort on target. Had she done so …
Someone who did was Oostdam, in the 23rd minute with a twenty-yard free-kick awarded by referee Neil Fox for a rather dubious foul. Abaza could only stand and admire her effort as the ball arced over the wall and crashed against the crossbar. Much to the `keeper's relief, Universities scrambled the danger to safety.
With the last kick of the first third, Tegg spotted Abaza off her line and, from thirty yards, let fly with a well-flighted shot. It didn't have the height to beat the `keeper, however, much like Smith's twenty-yard effort, struck soon after the resumption, lacked the power to test Abaza.
Emma Boyack had very few chances to shine in this match, but one was presented to her by Jackman in the 33rd minute. Under pressure, she steered a wayward pass into the striker's path, much to the surprise of the startled figure of Boyack, whose shot gave the generally unchallenged Jenny Bindon little cause for concern.
New Zealand's response to this was to redouble their efforts to break the deadlock. Jackman, Smith and Hoyle pinged the ball around between them before the last-mentioned sent Duncan scurrying through the inside-right channel. With Abaza and her defenders closing, the marauding midfielder lifted the ball past the goalkeeper but past the post as well.
In the 37th minute, Duncan was in again, Tegg having flicked Jackman's throw-in into her path deep in the NZU penalty area. Opting to square the ball for incoming team-mates, rather than attempt to score from a tight angle, the midfielder was frustrated by Campbell, who swooped on the ball and cleared her lines.
Within five minutes of that event, the NZU defence was guilty of some dire defending on two occasions, and paid the penalty in the 42nd minute. Tegg was like a fox in a henhouse as she swooped on Campbell's under-hit pass and surged deep into the penalty area before rattling the post in much the same way she'd rattled the defenders left trailing in her wake.
The students were still reeling from this when a probing angled pass from Duncan swiftly took on all the attributes of a hot potato - no-one in a white shirt took charge of the situation and sought to clear the danger.
The ball came through to Meagher, the last defender, whose stumble on the edge of the penalty area was pounced on by Smith. She wasted little time in drilling home a low drive past the wrong-footed and injured figure of Abaza, the victim of a quad strain which was to curtail her involvement seconds later.
After Oostdam had brought the best out of the goalkeeper's replacement, Chelsea Aim, following a surging run from Smith which initially exuded confidence but which quickly turned to hesitance, New Zealand doubled their advantage in the 54th minute.
The right flank raids paid dividends this time, Hoyle and Jackman combining to send Smith careering through the offside trap into the penalty area, where she directed a low cross towards the far post.
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Sliding in was Oostdam, who made no mistake by steering her shot into the top right-hand corner of Aim's net - 2-0.
Three minutes later, a superb cross-field ball by Simpson gave Pip Meo the chance to evade the offside trap - not something she always achieved - and coolly steer a shot beyond the advancing figure of Aim. This she did, but her effort crept inches past the fat post as well, much to the students' relief.
New Zealand introduced a swag of substitutes at the start of the final third of the game, and while Kristy Hill - another late call to participate in national team training sessions - was getting up to speed, she was caught in possession by Boyack, who quickly exchanged passes with Kate Trebilcock before seeing her effort thwarted at close quarters by another newcomer in Stephanie Puckrin.
Ria Percival, who had been bombing up and down the left flank with mixed success throughout the match, caught the generally well-performed Ashlee Delahunty in possession in the 68th minute, and instantly played the ball on to Oostdam.
Tegg was spearing through the middle in anticipation of her pass, and when it arrived, she was far too fleet-footed for the advancing figure of Aim. But with an open goal to fire into, Tegg sliced her shot wide from a tight angle.
Another substitute, Zoe Thompson, was next to rampage down the flank, and in the seventieth minute she was in full flight down the right, careering past opponents. Her cross zoomed towards the far post, where Emma Kete was lurking. She turned the ball back for Rebecca O'Neill, who fired over from twenty yards.
O'Neill then sent Tegg through with a measured pass, only for Aim's anticipation to save the day. Seconds later, the `keeper turned a Tegg shot round the post after the striker had caught the otherwise impressive stand-in central defender, Nicole Stratford, in possession. Oostdam's resulting corner picked out Hill's head, and the ball bulleted past the far post.
Fourteen minutes from time, another Oostdam corner found Abby Erceg racing in at the near post, from where she directed a header goalwards. It looked a goal for all money until Aim spectacularly turned the ball over the bar. Oostdam whipped the ball in again, and this time Universities' failure to clear the danger presented Erceg with another headed chance, one she directed over the bar.
Aim was on her toes to thwart both Kete and Tegg in separate incidents ten minutes from time, while five minutes from time, Stratford came to the aid of her goalkeeper by clearing the danger arising from a left-flank raid featuring Erceg, Kete, Tegg and Oostdam, whose shot was blocked by the defender.
Still the World Cup squad pressed, their desire for a bigger warning margin clearly evident. Thompson and Duncan combined to reward O'Neill's clever ghosting run through from midfield. The former NZU captain lured Aim out of goal then steered the ball beyond her, but just past the far post as well.
The resulting goal-kick saw Oostdam intercept the ball and feed Tegg, who brought the best out of Aim once more. And after Percival had lashed a long-range free-kick wide of the mark, the final whistle brought an end to an entertaining encounter, one which served the respective purposes of both teams very well indeed.
New Zealand: Bindon (Puckrin, 61); Jackman (J. Simpson, 70), R. Simpson (Hill, 61), Erceg, Percival; Duncan, Hoyle (O'Neill, 61), Oostdam; Smith (Thompson, 61), Tegg, Meo (Kete, 61)
NZ Universities: Abaza (Aim, 43); Thompson, Hepburn (Tiffen, 9), Campbell, Meagher; Delahunty, Kendall, Vincent (Hill, 61), Stratford; Trebilcock, Boyack
Referee: Neil Fox
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