England opened their Group A account with a 0-0 draw against the hosts on Tuesday, the same scoreline New Zealand played out against the Koreans two days earlier, leaving top spot in the group and a place in Saturday’s final ripe for the picking.
A win to either side would book first place but another goalless draw would create a three-way tie and force a drawing of lots to separate the teams. A score-draw would relegate Korea to third place but leave the Ferns and England sweating on the toss of a coin.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that,” New Zealand coach John Herdman says.
“It would be a harsh way for anyone to be eliminated and I think all teams would rather it was decided on the pitch.”
A win over England would mark two historic firsts. The Football Ferns have drawn with but never beaten a team inside FIFA’s top 10, and no New Zealand national football team has ever beaten their England equivalent.
Despite missing key players through injury, New Zealand have quietly drawn confidence from their display against the higher-ranked Korea side and recent rampant form in FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifiers against Oceania nations.
“In recent years we’ve shown we can compete with anyone on our day but we know England are a step above anything we have played since the Cyprus Cup,” Herdman says.
“They’re a World Cup side, like we are, have a number of players playing professionally in the United States and have a very good coach at the helm in Hope Powell. It will be a big challenge for us but it’s the sort of challenge this group of players really relish.”
Group B winners Australia booked their place in Saturday’s final with a 1-0 win over Taiwan on Tuesday following Sunday’s 3-1 win over Mexico.
2010 Peace Queen Cup
Suwon, South Korea
New Zealand v England
October 21, 2010
6pm (NZT)
New Zealand: (from) 1-Jenny BINDON (GK), 2-Ria PERCIVAL, 3-Anna GREEN, 4-Katie HOYLE, 5-Abby ERCEG, 7-Ali RILEY, 8-Hayley MOORWOOD (captain), 9-Amber HEARN, 13-Maia JACKMAN, 14-Rosie WHITE, 15-Sarah GREGORIUS, 16-Emma KETE, 17-Hannah WILKINSON, 18-Kristy HILL,
10-Elizabeth MILNE, 11-Kirsty YALLOP, 12-Betsy HASSETT, 20-Aroon CLANSEY (GK).
Coach: John HERDMAN
England: (from) 1-Rachel BROWN (GK), 2-Alex Scott, 3-Rachel UNITT, 4-Jill SCOTT, 5-Faye WHITE, 6-Casey STONEY, 7- Jessica CLARKE, 8-Fara WILLIAMS, 9-Eniola ALUKO, 10-Kelly SMITH, 11-Rachel YANKEY, 12-Ellen WHITE, 13-Karen BARDSLEY (GK), 14-Laura BASSETT, 15-Stephanie HOUGHTON, 16-Dunia SUSI, 17-Sophie BRADLEY, 18-Sue SMITH, 19-Lindsay JOHNSON, 20-Anita ASANTE.
Coach: Hope POWELL
Story and photo courtesy of New Zealand Football.
For the latest news visit www.nzfootball.co.nz