New Zealand’s Football Ferns suffered the ignominy of a second successive five-goal pasting on the final day of the Cyprus Cup tournament on March 9, as fellow FIFA Women’s World Cup finalists Mexico humbled their fellow Group B members 5-0 at the Tassos Marcou Stadium in Paralimni. It meant an eighth-placed finish for John Herdman’s side, a far cry from their runners-up spot in last year’s tournament, which saw them play two matches against Australia prior to heading to Cyprus. That lack of pre-tournament activity may well have been a factor in their disappointing showing this time round, but that said, they have generally begun most of their games in this tournament well - witness their dominance in the early stages of the clashes with France and Switzerland. And in this match where, according to Herdman (above) in his comments to NZ Football (this writer was unable to make post-match contact with the NZF coaching staff in Cyprus, despite repeated attempts from after the final whistle to 3am NZ time), "We should have been up at half-time - we had enough chances. "Mexico had one shot in the first half, and a young player has missed a sitter for us at the other end. We’ve come in thinking we should have been two goals to the good, but we weren’t". The second half is where things have gone awry for the Football Ferns throughout this tournament, and this match was no exception - but who would have picked the final outcome given the 0-0 half-time scoreline? New Zealand made three changes for the second spell, having already put on Betsy Hassett in place of Katie Hoyle half-way through the first half. Kristy Hill, Aroon Clansey and youngster Terri-Amber Carlson were all introduced to the fray at the interval, while Ria Percival’s (left) fiftieth appearance for her country was made at the expense of Anna Green ten minutes later. "We made the changes we planned to, but unfortunately some of those fresh players got exploited", reflected Herdman. "The bottom line is, it was a poor performance in the second half". Mexican coach, Leonardo Cuellar, who introduced star striker Maribel Dominguez (above) for the second spell, was delighted to see Stephany Mayor open her account for the afternoon six minutes after the resumption. She doubled Mexico’s tally twelve minutes later, and after Dinora Garza made it 3-0 twelve minutes from time, an unidentified Football Fern put through her own net five minutes later, with Mayor (below) completing her hat-trick four minutes from time. That’s fifteen goals against in four games - very un-Football Ferns-like form, particularly in light of having set a record in 2010 for consecutive clean sheets - seven all told, in both the OFC Women’s Nations Cup and the Peace Queen Cup. Against their Oceania rivals, the Football Ferns dipped their bread - fifty goals in five games. But two scoreless draws against the Korea Republic and England saw the goal rush come to a halt, prompting a change of thinking from Herdman and co as to how to take this team on to the next step in their development, and see them scoring regularly against the great and the good, never mind lesser-ranked teams. Different patterns of play have been tried in Cyprus, different roles for individuals, too - better to experiment now than at the Finals in Germany, a lesson learnt from the ill-fated Junior World Cup Finals campaign in that country less than a year ago. The scorelines suggest that not all these well-intentioned ideas have proven fruitful. Indeed, against both France and Mexico the second half showings have been worrying, to put it mildly - a positive outcome from the experimentation aspect of this tournament, one would like to think. Herdman certainly gives that impression. "We’ve got clarity now, moving into the next phase of our preparation", a four-game tour of Australia and China, planned for May. "We know which players will start games, which players will close games for us, and which players will be used as impact players with something a little different. Those games in Australia and China will be about putting in winning performances with the right players on the pitch at the right time". The Women’s World Cup Finals are around fifteen weeks away now, but before their dates with destiny against Japan, England and Mexico in Germany, the Football Ferns have plenty of work to do, both competitively and on the training ground. The soon-to-start club competitions will provide the majority of players with regular match-play over the coming weeks, while the coaching staff have plenty to ponder - what role will Maia Jackman (above), the fittest and fastest player in the Football Ferns’ pre-Cyprus training sessions, play in the Germany 2011 campaign, for instance? The subject of the mandatory third goalkeeper at the Finals is another issue - will Victoria Esson (below) or Erin Nayler get the nod? And are there any individuals on the fringes of the squad - Renee Leota, Helen Collins and Sarah McLaughlin, the leading scorers in the ASB Women’s Youth League, spring to mind - who could come in and add something extra to the mix at this late stage of proceedings? There is a terrific esprit de corps in the Football Ferns squad, and while it will have taken a few blows over the past week with

these, by their standards, heavy defeats, this writer is quietly confident that they’ll come good in time for the main event of 2011, the FIFA Women’s World Cup Finals. Don’t write ‘em off yet, folks! New Zealand:     Bindon (Clansey, 46); Riley, Erceg (Hill, 46), Smith, Green (Percival, 55); Gregorius (Carlson, 46), Moorwood, Hoyle (Hassett, 24), Chance; White (Yallop, 70), Hearn Mexico:     Santiago; Vergara (Robles, 58), Vinti, Gonzalez, Saucedo; Mayor, Garza (Corral, 80), Rangel (Alvarado, 80), Perez, Morales (Lopez, 84); Gandarilla (Dominguez, 46) The Cyprus Cup was won by Canada for the third time in the tournament’s four-year history - they were runners-up in the one season they have failed to clinch the silverware. This time round, they were taken to extra-time by Holland before prevailing 2-1. Jonelle Filigno gave the Canucks the lead in the twentieth minute when pouncing on a defensive error, but the Dutch levelled matters five minutes before half-time through the fullback whose syllable-laden name would certainly challenge the world’s most adept football commentators when in full flow - Claudia van den Heiligenberg (above) is definitely one to twist the tongue! The score remained unchanged throughout a keenly contested second spell, and it wasn’t until the tenth minute of extra time that the deadlock was broken. Diana Matheson’s corner kick was turned home by Emily Zurrer (below) for what proved to be the decisive strike in Paralimni. France finished third after defeating Scotland 3-0, with Marie-Laure Delie scoring her second successive hat-trick after netting a treble against the Football Ferns. Meanwhile, Sue Smith scored a goal in each half as England edged Korea Republic 2-0 to finish fifth. Ninth place is the domain of Italy, whose 2-0 victory over Russia came about thanks to goals in each half from Patrizia Panico and Giulia Domenichetti. And Switzerland condemned Northern Ireland to the wooden spoon by downing them 2-1, goals from Lara Dickenmann and Martina Moser securing victory, and sandwiching the Irish equaliser, scored nine minutes into the second half by Rachel Furness. Over in Portugal, the USA took out the Algarve Cup for the eighth time - their seventh win in nine seasons - after a hard-fought come-from-behind 4-2 win over maiden finalists Iceland at the Estadio Algarve in Faro. Carli Lloyd (above) - one of the tournament’s leading lights - opened the scoring, unleashing an unerring eighteen-yarder into the top far corner just eight minutes into the match, but two goals in a two-minute spell twenty minutes later turned the game on its head. Margret Vidarsdottir and Hallbera Gisladottir scored the goals which put Iceland in front, but they were denied the chance to take that lead into the half-time break when Lauren Cheney levelled the scores again in first half stoppage time. Heather O’Reilly restored the USA’s lead ten minutes into the second half, and the Algarve Cup’s Golden Boot winner, Alex Morgan (above), scored the goal which won her that crown three minutes from time in a final watched by 1500 fans. The tournament’s star player featured in the third place play-off, Japan’s Homare Sawa (above) inspiring her Nadeshiko team-mates to a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Sweden, for whom Therese Sjogran became the most capped player in Swedish women’s football history as she made her 167th appearance for her country - Sara Larsson clocked up her 100th appearance for Sweden in the same match. Sjogran (above) marked her milestone display by opening the scoring fifteen minutes into the match, but the Japanese hadn’t read the script. Within six minutes, Megumi Kamionobe had levelled the scores, while Nahomi Kawasumi scored what proved to be the winner in the 32nd minute. Norway edged Denmark 5-4 on penalties to claim fifth spot - Melissa Wiik potted the decisive spot-kick - after the Scandinavian rivals had fought out a scoreless ninety minutes, while China eked out a 2-1 win over Wales in the battle for seventh. Yu Jia opened the scoring in the third minute, but after China had doubled their lead early in the second spell, Helen Lander reduced the deficit for the Welsh, who were denied a late equaliser when Zhang Yanru saved Emma Jones’ penalty three minutes from time. The host nation finished in ninth place, goals from Edite Fernandes and Carla Couto clinching a 2-1 win over Finland, for whom Essi Sainio was on target. Meanwhile, Fair Play Award winners Chile scored a 6-5 penalty shoot-out win over Rumania in the battle for the wooden spoon, after ninety minutes of action had seen both teams produce a goal apiece.