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Ghana
Junior Ferns Get That 'On Top Of The World' Feeling
by Jeremy Ruane
New Zealand's Junior Ferns scored a rare win for their country at the Finals of a FIFA tournament in Port Moresby on November 14, as they edged Ghana 1-0 at the Papua New Guinea Football Stadium to get their FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Finals campaign off to a flying start.
They certainly looked to get off to a flying start in the match itself, with both Grace Jale and Martine Puketapu going close inside the first fifty seconds of the match, the latter just failing to get on the end of a Jasmine Pereira cross seconds after playing a ball through for Jale which saw Ghana's goalkeeper, Victoria Agyei, saving at the midfielder's feet.
The African team soon settled after this nervy opening, and in the seventh minute, engineered their first chance of the match. Sandra Owusu-Ansah played the ball wide to speed merchant Wasila Diwura-Soale, who gave Sammy Murrell a torrid time of things throughout the first half, so much so that the Southlander was substituted on the stroke of half-time.
On this occasion, Diwura-Soale's cross was smothered well by Nadia Olla, who had a towering game twixt the sticks for the Junior Ferns, her performance belying her sixteen years.
Leon Birnie's charges responded to this threat with another double whammy of their own, just before the quarter hour mark. Pereira ignited a delightful move by beating two opponents in her own half before switching play to Sarah Morton, who swiftly brought Paige Satchell into play.
The fleet-footed Ferns flyer fizzed past Belinda Anane before firing in a near post cross which had Puketapu's name written all over it … until Issy Coombes appeared on the scene and thrashed a volley straight at Agyei, who saved at the second attempt.
That thirteenth minute raid was followed within a minute by another Pereira-inspired attack, the squad's most experienced player threading a ball through to Puketapu, who turned to find herself in space. She charged towards the penalty area before letting fly, only to drive her shot narrowly past Agyei's right-hand post - a great chance spurned.
These moments of creativity had a downside, however, in the form of incorrect option-taking. Far too often, inaccurate long balls and inadequate passes marred the Junior Ferns' play during the first spell in particular.
The players don't need to read this report to know they can do better where this aspect of their game is concerned. A wee lesson from the legendary Bob Paisley seems apt at this point - "It's not about the long ball, or the short ball. It's about the right ball". Once the Junior Ferns apply their experience and choose the right ball more often than not, they will be an even better proposition than was evident in this match.
Not that they were bad. But they came far too close for comfort to falling a goal behind in the 26th minute when fullback Ernestina Abambila evaded a challenge on the right and floated in an angled cross behind the defence which took both Meikayla Moore and Liz Anton out of the equation.
Racing in to meet it on the volley was Jane Ayieyam, whose spectacular finish flashed a yard over Olla's crossbar - it was a real let-off for the Junior Ferns, who responded via a Jale free-kick on the half-hour, her thirty yard strike being gobbled up by Agyei.
After this, Ghana were very much in the ascendancy, with Lily Niber-Lawrence and Owusu-Ansah combining on the right to present Ayieyam with the chance to open the scoring via a low cross.
Olla dived at her feet to deny the striker, and she was relieved to see crosses from both Niber-Lawrence and Diwura-Soale fly across the face of goal five minutes later as the Black Princesses stepped up their pursuit of the game's opening goal.
Diwura-Soale continued to be a source of menace for the Junior Ferns, with Satchell Ghana's chief concern from their perspective - she was the one New Zealand player who was proving penetrative, but all too often she was ploughing a lone furrow. The lack of an alternative attacking threat was noticeable.
With this in mind, the sight of Puketapu hobbling in the shadows of the half-time whistle was not one which Junior Ferns' fans appreciated, nor was the sight of Anton missing a cross from Diwura-Soale
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in the 43rd minute. The defender swiftly made amends, however, getting in between Ayieyam and the ball to afford Olla a comfortable save.
She had to pull off two more before Polish referee Monika Mularczyk blew for half-time, and both were vital - they kept the Junior Ferns in the contest. Abambila battered a vicious drive from the edge of the penalty area which Olla plunged to her left to save, and seconds later she was flying to her right to keep out another violent effort from Ayieyam on the stroke of half-time.
Ghana carried on from where they left off in the second spell, Ayieyam shooting straight at Olla after captain Rasheda Abdul-Rahman had intercepted a Satchell pass and swiftly brought Owusu-Ansah into play.
Ten minutes later, Niber-Lawrence was causing problems. She brought Diwura-Soale into play, and after side-stepping a challenge she slipped a pass into the stride of Samira Abdul-Rahman, who sliced her twenty yard effort wildly wide of the target.
After Moore had hooked to safety Owusu-Ansah's header from a Niber-Lawrence corner, a rare Junior Ferns attack involving someone other than Satchell materialised in the 67th minute. The speedster was at the heart of it, of course, but up in support was Jale, who paid the price for allowing the ball to bounce - Anane swiftly stepped in to clear the danger.
Ghana were nearly gifted the opening goal eighteen minutes from time. A sloppy Daisy Cleverley back-pass was the source of the Junior Ferns' angst, Diwura-Soale swooping on the sphere and sweeping past Anton in the blink of an eye to leave herself with just Olla to beat.
That proved impossible, however, with the goalkeeper producing a superb save with her legs to keep the Junior Ferns in the contest - but for her, the Black Princesses may well have been leading by at least three goals.
Junior Ferns' shots on target had been rare, but ten minutes from time, Puketapu presented Satchell with the chance to register one. She had plenty of work to do, but was assisted by the sluggish defensive efforts of Adu Agyemang, whom Satchell unintentionally fouled before firing a shot past both Agyei and the upright.
Back came Ghana, with Moore's terrific covering run curtailing Owusu-Ansah's interests in breaking the deadlock in the 84th minute. Three minutes later, Samira Abdul-Rahman and substitute Veronica Appiah combined to present Owusu-Ansah with another chance.
This time, she hit the ball true, and it flew past Olla, only to slam into the stanchion - a real let-off for the Junior Ferns, who looked to respond instantly through Pereira. After busting through a challenge, she set herself before unleashing an unerring angled volley which beat Agyei all ends up, only to graze the far post.
But from the resulting goal-kick came joy unconfined for the black-clad Kiwi team. Puketapu pounced on the ball and slipped it into the stride of substitute Tayla Christensen, who wrong-footed a defender before rounding the advancing figure of Agyei and rolling the ball home into an empty net.
The glee on the faces of "TC" and her Junior Ferns' team-mates contrasted starkly with the mix of despair and gloom of the Ghanaians, who looked to grab an equaliser in the time remaining.
But Olla stood firm when dealing with Abambila's free-kick, while substitute Sophie Stewart-Hobbs hooked Appiah's header off the line, following a last-gasp corner from Niber-Lawrence.
When the final whistle sounded, the Junior Ferns' delight was plain for all to see - after all, they are top of a group which also contains France and the USA, who played out a scoreless draw in the earlier encounter. And it's the Americans whom Leon Birnie's charges take on in their next match, on Thursday evening.
Junior Ferns: Olla; Morton, Moore, Anton, Murrell (Stewart-Hobbs, 45); Cleverley, Coombes, Jale (Christensen, 71); Satchell (Rolston, 84), Puketapu, Pereira
Ghana: Agyei; Abambila, Ampah (Darko, 61), Anane, Agyemang; Diwura-Soale (Alhassan, 78), S. Abdul-Rahman, R. Abdul-Rahman, Niber-Lawrence; Owusu-Ansah, Ayieyam (Appiah, 68)
Referee: Monika Mularczyk (Poland)
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