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Portugal
Goal Drought Ends As Longo Strikes Ferns' Winner
by Jeremy Ruane
The Football Ferns secured themselves a third place play-off at the Algarve Cup on Thursday morning by edging host nation Portugal 1-0 at the Estadio Municipal de Albufeira to finish second in their group.
While Brazil were trouncing Russia 3-0 in the other group encounter - Cristiane struck twice after Formiga had opened the scoring, the Football Ferns were challenged by a chilly wind, conditions which contributed to an at times scrappy spectacle in the Algarve sunshine.
Early set-piece deliveries from Anna Green - making her first start for her country since June 2013 - saw Ria Percival denied on both occasions by Portuguese goalkeeper Neida Simoes, who conceded a goal following a Green free-kick in the 23rd minute, only for the referee to deem Amber Hearn had fouled the 'keeper as both contested possession.
Portugal spurned a great chance to open the scoring just after the half-hour mark when Claudia Neto dragged her shot across the face of Rebecca Rolls' goal, with the captain also forcing the 'keeper to save at her feet in the dying minutes of the half after an Ana Borges-led raid down the right.
In between times, the Football Ferns had twice gone close to opening the scoring, Rosie White's shot on the turn flashing over the bar in the 33rd minute before Simoes thwarted Annalie Longo's shot on the turn after she had combined with Katie Bowen and Percival on the right.
The host nation had the better of the early exchanges in the second spell, with Rebekah Stott fortunate not to concede a penalty after colliding with an opponent in the area in the 51st minute.
Seconds later, Vanessa Marques' twenty-five yarder was comfortably saved by Rolls, who was little troubled in dealing with what initially appeared to be a very promising Portuguese counter-attack on the hour.
The Football Ferns responded in the best manner possible - they opened the scoring in the 69th minute. Longo started the move, surging forward before picking out half-time substitute Sarah Gregorius on the left.
Her lofted cross arced over Hearn's head, but Longo was racing forward and met the ball beyond the far post, where she executed a lobbed volley which, with Hearn bearing down on her as she homed in on the ball, gave Simoes nightmares.
The 'keeper got a hand to the sphere as Hearn leapt to head it, but Simoes' effort merely served to help it over the line and end the Football Ferns' goalscoring drought at the Algarve Cup - 1-0.
Before the final whistle, they should have at least doubled their tally. Hearn latched onto a stray pass but shot straight at Simoes under pressure in the 82nd minute, before the striker was wrongly flagged for offside when clean through on goal six minutes later.
And after a Marques-led raid had given Percival,
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Erceg and Rolls cause for concern in the dying stages, Gregorius was harshly denied a second goal by the offside flag, her super header, from fellow substitute Catherine Bott's cross, ultimately in vain.
As reward for finishing second in their group, the Football Ferns will take on Iceland from 5.30am NZ time on Thursday at the Via Real Santo Antonio, a match which will be followed by the final, between Brazil and Canada.
That's because John Herdman's charges edged the Icelanders 1-0 thanks to a Janine Beckie goal just before half-time to finish first on the head-to-head basis. Similarly, Belgium finished third after downing Denmark 2-1, and will face Russia in the fifth place play-off, with the Danes taking on Portugal for the wooden spoon.
Football Ferns: Rolls; Percival, Stott, Erceg, Green (Bott, 46); Bowen (Yallop, 60), Duncan, Hearn, Hassett; Longo, White (Gregorius, 46 (booked, 74))
In other tournaments, Australia and China became the latest teams to qualify for Rio 2016, both winning their penultimate matches in the Asian qualifying tournament in Japan to secure their tickets to Brazil with a game to spare.
The Matildas saw off third-placed DPR Korea 2-1 thanks to goals from Michelle Heyman and Katrina Gorry, and also confirmed China's passage to the Olympics after they edged Korea Republic 1-0 earlier on in the day.
Japan's 6-1 trouncing of Vietnam came too little, too late for the 2012 silver medallists, and their failure to qualify for Rio 2016 has reportedly prompted popular long-serving coach Norio Sasaki to tender his resignation.
The last team to join Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, France, Germany, the Football Ferns, South Africa, the USA and Zimbabwe will be confirmed following the final matches in the European qualifying tournament.
Sweden are favourites to make the twelve after maintaining their perfect record with a 1-0 win over Switzerland, which leaves them on the verge of maintaining their record of having qualified for every Olympic Women's Football Tournament since the discipline was first introduced in 1996.
At the SheBelieves Cup, Alex Morgan's injury time winner earned the USA a 1-0 triumph over France, and set up a winner-take-all clash with Germany, who came from behind to down England 2-1 courtesy an own goal and a controversial penalty scored by Babett Peter, Toni Duggan having put the Lionesses in front before over 25,000 fans in Nashville.
And at the Cyprus Cup, Austria and Poland will contest the final after recording contrasting results in their final group fixtures. The Austrians were held to a scoreless draw by second-placed Italy - Hungary edged Eire 1-0 to finish third in Group A - while Poland edged bottom-placed Finland 1-0 to top their group from the Czech Republic, who defeated Wales by the same scoreline.
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