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Italy
Italians Condemn Ferns To Third Place Play-Off
by Jeremy Ruane
2019 FIFA Women's World Cup quarter-finalists Italy proved too strong for the Football Ferns at the Estadio Municipal da Bela Vista in Parchal on March 7, prevailing 3-0 to advance to the 2020 Algarve Cup Final against Germany.
Norway lie in wait for Tom Sermanni's side, who will wonder what might have been had Rosie White's penalty on the stroke of half-time not been saved by Italian 'keeper Katha Schroffenegger.
There was very little between the teams during the opening twenty minutes of play, during which Ria Percival fired the first shot in anger, a thirty yard effort which cleared the left-hand angle of Schroffenegger's goal inside the first two minutes.
A neat move on the right by the Football Ferns fifteen minutes later saw Catherine Bott, Katie Bowen and Hannah Wilkinson combining sweetly, with the last-mentioned ultimately denied by debutant Marta Mascarello's timely tackle.
The resulting corner saw Percival pick out Steph Skilton with her set-piece delivery, the stand-in for the suspended Claudia Bunge directing the ball on across goal for defensive lynchpin Rebekah Stott to thrash a volley past the upright.
Italy responded with their first attack of note, one foiled by Ali Riley's intervention. The ball ricocheted off her and was heading over the dead ball line for a corner when Anna Leat - a rare start ahead of Erin Nayler - dived to her left in an effort to prevent the set-piece opportunity.
She succeeded in that quest, but handed the Italians another opening by parrying the ball, rather than smothering it. Cristiana Girelli was unable to capitalise on this occasion as Stott spared her 'keeper's blushes, but within sixty seconds the striker would exploit the young custodian's nervousness to open the scoring.
Riley foiled Martina Rosucci's progress on the Italian right, but the attacker managed to lay the ball back for Alia Guagni, who was a thorn in the Football Ferns' side all evening.
Her cross was one of those tantalising ones into the corridor of uncertainty, towards which Leat was lured in mesmeric fashion. She didn't attack the cross, however, instead anticipating where she'd be able to catch it. But the head of Girelli dashed the 'keeper's hopes, the striker then prodding the ball home from close range - 1-0 Italy.
Having established an advantage, Le Azzurre strove to increase it soon afterwards. A Guagni cross on the run deflected off Riley in the 23rd minute, the ball ricocheting off both Meikayla Moore and Skilton before rebounding inches past Leat's left-hand post.
Two minutes later, hard-working striker Stefania Tarenzi just failed to get on the end of an angled ball from Guagni after she had been released down the right by Valentina Cernola.
The Italians continued to pile on the pressure in search of a second goal, their sustained efforts only being disrupted by a sprinkler bursting into life on the half-hour mark, prompting Croatian referee Ivan Martincic to briefly halt play while order was restored.
Skilton, Stott and Moore were working overtime to stem the threats posed by their opponents, ultimately succeeding in their quest enough to ensure that the last five minutes of the half would be dominated by the team in white.
In that time, they should have scored. Riley engineered the first opening, her 41st minute cross allowing White to lay the ball off to Annalie Longo, whose return pass was just too strong for the striker to capitalise upon, White earning a booking for sliding in late on Schroffenegger, whose reactionary kick escaped punishment, despite it striking the striker's head.
Two minutes later, Longo and Riley got up to some mischief on the left flank which culminated in the latter's cross being headed out to Percival, whose thirty yard volley sizzled a yard over the bar.
Right on the stroke of half-time, Longo's dancing feet and svelte shimmy left Guagni in all sorts of bother, the fullback ultimately handling the ball in the area after being completely bamboozled by the Kiwi playing against the country of her heritage.
Referee Martincic had no hesitation in pointing to the spot, from where White was entrusted with levelling the scores. Schroffenegger had other ideas, however, plunging to her right to parry the spot-kick
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to safety and leave White and her team-mates to rue what might have been during the half-time interval.
It was the Italians who began the second half in stronger form, a cleared corner culminating in Rosucci and Cernola combining for the benefit of captain Sara Gama, who charged into the area before letting fly, only to see Leat's outstretched leg divert her shot onto the far post, off which it rebounded to Stott.
She swiftly cleared her lines, but it wasn't long before the Italians were pressing again, although only after White had directed a twenty yard free-kick into rather than over the defensive wall.
That 54th minute effort sparked an Italian counter-attack, Barbara Bonansea leading the charge before rattling the near post side-netting - she should have done better! Sixty seconds later, she did exactly that, doubling Italy's lead with a finely taken close-range volley, aided greatly by Skilton's untimely slip as Girelli crossed from the right.
Knowing they needed to score next, the Football Ferns looked to do so via the energy of Riley and Longo on the left, before playing the ball back to Moore to endeavour to pick out Hannah Wilkinson, who was well shackled by the Italian rearguard throughout proceedings.
On this occasion, she was able to flick the ball on towards White, but the covering figure of Elena Linari got between striker and sphere, affording Schroffenegger time aplenty to take charge of proceedings.
A superb slaloming run by Stott - she weaved through four opponents in a manner one doesn't expect of a defensive lynchpin - sparked a 64th minute raid which also involved Catherine Bott, Wilkinson and Riley, who uncorked a cross-shot which had Schroffenegger scrambling to turn the ball to safety.
Any hopes the Football Ferns harboured of getting something out of this semi-final were dashed in the 67th minute, as Italy scored their third goal. Tarenzi started and finished the move, sliding the ball home from six yards to convert the cross after Rosucci, Guagni and Bonansea - a delicious back-heel under pressure - had opened up New Zealand's left flank.
Cue substitutions galore, the final twenty minutes of the contest regularly interrupted by the introductions of fresh legs off the bench, with Tom Sermanni giving Katie Rood, Jana Radosavljevic, Nicole Stratford and Paige Satchell the chance to stretch their legs during this time.
A teasing cross-shot from Bott forced Schroffenegger to tip the dipping ball over the bar twenty minutes from time, while a poor clearance from Leat - her fourth cap is one she won't recall with great fondness - went unpunished by Bonansea four minutes later.
The Football Ferns failed to capitalise on a number of quality corners from Percival during the second spell, while their last chance of the match saw Satchell and Bott combine on the right in the 81st minute, only for Schroffenegger to save the resulting cross at the feet of Radosavljevic, who gave a good account of herself in the time she had on the park.
It was the Italians who were enjoying that experience, however, and in stoppage time they twice went close to scoring a fourth goal. Tatiana Banetti's free-kick picked out the head of Girelli, whose downward effort was superbly tipped onto the post by the diving figure of Leat.
Stott completed the clearance, but Le Azzurre were in again soon afterwards, Elisa Bartoli and Banetti combining to create an opening for Agnese Bonfantini, who was a stride away from getting on the end of her fellow substitute's cross.
Italy had done more than enough to earn their maiden Algarve Cup Final appearance, however, so the Football Ferns will be aiming for a best-ever third-placed finish in the competition when they take on Norway at the Estadio Algarve at 5am NZ time on March 11.
Italy: Schroffenegger; Guagni (Lenzini, 77), Gama, Linari, Bartoli; Cernola (Galli, 69), Mascarello (Caruso, 85), Rosucci (Boattin, 85), Bonansea (Banetti, 77); Girelli, Tarenzi (booked, 44) (Bonfantini, 69)
Football Ferns: Leat; Skilton, Stott, Moore (Stratford, 66); Bott, Bowen, Percival, Riley; White (booked, 41) (Rood, 73), Wilkinson (Satchell, 74), Longo (Radosavljevic, 73)
Referee: Ivana Martincic (Croatia)
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