FIFA age-grade Women’s World Cup debutants Sweden staged a second half comeback to overcome an unlucky New Zealand team 2-1 at the Shucho Arena in Bielefeld on July 13, to take the early advantage in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Finals’ "Group of Death". The Junior Ferns hit the ground running, Hannah Wall and Hannah Wilkinson combining on the right with the latter getting the better of Elin Borg before crossing low into the goalmouth. Emma Kullberg was only able to clear the ball as far as Betsy Hassett, who battered a low fifteen yard drive past the near post just eighty seconds into the match. The Swedes, stung by this warning shot across the bows, quickly set about redressing the balance, and in the eighth minute confirmed their ascendancy via the combination of Sofia Jakobsson and Jennifer Egelryd, who set up Olivia Schough for a shooting chance from the edge of the penalty area. Erin Nayler smothered this effort, then saved at the feet of Egelryd after Borg had whipped a fourteenth minute free-kick into the far post, which saw the striker get the better of Chelsey Wood. Seconds later, a corner from Borg wasn’t cleared, and only a timely flicked clearance across the face of her own goal by Junior Ferns captain Anna Green kept Schough’s goal-bound shot from reaching its intended destination. The Kiwis countered with a raid of their own which came desperately close to breaking the deadlock. Renee Leota led the charge down the right before laying the ball back to Wall, whose tantalising cross was headed out to Hassett. Her pass to Green invited the fullback to curl an inviting cross into the danger zone, and Leota, arriving on cue on the far post, met it with a first-time half-volley which cannoned off the base of the upright, with Swedish goalkeeper Hilda Carlen beaten. Sweden scrambled the rebound to the half-way, and their dangerous striker Jakobsson, who stormed downfield en route to the Junior Ferns’ penalty area, doggedly pursued by Briony Fisher with every stride. Jakobsson let fly, only for Nayler to parry her shot, and Fisher was perfectly placed to hook the rebound to safety. After Wilkinson had been beaten in the air by Kullberg as she looked to get on the end of a Wall cross, a long-range free-kick startled Carlen, whose fumble invited Leota to hurtle in in an effort to turn home the loose ball. The bounce of the ball beat the fast-arriving striker, allowing Sweden to clear their lines and release Schough down the right. Her cross for the prowling figure of Jakobsson was pawed away at the vital moment by Nayler, who, with Wall, Green, Armstrong and Leota, were New Zealand’s best performers over the ninety minutes. Annalie Longo gifted possession to Schough inside the Swedish half in the 26th minute, and she instantly sent Jakobsson racing through a stretched Kiwi rearguard. The covering figure of Bridgette Armstrong was rounded by the striker, who sent a shot arrowing across Nayler and inches past the far post from the edge of the penalty area - far too close for comfort, as far as the Junior Ferns were concerned. Only a vital block by Green prevented Schough from picking out Jakobsson with another telling cross seconds later, while on the half-hour, Nayler saved well as Borg belted in another free-kick, this time from 35 yards following a foul by Hassett which earned her the game’s lone caution. The Junior Ferns bounced back from this Swedish pressure in the best manner possible in the 33rd minute, by opening the scoring. Wall’s raking ball forward was allowed to bounce by hesitant Swedish defenders, and Wilkinson swooped like a fox in a henhouse! The powerful striker unnerved Catrine Johansson in particular, so much so that the fullback gifted her the ball eight yards out from goal … Wilkinson calmly accepted the present, and tucked it in by the far post before celebrating in ecstatic fashion, as you do when scoring on the ultimate world stage. Sweden were rocked by this setback, and struggled to recover from it before the half-time whistle. Indeed, they could have been facing an even bigger task - had Carlen not saved at the feet of Rosie White in the 36th minute, and Hassett not been denied a penalty when bundled off the ball inside the area seven minutes later, they would have been. Sarah McLaughlin takes on Amanda Wegerman late in the match in Bielefeld

As was the case at the start of the first half, so, too, at the start of the second - the Junior Ferns were out of the starting blocks swiftly, and within two minutes of the resumption had given Carlen cause for concern. Green beat Schough inside New Zealand’s half and hurtled forward before linking with Hassett, who invited White to spin off her marker and let fly with a twenty-five yarder which the ‘keeper was right behind. A strong surging run down the left in the 54th minute by Antonia Goransson saw her sweep past Longo en route to the by-line, from where she pulled the ball back to the unmarked Jakobsson. Armstrong blocked her effort, and New Zealand mounted a counter-attack which culminated in Carlen parrying and recovering to gather a twenty-five yarder from Wilkinson, after Wall had picked out the goalscorer with another probing ball forward. The Junior Ferns were stunned in the 56th minute when Sweden grabbed an equaliser. A slip in midfield by Hassett was pounced on by Jakobsson, who stormed clear and shrugged off the attentions of Fisher before setting up Goransson for a shot which got a wicked deflection off the attempted challenge of Green, a ricochet which completely wrong-footed the unfortunate figure of Nayler. New Zealand were briefly unhinged by the equaliser, but within five minutes were hunting the lead once more. Longo took control of proceedings in the centre circle and angled a pass to Green, who hoisted a cross-field ball to Leota. She played a one-two off the face of Borg before unleashing a crossbar-shaking twenty-yarder which had Carlen beaten all ends up. But luck was not on Leota’s side - the Swedes were to prove that it was very much with them within minutes of this effort. After Nayler had plucked a Goransson cross off the head of Jakobsson, and a teasing cross-shot from Schough had landed on the roof of New Zealand’s net, Kiwi hearts were broken in the 67th minute, as Sweden took the lead. The goal-kick which resulted from Schough’s cross ended up at the feet of Goransson, who stormed through the inside-left channel and shrugged off the attentions of Fisher before shooting at the advancing figure of Nayler. The ball rebounded off the ‘keeper and onto the shin of Goransson, from where it could have gone anywhere. But with luck on their side, Sweden were delighted to see the ball ricochet into the net in by the far post. The Junior Ferns pulled out all the stops in an effort to retrieve the situation, calling on the power of Sarah McLaughlin, the presence of midfield general Nadia Pearl and the pace of Claudia Crasborn before the final whistle as the 25C heat began to take its toll. But as they chased the game, they were vulnerable to the counter-attack, with Swedish substitute Amanda Wegerman twice going close in the last ten minutes, firing narrowly wide on the first occasion before Nayler saved at her feet. White’s bristling thirty-five yarder was the only Kiwi shot which gave Carlen cause for concern between Sweden taking a 2-1 lead and the onset of stoppage time, but it was during the additional three minutes that the Junior Ferns came agonisingly close to levelling the scores. The effervescent Wall whipped in a corner which picked out the head of Armstrong, whose close-range effort was blocked on the line and cleared to Pearl, who hoisted it back into the danger zone. Carlen parried it, but the bounce of the loose ball beat White, and meant New Zealand have it all to do if they are to realise their minimum objective of a quarter-finals berth. The other game in the group saw the Junior Ferns’ next opponents, North Korea, edge Brazil 1-0 thanks to a Ho Un Byol goal half-way through the second half. The Kiwis’ clash with the Koreans in Bielefeld kicks off at 4am Saturday, NZ time. Junior Ferns:     Nayler; Wall, Fisher, Armstrong, Green; Longo (Crasborn, 83), Wood (Pearl, 72), Hassett (booked, 31); White, Wilkinson (McLaughlin, 72), Leota Sweden:     Carlen; Johansson, Kullberg, M. Karlsson, Borg; Schough (K. Karlsson, 67), Appelqvist, Heimersson, Goransson (Wegerman, 74); Jakobsson, Egelryd (Alfsson, 59) Referee:     Carol Anne Chenard (Canada) photo courtesy FIFA / Getty Images