New Zealand's Junior Ferns bowed out of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Finals on a frustrating note on August 16, drawing 2-2 with Colombia at the Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica in San Jose to finish bottom of the group as the two teams they drew with advanced to the knockout phase of the competition. Needing to win the match by two goals to have any hope of advancing to the quarter-finals, Gemma Lewis' charges got off to a flying start, opening the scoring after just 135 seconds. Tui Dugan's cross-field pass to fellow fullback Marisa Van der Meer - think Trent Alexander-Arnold switching play to Andy Robertson - allowed the defender to thread a pass through the inside left channel to Milly Clegg. The Auckland United striker stormed towards goal, nutmegging Colombian defender Kelly Caicedo en route before curling home a beauty beyond Natalia Giraldo into the far corner of the net. As dream starts go, this was as good as it gets, but the Colombians wasted little time in turning that dream into a nightmare. Jana Niedermayr was swiftly closed down and dispossessed by Gisela Robledo in the fifth minute, the striker then unleashing a twenty-yarder which Murphy Sheaff smothered. Back came the Junior Ferns, Aniela Jensen looking to pick out Ava Pritchard's run through the inside right channel, only for Giraldo to race off her line and parry the sphere away from the forward, who swiftly latched onto the loose ball. Pritchard set her sights on goal, but the fast-recovering figure of Giraldo was on hand to save at her near post and launch a counter-attack. All was going fine with regard to this raid from the Junior Ferns perspective until captain Kate Taylor erred. Mariana Munoz instantly combined with Linda Caicedo to pick out Robledo, who evaded a challenge before lashing an eighteen-yarder narrowly past the post. When the Colombians next attacked, in the tenth minute, they conjured up a super goal to restore parity. Linda Caicedo latched onto a loose clearance, juggled the ball to beat two opponents, then laid it off to Liced Serna. She duly returned the compliment, allowing Caicedo to beat another Junior Fern before curling an exquisite twenty-yarder over Sheaff and into the far corner of the net. Not content with drawing level, the South Americans, who needed victory to confirm themselves as group winners, swiftly set about the task of building on their equaliser. Robledo rampaged down the left before cutting inside and scooting past Niedermayr, only to slam a shot into the near post side-netting from an acute angle when two team-mates were arriving in anticipation of a cross. But they couldn't fend off the Junior Ferns. Jensen's sixteenth minute free-kick was punched out by Giraldo to Taylor, whose volley through a crowded penalty area was headed off the line by Angela Baron. The Colombians were gradually proving themselves the stronger side, however, and after Sheaff had staved off a twenty-five yarder from Linda Caicedo, Kelly Caicedo combined with Robledo and her younger sister, who slipped Robledo through one-on-one with Sheaff. The striker let fly, her shot flashing inches past the far post. Both Robledo and Munoz were denied by a super double-save by Sheaff in the 22nd minute, soon after which Van der Meer earned herself a booking for a challenge in which she injured herself, prompting her premature departure from the fray. Attacks by the Kiwis were becoming few and far between by this point, with Taylor's probing ball forward from deep, intended for Pritchard, being picked off by Baron as the Colombians made it clear they had no intentions of giving their opponents a further chance to score. How the Junior Ferns fans wish their charges could repel their opponents in such determined fashion. Colombia kept on coming like the proverbial train, with Robledo often leading the charge. In the 34th minute, she picked out Maria Reyes with a cross which the midfielder headed over the bar, while seconds later, an awful under-hit back-pass by Niedermayr - she had a game she'll want to forget - gifted the South Americans a great chance to take the lead. Linda Caicedo was the beneficiary of Niedermayr's unexpected gift, and she unselfishly presented Robledo with the chance to chip Sheaff, a feat she accomplished comfortably, only to see the ball skim the roof of the net, rather than land inside it. Suffice to say, a certain Junior Ferns defender was mightily relieved at the eventual outcome, although the incident doubtless prompted coach Lewis to replace Niedermayr with Mona Walker at half-time. Before that junction was reached, however, the game changed following a challenge on Pritchard by Yirleidys Quejada. Referee Tori Penso allowed play to continue, but the Video Assistant Referee reviewed the incident and deemed that Quejada's tackle was deserving of a red card - Colombia was down to ten for the duration. The South Americans were stunned by this development, and the Junior Ferns looked to take full advantage before the interval. Niedermayr, Jensen and Alyssa Whinham combined, but the dead ball line came up to soon for the last-mentioned, who, seconds earlier, had weaved her way into the Colombian penalty area, only to be crowded out by a posse of yellow-shirted defenders. Perhaps it was because New Zealand isn't used to playing against numerically inferior opposition, but early in the second spell, Taylor and Walker, on two occasions, were guilty of crude fouls, one of which earned the substitute an early booking. She was one of four Junior Ferns booked in this match - ten in total for the tournament, unquestionably one of New Zealand's worst disciplinary displays on the world stage in a FIFA Finals environment. Is this a result of so many players in this squad not being involved in regular match-play in a club

environment, and instead being cocooned in the FFDP world, thus reducing their exposure to incidents of foul play during competitive fixtures? Who's to say. It's certainly a consideration, however. While asking pertinent questions relating to the Junior Ferns' efforts in Costa Rica, one must also ask why, out of a 21-strong squad playing in humid conditions over the course of a week, the talents of three outfield players - Ella Findlay, Macey Fraser and Emma Pijnenburg - weren't even utilised. It's this writer's understanding that a number of players in this squad were given an ultimatum - to commit to the Future Ferns Development Programme or forget about playing for your country. Here are three players who made that commitment, despite the programme's inferiority to the club-based environment in which they had operated previously, and they never got the chance to play in their age-grade's World Cup Finals. In short, they effectively wasted a year of their footballing development for no reward, on the basis of what has ultimately proved to be a false promise. One would hope that, as part of the performance review of the Junior Ferns' efforts in Costa Rica, the whole FFDP programme is included as part of the review, with the FFDP element ideally conducted by an independent / external party - former All Whites and Football Ferns coach and NZFA Director of Coaching Allan Jones, for instance. There are elements of FFDP which are worthwhile, no question, but it's not the ideal - it shuns the competitive edge which club football provides to its eternal detriment, for instance. The optimum situation is something we've enjoyed previously, but from which NZ Football has chosen to move away in recent times. And one wonders why we've struggled to shine on the world stage since that controversial move ... Back to the second half action. The Junior Ferns went close to taking the lead again in the 53rd minute, after a scrappy start to the half, epitomised by Giraldo's poor clearance. Pritchard pounced on the loose ball before combining with Grace Wisnewski to create an opening for Ava Collins. Her shot was deflected past the far post, while from the resulting short corner, Jensen's cross was punched off the head of Collins by Giraldo, who was little occupied in the next fifteen minutes, unlike her opposite number. Sheaff's wayward clearance just after the hour mark went straight to Reyes, whose long-range effort was grabbed by the recovering goalkeeper. Sheaff's next clearance found its target, but the move quickly broke down, and the ten women of Colombia responded by taking a 63rd minute lead. Robledo sent Linda Caicedo careering clear down the left, and after doing Walker a treat - I swear the salsa, foxtrot, tango and paso doble were among the moves used to wrong-foot the half-time substitute - Caicedo charged towards goal before comprehensively beating Sheaff all ends up. 2-1 to "Las Cafeteras", but the Junior Ferns still had numerical superiority. Whinham was their go-to option, but for all her slick close control and quick-footedness, all too often the wrong option was taken by the talented number ten, and potential opportunities went unfulfilled. Many Kiwi fans are clamouring for her inclusion in the Football Ferns, but there are many aspects of Whinham's game upon which she must improve before she is ready to truly fulfil her potential at senior international level. Time is on her side, however - she must be given it by the impatient among us, and carefully nurtured along the way by NZ Football's coaching staff, whose past treatment of gifted and extremely talented creative exponents of our game over the years - "X factors" such as Michele Cox, Hannah Wall and Briar Palmer instantly spring to mind - is nothing to write home about, truth be told. Kiwi hearts were in mouths in the 68th minute when Walker, who had already been booked, clipped Robledo in the penalty area. The striker went to ground, and a spot-kick seemed a certainty, but the officials deemed that no offence had been committed - a genuine let-off for the Junior Ferns. Their reaction to this close call was the equaliser they dearly needed. Charlotte Lancaster had taken over from Milly Clegg by this stage of proceedings, and her 71st minute corner picked out the head of Walker, whose header was blocked and partially cleared by the Colombian defence. The ball landed invitingly in Lancaster's range, the corner-taker having made her way in-field in between times. Without batting an eyelid, she let fly from just outside the penalty area with a first-time high, arcing curler which careered over all-comers and dipped into the top far corner of the net - 2-2! Pick that one out! Colombia were far from amused, and within five minutes Collins and Lancaster joined Van der Meer and Walker in referee Penso's little black book for fouls needlessly conceded. Soon after, the South Americans completely changed tack, withdrawing their forward line from the fray - no hat-trick for Caicedo in this contest, nor the goal Robledo deserved but didn't get - to effectively leave the Junior Ferns to try and find a way past two solid walls of four yellow-shirted rivals. That was their task in the last ten minutes as they vainly pursued a winning goal, but Colombia repelled them at every turn and saw out the match, the 2-2 draw suffice to secure top spot in the group, with Mexico's defeat of Germany ensuring the Junior Ferns would be heading for the airport in good company, the Germans being three-time winners of this competition since its introduction twenty years ago. Colombia:     Giraldo; Guzman, K. Caicedo, Baron, Quejada (sent off, 42); Reyes, Serna (Espitaleta, 79 (booked, 90)), Izquierdo; Munoz (Lopez, 44 (booked, 45)), Robledo (Bonilla, 79), L. Caicedo (Guerra, 79) Junior Ferns:     Sheaff; Dugan, Niedermayr (Walker, 46 (booked, 55)), Taylor, Van der Meer (booked, 24) (McMeeken, 28); Wisnewski, Jensen, Whinham (Wilford-Carroll, 87); Pritchard (Nathan, 87), Clegg (Lancaster, 64 (booked, 76)), Collins (booked, 64) Referee:     Tori Penso (USA)