Day Seven

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Day Seven

Out Of Chaos Comes Order - Eventually!

by Jeremy Ruane

Now I know the fifth FIFA Women's World Cup Finals has had a little bit of everything, without a shadow of a doubt!!

What a nightmare the last twenty-four hours has been, leading up to Matchday Seven!

FIFA's decision, on Tuesday, to defer two of the final group games by twenty-four hours, although made with the game's best interests at heart, met with a barrage of protest from a number of quarters, the prime argument being that those teams playing later would know exactly what they had to do in their matches in order to progress, etc..

Hence the world's governing body decided to defer the other fixtures by twenty-four hours as well, only this decision came very late in the piece. So late, in fact, that the last media buses, were en route to the venues when the postponement was decided.

Indeed, the local organising committees at the venues concerned weren't made aware of the change until it was too late, so all the police, volunteers, catering staff, etc., turned up because they hadn't been advised …

Of course, it meant some hasty amendments to travel plans for a whole raft of folk, including the Football Ferns squad and this writer, amongst others. Arranging an extra night's stay at hotels, rebooking flights … in short, it was a bit of a mess, to put it mildly, one which could easily have been avoided had FIFA, to begin with, opted to defer all four games involved by twenty-four hours.

Eventually, they took place on Thursday, the Group C encounters kicking off at 5pm. Needing a point in their clash with Canada to advance to the last eight for the first time ever, Australia nearly choked in Chengdu, captain Cheryl Salisbury snatching an injury time equaliser to clinch the Matildas' passage into the last eight thanks to a 2-2 draw.

Melissa Tancredi fired the Canadians in front after just 37 seconds - the second-fastest goal in Women's World Cup history, and the team which twice humbled the Football Ferns in Auckland in June held out the Matildas until the break, Sarah Walsh going closest to levelling matters before half-time when hitting the post.

Collette McCallum, with a peach of a free-kick, equalised eight minutes into the second half, only for Canadian substitute Jodi-Ann Robinson to head against the post with twenty minutes remaining.

With five minutes left on the clock, Christine Sinclair headed the Canucks back in front, but Salisbury's stoppage time strike broke the hearts of the Canadians, who head home tomorrow, four years after finishing fourth at the 2003 Finals.

Norway, meanwhile, required victory over Ghana to secure not only their usual Women's World Cup quarter-finals spot - they've yet to miss out - but a place at the 2008 Olympics.

A Chinese sunset in Tianjin, on the night when nobody played, yet all-comers turned up!

The Football Ferns warming up for the China clash

With those sorts of incentives to play for in Hangzhou, it's little wonder that they made no race of it, surging to a 3-0 half-time lead before emerging triumphant by a 7-2 scoreline.

Ragnhild Gulbrandsen led the way with a hat-trick, her first goal the 500th in the history of Women's World Cup Finals. Lene Storlokken, Ana Stangeland Horpestad - from the penalty spot, Isabell Herlovsen and Lisa Klaveness also chimed in, with the Norwegians seven goals to the good inside seventy minutes before easing off.

In the time which remained, Adjoa Bayor and Florence Oloe - another penalty - reduced the deficit for the Ghanaians, who head home with a tournament ranking of fifteenth - only Argentina are below them.

So to Group D, with Denmark needing to defeat Brazil in Hangzhou to have a chance of progressing to the quarter-finals, and qualifying for Beijing 2008 as well. Needless to say, the South Americans, whose own Olympic qualification isn't yet guaranteed, had their own ideas on that score, and duly deployed them, albeit in stoppage time.

Pretinha broke Danish hearts with a late winner, which turned out to be the only goal of a cracking game, the outcome of which means Sweden and Denmark will need to play off to decide UEFA's third representative at next year's Olympics, Germany and Norway having qualified by advancing to the last eight at this tournament.

All of which meant that a Chinese draw with (preferably) or victory over New Zealand in Tianjin would see the host nation into the last eight. With 55,832 fans - a sell-out - in the ground urging them on, and bearing the weight of expectancy of the entire country as well, China found the Football Ferns to be an incredibly tough nut to crack.

As with Denmark, so with China - 0-0 was the half-time score, and while the host nation dominated the attacking, this time round, the Kiwis weren't without their opportunities, particularly in the second half, when Zoe Thompson fired past the post when one-on-one with Chinese goalkeeper Zhang Yanru.

By that point, China had broken the deadlock, Li Jie heading home Zhou Gaoping's free-kick just shy of the hour mark. And after Ma Xiaoxu had hit the crossbar with a shot, Xie Ciaxia took full advantage of the open spaces on New Zealand's right flank to conclude the scoring eleven minutes from time, and leave the Kiwis in fourteenth spot on the tournament's standings.

So the quarter-final make-up can finally be confirmed. On Saturday, Germany plays North Korea in Wuhan at 9pm NZ time, while three hours later, the USA and England draw swords in Tianjin. Sunday's fare sees Norway playing China in the early encounter, again in Wuhan, while in Tianjin, in the later affair, Brazil tackles Australia.

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