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Tonga
Football Ferns Fire Sixteen-Goal Salvo
by Jeremy Ruane
Reigning OFC Women's Nations Cup holders New Zealand signalled that they have no intention of relinquishing their grip on the silverware at Kalabond Oval in Kokopo, Papua New Guinea, on 25 October when opening their quest to qualify for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Finals in emphatic fashion.
The Football Ferns thumped Tonga 16-0 to take a stranglehold on the four-team qualifying tournament, with host nation Papua New Guinea the other victors on opening day, downing the Cook Islands 4-1.
Right from the very first minute, when debutant Daisy Cleverley opened her account for her country at senior level with a deft dink over Tongan goalkeeper Lupe Likiliki, the Football Ferns were on the case, and they never let up on an auspicious occasion for the team and New Zealand Football generally.
Captain Abby Erceg became the first player of either gender in the history of the game in New Zealand to record a century of appearances in "A" internationals when she led her side out for the opening fixture, and her team-mates honoured their on-field leader with a performance to savour.
Sarah Gregorius soon doubled the Kiwis' advantage from the penalty spot, with both Likiliki and the offside flag denying Rosie White inside the next five minutes, as Tony Readings' charges relished the chance to play together as a unit once more after a four-month break.
A team which last graced the world stage when hosting Brazil in a drawn two-match series in June was always going to beat Tonga in convincing fashion, so the challenge for Erceg and company was to maintain their standards against opponents who were more suited to the 37C heat in which the match took place.
Three goals in four minutes certainly helped in that regard, with Betsy Hassett's seventeenth minute effort swiftly supplemented by another Cleverley goal - Ali Riley was the supplier - before Helen Collins finally opened her account for her country with the first goal of her hat-trick in the twentieth minute.
By the time the half-hour mark had rolled round, Rosie White had joined in the fun, her two-goal salvo in a three-minute burst catapulting "The Golazo Girl" into the top ten of her country's all-time leading markswomen, with the first of those strikes a particularly deft lobbed effort which rewarded good approach work by her team-mates.
Tonga managed to keep the Football Ferns at bay throughout the remainder of the first half, and even had the ball in the net themselves at one point, only for the offside flag to come to New Zealand's rescue.
Most teams, when leading 7-0 at half-time, tend to ease off in the second spell, but the introduction of Amber Hearn, Annalie Longo and Ria Percival off the bench for the second spell suggested the Football Ferns had no such intentions, and within two minutes of resuming, Gregorius confirmed as much with her second goal of the game.
Likiliki and friends were subjected to a tremendous amount of pressure over the next few minutes as the Football Ferns looked to build on their lead, and by fair means or foul managed to contain their goal-hungry rivals for a further fifteen minutes.
But when two of the substitutes combined in the
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68th minute - Percival's cross was turned home by Longo - it proved to be the straw which broke the camel's back. A further seven goals struck the back of Tonga's net in the final quarter of the match, Collins netting the first of them on receipt of Hearn's cross sixty seconds later.
That goal brought up double figures for the Football Ferns, a tally with which they were far from content. Gregorius recorded her hat-trick strike in the seventieth minute, a feat Collins matched six minutes later.
Longo then got in on the act - just her second goal for her country - before some lovely build-up play was rewarded by the sight of Hearn heading home four minutes from time to make it 14-0.
The ball found the net three times in stoppage time, but the second of Percival's efforts was ruled out by the offside flag. The first one counted, however, as did the final goal of the game from Hearn, whose 38th goal for her country this was.
"The team performed impressively today", said coach Tony Readings post-match. "We scored in the first minute - Daisy Cleverley, on debut, showed her potential at this level - and simply didn't stop for ninety minutes, despite the fact it was 37C at kick-off, and humidity was 100% throughout - it's definitely a different environment for us.
"The introduction of quality replacements in Amber, Ria and Annalie at half-time gave us fresh legs and ideas against opponents who were tiring, and allowed us to maintain our momentum and contributed to our impressive showing.
"Amber and Ria, in particular, drove the team on throughout the second half, and provided a real energy to our play. It was pleasing to see Helen scoring as well - it's a bit of a relief to her, and she'll kick on now".
The Football Ferns' next opponents, Papua New Guinea, proved too strong for the Cook Islands in the later game, prevailing 4-1 on the back of a hat-trick from Meagen Gunemba, after Sandra Birum had opened the scoring for PNG on the quarter hour.
A stoppage time penalty from Lee Maoate-Cox was scant reward for the Cooks, the spot-kick coming about after Cox's Canterbury University team-mate, Dayna Napa, was taken out by a PNG defender, ending the striker's tournament - she has torn ankle ligaments.
The Football Ferns and Papua New Guinea meet at 5pm NZ time on Monday, three hours after the Cook Islands and Tonga clash at the same venue, Kalabond Oval.
Details:
Papua New Guinea 4 (S. Birum (16), M. Gunemba (26, 36, 84)), Cooks Islands 1 (L. Maoate-Cox (90 pen)) HT 3-0
Tonga 0, Football Ferns 16 (D. Cleverley (1, 18), S. Gregorius (8 pen, 50, 70), B. Hassett (17), H. Collins (20, 69, 76), R. White (26, 29), A. Longo (68, 77), A. Hearn (86, 90), R. Percival (90)) HT 0-7
F'ball Ferns: Rolls; Moore, Erceg, Stott, Riley (Percival, 46); Cleverley, Hoyle (Hearn, 46), White, Hassett (Longo, 46); Collins, Gregorius
Tonga: Likiliki; Kilmartin (Tahitu'a, 46), Va'enuku (booked, 69), Funaki (Akolo, 69), Loto'aniu; Vi (Malekamu, 45), Kofutua, Tonga, Manu; Feke, La'akulu
Referee: Tupou Patia (Cook Islands)
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