Goals to Emily Jensen and Martin Puketapu and a Brazilian own goal weren’t enough to see New Zealand through to the knockout stages in an all-action seven-goal thriller at 8km Stadium in Baku.
The 4-3 defeat ended the campaign but coach Paul Temple has once again taken positives from the match in which the young New Zealanders once again gave a good account of themselves but offered their opponents too much respect after taking an early lead.
“They gave everything they could but we’ve just come up a bit short,” Temple said. “We were really confident in our ability to score against them but some of our defending in the first half was uncharacteristically poor at times and they were accurate with the way they put away their chances.
“After we scored our first goal we went way too deep and stayed too deep, we just seemed to invite them onto us in that 20-minute spell and ultimately it cost us,” Temple added.
A pulsating first half brought five goals and burst into life as early as the third minute when Puketapu was played in by Hannah Carlsen. The 15-year-old’s shot was saved but from the ensuing corner Emily Jensen headed home to give the Young Football Ferns the lead.
Five minutes later it was all square when Byanca, who had gone close seconds earlier, cut inside Bott and smashed home past Lily Alfeld. New Zealand’s custodian was left clutching at air in the 26th minute after Byanca turned provider for Brena. The Brazilian’s first touch was excellent and her volley world-class as it sped past Alfeld.
Brazil were piling on the pressure by this stage and Meikayla Moore, who had earlier cleared off the line, fouled Chaiane to concede a penalty which Andressa converted.
The final act of the first half saw Megan Lee pounce on a defensive error and scamper into the 18-yard-box before delivering at pace to the near post and into the path of the oncoming Emma Fletcher. The ball ended up in the back of the net and the Vancouver Whitecap was originally credited with the strike but it was later awarded as an own goal.
“At 3-2 at half-time, you’re left with the choice of playing safe and trying to catch them on the break or going for it. And we all wanted to go for it and give it a good go,” Temple said.
The sucker punch was to come ten minutes after the break when Camilla restored Brazil’s two-goal advantage, catching Alfeld unusually out of position to score from 20 yards out after New Zealand coughed up possession from a short goal kick.
With news of Japan’s dominance over Mexico in the other Group C match filtering to both team benches throughout the match, Brazil were aware that even a draw would see them through to the quarter-finals.
Puketapu raised Kiwi hopes in the 77th minute when she coolly slotted past Nicole to bring New Zealand back within one goal and set up a frantic final ten minutes but Brazil soaked up the pressure and saw out the match.
And so the race to become New Zealand’s first women’s age group side to progress from the group stage continues with Temple having high hopes for the current crop of youngsters during the next World Cup cycle.
“I feel we’ve made progress on how our girls are dealing with the ball technically and how they can adapt tactically in games,” he said.
“I think we stand a lot better chance at U-20 level just purely because the girls will be more experienced at international level. We need to work on our experiences. We still suffer from nerves and dealing with pressure in big game situations,” Temple concluded.
FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Azerbaijan 2012
New Zealand: 3 (Emily JENSEN 4′; Emma FLETCHER 45’+1; Martine Puketapu 77′)
Brazil: 4 (BYANCA 10′; BRENA 26′; ANDRESSA 34′; CAMILLA 55′)
Halftime: 2-3
8km Stadium, Baku
New Zealand: 1-Lily ALFELD (gk), 2-Meikayla MOORE, 3-Laura MERRIN (c) (18-Emma ROLSTON 57′), 4-CJ BOTT, 5-Emily JENSEN, 6-Hannah CARLSEN, 7-Jasmine PEREIRA (11-Briar PALMER 76′), 8-Daisy CLEVERLEY (14-Jessica INNES 64′), 9-Martine PUKETAPU, 10-Emma FLETCHER, 13-Megan LEE
Substitutes not used: 12-Megan ROBERTSON, 15-Lauren DABNER, 17-Emily OOSTERHOF, 19-Tayla CHRISTENSEN, 20-Emma TAYLOR (gk), 21-Courteney VAN LIESHOUT
Injured: 16-Ronisa LIPI (gk)
Coach: Paul TEMPLE
Brazil: 1-NICOLE (gk), 2-JULIA, 4-CAROLINE, 5-CAMILA, 6-LETICIA, 8-DJENIFER, 9-BYANCA, 10-ANDRESSA (c), 15-CHAIANE (14-MAXINNY 87′), 17-ANA CLARA, 20-BRENA (13-MONICA 73′)
Substitutes not used: 3-ANDRESSA SOARES, 11-GABRIELLY, 12-TAINA (gk), 16-NATANE, 18-GABRIELLE, 19-JENYFFER, 21-ANA BEATRIZ (gk)
Absent: 7-MAYARA
Coach: Edvaldo ERLACHER
Story courtesy of New Zealand Football.
For more on New Zealand Football visit www.nzfootball.co.nz