The afternoon began with a 5-1 triumph for New Caledonia’s Les Cagous over Samoa and there was a similar scoreline in the second match as the Junior Football Ferns accounted for Papua New Guinea 6-0. As well as providing them with the ideal start to the tournament, New Caledonia’s win also saw the players write themselves into the record books as the first from the nation to post a victory at this event – the country has appeared only once before, in 2006, and failed to register a point on that occasion.
Kim Maguire and Marie Heutro were the heroines in the ground-breaking performance, notching a hat-trick and double respectively to the delight of coach Matthieu Delcroix.
“I feel relieved because it was a hard game physically,” Delcroix said. “The players responded well to the physical nature of Samoa’s play and I am proud of them because they gave a lot of themselves. It is our first ever win and we will put everything together to try to continue the tournament in this way.”
Maguire, who also starred for the senior national team at the 2011 Pacific Games but is based in New Zealand, got the scoring underway in spectacular fashion in the 12th minute, striking a shot perfectly from the edge of the area that gave goalkeeper Vaelua Fautua no chance as it arrowed into the top corner.
Samoa responded well to the setback though and were back on level terms when captain Hana Malo showed good strength and skill to hold off a challenge and fire an effort into the far corner in the 39th minute.
But the parity didn’t last long and New Caledonia were back in front just three minutes later, Maguire forcing the ball home at the second attempt after her initial effort had come back off the post. It stayed at 2-1 until the 69th minute when Heutro lobbed Fautua before Maguire completed her hat-trick in the 72nd and Heutro struck again with seven minutes remaining.
“I take my hat off to the New Caledonians, they played well,” Samoa coach Phineas Young said. “I was pushing the players at half time in the changing room because I thought we missed a few goals. We will now have a rest and try to forget about what happened today.”
New Zealand coach Aaron McFarland does not have the same problem after watching his side defeat a Papua New Guinea outfit that proved hard to break down at times but posed few threats at the other end.
Papua New Guinea frustrated the Junior Football Ferns for long periods, particularly in the second half, but couldn’t keep an attack led by captain Rosie White off the scoreboard. Kate Loye put New Zealand in front in just the 11th minute and further goals from Evie Millynn and White had them three up by the break. White helped herself to a second in the 49th minute before substitute Lucy Carter and Katie Rood rounded out the scoring.
“Considering the circumstances, I think we played really well,” McFarland said.
“Papua New Guinea really tried to stick to their game plan and it is very difficult to break down a team that has a lot of players behind the ball. They put up a resilient effort and played the same way the national team did in the Olympic qualifier,” he continued.
“We got into a lot of good crossing opportunities but when we review the game I think we might want to set higher standards. With so many defenders in the box it is always difficult and we will have to look at ways of dealing with that.”
Papua New Guinea counterpart Max Foster admitted the emphasis was on preventing New Zealand from scoring and said his approach is likely to be far more attacking in the side’s other games.
“We know New Zealand is a good team so we wanted to be solid defensively,” he said. “I told the players not to push up too early and leave themselves open.”
The OFC U-20 Women’s Championship returns on Thursday with New Caledonia meeting New Zealand at 1pm and Papua New Guinea facing Samoa at 3pm.
New Caledonia vs. Samoa Match Summary: Download Here
New Zealand vs. Papua New Guinea Match Summary: Download Here
Competition Summary Day 1: Download Here

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