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USA
Early Goals Set Up USA Win Over Junior Ferns
by Jeremy Ruane
The Junior Ferns' time at the top of their FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup group was brought to an end by an impressive USA combination at the Papua New Guinea National Stadium on November 17, the Kiwis downed 3-1 by their fitter and faster rivals, who scored twice in the first eight minutes to set up their victory.
The USA were all over the Junior Ferns like a rash from the first whistle, with Daisy Cleverley forced to scramble a low cross from the overlapping Ellie Jean to safety inside the first sixty seconds.
Mallory Pugh's resulting corner saw Savannah Demelo rifle one over the bar from ten yards, but from the resulting goal-kick, the USA's early pressure paid dividends, as Liz Anton's loss of control of the ball inside the penalty area allowed baby-faced assassin Ashley Sanchez to swoop and score in style.
The Junior Ferns were shell-shocked, and it didn't get any better for them five minutes later. After Emily Ogle had thundered a shot past the far post, a stray Cleverley pass was pounced on by Pugh, who powered forward, taking on Sophie Stewart-Hobbs and Meikayla Moore before rifling a twenty-yarder past the flying figure of Olla just eight minutes into the contest.
Trailing 2-0, Leon Birnie's side needed to settle things down and get a toe-hold in the game in fairly short order. They achieved this initial objective, restricting the USA to just three more chances in the next twenty minutes.
The first of them saw Moore block a Demelo drive, with Ogle thrashing the rebound past the far post in the seventeenth minute. Seven minutes later, only a timely tackle by the Junior Ferns' captain prevented Pugh from finishing off a solo raid which left both Stewart-Hobbs and Paige Satchell trailing in her wake.
The danger wasn't over, however, for Pugh was in again moments later, unleashing a grasscutter which Olla fumbled at her near post. Once more, Moore was on hand to spare her team's blushes - the captain was immense for her team during the opening half-hour.
The Americans were holding their Kiwi counterparts at arm's length, with white-shirted attacks sporadic in nature. Satchell was well contained, while New Zealand weren't helping themselves with the odd long ball to nobody, especially when they had been producing some tidy passing interchanges as they sought a way back into the contest.
Their best move of the first half came eight minutes before the interval. Stewart-Hobbs' ball forward for Satchell was headed away by Taylor Otto to Sarah Morton. The fullback's angled cross arced over Martine Puketapu to Jasmine Pereira, whose hooked volley flew narrowly past the far post, with US 'keeper Casey Murphy beaten.
Right on the stroke of half-time, the USA went close to netting a third goal. Sanchez's corner was pawed out from beneath the crossbar by Olla, with Moore heading the ball further clear. It landed invitingly for Pugh, who pummelled a volley over the bar, to the relief of the Junior Ferns.
The table-toppers going into this match began the second half brightly, a super high-speed break down the left by Satchell providing much cause for optimism. Inside the next ten minutes, both Cleverley - with a thirty yarder - and Jale, who swooped on a stray pass by Otto, had chanced their arm in a bid to halve the deficit, but to no avail.
In between times, the USA had gone close again, with Moore producing some superb defensive play to deny both Pugh and Emily Fox as they raided down the left. Pereira dodged a bullet soon after, clearly impeding Pugh in the penalty area, but escaping the punishment of a spot-kick which
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Cameroon referee Therese Neguel should have awarded for the foul.
On the hour, the post was all that stood between Sanchez and her second goal of the game after a fine raid down the right by Fox, while the combination of Jean and Pugh on the left resulted in a driven cross which Olla could only parry. Once more, Moore came to the rescue for the Junior Ferns.
Fox was leading Morton a merry dance on the USA's right in this match, and in the 64th minute did the fullback a treat in the penalty area, ultimately nutmegging Morton before sending a cross zooming across the face of goal.
Much to the Junior Ferns' relief, no-one in a dark blue shirt was on hand to do justice to Fox's efforts, unlike in the 68th minute, when substitute Jessie Scarpa was on hand to swoop as Olla spilled a Pugh cross. But the 'keeper's reactions were lighting quick, and she recaptured the ball before her opponent could pounce.
Having kept her team in the contest for much of the match - the USA could easily have scored another three or four goals but for Moore's labours, the Junior Ferns captain made her lone blunder of the match twenty minutes from time. Scarpa pounced, but before she had a chance to capitalise, Anton stepped in to spare her central defensive partner's blushes.
Fourteen minutes from time, and somewhat against the general run of play, the Junior Ferns dragged themselves back into the contest, immediately after earning their first corner of the contest.
Cleverley's routine was cleared, but the teasing cross Satchell delivered to the far post wasn't dealt with convincingly, the ball dropping invitingly near the edge of the area. Lurking there with intent was Issy Coombes, who unleashed an exquisite volley right back from whence the ball came, with interest - 2-1, game on.
Some enterprising attacking play from the Junior Ferns occurred either side of this goal, with the efforts of Pereira and substitute Tayla Christensen offering hope that the unlikely may yet come about.
Sadly for New Zealand, their hopes of a comeback were dashed eight minutes from time when substitutes Scarpa and Ally Watt combined superbly to get in behind the Junior Ferns defence.
The latter scampered clear of both Anton and Morton as she latched onto Scarpa's through ball, and upon reaching the edge of the penalty area, with Moore flying across in a desperate bid to retrieve the situation, Watt steered her shot expertly across Olla and inside the far post to confirm the USA's victory.
They could have had a fourth goal, with the substitutes combining once more, Watt this time the supplier. But Scarpa couldn't escape the clutches of Anton, who recovered well after being beaten initially, her efforts ensuring that the USA's winning scoreline would remain 3-1.
The Junior Ferns take on France in their final group game from 7pm on Monday with their fate well and truly in their own hands. A draw or Kiwi win will be enough to secure New Zealand's passage to the quarter-finals of a FIFA women's tournament for just the third time in the country's history, and match the feat of the 2014 Junior Ferns, who reached the last eight in that year's competition.
USA: Murphy; Elliston, Otto, Riehl, Jean; Fox (Watt, 79), Cousins, Ogle, Pugh (Jacobs, 90); Demelo (Scarpa, 57), Sanchez
Junior Ferns: Olla; Stewart-Hobbs, Moore, Anton, Morton; Jale (Christensen, 69), Coombes, Cleverley; Satchell (Hand, 87), Puketapu (Rolston, 80), Pereira
Referee: Therese Neguel (Cameroon)
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