Matchday Two

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Matchday Two

So Near Yet So Far

by Jeremy Ruane

The better team lost! Again!

How close is this Football Ferns team to busting down the barrier which is separating them from teams ranked in the top ten in the world?

In their last three games, they've drawn with Canada and Japan, respectively ranked ninth and tenth in the world, and outwitted and outplayed fifth-ranked Norway, only to go down by a solitary goal on this occasion.

Frustrating doesn't even begin to describe it from the perspective of the one NZ media person who closely follows their fortunes. So you can only imagine how the players must be feeling about things.

Despite the disappointment, the key thing is that, despite Melissa Wiik's decisive eighth minute header in Qinhuangdao on Saturday night, the squad has not lost any of its self-belief.

Indeed, if anything, it's even stronger after this result, because they've proved to themselves they can match it with a nation which has always been ranked in the game's upper echelons.

The task now - and one in which the girls' belief is ferociously strong - is to repeat the feat against the world's top-ranked team, the USA, only this time with the scoreline in the Football Ferns' favour on Tuesday night in Shenyang.

The reigning Olympic champions prepared for their date with Kiwi destiny by downing Japan 1-0, courtesy a crackerjack strike from Carli Lloyd. That win lifts the USA into second spot, three points behind the Norwegians, who finish the group by playing Japan in Shanghai, and are the first - and, so far, only - team to qualify for the quarter-finals.

That's because the clash between China and Canada in Tianjin ended in a 1-1 draw, with both goals coming in a two-minute burst inside the final ten minutes of the first half. Christine Sinclair, the Canucks' goalscoring machine, broke the deadlock in the 34th minute, only for Xu Yuan to restore it two minutes later.

China's markswoman hit the crossbar late in the game, after Canada's rising star, Kara Lang, had

rattled the post in a match Even Pellerud's team should have won, if statistics are any guide.

Earlier in the evening, a solitary strike just shy of the hour mark from Niila Fischer secured Sweden's 1-0 win over Argentina, a victory which could have been far greater had the European team not been so profligate in front of goal.

Victoria Svensson hit the post for the victors, who take on Canada in a crucial encounter in Beijing on Tuesday, at the same time as China tackle the Argentinians in Qinhuangdao.

The two matches in Shenyang saw last year's FIFA Women's World Cup Finalists record victories. Germany relied on a 64th minute Kerstin Stegemann goal to down Nigeria 1-0, after having been outplayed by the African champions who, but for German `keeper Nadine Angerer, could easily have recorded the shock of the tournament thus far.

Instead, they now have to pin their hopes on beating Brazil in Beijing, which won't be easy given the South Americans have rediscovered their winning touch. It came at the expense of North Korea, for whom Ri Kum Suk scored a late consolation goal in this 2-1 defeat.

Daniela and Marta scored in an eight-minute burst inside the first quarter of the match, and from there on in, the Brazilians won as they liked. The North Koreans, meanwhile, tackle Germany in their final match in Tianjin, with the victor certain to advance to the last eight.

Olympic Women's Football Tournament, Matchday Two:

Group E:

Canada 1 (C. Sinclair (34)), China 1 (Xu Yuan (36)) HT 1-1

Sweden 1 (I. Fischer (58)), Argentina 0 HT 0-0

Group F:

Brazil 2 (Daniela (14), Marta (22)), North Korea 1 (Ri Kum Suk (90)) HT 2-0

Germany 1 (K. Stegemann (64)), Nigeria 0 HT 0-0

Group G:

Norway 1 (M. Wiik (8)), New Zealand 0 HT 1-0

USA 1 (C. Lloyd (27)), Japan 0 HT 1-0

2008