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Finland
Young Ferns Sink Finns In Uruguay
by Jeremy Ruane
New Zealand's Young Ferns scored a crucial 1-0 win over Finland at the Estadio Charrua in Montevideo, Uruguay, on November 13 to leave themselves one victory shy of a place in the quarter-finals of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Finals.
The Finns dominated possession throughout proceedings - they're a very confident team on the ball - but did very little with it. By contrast, Leon Birnie's charges, when they enjoyed the opportunity to play, were assertive in attack, none more so early on than Gabrielle Rennie.
She it was who created the first opening in the match, picking out Grace Wisnewski with a pass which arrived at virtually the same time as a healthy shove from behind by Nana Yang, an incident which put Japanese referee Yoshimi Yamashita on the spot. The official declined to point to the penalty spot in the sixteenth minute.
Eight minutes later, the first shot of note in the match came to pass, and it was Young Fern Amelia Abbott who unleashed it, a fulminating twenty-five yarder which forced Finnish goalkeeper Anna Koivunen to tip her effort over the bar.
Heartened by this, the Young Ferns pressed again soon after, the attacking weapon which is captain Aneka Mittendorff's prodigious long throw-in presenting Maggie Jenkins with a potential opening.
She was thwarted on this occasion, but there was no stopping the game's next shot of note, four minutes before half-time. Mittendorff nutmegged Katariina Kosola to slip the ball to Kelli Brown, who turned inside and, from twenty-five yards on the angle, unleashed the opening goal of these Finals, a dipping drive which Koivunen got her fingertips to but couldn't divert away from the top far corner of the net - 1-0.
The second spell was just four minutes old when the Young Ferns went close to doubling their advantage. Once again Mittendorff was the instigator of the opening, linking with Brown, who evaded two challenges before linking with Macey Fraser to bring Jenkins into play.
She swept past an opponent and let fly from twenty yards, only for the flying figure of Koivunen to deny her with a fabulous save to her right.
Finland finally managed a shot of note on the hour, with Annika Huhta sending half-time substitute Jenni Kantanen darting through the inside-right channel. The approaching figure of Anna Leat forced the striker to shoot hurriedly and wide of the target.
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That Leat hadn't even had a save to make to this point in the match spoke volumes for those in front of her. Captain Mittendorff was immense, but fellow central defender Hannah Mackay-Wright and fullback Mackenzie Barry weren't far behind her with regard to keeping the Finns at bay.
How the European nation could have done with an U-17 female version of their greatest ever footballer, Jari Litmanen, in their midst. The former Ajax, Barcelona and Liverpool goalscoring schemer was precisely the type who would have found a solution to his nation's woes, but the lack of such quality in the Finnish attack in this match meant there was no "Plan B" option - ideal from the Young Ferns' perspective.
And they nearly made it pay on a couple more occasions before the final whistle. Brown cut in from the left and held off then beat two opponents before curling a twenty yarder past the far post in the 72nd minute, while sixty seconds later, substitute Maya Hahn teamed up with Abbott to present the ball to Jenkins.
She turned two opponents upon receipt of the pass before letting rip from the edge of the penalty area with a shot which Koivunen plunged to her left to keep out in splendid fashion.
Bolstered by their goalkeeper's efforts, and mindful that they only trailed by a goal, Finland came as close as they would get to levelling the scores fifteen minutes from time. Huhta worked a one-two with Kantanen just outside the area before letting fly, only to see her effort deflect to safety off Mackay-Wright.
Within two minutes, Koivunen was at her acrobatic best once again, this time denying Wisnewski's wickedly struck twenty-five yarder which had 'goal' written all over it until the 'keeper plunged to her left to frustrate the Young Ferns once more.
They had done enough, however, and despite a late Dana Leskinen-inspired scare, held on for a hard-earned 1-0 victory, a result which means that if they beat host nation Uruguay in their next match at the same venue from 11am on Saturday, NZ time, they'll secure a quarter-final spot with a game to spare.
Finland: Koivunen; E. Siren, Juvonen, Tynnila, Yang; Kosola, Enkkila, O. Siren (Koivisto, 64), Huhta; Vuorinen (Leskinen, 77), Topra (Kantanen, 46)
Young Ferns: Leat; Barry, Mackay-Wright, Mittendorff, Van der Meer; Wisnewski, Abbott, Fraser (Hahn, 64); Rennie (Cunningham-Lee, 78), Jenkins (booked, 75), Brown (Maynard, 84)
Referee: Yoshimi Yamashita (Japan)
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