[ad_1]
SKY SPORT
Before a record football crowd in NZ, the Ferns have opened the FIFA Women’s World Cup with a stunning win.
At Eden Park, Auckland: Football Ferns 1 (Hannah Wilkinson 48’) Norway 0. HT: 0-0
Group A standings: New Zealand 3, Norway 0, Philippines 0, Switzerland 0
Hannah Wilkinson scored the goal that made Football Ferns history in front of a 42,137-strong crowd at Eden Park in Auckland as the FIFA Women’s World Cup got off to a perfect start in New Zealand.
The Ferns were $9 outsiders against Norway, who boast some of the most talented attacking players in European football, but are held in less regard when it comes to defending.
Their 1-0 win on Thursday was their first win at a World Cup in their 16th attempt – and the country’s first in 22 attempts, including the six All Whites men’s matches. The only blemish was a late penalty miss that made for a nervous ending.
KAI SCHWOERER/Stuff
The Football Ferns celebrate Hannah Wilkinson’s goal against Norway.
With one of their two goals for this tournament on home soil ticked off, the Ferns now have an excellent chance at achieving the other – finishing in the top two in group A and advancing to the round of 16.
Buoyed by the support of the record crowd – the largest for any football match in New Zealand history – they now head to Wellington to face the Philippines next Tuesday.
Thursday’s match was preceded by the opening ceremony for the tournament, being co-hosted with Australia, and also by a moment’s silence, in honour of the victims of the Auckland shooting on Thursday morning.
When the opening whistle came just after 7pm, the question was whether the Ferns – winners of just four of their last 25 matches – would rise to the occasion?
The answer was delivered more quickly than was to be expected: Yes, they would. In fact, given the occasion and the opposition, the opening 45 minutes was arguably the best the Ferns had played under coach Jitka Klimková.
Of course, the glaring thing missing was the lack of shots – just two to show for their efforts to Norway’s three.
Hannah Wilkinson got in behind slightly twice, only for a bad touch to let her down the first time and a block by Norway right back Thea Bjelde to deny her the second time.
Malia Steinmetz was busy in midfield and when the ball fell to her after five minutes, she tried her luck with a shot that went high and wide. Later she lost control just when she was sizing up a shot following a storming run.
Frida Maanum blazed over for Norway 20 minutes in, after Ada Hegerberg dropped a cross from Julie Blakstad on the left at her feet in the middle of the box.
Rebekah Stott then had to throw her body in the way of a Hegerberg shot in the middle of the box in the 36th minute, after Caroline Graham Hansen surged past Ali Riley into the box down the right – the one first-half moment where Norway’s stars lived up to their billing.
It only took three second-half minutes for the Ferns to get the breakthrough their first-half efforts had probably deserved, when Indiah-Paige Riley played Jacqui Hand in down the right with a first-time pass and Hand then put the ball on a platter for Wilkinson.
The scorer of the goal that earned New Zealand their first Women’s World Cup point in Germany in 2011 and the only New Zealander to score two World Cup goals wrote herself another line in the history books and left Norway rattled.
By the hour mark the visitors had regained their composure and they should have drawn level when Hegerberg rode a challenge from Stott out on the left then crossed the ball for Maanum, who sent her attempted wide-left, when she could have easily beaten goalkeeper Vic Esson to her right.
Indiah-Paige Riley drew a save from Cecilie Fiskerstrand in the Norwegian goal with a fierce curling effort, cutting inside onto her left foot on the right, while Steinmetz had an effort blocked at the corner that followed.
Percival sent a shot wide as she ran onto a perfectly-timed pass from Wilkinson at the top of the box, while Norway hit the crossbar at the other end as the match entered the final 10 minutes, but only after Tuva Hansen’s shot grazed Esson’s fingertips.
The Ferns had a chance to seal the result when they won a penalty for a handball, but Percival hit the right-hand post, setting up a nervous finish, especially once nine minutes of stoppage time were called for.
Norway’s best chance came eight minutes later, but Guro Reiten could only stab the ball wide. Two minutes after that, the crowd roared with joy.
[ad_2]