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World Champs Prevail By Five-Goal Margin Again

by Jeremy Ruane

Reigning world champions Team USA accounted for the Football Ferns 6-1 in their Olympic Women's Football Tournament encounter at Saitama Stadium on July 24, their third consecutive victory by a five-goal margin over the Kiwi combination.

It was a scoreline which flattered the victors a little in some respects, however, for two of the goals they scored were contributed by their opponents. That said, had the Football Ferns' offside trap not worked as well as it did to prevent four more goals being registered in the first half, including three in a six-minute spell around the half-hour mark, the victors would have clocked up double figures.

As expected, the Americans were quickly out of the blocks, some delightful one-touch play out of defence allowing Julie Ertz to storm over halfway in the fourth minute before bringing Carli Lloyd into play. She set up a shooting chance for Lindsay Horan which was blocked by Abby Erceg.

The Football Ferns quickly countered, Hannah Wilkinson holding the ball up well before bringing Betsy Hassett into play. She swiftly swept the sphere into the stride of Olivia Chance, marauding down the left, from where she sent a cross-shot flying narrowly past the far post, much to the relief of Alyssa Naeher.

The USA's goalkeeper was called upon again in the seventh minute, this time to prevent the underdogs from taking a shock lead against a team which suffered a stunning 3-0 loss to Sweden in its opening group game, a result which has put their entire Olympics campaign on notice.

The Football Ferns served notice of their own through Katie Bowen - a fine game - and Chance combining to good effect, with Wilkinson the ultimate beneficiary of their industry. Her twenty yarder drew a fine save low to her right by Naeher.

After a slick one-two down the left between Megan Rapinoe and Lloyd culminated in the former sending a twenty-five yarder sizzling narrowly over the crossbar, Team USA opened the scoring in the ninth minute.

Lloyd flicked the ball on for Horan - this match was her one hundredth for her country. Erceg's intervention saw the ball cleared to Tobin Heath. With a single touch of the ball, she opened up the Kiwis' defence - an exquisite first time pass with the outside of her foot which sent the ball into the space behind Ali Riley, the same space into which Rose Lavelle, anticipating the pass brilliantly, was galloping.

Anna Leat, a surprise choice in goal for the Football Ferns, certainly hadn't anticipated Heath's touch of genius, as she suddenly found herself out of position and having to desperately scramble across her goal in order to reduce as much as possible the space into which the marauding midfielder could fire the ball.

Alas for the five-times-capped custodian, there was too great a gap to cover, and Lavelle duly lashed an angled drive into the net to the delight of her team-mates and the despair of her opponents, who knew that this early goal left them with a mountain to climb to keep their Olympics hopes alive.

The offside flag came to the Football Ferns' rescue on the quarter hour, denying Lloyd's superb finish, and twice more before the half-hour mark, as goals from Heath and Rapinoe were ruled out due to Crystal Dunn and Lloyd respectively falling foul of the Football Ferns' offside trap in setting up their team-mates.

In between these close calls, Lavelle rattled the side-netting after Heath and Horan had combined on the left, while in the seventeenth minute, Oceania's champions went desperately close to levelling the scores.

Erceg's cross-field ball picked out Catherine Bott - a rock-solid performance in the fullback role to which her talents are better suited. She took the ball on before delivering a cross which Wilkinson, soaring above all-comers, headed narrowly past the far post.

The Americans were dominating possession, however, but once again fell foul of the offside trap in the 33rd minute when Horan was deemed to be marginally offside when crowning the creativity of Heath and Lavelle on the right.

Two minutes later, Heath was at her mesmerising best again, creating an opening out of nothing with a teasing cross which targeted the incoming figure of Lloyd. Leat plunged forward off her line to save at the feet of this icon of the game the world plays, the 39-year-old 308-cap veteran being one of just two players - Sir Geoff Hurst is the other - to have scored a hat-trick in a World Cup Final.

She was destined not to score in this match, however, but for all their dominance, the USA only had one goal to show for it as the game approached half-time. And when a rare Football Ferns raid saw Bott pick out Wilkinson with another cross, time stood still as everyone watched the striker's towering fifteen yard header fly inches past the far post - it was desperately close.

What followed next was one of those dagger through the heart moments from the Kiwis' perspective. From the resulting goal-kick, Team USA earned a corner which Rapinoe pinged beyond the far post, where Ertz rose to head the ball back into the goalmouth … right onto the head of Horan who, from point-blank range, couldn't miss - 2-0 in the 44th minute, a blow which would test any side's self-belief.

To their credit, Tom Sermanni's charges didn't capitulate after the interval, instead standing firm and mounting a solid rearguard action in the face of constant American pressure, so much so that the reigning world champions mustered just one genuine threat on goal in the first fifteen minutes of the half.

Dunn, Rapinoe and Ertz combined for Lloyd's benefit on the hour, but under pressure from Erceg, she rattled the near post side-netting. Lloyd's next involvement, three minutes later, brought about the crucial third goal for the USA, although the scorer wasn't wearing a red-and-blue-striped shirt.

Horan and impressively performed fullback Emily Sonnett worked a slick one-two on the right which saw the USA's latest centurion exploit the space in behind Riley and pick out Lloyd with her cross. Her looping header wasn't going towards the target, but Erceg's attempt to head the ball to safety saw the ball loop over the luckless Leat and bounce once before hitting the net.

At 3-0, you'd have thought the game was up for the Football Ferns, but they didn't get the memo. Instead, they introduced Paige Satchell to the fray, and her willingness to chase seemingly lost causes was rewarded nineteen minutes from time.

Bowen, under pressure, slipped a subtle pass through an unseen gap to Percival, who had copped a bit of a buffeting from the Americans in the engine room area of the park. New Zealand's most capped player ever pinged the ball downfield, knowing that Satchell's speed would soon have Abby Dahlkemper in a world of trouble.

Sure enough, the newcomer pounced on her ponderous opponent, whose untimely stumble allowed Satchell free rein in the USA penalty area. Naeher came off her line to narrow the angle, forcing the speedster to slip the ball to the incoming figure of Hassett. Her cushioned volleyed finish into the roof of the net from twelve yards is a goal she will treasure in the years to come.

Not right now, however, for there was work still to be done. Peeved at conceding a goal, the Americans turned to one of the most lethal finishers in world football, Alex Morgan, to redress the balance in the time remaining.

The USA accomplished this task with interest, restoring their three-goal advantage in the 81st minute. Ertz found herself in space on the right, and picked out substitute Christen Press with a sumptuous cross which the striker neatly controlled before firing unerringly past Leat into the bottom far corner of the net - 4-1.

A stiff two fingers was New Zealand's response, Riley leading the charge down the left. Her cross was cleared by Dunn to Bowen, whose drive lacked the power to trouble Naeher.

A corner was conceded soon after by Team USA, and Percival whipped in a wicked delivery to the near post area where Meikayla Moore was lurking with intent. The Americans scrambled this threat to safety, then hit the Kiwis with two sucker punches in the final two minutes to blow out the scoreline, a double strike which a handful of Football Ferns took very hard indeed, having given everything for the cause.

Two minutes from time, substitutes Sam Mewis, Morgan and Press combined, the latter moving down the left as Morgan set off on an unchecked arcing run which found her arriving in the penalty area beyond the last defender just as Press' measured cross appeared in her crosshairs ...

Bang! One volley later, and the ball was flying past Leat into the far corner of the net - 5-1, which very swiftly became 6-1 with virtually the last kick of the game, much to the despair of Bott, off whom Press' latest cross ricocheted to completely wrong-foot Leat en route to the back of the net, the final act of a match in which the Americans got their Olympics campaign back on track.

That of the Football Ferns is all but over, however, with the prospect of Hannah Wilkinson becoming the latest Football Ferns centurion one of the things to look forward as they take on unbeaten group leaders Sweden at the Miyagi Stadium from 8pm NZ time on Tuesday, 27 July, a match which will be the last overseen by coach Tom Sermanni, who is stepping down at the conclusion of this campaign.

Team USA: Naeher; Sonnett, Dahlkemper, Davidson, Dunn (Krueger, 84); Lavelle (S. Mewis, 67), Ertz, Horan (Macario, 84); Heath, Lloyd (Morgan, 74), Rapinoe (Press, 67)

F'ball Ferns: Leat; Bott, Moore, Erceg, Riley; Hassett (Longo, 87), Cleverley (Rennie, 80), Percival, Bowen, Chance (Satchell, 65); Wilkinson

Referee: Stephanie Frappart (France)

Road To France & Tokyo