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2008 Finals Draw
Junior Ferns Enter Unknown After Favourable Draw
by Jeremy Ruane
New Zealand will be entering the unknown somewhat when they kick off their quest for success at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Finals in Chile in November.
As well as an encounter with the host nation, the draw, which took place last weekend, has pitted the Junior Ferns against two nations New Zealand has yet to face on the world stage at any level of the women's game.
Nigeria, the female footballing superpower of the African continent, provide the opposition in New Zealand's opening group match, in Coquimbo, where they will also take on Chile.
They then head to Santiago for their final group encounter, with England opponents the Junior Ferns will need to overcome if they harbour hopes of becoming the first New Zealand team to advance past the group stages of a FIFA Finals tournament.
“For New Zealand, it's the best draw we could get, given the make-up of some of the other groups”, said coach John Herdman. “We're always happy to get the hosts, and Chile, who have had some great results this year, are, as a team, quite young in terms of experience.
“One of those results was a win over England, who, like Nigeria, we're looking forward to meeting on the world stage for the first time … yes, I'm really happy with it. It's quite exciting, in fact.
“The key for us now is to get the players on the same page tactically and the team spirit perspective, which, while already good, is something you build up over time”.
Nigeria has never failed to qualify for a FIFA Women's Finals tournament, with the exception of the inaugural Olympic Women's Football Tournament in 1996, a result of their failure to ascertain a top-eight placing at the previous year's FIFA Women's World Cup Finals.
“The Falconets” have reached the quarter-finals at the 2004 and 2006 FIFA Finals at this age level, a stark contrast with the host nation's achievements on the world stage.
Chile will be appearing in the final stages of a FIFA Women's Football tournament for the first time when hosting these Finals, and no expense has been
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 John Herdman
spared to ensure “Las Rojitas” will be ready to be competitive from the first whistle come November 19.
Hosting quadrangular tournaments has been part of the deal for the Chileans since they were confirmed as automatic qualifiers for this event, with New Zealand currently involved in just such a tournament, along with their hosts, Canada and Mexico.
A previous quadrangular event featured England, the final team in the group, and one which will be regarded as its favourites after finishing as runners-up in the UEFA qualifying campaign.
The women's game in the Motherland is enjoying something of a renaissance at present, with their
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progression to the quarter-finals of the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup Finals having been supplemented by qualifying for both NZ 08 and these finals - evidence that England are getting their house in order in a big way after the massive boost afforded the women's game when hosting the UEFA Women's Championships in 2005.
In general, New Zealand has been given a great chance to progress beyond the first week of the finals with this draw, one which is a lot less challenging than is faced by others.
The USA face three teams they met in the previous finals, and will look to avenge their semi-final defeat last time round by the 2004 and 2006 runners-up China, as well as familiarise themselves once again with France and Argentina.
Reigning champions North Korea take on the team they edged out in the other semi-final in 2006, Brazil, in the very first match they play in their group, which also features Mexico and Norway.
Germany, meanwhile, face Canada and Japan in this year's finals, as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo, who, with Nigeria, represented African interests in the 2006 finals.
All told, twelve of the sixteen nations which featured at Russia 2006 have reached these finals, with Norway (replacing Switzerland), England (replacing Finland), Japan (replacing Australia) and Chile (succeeding Russia as host nation) appearing at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Finals for the first time ever.
Originally run as an U-19 competition when it was introduced in 2002, before FIFA aligned their men's and women's age-grade competitions four years later, the bi-annual finals have been won by the USA (2002), Germany (2004) and North Korea (2006), with the original winners and Brazil the only nations to have reached the last four in each tournament.
New Zealand's debut campaign two years ago saw them downed 3-0 by Australia before going down 3-2 to a last-gasp injury-time Russian goal. John Herdman's charges then bounced back strongly to hold eventual third place-getters Brazil to a 0-0 draw in their final group encounter, finishing thirteenth overall.
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