AUCKLAND – New Zealand’s first ever quarterfinal spot at a football World Cup awaits the Junior Football Ferns if they can beat England at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Santiago on Thursday morning (NZ time).

New Zealand currently lie third in Group A with three points after a gut-wrenching 2-3 loss to Nigeria and a 4-3 win over hosts Chile, but victory on Thursday would guarantee a top two finish in the pool and with it a quarterfinal.

England lead Group A with four points and a goal differential of plus two, needing just a draw against the kiwis to progress, although a win would help them avoid likely Group B winners USA in the last eight.

Nigeria, also on four points (goal difference +1) will also progress with a draw but a loss to already-eliminated Chile in Temuco – kicking off at the same time as New Zealand’s match – would open the door for the Junior Ferns to progress with a draw.

But with form suggesting Nigeria would be too strong for the host nation, New Zealand coach John Herdman preferred to focus on Plan A.

“We have to win,” Herdman said, “It’s the first time that we’ve got to the final pool game with our destiny in our own hands so we have to put all other distractions out of our minds and concentrate on winning.”

Given the unpredictable nature of World Cups, however, Herdman said staff did have a Plan B up their sleeve.

“If we get news that Nigeria are two goals down, and we’re in a position to get a point then we’ll pull back our full backs and adjust our strategy. If that happens, it might not be the prettiest game to watch but that’s tournament football.”

But back to plan A.

While the notion of beating the ‘birthplace of football’ to make a World Cup quarterfinal had romantic appeal, England-born Herdman wasn’t one for nostalgia.

“I don’t really care who we play. It could be England, Brazil or Germany but we have to beat these top teams if we are to take a deserved place in the quarterfinals of a World Cup. We’ll just look at them as players and come up with strategies to beat them.”

With a goals-for-and-against record of 6-6, the Junior Football Ferns have been the great entertainers of the tournament, outscored only by Brazil and matched by perennial powerhouses Germany and USA.

A New Zealander – Rosie White – even sits atop the golden boot standings thanks to her game-wining hat-trick against the hosts, a feat made even more remarkable by the fact she is just 15-years-old.

New Zealand would have to reproduce that attacking form in order to beat an England team second only to Germany in European qualification.

“Attack has been an area of our game that we’ve done really well in, but England are a pretty mean team and have only conceded one goal in this event,” Hardman said.

“We’ll have to come up with something special, and our goals have been quite special up to now – there’s been no gimmes.”

New Zealand head into the showdown without star midfielder Ria Percival, after being sent off against Chile for receiving two yellow cards. An appeal to overturn the second of Percival’s cautions – and with it her one-match suspension – was rejected by FIFA on Tuesday.

The artificial turf at Santiago’s Estadio Municipal could be a wildcard in proceedings. Both teams have trained twice on the surface with indications that the fast nature of the pitch could put pressure on player’s control and increase the chances of mistakes.

New Zealand play England at 11am Thursday (New Zealand Time) with coverage live on Sky Sports 3.

FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Chile 2008

Group A

New Zealand v England

Estadio Municipal de La Florida

Santiago, Chile

Thursday 27 November (NZT)

Kick-off: 11am

Live on Sky Sports 3

New Zealand: (from) 1-Charlotte WOOD (GK), 2-Caitlin CAMPBELL, 3-Anna GREEN, 4-Katie HOYLE, 5-Bridgette ARMSTRONG, 6-Abby ERCEG, 8-Betsy HASSETT, 9-Renee LEOTA, 10-Annalie LONGO, 11-Hannah WALL, 12-Chelsey WOOD, 13-Victoria ESSON (GK), 14-Merissa SMITH, 15-Elizabeth MILNE, 16-Briony FISHER 17 Nicole STRATFORD, 18-Grace VINCENT, 19-Sarah McLAUGHLIN, 20-Rosie WHITE, 21-Rebekah BROOK (GK).

Unavailable: 7-Ria PERCIVAL (one match suspension)

Coach: John HERDMAN

England: (from) 1-Rebecca SPENCER (GK), 2-Stephanie HOUGHTON, 3-Claire RAFFERTY, 4-Danielle BUET, 5-Fern WHELAN, 6-Sophie BRADLEY, 7-Toni DUGGAN, 8-Remi ALLEN, 9-Natasha DOWIE, 10-Rachel WILLIAMS, 11-Jessica CLARKE, 12-Chelsea WESTON, 13-Ashley BAKER (GK), 14-Brooke CHAPLEN, 15-Gilly FLAHERTY, 16-Kerys HARROP, 17-Rebecca HALL, 18-Michelle HINNIGAN, 19-Sophie WALTON, 20-Jade MOORE, 21-Helen ALDERSON (GK).

Coach: Mo MARLEY

Story courtesy of NZF Media. For more visit www.nzsoccer.com