New Zealand’s Young Ferns maintained their unbeaten record as they progress along the Road to Azerbaijan in Buenos Aires on 24 February, downing Argentina 1-0 in the first of two friendly internationals between the countries’ U-17 women’s teams. It was the Young Ferns’ first game since taking a series victory over Australia in a three-match series in Auckland last October, during which the host nation scored two wins. That winning culture continued at the Argentina Football Association’s headquarters, where their national U-17 women’s squad is in camp preparing for their FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup qualifying series in Bolivia in a fortnight’s time. Coach Yasushi Kawakami is using this two-match series against the Young Ferns to finalise his squad for that series, but found Paul Temple’s charges in no mood to accept second-best in the opening encounter, which kicked off over an hour later than planned due to some logistics issues. “We’re being well looked after here”, said Temple, “with top-class training facilities at the AFA’s complex. We’ve only one complaint, and that’s to do with time-keeping - the bus was over an hour late in arriving to pick us up from the hotel, and as we arrived at the ground, the Argentinians were heading out for their pre-match warm-up. “So we arranged for the kick-off to be delayed, and once we eventually got under way, we had the better of the game without ever really dominating it. We didn’t open them up or threaten them too much, but the same can be said of Argentina when they had the ball”. The one time the Young Ferns did unhinge their opposition brought a goal for their captain, Hannah Carlsen, three minutes into the second half. As they did in the Australia series, Laura Merrin and Briar Palmer opened up Argentina’s right flank with their well-crafted play. Palmer’s cross sought out the head of Martine Puketapu, but Argentina’s goalkeeper had other ideas, only to fail to take the ball clearly. It fell perfectly for Carlsen, following up, to ram home into an unguarded net, much to the delight of the visitors.

Briar Palmer Ronisa Lipi Daisy Cleverley

The Young Ferns’ lead came under intense threat during the last twenty minutes. “It’s always nervy when you’re up 1-0 in the later stages of the match”, says Temple, “and Argentina put us under a lot of pressure as they sought an equaliser. But our players showed good composure throughout this period and emerged with a win on the road, despite not playing well - that’s a good sign in itself. “The overall standard of performance was patchy, and one on which we can improve quite a lot. Overall I’m pretty happy, but the focus in our next game will be to hit our straps for longer periods - we’ve a couple of days to work on that before playing Argentina again at 9am Tuesday, NZ time”. Temple welcomed the chance to single out a handful of individual performances which merited mentioning after the victory. “Catherine Bott did well playing out of position, while Ronisa Lipi, in goal, didn’t have a lot to do, but did what she had to do well - commanded her area, particularly when it came to crosses, and produced a fine save to turn a top corner-bound effort to safety. “Fourteen-year-old Daisy Cleverly coped well in what was her first international start, but by far the best player on the pitch was Emma Fletcher - an amazing performance, considering she has come from temperatures of -10C in Vancouver to the mid-twenties temperatures we’re enjoying here. She oozed class throughout, and looks a class act”. The result was a welcome one for New Zealand Football, coming at the end of a week in which both the OlyWhites and New Zealand “A” found themselves on the nil end of sizable defeats to the Frank Rijkaard-coached Saudi Arabia World Cup squad in Melbourne. The Young Ferns’ second match against their Argentine rivals on Tuesday is the first of three internationals New Zealand teams will play inside thirty-six hours this week. The Football Ferns kick off their Cyprus Cup campaign against Northern Ireland at 4.30am on Wednesday, while at 7.30pm that night, the All Whites entertain Jamaica at Mt. Smart Stadium. Young Ferns: Lipi; Moore, Bott, Jensen (Knott, 70), Merrin; Carlsen, Cleverley (Rolston, 60) Fletcher; Pereira (McNamara, 60), Puketapu, Palmer (Dabner, 70)