New Zealand's Young Ferns were handed a good old-fashioned hiding at Taharoto Park on December 10, as their U17 counterparts from the Korea Republic dished out a 6-0 thrashing to the inaugural FIFA U17 Women's World Cup Finals' host nation. Sporting seven changes to the side which started Saturday's 2-1 loss to the South Korean combination, Paul Temple's charges initially began solidly, albeit a little more sluggishly in midfield than is desirable at this level. They endured a few scares in the first twenty minutes, while attacking opportunities were few and far between as the visitors probed for openings, even to the point of withdrawing Oh Yu Sun from the fray just fourteen minutes into the match because she wasn't adhering to her role in the Korean game-plan. Come the twenty-minute mark, the visitors opened the scoring after carving open, for neither the first nor the last time, the left-hand side of New Zealand's defence. The incumbents in that area of the park, central defender Maia Vink and fullback Anna Fullerton, both looked out of their depth throughout proceedings, so what an experience like this will do for their confidence Lord alone knows! Their evident nervousness was fully exploited by Shin Mina and Oh Hye Mi, who played a one-two on the right which resulted in Park Heeyoung delivering a telling, hanging cross. Despite the presence of both Vink and the resolute Briony Fisher - she was defiance personified at times in the face of adversity, goalkeeper Danielle McFadyen rashly raced off her line to gather the ball, but failed to do so. Meantime, the lone Korean on the scene, Lee Minsun, rose between all three Kiwis and guided her header into the untended net. The goal rocked the locals, who soon found themselves subject to more swarming Korean raids. Song Ari released the speedy Park through the inside left channel in the 26th minute, only for McFadyen to smother her shot well. The goalkeeper should have done better three minutes later, however, although in fairness, she was let down by her left flank again. Oh Hye Mi sent Park powering down the right, and with Fullerton uncertain whether to stand her ground or challenge her opponent, the striker exploited the Young Fern's hesitance to the fullest. After rounding the fullback, Park played the ball inside to Lee, whose progress was thwarted by Vink. Her clearance sat up perfectly for Park to hit an early shot on the rise which McFadyen was neither expecting nor covering. She was still reacting when the ball crashed against the crossbar by her near post and rebounded down into the path of Mok Hyunsu. From three yards, she made it 2-0. Fancying their chances, the Koreans looked to build on their advantage, and were denied four minutes later by Fisher's professional foul on Lee, who steered an effort across the face of an open goal two minutes later after Park had taken Fullerton to the cleaners once more. Having just been booked, Fisher, in her desperate attempts to repel Korea's raids, nearly brought a premature end to her day when lunging in vain after Park, who had outpaced the defender. The striker carried on, only to ram her shot into the side-netting six minutes prior the half-time whistle. Attacking raids by the Young Ferns had been rare events, to such an extent that goalkeeper Shim Danbi had barely touched the ball. But she was given a right fright in the 42nd minute as the outstanding Rosie White and the similarly tireless Annalie Longo worked an opening on the right which culminated in the former delivering a cross to the near post. Like Gabrielle Kerdemelidis in midfield, Lauren Mathis had worked hard up front for little reward, but nearly got some as she went in where angels fear to tread to get a header in on goal, with Danbi and Koh Kyung Yeon for company. The striker got the vital touch, but looked on in dismay as her effort crept narrowly beyond the far post. Cue more Korean pressure, with Park sending a header bulleting narrowly over the crossbar from an Oh Hye Mi corner, seconds before the latter exploited the wide open spaces of New Zealand's left flank to craft an opportunity which Fisher, in her desperation to clear, nearly turned into her own. The legs of McFadyen saved her, the ball being scrambled clear by the defender as Lee closed in for the kill. When the second half began, the Koreans introduced their outstanding captain, Ji So Yun, to the fray - as if the Young Ferns didn't have enough to cope with! She first flexed her muscles in the 52nd minute, setting up fellow half-time substitute Lee Hyunyoung for a shot on the run from fully thirty yards which completely deceived McFadyen and cannoned off the crossbar above her. Fisher scrambled this one to safety, then looked on as Ji exposed the shortcomings of Fullerton and Vink before steering a low cross to Park, whose first-time shot on the turn fizzed inches past the near post. Vink was mercifully withdrawn from the fray soon afterwards, meaning Bridgette Armstrong, whose distribution in an unaccustomed right-back role had not contributed favourably to the cause, took over in central defence, and made a decent fist of it. But she and her team-mates were powerless to prevent a moment of magic from Ji increasing Korea's advantage in the 58th minute. Gathering the ball twenty-five yards out with a delightful piece of control, she evaded a challenge before firing an unerring volley beyond McFadyen in the far corner of the net from twenty yards - a fine goal. 3-0 became 4-0 three minutes later, as the Koreans piled on the agony for the Young Ferns. Park and Ji combined for Lee Hyungyoung to control before sending Park darting in between defenders. Her pass rewarded Park's persistence, but she should never have been allowed to beat McFadyen all ends up

Oh Hye Mi Lee Young Joo Seo Hyunsook Lee Eunkyung Shin Mina Anna Fullerton Ji So Yun

at her near post with a ferocious drive - the `keeper should have done better. The Young Ferns' custodian attempted to make amends soon after, denying another twenty-yarder from Ji prior to blocking an effort from Park after Lee Hyunyoung had exposed Armstrong's shortcomings down the left. This resulted in a corner from Oh Hye Mi which the Kiwi rearguard failed to clear adequately. Lurking in space for just such an opportunity was Park, who plundered the visitors' fifth goal in the 66th minute, although McFadyen shouldn't have allowed herself to be beaten all ends up at her near post once more. Minutes prior to that setback, the Kiwis had introduced Hannah Wall and Sarah McLaughlin to the fray, a double-change which immediately gave the attacking instincts and industry of Longo and White some much-needed support. Not surprisingly, the newcomers wasted little time in making their presence known. Seconds after the fifth goal had been conceded, White won possession and instantly linked with Wall, who played McLaughlin in. Her snapshot crashed into the side-netting, but at long last, the Kiwis looked like a team with some potency. After McFadyen had turned a Lee Hyunyoung shot to safety, Wall secured possession in the centre circle, turned and threaded a delicious through ball for McLaughlin to chase, the newcomers having caught the Koreans napping in the 71st minute. Sadly for the Young Ferns, McLaughlin betrayed a lack of composure and subtlety by shooting straight at the advancing figure of Shim, who was begging to be chipped, so far was she off her line. The Kiwis' mini-revival continued soon after, with White directing a diving header narrowly wide of the post before finding herself on the end of a move which featured three of the Young Ferns' substitutes, Rebecca Brown, Wall and McLaughlin. White's chip narrowly cleared the crossbar on this occasion, while her 74th minute thunderbolt had Shim beaten all ends up, only to crash to safety off a post - the shooter deserved better fate, because her performance fully merited a goal. Having weathered the storm, the Koreans imposed themselves on proceedings once more, with substitute Yeo Min Ji somehow wriggling between Brown and Fisher to get to the edge of the goal area in the 76th minute. Armstrong - her performance improved once she moved into a central role - and Yumi Nguyen, who looked all at sea in the deep-lying midfield role she fulfilled as a substitute, combined to deny their opponent. After McFadyen had grabbed, spilled then recovered a Lee Young Joo cross-shot before any Korean strikers could pounce, the visitors plundered a sixth goal five minutes from time. Kim Jungin and Yeo combined to present Ji with a shooting chance, and from the edge of the `D', she fair smashed the ball beyond McFadyen and high into the net. Smarting at finding themselves 6-0 down, the Young Ferns charged downfield straight from the kick-off, with McLaughlin, Longo and the generally ineffective Caitlin Campbell in full flight. The last-mentioned let loose a shot on the run which was grabbed gratefully by Shim. Yeo nearly increased the Koreans' margin of victory still further in stoppage time - the challenge of Armstrong saw her direct her effort across McFadyen and just past the far post, but a 6-0 hiding was a fair reflection of the visitors' dominance. There were a few tears in the eyes of some of the Young Ferns afterwards, with the likes of White and Longo, in particular, having covered every blade of grass on the pitch for the cause over the course of the ninety minutes - one dreads to think what the outcome would have been without their tireless efforts. “Rosie stepped up and proved she can be an international player tonight”, said Young Ferns coach, Paul Temple, afterwards. “Annalie did well also, while Hannah Wall made an impact when she came on. “But make no mistake, the Koreans were quality. They were clinical - any mistakes we made, they punished. They've gone up two levels from our game on Saturday. Their option-taking, decision-making … just outstanding. “It's difficult for our players to take, though. They didn't go out to lose by that scoreline, and there were some encouraging signs despite what the scoreboard suggests. We did a lot better in some areas we targeted following Saturday's game, for instance”. Challenged on the reasons for persevering with the combination making up the left-hand side of the New Zealand defence when it clearly wasn't functioning, as the Koreans proved by exploiting it with great regularity, Temple responded tactfully. “These games are about long-term development. They're about giving players the chance to experience situations and learn from them, and to experience this level of football. They need time on the park to do this. If we're doing short-term fixes, we won't get long-term development”. It's a sound argument, certainly, but when it's patently obvious that a situation isn't working, there is every bit as sound an argument that, particularly at this influential age, changes be made for the long-term benefit of the individual under the cosh, if it's clear they are struggling to cope with their plight. The nations conclude their three-match series at Taharoto Park on Wednesday, 12 December, from 4pm. New Zealand:     McFadyen; Armstrong, Fisher (booked, 33), Vink (Brown, 54), Fullerton; White, Longo, Gallie (Nguyen, 67), Kerdemelidis (McLaughlin, 62); Mathis (Wall, 62), Campbell (booked, 46) Korea:          Shim; Shin, Koh, Song, E. Lee (Kim, 78); H. Oh (Seo, 72), Y. Oh (Y. Lee, 14), Cho, Mok (Ji, 46); Park (Yeo, 67), M. Lee (H. Lee, 46) Referee:     Mike Hester