The USA and Germany served up an absolutely terrific game of international football on North Harbour Stadium's outer oval on February 2, with the Americans coming from behind to down their European rivals 3-2 to win the Future Stars Invitational Tournament. The skill and technical quality of the match was simply stunning - that on show in the men's game in this country doesn't even begin to compare. Those who missed this game did themselves a disservice, because this was football at its very best, gender regardless. The Germans went into the match having suffered any number of knocks, injuries and health scares over the course of the week, and there was a real concern that the ever-strong US combination would win through on superior fitness alone. But that was without factoring in Germany's renowned resilience - they simply do not know when they're beaten. And they proved it from the first whistle of this thriller. Downfield they stormed, fullback Carolin Simon releasing the imperious Alexandra Popp down the left. She whipped over a gorgeous cross which exposed a degree of hesitance in Julia Roberts, something upon which Svenja Huth was quick to capitalise. She swiftly let fly, only to see her shot blocked to safety. In the third minute, Popp was raiding once again, at pace down the left. Huth was in support this time, and the German striker, upon receipt of the ball, quickly found her way to goal blocked by gold-shirted Americans. They left a gap, however, and through it Huth threaded a pass to slip Turid Knaak in on the right. But US goalkeeper Taylor Vancil, anticipating the situation, saved splendidly in a one-on-one situation. Stunned by their opponents' swift start, the Americans quickly raised their game, and in the sixth minute fired their first shot in anger through Tani Costa, who rattled the advertising hoardings after both Zakiya Bywaters - a real handful - and Victoria Di Martino had worked an opening on the right. Six minutes later, USA pressure continued, with German goalkeeper Lisa Schmitz spilling Victoria Di Martino's shot at close quarters. The striker's surprise at this was evidenced by the fact that she wasn't able to react and turn the ball into an empty net before Schmitz greedily grabbed the ball once more. The Germans responded by taking the lead in the sixteenth minute. There appeared little threat as the tournament's outstanding player, Crystal Dunn, stepped in to thwart Knaak, but the defender then got her wires crossed with team-mate Amber Brooks, a mix-up upon which Huth swiftly swooped. An instant through ball to front-running partner Tabea Kemme presented the striker with the chance to open the scoring, and she did so in unerring fashion, her low angled drive arrowing across the diving figure of Vancil and into the bottom far corner of the net. Rattled, the Americans soon found themselves on the back foot again, as Claudia Bujna's nineteenth minute free-kick found Kemme in behind the defence once more. The combined efforts of Vancil and Roberts proved suffice to contain the striker, with Cloee Colohan tidying up the loose ends soon after, and sparking a counter-attack. The Mewis sisters, Samantha and Kristen, led the way, creating the opportunity for Costa to fire a warning shot across Germany's bows. The striker was in the thick of things again on the half-hour, her head the target of a beautifully weighted cross from Kristen Mewis, after Roberts had played the USA's captain in wide on the left. Schmitz plucked the ball off Costa's head to avert the threat. In the 32nd minute, both goalframes reverberated from being struck by the ball. A frenetic thirty seconds was ignited by Marie-Louise Bagehorn, who rattled the crossbar with a dipping twenty-yard free-kick.

The USA scrambled the danger to safety, led by Brooks, who powered through two challenges en route to the half-way line, where she picked out Di Martino with her pass. The striker slipped, but was able to retain possession and unleash a twenty yard drive. Schmitz spilt it, and looked on in horror as Jenna Richmond swooped on her error and let fly from a tight angle. The ball hit the inside of the near post and ricocheted across the face of goal to safety - a real let-off for the European side. The enthralling end-to-end action continued unhindered. Kemme played the ball wide to Knaak in the 37th minute, and she raced through towards goal, only to be denied by a superb covering challenge from Dunn. She sparked a counter-attack which culminated in a free-kick, which Kristen Mewis drove towards the near post, Costa her target. Schmitz and Inka Wesely combined to deny the USA striker, while seconds later, Germany's goalkeeper denied Di Martino with her legs, after the front-runner raced through onto Richmond's through ball. On the stroke of half-time, Germany were denied a penalty by referee Carmen Jones, who deemed Colohan's foul on Bagehorn had taken place outside the area, where the German midfielder landed, when the offence took place a good yard inside the lines. Unperturbed, Bagehorn fired in the free-kick to the far post, where Kemme rose to direct a header wide of the target. Whatever was in the USA's half-time pep talk needs bottling, because within seven minutes of the resumption, they had turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead. Just two minutes into second half, the Germans cleared a free-kick to US substitute Olivia Klei, lurking out wide on the left flank. From there, she angled a cross to the far post, where Costa controlled the ball superbly before coolly picking her spot for the equaliser. Five minutes later, the Americans hit the front with a splendidly worked goal. Bywaters, out on the right, angled the ball in for Di Martino, whose lay-off allowed Samantha Mewis to slip an inviting pass into the stride of her sister as she dashed into the German penalty area. Kristen Mewis took the ball in her stride, lured Schmitz out of goal before beating the advancing goalkeeper all ends up at her near post with a precise shot - 2-1 USA. That set the second half up beautifully, as the Germans certainly weren't in the mood to accept this situation lying down. They took just six minutes to rally from this double setback, with Popp and Huth combining to play Kemme in, only for Vancil to save at the striker's feet. Back came the USA, Samantha Mewis letting fly with a swerving twenty-yarder in the 63rd minute which looked a goal for all money, considering Schmitz was diving the wrong way. But the goalkeeper somehow jack-knifed in mid-flight to tip the ball around the post - a stunning save. The resulting Bywaters corner found the head of substitute Courtney Verloo, who had marked her introduction on the hour mark by earning the game's lone yellow card for a wild challenge just seconds later. On this occasion, she channelled her aggression properly, her bullet header cannoning off Popp straight into the midriff of Schmitz, who instinctively grabbed the ball and held on for dear life. Her clearance wasn't what it could have been, however, as it presented Kristen Mewis with the chance to engineer some space for herself and let fly from twenty yards. The advertising hoardings behind the goal reverberated, and did so again three minutes later when Costa sent the ball crashing into them as she shot on the turn from the edge of the penalty area. In the 71st minute, Germany began to pile on the pressure. Impressive overlapping fullback Claudia Bujna played a neat one-two with substitute Isabelle Linden on the right before charging inside and

linking with Kemme. The German goalscorer evaded the challenges of Roberts and Colohan, only for the latter to come at her again and steal the ball off Kemme on the edge of the penalty area - a great piece of defending. But Colohan and her team-mates had no answer five minutes later, as the Germans scored a deserved equaliser. Popp's enterprise had earned a throw-in on the left flank, and from it, the classy midfielder clipped in a cross which was cleared to the edge of the penalty area. Lurking in the vicinity was German captain Valeria Kleiner, who caught the ball perfectly on the volley and sent it crashing into the net off the inside of Vancil's left-hand upright, the diving goalkeeper flailing in vain - 2-2. Cue a grandstand finish. Vancil blocked at the feet of Popp in the 77th minute, while Kleiner thwarted Verloo's progress at the other end of the park two minutes later, after Klei and Costa had combined to play the substitute in on the left, Verloo then leaving Wesely standing with a super-sharp turn in the penalty area. Nine minutes from time, Bywaters' latest incisive run saw her brought to earth inside the penalty arc, and referee Jones immediately signalled a direct free-kick. The German defensive wall was formed, but Kristen Mewis was not to be denied, and she unleashed an unerring free-kick around the blockade and into the top left-hand corner of the net - 3-2 USA, a brilliant strike! If the Germans could have thrown the kitchen sink at their trans-Atlantic rivals in the minutes which remained, they would have done, because they certainly threw everything else in an effort to level the scores once more. Bujna, Linden and Kemme combined to set up Lynn Mester, but the substitute's thunderbolt from the edge of the area was blocked by Brooks, who didn't even flinch as the ball cannoned away to safety. The next opportunity was sparked by Simon, whose cross was headed away by Roberts, but only as far as Mester. This time, the substitute got under the ball and sent it sailing over the crossbar. In stoppage time, the Germans couldn't have come any closer to equalising. Popp's dazzling run down the left saw her force her way past Colohan to the by-line, from where she crossed to the near post. Kemme swooped and unleashed a first-time drive which Vancil parried. It was too hot for her to handle, however, the ball spinning unerringly towards the target. But Klei was racing back, and managed to clear the sphere off the line to preserve the USA's advantage. Seconds later, Carmen Jones' final whistle confirmed their 3-2 triumph, and victory in the Future Stars Invitational Tournament at the expense of their German rivals in a fabulous spectacle, the standard and quality of skill-laden football on show prompting comments aplenty along the lines of “I wish we could get a video of this game” long before the final whistle. It's certainly whetted the appetite for what we've got to look forward to later this year, even though both these giants of the women's game have yet to qualify for the finals. On this showing alone, never mind their earlier displays during this week-long event, they should do so comfortably, and hopefully we'll witness a re-match on the main ground at North Harbour Stadium between these titans of the code some time around November 16, the date of the inaugural FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Final. Germany:     Schmitz; Bujna, Wesely, Kleiner, Simon; Knaak (Linden, 46), Bagehorn (Zumbult, 75), Pietsch (Mester, 65), Popp; Huth, Kemme USA:          Vancil; Brooks, Colohan, Dunn; Bywaters (Wagner, 84), S. Mewis, Roberts, K. Mewis; Di Martino (Verloo, 60 (booked, 61)), Costa, Richmond (Klei, 44) Referee:     Carmen Jones