FIFA U-17 WOMEN&039;S WORLD CUP – YOUNG FERNS TAKE AIM AT DANES

AUCKLAND – The Young Football Ferns are using Tuesday’s night stylish second half showing against Canada as the blueprint for Saturday’s crunch Group A game against Denmark in Albany.

A grandstand finish to the 0-1 loss to Canada – with New Zealand switching to a short passing game to create a plethora of chances – won plenty of plaudits from pundits and spectators alike with many of the 13,123 fans expected to return to North Harbour Stadium.

New Zealand coach Paul Temple says the team planned to build on their second half performance – with some minor changes – as they chase the points they need to keep their dream of making it to the quarterfinals alive.

“There be more of how we ended the game,” Temple said, “but we’ll try to get Annalie Longo in the game a bit more, and play to the feet of our strikers. We’ll try to get an extra 10m percent out of our attacking players as I think they can all go up a gear.

Question marks over Longo’s availability were raised by the playmaker’s limited involvement in training this week, but Temple played down the management of a calf muscle twinge as a precautionary measure and said the 15-cap senior international would be fit to start.

“She’s still a little sore after the game so we just wanted to make sure we didn’t push her.”

New Zealand still had injury concerns over first-choice goalkeeper Charlotte Wood, with Victoria Esson once again on standby to step in if Wood loses her race to be 100 percent fit.

With the Danes smaller and less direct than Canada, Temple suggested their style of play had potential to play into the hands of the kiwis.

“We might change our strategy a little bit just to work to our strengths and also to counter what Denmark are doing, but not having to play so much physical stuff will probably allow our attack to flourish a bit more.

“We’ll keep the ball on the deck and try to play through them as opposed to over the top of them.”

Canada lead Group A with three points from Denmark and Colombia who have one point each. As only the top two teams from each pool progress to the quarterfinals, the Young Football Ferns must claim at least a draw against the Europeans to stay in the hunt to be the first New Zealand team to make it past the group stage of a FIFA World Cup.

“A win puts us in a really good position, and means we still control our own fate. We know a draw could be okay but we don’t want to put ourselves at risk by relying on anyone else.”

Temple and his side will have a clearer picture of the group by the time they kick off at 4pm as Canada meet Colombia at North Harbour in an earlier 1pm fixture.

Elsewhere, Ghana get another chance to surprise in Christchurch, this time against the rampant Group B leaders Germany, while Asian champions North Korea can edge closer to the quarterfinals with a win over Costa Rica.

Story and image courtesy NZF Media

FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup New Zealand 2008

Kick-off: 4pm

New Zealand: (from) 1-Charlotte WOOD (GK), 2-Anna FULLERTON, 3-Rebecca BROWN, 4-Leah GALLIE, 5-Bri FISHER (Captain), 6-Bridgette ARMSTRONG, 7-Caitlin CAMPBELL, 8-Sarah McLAUGHLIN, 9-Hannah WALL, 10-Annalie LONGO, 11-Rosie WHITE, 12-Claudia CRASBORN, 13-Nadia PEARL, 14-Katie BOWEN, 15-Victoria ESSON (GK), 16-Megan SHEA, 17-Jessica ROLLINGS, 18-Lauren MATHIS, 19-Lauren MURRAY, 20-Danielle McFADYEN (GK), 21-Yumi NGUYEN.

Coach: Paul TEMPLE

Denmark: (from) 1-Lene GISSEL (GK), 2-Line OSTERGAARD, 3-Line SIGVARDSEN JENSEN, 4-Pernille RAMLOV, 5-Simone BOYE, 6-Louise BRIX, 7-Sofie JUNGE, 8-Katrine VEJE, 9-Britta OLSEN, 10-Amanda HOHOL, 11-Liv HAVGAARD NYHEGN, 12-Pernille HARDER, 13-Linette ANDREASEN, 14-Laerke LILLELUND MICHAELSEN, 15-Tenna KAPPEL, 16-Esther DAM SIMONSEN (GK), 17-Anne THIRUP RUDMOSE, 18-Michelle MADSEN, 19-Camilla CHRISTENSEN, 20-Nina FRAUSING PEDERSEN, 21-Tanja INGEMAN (GK).