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Football Ferns Held By Russia At Algarve Cup
by Jeremy Ruane
The Football Ferns face a must-win clash with host nation Portugal in Albufeira at 4am NZ time on Tuesday if they harbour hopes of finishing in the top three at the 2016 Algarve Cup, after being held to a scoreless draw by Russia in Parchal on March 4, despite dominating their European rivals from the outset in breezy conditions.
New Zealand's women recorded the country's first-ever favourable result against Russian opponents, all four previous clashes between the countries - the All Whites at Spain '82, the Junior Ferns in Russia in 2006, and two Football Ferns' fixtures - having ended in victory for the nation hosting the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals.
Despite enjoying possession aplenty, quality chances were at a premium throughout proceedings, with Rosie White - one of two changes to the starting line-up compared to that which faced Brazil two days ago - seeing her goalbound shot deflected to safety in the first half, then firing a free-kick narrowly over the bar in the second spell.
The Russians, whose squad includes eleven players from the Rossiyanka club, were restricted to counter-attacking opportunities, but star striker Elena Danilova was well contained by old adversary Abby Erceg, the pair having first crossed paths a decade ago at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Finals in St. Petersburg.
The draw, allied to Brazil's 3-1 victory over Portugal - Cristiane, Marta and Raquel were on target for the victors - means the Football Ferns can only finish second at best in their group.
Another highlight for the Football Ferns in this clash was the first appearance in three years of Anna Green, who came off the bench in the second half to end her lengthy injury nightmare by wearing the silver fern in combat once more.
Football Ferns: Nayler; Bowen, Stott, Erceg, Percival; Hassett, Duncan, Hearn, Longo (Green, 54); White, Gregorius (Pereira, 69)
In Group A action, Summer Clarke's goal two minutes from time clinched a 1-0 win for Canada over Belgium, while Iceland thrashed Denmark 4-1 in the Scandinavian derby, two goals in as many minutes inside the first twelve minutes from Elin
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Jensen and Malfriour Siguroardottir setting up the win for Freyr Alexandersson's team.
The final day of group play on Tuesday sees Brazil and Russia meeting at the same time as the Football Ferns face Portugal, while the later matches see Canada taking on Iceland while Denmark and Belgium lock horns.
There are a host of other women's tournaments taking place at the moment, including the Cyprus Cup, which New Zealand has contested previously. After two rounds of play, Austria is the only team in either group with a perfect record, and face Italy on Tuesday NZ time with a place in the Cyprus Cup Final at stake.
Eire and Hungary are already out of contention in Group A. while in Group B, table-toppers Poland are likely to be the other finalists, although they need to beat bottom-placed Finland to shut out both the Czech Republic and Wales.
The SheBelieves Cup is a four-team tournament taking place in the USA, and the reigning world champions edged England 1-0 in their opening match, Crystal Dunn's goal matching that scored by Germany's Leonie Maier, whose late winner trumped France by the same scoreline in the earlier encounter.
Two Olympic Women's qualifying tournaments are also taking place, with Australia's Matildas just a point away from securing their place in Rio de Janeiro after recording three wins from their opening three matches at the Asian qualifying tournament in Japan.
The host nation, silver medalists at London 2012, look certain to miss out on the 2016 event, having lost to both Australia and China, who need one win from their last two matches to book their tickets for Rio. DPR Korea are the only other team with realistic hopes of spoiling the party for those nations.
Meanwhile, the opening matches in the European women's qualifying tournament saw Sweden edge Norway 1-0, while Holland came from behind to down Switzerland 4-3. The winner of that four-team tournament qualifies for Rio 2016.
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