France down Junior Football Ferns

Playing without injured captain Katie Bowen, the Junior Football Ferns battled gamely against the 2012 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup champions but couldn’t produce the regular attacking threat which brought Thursday’s 2-0 win over Paraguay.Kadidiatou Diani’s 20th minute strike opened the scoring and France went on with the task in the second period with Claire…

Les Bleuettes, as they are known, achieved their best placing of fourth in the 2008 edition and while they may not have managed a victory at this level their U-17 Women’s World Cup title in 2012 is far from a distant memory.One player who was there for that highlight in French women’s football is Griede…

As such, it would hardly have been unexpected if Katie Bowen and Steph Skilton had brushed off questions about New Zealand never having made it past this tournament’s group phase. Such a record could, after all, be written off as the burden of previous U-20 generations and irrelevant to this current crop of Junior Ferns.But…

The Oceania trio of referee Finau Vulivuli of Fiji and assistant referees Jacqueline Stephenson and Sarah Walker, both of New Zealand, will be taking charge of their first match of the tournament.The trio have been assigned the Group C encounter between England and Mexico which gets underway at 2pm (local) in Moncton.Vulivuli is quite an…

Both sides put in their all to bring the first half to a close locked at 1-1, but two simple mistakes from U-15 goalkeeper Selson Toara in the second half aided the older side in finding the back of the net twice more.Despite the disappointment of a loss, Poida says the side’s aims have not…

The Kiwis have never progressed beyond the group stage at this tournament and have only won two previous matches at this level, but are now well placed to make history after goals from Emma Rolston and Steph Skilton took them alongside France at the top of Group D.Junior Football Ferns coach Aaron McFarland says the…

As veterans of the competition, making their fifth appearance at this level, New Zealand will no doubt be buoyed by having experience on their side going into this encounter. However, the side has been eliminated at the group stage in all four of their previous participations, mustering their only victories against Chile in 2008 and…

The event – the second consecutive invitational futsal tournament run by OFC – will feature four Oceania nations; New Zealand, New Caledonia, Tahiti and Vanuatu as well as one special guest from the Asian Football Confederation, last year’s runners-up Malaysia.The Futsal Whites finished third in the 2013 tournament held at the Trusts Stadium in Henderson…

The 26-year-old says he is looking forward to representing his country and with less than a week to go the excitement is building.“This is the realisation of a dream I have had since I was a child,” John says of representing Vanuatu on the international stage.“I don’t doubt that being named in the final 12…