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Papua New Guinea
Trans-Tasman Showdown Beckons After SWANZ Win
by Jeremy Ruane
New Zealand set up a trans-tasman showdown in the final of the Oceania qualifying series for the 1999 Women’s World Cup Finals at Mt. Smart Stadium on October 17 following their 5-0 victory over Papua New Guinea in the October 15 semi-final at the same venue.
The SWANZ started in fine fettle, two Pernille Andersen crosses for Wendi Henderson in the first three minutes resulting in the most-capped player in New Zealand’s squad twice being denied by the impressive Macedelyn Ume, who again excelled in goal for PNG.
She was beaten in the fourth minute, however, Henderson cracking home the rebound after Andersen’s shot, following Michele Cox’s run and low cross from the right, had been parried at close quarters by Ume.
The goalkeeper saved a twenty-yard missile from Nicky Smith in the tenth minute, before the SWANZ gained a margin of some comfort in the fourteenth minute, courtesy Cox.
A fine move down the left flank which involved the scorer broke down upon Henderson overhitting the cross, but Amanda Crawford gathered the loose ball on the right flank and turned it inside to Cox, who evaded a challenge before drilling a left-footed shot past Ume.
This sparked a string of SWANZ attacks in the next six minutes, to all of which Ume and her colleagues stood firm. Cox’s fifteenth minute corner picked out Terry McCahill on the far post, the captain heading the ball across to Kelly Jarden, who volleyed narrowly over the top.
A minute later, Smith sent another snapshot hurtling wide, while Henderson shot into the hands of Ume after pouncing on the resulting goal-kick. And Andersen, in the twentieth minute, shot narrowly wide after taking on and beating two opponents on the edge of the PNG penalty area.
PNG weren’t overawed by their more vaunted opponents, and began to cause the SWANZ a few problems in the next fifteen minutes. Jarden was booked for a meaty challenge on Tabitha Suwae, while Melissa Ruscoe’s mistimed lunge conceded a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area in the 32nd minute, which Fredica Siwin fired over the crossbar.
This stirred the SWANZ from their slumbers, and the remainder of the half saw Ume’s goal the target of any number of attacking surges. The goalkeeper saved the first of them, from Henderson in the 34th minute, after Andersen had scampered past three opponents on PNG’s right flank.
A minute later, Henderson slipped a pass to Cox down the left, and the midfielder flighted a delightful cross for Andersen, whose header was well saved by Ume.
The goal of the game was struck in the 38th minute. McCahill sparked it, slipping the ball to Jarden, who fed Rachel Oliver. Henderson and Cox were next to play a part, the latter cutting in from the left before drilling a shot against Henderson.
Gathering the rebound, Cox spotted Jennifer Carlisle’s run in support to her right, and laid the ball into the midfielder’s path some twenty-five yards out from goal. On the run, Carlisle cracked home a screamer - Ume barely moved as the ball ripped into the bottom right-hand corner of her goal to put the SWANZ 3-0 up.
After McCahill’s header from a Cox corner had been headed off the line by Rickie Salo, the SWANZ struck again five minutes before the interval through Andersen. Cox and Crawford combined on the right to engineer the opening, and the striker’s juggling skills left two defenders bemused before she cracked home number four.
Ume saved a Ruscoe drive immediately before the interval, and pulled off some splendid saves early in the second spell to deny Henderson, Cox and McCahill, the last-mentioned a reaction save of the highest order, as defenders blocked her view of the New Zealand captain’s shot until the last second.
The goalkeeper brought Andersen down as she burst through in the 55th minute, and the striker netted her second goal of the game from the penalty spot before being withdrawn by coach Maurice Tillotson who, with the scoreline at 5-0, clearly had the final in mind.
Much of what was good for the SWANZ in the remaining half-hour featured Cox and Henderson. Together with Crawford, they set up a scoring chance for Melissa Wileman in the 68th minute, and the midfielder was barely a foot away from scoring her first goal for her country.
Two minutes later, Jo Evans came even closer still to marking that milestone. Slipped through by Cox, she rounded Ume and fired goalwards from the edge of the penalty area, only for Wantig Yagum, racing back, to complete a goal-line clearance.
A couple of long-range efforts from Henderson tested Ume in the 80th and 82nd minutes, moments after Rachel Howard, New Zealand’s goalkeeper, produced her first save of the tournament to foil a twenty-yard drive from Suwae.
Crawford and Henderson combined to release Cox wide on the right in the 86th minute, and her inch-perfect cross picked out Carlisle with the goal at her mercy. Unbelievably, she headed narrowly over, while Evans in stoppage time, headed narrowly wide of the target on receipt of a Crawford cross.
5-0 it remained, however, and the 1999 Women’s World Cup Finals beckon for the host nation. Standing in the way, though, is the old foe from across the Tasman once again. The SWANZ last beat the Matildas four years ago, but have had no luck in the six encounters since. Their desire to put an end to that run is insatiable, and on Saturday, that desire will be there for all to see.
Scoring details:
New Zealand 5 (Andersen (2), Carlisle, Cox, Henderson), Papua New Guinea 0
SWANZ: Howard; Ruscoe, McCahill, Jarden (booked, 30) (Jackman, 65); Crawford, Cox, Carlisle, Smith (Wileman, 59), Oliver; Andersen (Evans, 60), Henderson
PNG: Ume; Lanta, Salo (Kora, 49), Yagum, Zemo (Niangi, 81); Siwin (Salaiau, 57), Suwae, Pasco, Davani; Taman, Aka
Referee: Massimo Raveino (Tahiti)
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