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French Lesson For Junior Ferns

by Jeremy Ruane

New Zealand's Junior Ferns suffered a top-level French lesson at Montreal's Olympic Stadium on August 9, as they slumped to a 4-0 defeat at the hands of France in their FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Finals encounter.

Aaron McFarland's charges were a distinct second best throughout this encounter, which France dominated from the outset, Kadidiatou Diani setting out their stall by giving Catherine Bott a roasting round the outside twice in the first ten minutes.

The Junior Ferns managed to scramble clear on both occasions, and were fortunate that Martine Puketapu avoided a yellow card for a late lunge on French captain Griedge Mbock Bathy in the twelfth minute - Bott and Meikayla Moore were less fortunate when guilty of similar offences later in the match.

Once they had the measure of a New Zealand side which sorely missed injured captain Katie Bowen - Steph Skilton took the armband in her absence, the French began to probe and prod the patient on the operating table, targeting certain areas which suggested they'd done plenty of preparation for this "surgical procedure".

Left-back was clearly one of them, for Megan Lee was taken to the cleaners time and again by Lindsey Thomas throughout the first half. On the first occasion, she dived in, allowing the winger to skip round her and exploit the space in behind before picking out Claire Lavogez with a cross.

The play-maker mistimed her overhead kick attempt, but the ball fell kindly to the unmarked Diani, who somehow squandered a good chance to open the scoring from ten yards.

Three minutes later, Thomas was in again, this time having raced past both Lee and Issy Coombes, Bowen's replacement. The winger's low cross was missed by Lily Alfeld, forcing Bott into a hurried clearance.

The ball landed at the feet of Sandie Toletti, whose low drive was blocked well by the legs of the goalkeeper, Moore scrambling the ball away for a corner which Lavogez sent careering across the goalmouth to the far post, where the incoming figure of Aissatou Tounkara could only direct the sphere straight at the surprised Alfeld.

Within seconds, the Junior Ferns' goal was under siege again, Lavogez's lobbed ball forward inviting Mylaine Tarrieun to dash through. With Alfeld in two minds about coming or staying, the striker made the decision for her, deftly lobbing the 'keeper. Unfortunately for France, the ball crept just past the left-hand post of the open goal.

A French goal wasn't far away, however, and in the 22nd minute, it materialised. Another misjudgement by Lee - hers was a first half best forgotten - saw Lavogez line up a free-kick from wide out on the French right. Her delivery arced in behind the defence, allowing Diani to nip in front of Emily Jensen and tuck home from six yards.

They should have had a second goal two minutes later. Once more, Lee dived in, and once again, Thomas made her look foolish, careering past both the fullback and the covering figure of Coombes before delivering an invitation to score to the near post.

Both Tarrieu and Toletti were homing in on it, and got in each other's way, the latter blazing over wildly from six yards when scoring appeared the easier option.

After this miss, France eased off a touch, only threatening twice in the next ten minutes. Alfeld saved at the feet of Margaux Bueno after she'd worked a one-two with Tarrieu, while the Junior Ferns' custodian did superbly well to keep out a well-struck free-kick to the near post by Lavogez, scorer of a contender for 'Goal of the Tournament" in France's previous fixture.

The Junior Ferns' cause wasn't aided by a couple of head clashes suffered by Puketapu, the second of which prompted her withdrawal from the fray, Tayla O'Brien taking over from the Young Ferns' captain, who looked very much the worse for wear as she left the pitch.

Alfeld kept out a shot on the turn from Tarrieu while the Kiwis were down to ten, something which France could have been reduced to on a permanent basis had Lavogez connected with Jensen's chest when lashing out at the defender with her boots from a prone position, having been caught offside to curtail a move featuring Thomas and Toletti.

Just before the interval, the Junior Ferns fired their first shot in anger in the contest. O'Brien fed Emma Rolston on the left-hand edge of the penalty area, where she cleverly turned two defenders before letting fly from fifteen yards.

The hitherto unemployed Solene Durand greedily grabbed the ball and sparked a French counter-attack which culminated in Tarrieu holding off Coombes' challenge before smashing a twenty-yarder straight at Alfeld, who fended off the incoming figure of the talented but temperamental Lazogez - she had a real bee in her bonnet late in the half, that's for sure!

France carried on in like vein from the start of the second spell, with Tarrieu spurning a golden chance for a second goal just three minutes after the resumption, skying her shot woefully after Diani had dashed around Bott once more.

After a driving run through four challenges by Lazogez culminated in her going to ground following a well-timed challenge from Lee, France doubled their lead in the 53rd minute.

Toletti played in Diani on the left once more, and she once again showed up Bott's shortcomings - her talents are far better utilised in central midfield than at fullback, for mine - as she sped round the outside of her before rolling the ball back into the stride of Lazogez, who rammed the ball home unerringly from the edge of the area.

There was no way back for the Junior Ferns from here, although Skilton attempted to contrive one after good work by Rolston, but they could so easily have been four-down inside the next two minutes.

Lee's distribution throughout this match left a lot to be desired, with her worst contribution in this regard coming in the 55th minute - a badly under-hit back-pass onto which Tarrieu swooped.

She deftly rounded Alfeld, only to be denied a tap-in to an empty net by the despairing lunge of Moore, who was to block further attempts from Tarrieu and Toletti in quick succession seven minutes later.

Moore's central defensive partner in crime wasn't to be outdone either. A lazy Daisy Cleverley pass in the 56th minute invited Tarrieu to take on New Zealand's defence once again, only for Jensen to come to the rescue with a timely challenge.

Toletti then squandered a gilt-edged chance from eight yards having been picked out by Lazoget as France continued to seek to bolster their goal difference, which Evie Millynn attempted to reduce with a twenty-yarder in the 68th minute.

Durand was untroubled in dealing with this effort, while France's 'keeper was an increasingly interested spectator five minutes later as substitute Jasmine Pereira raced after a Cleverley pass, prompting Mbock Bathy to put on a burst of speed to just deny the Kiwi flyer.

In between times, "Les Bluettes", as the French team is known, carved out another opening nineteen minutes from time, only for Tarrieu to squander an opening created for her by the combined efforts of Bueno and substitute Faustine Robert.

Tarrieu's ill-fortune was to continue moments later, Cleverley proving too great an obstacle to overcome, unlike the three challengers the striker had evaded on her lovely jinking run.

The offside flag denied Pereira as she looked to race clear onto Jensen's through ball fifteen minutes from time, moments before the central defender was sold short by a Lee pass, onto which Tarrieu swooped.

She got to the byline before linking with Bueno, only for the move to founder on New Zealand's redoubtable central defensive pairing, Moore and Jensen combining to snuff out the threat.

Albeit at the expense of a corner, which Robert flighted to the far post. Mbock Bathy raced in to meet it with a towering header which flashed inches past the upright, unlike France's next two attempts on goal, which went between the posts.

Eleven minutes from time, Marine Dafeur knocked a ball over the top. It arced just over the head of the retreating figure of Jensen and perfectly into the stride of substitute Clarisse Le Bihan, who deftly controlled the dropping sphere then drilled it unerringly inside Alfeld's near post from a tight angle.

3-0 became 4-0 three minutes later. Alfeld was found wanting by Robert's free-kick to the far post, the goalkeeper pawing the ball out only as far as Le Bihan, who slammed home from six yards to wrap up the scoring.

Robert and Tarrieu went close before the final whistle, but the European champions had done more than enough to emphasise the gulf between themselves and their Oceania counterparts, for whom victory over Costa Rica in Toronto on Thursday morning should prove suffice to secure the Junior Ferns' passage to the quarter-finals.

The return of Bowen should certainly aid their cause in that regard, while the likes of O'Brien, Ashleigh Ward and the hitherto unused Briar Palmer should all be strong contenders for starting spots following a display in which certain individuals, if they are being brutally honest with themselves, will have to answer 'No' to the question, "Did I do justice to the shirt today?".

France: Durand; Gagnet, Tounkara, Mbock Bathy, Dafeur; Thomas (Sarr, 80), Toletti, Bueno, Diani (Robert, 60); Lavogez (Le Bihan, 64), Tarrieu

Junior Ferns: Alfeld; Bott (booked, 31), Moore (booked, 83), Jensen, Lee; Cleverley, Millynn, Coombes; Puketapu (O'Brien, 40), Skilton (Van Noorden, 85), Rolston (Pereira, 70)

Referee: Therese Sagno (Guinea)

Project Canada 2014