Germany left the Junior Ferns staring down the barrel of another early elimination from a FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Finals tournament at the Alejandro Morera Soto Stadium in Alajuela on August 10, seeing off the Kiwis 3-0 to ignite their own quest for glory on the world stage in 2022. Things could have been a lot different for Gemma Lewis' side, however, had they converted one or both opportunities they engineered inside the opening fifteen minutes of a match deservedly won by a nation which has won just one UEFA U-19 Women's Championship in the last fifteen years. The match began at breakneck pace, and should have seen the Germans open the scoring in the fifth minute after a frankly awful back-pass from Jana Niedermayr. She sold Murphy Sheaff up the river with a gift upon which Selina Vobian swooped, only for the 'keeper to brilliantly retrieve the situation by hurtling off her line to block at the playmaker's feet. From the resulting Miriam Hils corner, Madeleine Steck and Carlotta Wamser converged on the ball at the far post, and while the latter directed a header into the side-netting, the clash of heads with her team-mate left Wamser unfit to continue playing, and she was withdrawn from the fray soon afterwards. Before her replacement, the impressively performed Maja Sternad, got up to speed, the Junior Ferns squandered two chances to open the scoring. Milly Clegg caught Clara Froehlich in possession and quickly looked to work a one-two with Alyssa Whinham, only for Steck to dart across and avert the threat posed by New Zealand's lone striker in the eleventh minute. Sixty seconds later, however, Steck herself was caught in possession, and this time there was no cover racing across as Whinham, the perpetrator of the crime, cruised towards the penalty area, Julia Kassen standing between her and glory. The Kiwi playmaker is renowned for her quick-footedness in tight areas, but faced with daylight for company on this occasion, they let her down, too heavy a touch on the ball inviting Kassen to dash out of goal and save at Whinham's feet before she got the chance to pull the trigger. As opportunities go, this was gilt-edged, and Whinham won't need telling she should have done so much more with it. Chances such as this are few and far between for New Zealand teams on the world stage, and one suspected this miss would come back to haunt the Junior Ferns before the day was out. There was plenty of action before that happened, however. Tuana Keles drilled an eighteenth minute shot past the near post to conclude a passage of play in which both teams had treated the ball like a hot potato. The Junior Ferns responded via an Aniela Jensen corner, which Kate Taylor headed into a crowded goalmouth. The Germans scrambled this clear, only for Whinham, seconds later, to execute a sharp turn and defence-splitting pass which was cut out at the death by Froehlich. Sophie Weidauer twice chanced her arm either side of the half-hour mark, the first flashing narrowly over the bar, the second, also from twenty yards, directed straight at Sheaff, who was relieved to see a twenty-five yarder from Hils fly past the post in the 34th minute. The Germans were very much in the ascendancy by this stage, particularly territorially, and only a crunching Marisa Van der Meer tackle prevented Sarah Mattner from making in-roads in the penalty area soon after. Three minutes later, Beke Sterner's super cross-field pass picked out Keles charging through the middle. Tui Dugan, racing across in cover, forced her to check her run, but Vobian was up in support, and was presented with two shooting chances in the next few seconds. Taylor blocked the first of them, Dugan the second. On the stroke of half-time, Lisanne Graewe rattled the side-netting from twenty-five yards following a short corner, while Taylor once again stood firm to ensure the Junior Ferns went into the dressing rooms on level terms, the Kiwi skipper blocking a Mattner effort after Vobian had slipped her team-mate in on goal with a delightfully weighted pass. One of the unsung heroines of New Zealand's first half effort was Ava Pritchard, who ran her socks off in the stifling humidity to restrict Germany's progress down their left. Clegg, too, proved a solid first line of defence, and the European contenders weren't afforded a moment's peace in their defensive third as a result. The second half was just thirty seconds old when the Junior Ferns put themselves under all sorts of pressure. Sheaff sold Taylor short with a shocking pass which left the defender at the mercy of two opponents inside her penalty area. She was duly dispossessed by Keles, who worked a one-two with Weidauer before letting fly. Sheaff

made amends for his blunder by blocking this attempt, and was grateful to see the rebound ricochet off Weidauer and loop into her hands as she quickly recovered her position in goal. That was a real let-off for New Zealand, but the Germans smelt blood, with Sheaff forced to parry another attempt by Keles shortly afterwards. The Junior Ferns withstood those early scares, but their bids to reply in kind too often foundered on their distribution into the attacking third of the pitch. "It's not about the short ball or the long ball", said the late, great Bob Paisley. "It's about the right ball", and too many players wearing the silver fern simply weren't playing it. Passes were being over-hit or under-hit when opportunities were there for the taking … so frustrating for those looking on, hoping the deadlock would be broken by the women in black. 'Twas the women in white who achieved that target in the 58th minute. Hils corner picked out Froehlich ten yards from goal, from where she powered a header goalwards. Sheaff got her hands to it, but couldn't keep it out, although had she had a defender covering the goalpost area, the scoreline would likely not have changed. Ava Collins had a disappointing match by her standards, but all that could have changed in the 61st minute when she came desperately close to heading home a Taylor free-kick struck from deep. The defender's performance in this encounter earned her FIFA's Player of the Match award, despite finishing on the beaten side - some achievement at this level, that, make no mistake! Sadly, Taylor could do nothing to prevent the Germans from doubling their advantage in the 64th minute, but Niedermayr certainly could have done more in this regard. Sadly, her untimely loss of concentration allowed Sternad to steal a yard, which was all she needed. Dugan's desperate tackle thwarted the attacker in the penalty area, prompting unconvincingly performed Togo referee Vincentia Amedome to point to the spot, from which Weidauer sent Sheaff the wrong way - 2-0. Junior Ferns substitute Charlotte Lancaster looked to halve the deficit from distance soon after, but Kassen proved equal to the task, and launched a counter-attack down the right featuring Jenny Beyer and Keles, whose cross picked out Sternad. Her towering header deserved better fate than to crash to safety off the post. The next twenty minutes were dominated by substitutions, of which the Germans made six in total. (Isn't the maximum permissible five? Something's not quite adding up there …) One of the Junior Ferns' replacements, Zoe McMeeken, sent Collins racing after a delicious pass in the 79th minute, but Kassen raced out of her penalty area to prevent the striker from exploiting the opportunity. Three minutes later, Sternad sent an eighteen-yarder flying past the post, while McMeeken thwarted Laureta Elmazi in the act of shooting soon afterwards, with the same player being denied by Lancaster's timely tackle amid a torrent of chances in the last few minutes of play. The first of them was sparked by Collins, whose super angled through ball sent the hard-working Grace Wisnewski scampering towards goal. She was denied by Kassen at close quarters, Germany's 'keeper then keeping out a long-range effort from Charlotte Wilford-Carroll, after gifting the ball to the midfielder with a wayward clearance. Mona Walker and Collins both went close in the dying minutes upon receipt of Jensen's set-piece deliveries, but in between times, Germany administered the coup de grace. Kassen's goal-kick released Elmazi from halfway, and she rode Walker's tackle before luring Sheaff out of goal to set up fellow substitute Gia Corley for a tap-in which wrapped up Germany's 3-0 victory. That result, allied to the goalless draw between Mexico and Colombia in the other encounter in the group, leaves the Junior Ferns needing to beat the South Americans by at least two goals in their final group fixture in San Jose if they harbour hopes of advancing to the quarter-finals. Stranger things have happened, but for a team which has struggled to score goals leading into the event, any opportunity carved out by the Junior Ferns against the defensively strong Colombians, a team Australia's Young Matildas beat 3-2 days before the Finals, can't not be taken. Germany:     Kassen; Sterner (Zimmer, 83), Steck (Beyer, 27 (booked, 49)), Froehlich, Hils; Weidauer (booked, 60), Graewe (Machtens, 57), Vobian (Corley, 57); Wamser (Sternad, 9), Keles (Elmazi, 83), Mattner Junior Ferns:     Sheaff; Dugan (McMeeken, 71), Niedermayr (Walker, 71), Taylor, Van der Meer (booked, 80) (Nathan, 85); Wisnewski (booked, 40), Jensen, Whinham (booked, 21) (Wilford-Carroll, 71); Pritchard, Clegg (Lancaster, 59), Collins Referee:     Vincentia Amedome (Togo)