If there was any sense of complacency in New Zealand's Young Football Ferns squad just over 100 days out from hosting the inaugural FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Finals in October and November, it was ruthlessly knocked out of them at Estadio Juan Canuto Pettengil in Itaugua, Paraguay on July 14 NZ time. The visitors were at their lacklustre worst throughout a friendly international against their Paraguay U-17 counterparts, and paid the penalty, copping a 4-0 hiding to bring a series of encouraging results for the New Zealand team to a grinding halt. To add further to the Young Ferns' woes, they will have to make do without the services of goalkeeper Charlotte Wood for a couple of months, after she dislocated her shoulder during the first five minutes of the match. Victoria Esson took over in goal, and was fishing the ball out of the net within six minutes as Paraguay plundered the opening goal thanks to a defensive lapse. A 36th minute penalty took the South American qualifiers to a 2-0 half-time lead, which they supplemented twice within ten minutes of the resumption to wrap up the scoring in a match from which much, much more was expected of the Young Ferns performance-wise. Coach Paul Temple could not hide his disappointment at the efforts of his young charges. Nor did he want to. “It's important we don't gloss over this, and to be honest it would pretty hard to do so”, he said to NZ Football. “It's a very, very disappointing performance. We were not good enough today in any department, and we've only got ourselves to blame. We've let a lot of people down, and we want to apologise. “The next 48 hours are a real test of this side. We

certainly can't afford to play like that again but my gut tells me the players will respond in the right way”. The Young Ferns resume their involvement in the quadrangular tournament on Thursday morning, NZ time, when tackling Universidad Autonoma Asuncion at the host team's home ground, before concluding their tour with another match against Paraguay's U-17s - “The Guaranies” - at Cacha del Club Olimpia on Saturday morning. Line-up: Charlotte Wood (Victoria Esson, 5); Caitlin Campbell, Briony Fisher, Bridgette Armstrong, Rebecca Brown (Kylie Jens, 55); Hannah Wall (Megan Shea, 60), Nadia Pearl (Leah Gallie, 60), Katie Bowen (Claudia Crasborn, 30), Jessica Rollings (Lauren Mathis, 60); Annalie Longo, Sarah McLaughlin (Lauren Murray, 30) As well as Wood's injury, physio Anna Barlow has three other members of the squad making regular visits to see her for matters of a sideline-restricting nature. One, Anna Fullerton, should have recovered from her shin injury in time for the UAA encounter. Yumi Nguyen has been diagnosed with a slight stress fracture of the shin, which team management are not prepared to risk lest it worsen, so she is doing plenty of gym work under Barlow's watchful eye. The physio's guidance is also being put to good use as Rosie White continues her rehabilitation from the ACL injury she picked up in the Future Stars tournament. She is building up the strength and power in her leg again, and should be ready to resume full contact training in September. “We can't wipe the smile off her face at the moment”, says coach, Paul Temple. “She's delighted to be back kicking a ball around again, and everyone is loving having her back”.