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Tonga
Tongans Make Life Tough For Junior Ferns In Finale
by Jeremy Ruane
New Zealand's Junior Ferns wrapped up their title-winning OFC U-19 Women's Championship campaign at Ngahue Reserve on July 24 with a 9-0 triumph over Tonga, to conclude the tournament with a perfect five wins from five games record.
But the Tongans can be pleased with their efforts in the contest, as they restricted Gareth Turnbull's charges to just one goal in a 55 minute spell in which their dogged defensive effort frustrated the Junior Ferns at every turn.
As is their wont, the host nation began like the proverbial house on fire, storming to a four-goal lead inside the first twenty minutes of a match in which three of their starting line-up were more eager to get among the goals than most, given Golden Boot honours were at stake for the tournament's most prolific markswoman.
Fittingly, Sammi Tawharu, who went into the match boasting a tournament-best nine goals from four games, was afforded the game's first opportunity, Liz Anton, Grace Jale and Rebecca Lake combining to present her with the chance to add to her tally in the seventh minute.
Mele Akolo dashed out to save at her feet, however, only to be beaten two minutes later by Hannah Blake, who rammed the ball home from close range after Lake had sent Emma Main speeding to the by-line, from where she invited her fellow Golden Boot chaser to pull the trigger.
After Main had chipped a chance into the hands of Akolo, she struck a seven-minute hat-trick to put herself in the box seat for one of the tournament's individual honours, this quick-fire treble taking her past both Blake (eight goals) and Tawharu (nine) into double figures in the race for the Golden Boot.
Sarah Morton and Malia Steinmetz combined with Deven Jackson in the thirteenth minute, and after beating one opponent, the midfielder's low drive forced a parried save from Akolo, straight into the stride of Main …
Six minutes later, 2-0 became 3-0. Steinmetz and Tawharu - a lovely touch - played in Jackson, who slammed a shot against the crossbar. Main, following in, headed home the rebound, despite the despairing efforts of Fifi Moala to clear off the line.
Straight from the kick-off, the Junior Ferns charged forth once more, Michaela Foster and Grace Jale working their way down the left before setting up Main for her hat-trick strike just twenty minutes into the contest.
Opportunities to add to that tally continued to materialise at a steady rate throughout the rest of the first half, with Main finally being denied by Akolo in the 22nd minute after a swashbuckling run from half-way left four Tongan opponents trailing in her wake.
Three minutes later, Blake evaded two challenges before feeding the overlapping figure of Foster, whose cross was headed over the bar by Jale on the far post, the same upright by which Sarah Morton looked to beat Akolo with a cheeky chip four minutes later, after Tahitian referee Rani Perry had played on when Jackson was taken out in the penalty area.
Tawharu steered a cross from Jackson wide of the far post on the half-hour, and after Blake's ferocious twenty-five yarder had been parried by Akolo, and Tawharu had fired another shot across the face of goal seconds later, the Junior Ferns' fifth goal of the game materialised in the 36th minute, Main's venomous volleyed finish affording Akolo no chance whatsoever, upon receipt of Foster's low cross from the right.
Foster and Morton both chanced their arm from distance in the next two minutes, the former via a free-kick, while five minutes before half-time Meleseini Tufui bravely headed off the line to prevent an own goal, even though her efforts put her on a collision course with a post, a clash which the defender seemed to shrug off with ease.
There were times during the first half when the Junior Ferns had appeared a little too self-indulgent, with the prospect of an individual accolade seeming to take priority over the team's greater good on occasions - Blake in particular was guilty of looking to beat one more opponent a little too often, instead of using those alongside her to make further in-roads past stubborn opposition.
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 Deven Jackson
 Sarah Morton
 Liz Anton
 Grace Jale
 Malia Steinmetz
 Rebecca Lake
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Tonga emerged for the second spell with one prime intention - restrict New Zealand from any further advances on the five goals they'd scored already. If that meant defending with all eleven players in red located within thirty yards of their own goal, so be it.
As a result, it took fully fourteen minutes for the Junior Ferns to carve out their first chance of the half. Steinmetz played in half-time substitute Emma Clarke down the right, and her sumptuous cross to the far post picked out Tawharu, who evaded a challenge before setting up Blake.
She prodded the ball past the post, while Golden Boot winner Main was prevented from scoring seven minutes later when Akolo plucked Clarke's cross off her head, this raid having been started by fellow half-time substitute Serena Murrihy's splendid pass down the left to release Foster at pace.
Nineteen minutes from time, Foster was again involved in a noteworthy Junior Ferns attack, this time released by Steinmetz. Her cross arced between substitute Dayna Stevens and Main, much to the glee of Akolo, who bossed her goal area well throughout proceedings.
After Blake had volleyed over the top following a blocked Clarke cross, the Junior Ferns finally made the breakthrough, fully forty minutes after their previous goal. Clarke was the architect of the goal, Jackson the executioner, the midfielder picking out the top corner of the net from fifteen yards - 6-0.
That proved to be Akolo's last involvement of note in the match, for Tonga chose to give their back-up goalkeeper, Helen Tahitua, a run-out for the final ten minutes of the contest, allowing her to make her first appearance of the tournament in the process.
Prior to this match, Akolo hadn't conceded more than four goals in any game. After she departed the fray, Tonga yielded three more goals, the first of them coming six minutes from time.
Steinmetz fed Blake, who beat two opponents before playing the ball on to Foster, who cut inside before letting rip from the edge of the penalty area. Tahitua stood not a prayer of stopping it, nor Jale's piledriver four minutes later, after Clarke and Steinmetz had carved open Tonga's left flank.
The final goal of the game came with its last meaningful contact with the ball, Foster's corner to the near post being inadvertently turned into her own net by Siu Latavao as Lake looked to head home from close range for the Fair Play Trophy winners.
9-0 was New Zealand's lot over Tonga, who finished bottom of the six-team competition, their poorest return in the history of Oceania women's football at this age level, one in which the Tongans have a fairly solid record - six wins, five draws and five defeats against teams other than the Junior Ferns and, when they were in Oceania, the Young Matildas.
Fiji enjoyed their best-ever showing at this age-level, finishing runners-up in the group after seeing off New Caledonia 2-1, with the Golden Ball winner, Luisa Tamanitoakula, firing them to victory.
Fijian goalkeeper Ateca Tuwa won the well-contested Golden Glove honour. James Bannatyne's coaching work around the islands is certainly bearing fruit, judging by the evidence of this tournament, in which a number of noteworthy goalkeeping performances have been in evidence.
Papua New Guinea finished third overall, held to a 1-1 draw by Samoa in the final game of the competition, one which saw the fifth-placed Samoans pick up their third stalemate of the drawn-out, fortnight-long event, the timing of which was poor from the host nation's perspective, particularly when one considers the finals in France don't take place until August 2018.
Junior Ferns: Leat; Morton (Clarke, 46), Lake, Anton (Murrihy, 46), Foster; Steinmetz, Jale, Jackson; Main, Tawharu (Stevens, 64), Blake
Tonga: Akolo (Tahitua, 81); Tuitupou, Tufui, Moala, Latavao; Uhila, Lutu, Havea (Likiliki, 46), Taholo (L. Taliauli, 46), Talasinga; Fifita
Referee: Rani Perry (Tahiti)
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 Michaela Foster
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 Emma Main tripped when in full flight by Tongan captain Pumu Taholo ... no penalty!
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 Fifi Moala
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 Serena Murrihy
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 Golden Boot winner Emma Main (7) crowded out on this occasion
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 Mele Akolo
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 Sammi Tawharu
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 "Oggie" "Oggie" "Oggie"!
The final goal of the game
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 Meleseini Tufui
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 Dayna Stevens
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 Seini Lutu
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 Trish Likiliki
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 Emma Clarke
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 Helen Tahitua
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 Hannah Blake
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 "I hope that's not your flight home up there ..."
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 Sarah Morton shields from Pumu Taholo
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