New Zealand’s Football Ferns advanced to their second successive FIFA Women’s World Cup Finals on October 8, by handing Papua New Guinea an 11-0 thrashing in the final of the 2010 OFC Women’s Nations Cup tournament at North Harbour Stadium. The Football Ferns, urged on by a healthy crowd, tore into their work with a vengeance, the lure of Germany 2011 an irresistible one for the reigning Oceania champions, who wasted little time in putting the Papuans to the sword. Amber Hearn (above), having all but wrapped up her second Golden Boot award of the year - she topped the scoring charts at the Cyprus Cup as well, showed her intentions in the first couple of minutes with a lobbed effort inside the first sixty seconds. Three minutes later, Hannah Wilkinson and Katie Hoyle worked a one-two which saw the powerful striker dribbling through a plethora of challenges before she was denied what would have been a marvellous individual goal by the legs of Papuan goalkeeper Fidelma Watpore. The second-string shot-stopper - first choice ‘keeper Linda Bunaga was suspended after being sent off in the semi-final - was in the thick of things once more in the sixth minute, denying Rosie White after Ria Percival’s cross had been headed down into the striker’s path by Hearn. The Football Ferns weren’t to be denied the early goal they sought, however, although its source was far from expected. Percival - a fine game again, emphasised by her being named Player of the Tournament afterwards - stormed into the penalty area from deep but was thwarted by defenders, who cleared the ball to Ali Riley. The WPS Rookie of the Year took the ball in her stride and, from twenty-five yards, sent a missile screaming into the Papuan net - her first goal for her country at senior level, and first for New Zealand since scoring five goals during the Junior Ferns 2006 campaign. There was no stopping the Football Ferns now. Within sixty seconds, Rebecca Smith - a fine game - flicked on Percival’s corner for Hearn, who, while falling backwards, still managed to direct a shot on target. Watpore stopped this effort, while Miriam Lanta denied Hayley Moorwood - back on her game after a rare off-day in the semi-final - in the tenth minute after the midfielder had been picked out by Riley, although whether Moorwood’s volley was blocked by fair means or foul is a matter of opinion. That of referee John Saohu saw play continue. Smith picked out Wilkinson with a raking cross-field ball seconds later, which the striker guided into Hoyle’s path. The midfielder raced through the inside-right channel before rattling the hoardings with a twenty yarder, while another angled pass from Smith found Yallop ghosting through in the twelfth minute, only for the midfielder to lift the ball over Watpore and the crossbar as well. Salvation was at hand, in the form of a second goal, in the fourteenth minute. Yallop, Wilkinson and Riley worked an opening down the left which saw the last-mentioner’s cross pick out the flying figure of White. Not even Pepe Reina could have kept out her bullet header from point-blank range! 2-0 swiftly became 3-0 in the eighteenth minute, with Yallop’s delightful touch instantly followed by a pass which released Wilkinson down the left. After beating an opponent, she directed a low cross into White’s stride, only for the young star to stumble over the ball. Lanta cleared the danger, but hadn’t reckoned on Percival unleashing her secret weapon. She pounced on the ball, slashed inside two defenders before firing an unerring left foot drive between Watpore and her left-hand upright, a shot the ‘keeper never anticipated. With the game - and their place at women’s football’s top table - in the bag with less than twenty minutes gone, the Football Ferns settled in for some party-piece football. Abby Erceg joined Smith in spraying passes around the park from deep, capitalising on the intelligent running and movement off the ball which their team-mates were providing all over the park. Make no mistake, the New Zealand team which heads to Germany in June next year will be on a far higher plane than that which graced China at the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup Finals. This team will make a significant statement - of that this writer has no doubt! In the 23rd minute, Moorwood stroked a precise pass into Percival’s path. Wilkinson, who had just failed to get on the end of White’s cross seconds earlier, guided the fullback’s delivery just beyond the far post. Seconds later, "Wilki" was in again, this time after Hoyle and Yallop had combined to create an opening for her. The striker was thwarted by the defence on the first occasion, then by Watpore as she looked to make amends. A Riley cross was inches too high for Wilkinson to capitalise upon in the 28th minute, while the fleet-footed fullback, with the aid of a one-two with Yallop, outfoxed three defenders a minute later before dinking a cross to the far post. Esther Kurabi directed her clearance into Moorwood’s face, off which the ball rebounded to the grateful Watpore. Papua’s goalkeeper denied a tame effort from Wilkinson and a thunderous strike from White inside sixty seconds on the half-hour, but was helpless in the 32nd minute as a murderous finish from Wilkinson made it 4-0. Moorwood and Smith combined to win the ball on the right and play in White, whose pull-back from the by-line prompted an emphatic finish from the striker, who hit the ball with such ferocity that it’s a wonder the net didn’t require checking for additional holes! Watpore grabbed White’s bullet and Moorwood’s flick with equal gratitude in the next three minutes,

before the natives went nap in the 36th minute. The Football Ferns captain careered down the right before wrong-footing a defender on the by-line and setting up Wilkinson for a tap-in. Two minutes later, White concluded the first half scoring with a superb solo strike. Forcing Jenisa Ulengit to concede a throw-in as a result of fine first line of defence play, the striker received Riley’s delivery and waltzed through four challenges before finding herself one-on-one with Watpore, who was given no chance - 6-0. There was still time for Papuan striker Zeena Limbai to mount a rare foray into the Football Ferns half, but her tame effort was given short shrift by the hitherto unoccupied Jenny Bindon, who at one stage late in the second half made sure that all twenty-two players on the pitch were contained in the Papuan portion of it - such was the dominance of the reigning champions throughout proceedings. They began the second spell in much the same manner, with Hearn battering a driven Percival corner at Watpore in the 49th minute. The ‘keeper wasn’t so fortunate a minute later, as half-time substitute Sarah Gregorius raced onto a delicate lay-off from Hearn and whipped in a low cross for Yallop. The midfielder made a sow’s ear out of a silk purse with this opportunity. Thankfully, White was lurking behind her, and demonstrated the golden rule when in the opposition’s eighteen-yard box - "If you’ve got the ball in the penalty area, and you don’t know what to do with it, stick it in the net and we’ll discuss the other options afterwards!" (A pearl of wisdom from the late, great Bob Paisley, no less). That completed White’s hat-trick, but the 2009 Oceania Women’s Player of the Year had no intention of stopping - this was "dip your bread" time, and the striker was hungry for more. Riley duly obliged her, jinking down the flank before setting up White for a tap-in in the 56th minute. 8-0, and so nearly more, with Percival’s deliveries, be they from set-pieces or open play, creating consternation aplenty in the Papuan penalty area. Either side of the eighth goal, Erceg headed a free-kick narrowly over the bar, while Gregorius’ hair was parted by a whipped cross from the flying fullback, the tournament’s most consistent performer. Moorwood was having fun now, and after blazing a shot over the bar, invited Anna Green to join the party with a delicious back-heel which put the substitute in yards of space down the left. The resulting cross, however, was like a number of dubious offside decisions made by referee’s assistant Jovita Qilamasala during this period of play - the report card for both player and official reads "Must do better!" Seventeen minutes from time, Green made amends for her earlier blemish. Hoyle (below) evaded three challenges inside her own half and swept the ball down the left for the rampaging fullback to stride onto, and this time a measured cross was guided home from point-blank range by Gregorius. The scorer of the ninth goal was thwarted by the legs of Watpore five minutes later, after Erceg had evaded two opponents and released the speedy substitute, but the Football Ferns gained their reward from the resulting Percival corner, in the 79th minute. The ball arced to the far post, where Hearn was lurking to head home her twelfth goal of the tournament, make the score 10-0 and, most significantly, climb into second spot on New Zealand’s all-time goalscoring chart. Her 21st international strike surpasses Maureen Jacobson’s twenty-goal haul, and leaves Hearn eight goals shy of catching New Zealand’s long-time goalscoring leader Wendy Sharpe, a milestone which has stood unchallenged since October 1994. The Football Ferns had been guilty of some profligate finishing in the second spell - the final scoreline barely does justice to their superiority - and more was to come in the last ten minutes. Hearn picked out Moorwood in the 81st minute, but her deft cushioned header crept inches past the upright on this occasion, while a through ball from substitute Kristy Hill saw Yallop and Hearn produce a one-two which culminated in the midfielder shooting straight at Watpore. An eleventh goal - the Football Ferns’ fiftieth in five matches - had to come, and it did courtesy a delighted captain. Moorwood’s was the easy part in this delightfully conceived and executed goal, which saw Hoyle heed Green’s call to let Erceg’s pass run through to her. Down the left the fullback raced before crossing to the captain, who slid the ball home from close range. Gregorius twice went close in the next three minutes, courtesy the enterprise of Green, Hearn and Percival, while two minutes from time, Hearn and Riley worked a one-two which saw the Golden Boot winner part the hair of a defender with her cross, the ball ricocheting to safety off the fast-arriving Yallop. There was time for a final cameo from the Oceania champions, with Percival sending Hill racing through the offside trap. In pursuit of her maiden international goal she ran, only to come a cropper when she saw the whites of Watpore’s eyes. Gregorius was backing up, and promptly set up Hill for another attempt to conclude the scoring, but this time Sade and Lanta retrieved the situation in the Papuans’ favour, the last act of note in a match dominated by the Football Ferns, Oceania’s champions and FIFA Women’s World Cup Finals representatives again. Football Ferns:     Bindon; Percival, R. Smith (Hill, 60), Erceg, Riley; Moorwood, Hoyle, Yallop; White (Green, 60), Hearn, Wilkinson (Gregorius, 46) Papua New Guinea:     Watpore; Sesevo (Ulengit, 36), Lanta, Linah, Kurabi (booked, 45); Sinui, Salaiau (booked, 77), Thomas (Banabas, 82), Peninsa (booked, 76), Winas; Limbai Referee:         John Saohu (Solomon Islands)