NZ vs Canada - Match Thread

that was a thriller. Cant believe we lost. Hope the Nix players were watching and taking notice.

Oh that close bad luck girls, so unlucky not to have nicked a draw, great game great game   giddyup2008-10-28 21:00:53

Lonegunmen2008-10-28 21:05:27

No.

That match was f**king brilliant.

Even though we lost based on our attacking style and how we played that was one of the best performances by a NZ age group team (male or female) for a long time. There are a few girls on the team who are very skillful Longo especially (could be one of the players of the tournament) and can we get the girl who hit the bar with free kick to coach the nix on taking, them that was a cracker.

The Wellington Phoenixes??

The game was class, end to end and the girls put up a good fight definatly deserved a goal or two. Unlucky in the end but if they keeping knocking through balls like that, theyl score a few goals this tournament. That Longo girl is class.

Good to watch a game where a bit of contact doesn't result in one or both players writhing on the ground in agony.

Yea that was the biggest thing I noticed, the girls just get on with the game, none of the petulant sh*t like mouthing off at the ref or each other, or gamesmanship or anything.

Congratulations all round. 

Football as theatre! What a great game. Shame that it was Sky and not a nationwide terrestrial audience. EXCELLENT!!! 

Seriously folks, we need to talk this up from here on in this week.  Tell everyone you meet about how great this was, be an evangelist for this competition.

Hopefully we can talk everyone in to Thursday, they will get on board and come at the weekend and most importantly they will bring the family along on Tuesday next week to cheer NZ on.  From there they woll on to the quarter final and the Phoenix return home.

If people want paraphernalia start a thread and we'll talk to Amanda and Will at the U-17 office about getting a stack so we can drop flyers on every desk or table we see.

I'm off to the lobby of my hotel to welcome the girls back. Will give them a standing ovation on everyone's behalf. They deserve it. Great game with some fantastic football played. VERY unlucky not to score.

I'm really looking forward to the game next week in Welli. 

that's always me at the pub...

A lot of people will be like most of us were to be fair, a bit iffy about what the quality is going to be like. After that the word will surely get out. Hopefully the schools get in behind it too

Match report on Fifa.com is here.

I couldnt watch the game because of no sky. Cn someone describe the preformance from th NZ team and the highlights?

The girls played very well, unlucky not to have got something from the game. The standard was very good, much, much better than what I expected. If the girls play like that in the next two games there's no reason why we shouldn't get some wins.

And that free kick from maybe 30 yards out from Caitlin Campbell (I think?)? That was very impressive, well done.

Great atmosphere at the game i have to say. 13,000 excellent crowd i know the ticketing people and chief organisers were very pleased with that effort.

Felt so sorry for the girls at the end when they started crying. They were so close to a draw against apparently the best team in the group and put so much effort in.

the Young ferns showed so much tenacity and passion- i hope the Nix were watching..thats how you push a team for 95 minutes- what an advert for the game- sure some of the finishing from both teams was bertos -esque but the spirit was willing- and how good is a keeper coming up for a 94 minute corner!!!!!!!!!!!!! class

Great game.  Absolutely brilliant.  The girls should be really proud, they played there hearts out and deserved at least one point.

Campbell's a good player (so close!), and our keeper made a good save.  I noticed that they played the so often condemned hoofing the ball up the middle of the park, but it worked pretty well.  Had many attacks that could've ended in goals off aforementioned plays.

If NZ were to progress, though, I'd have thought Canada would've been the easiest team to get points off (in a pretty strong group).  Oh well, bring on Colombia and Denmark!

Canada are favourites for that group.  

That was a fantastic game. Longo was outstanding, getting around their midfield with ease and laying off good passes. Unlucky not to get one, or even a couple of goals. The wife and I were both jumping up and down at the end.

Man, what a game. That's the most i've enjoyed a game of footy in ages. Ok that girl Longo is AWESOME. She has some great skills and vision. Our defence was a bit of a worry though. But yeah, wow, Longo, what a star.

Stack here, I have been fortunate enough to have been videoing the girls games and training sessions and they are gutted to have lost but there is also a buzz around because they realize they can win these next games. They have seen your comments on here, it will have given them a lift for sure.

Stack is rubbish.  Make sure they read that.

Up for the final... you got floor space if my parents don't want me ?

yeah floor space available. i might be coming to the Welly game if I can wangle work to fit. Tell the missus

I haven't half enjoyed reading the comments on this thread.

big ups all round

Best game of football I have watched in years.  I went to the game, crowd was awesome, the skill level of both teams was great and the drama made it such an exciting match.  Really impressed with our two quick strikers, our captain and right back.  It was great to watch a New Zealand team take it to another side.  I'm so used to watching us defend for 80% of the match!  I'm definatley going on Saturday.  And if the girls do read these comments I know they will be disappointed they didn't get a result but please get your heads up and carry on in that manner and i'm sure you will do well against Denmark and Columbia.

Great night all round.

That was a very good game, surprised me. And wow they get bigger crowds than the All Whites.

Well done ladies.

Maybe I'm the only one thats negative (and I must admit I feel bad for being so because they did surprise me) but I don't think they played as well as people rave about.

In the first half, the Left back Brown and Right back Campbell were getting skinned consistently and Longo played a left half role that may as well have had her standing in the stand for all her involvement. Thankfully that changed in the 2nd half but sometimes they took wrong options and for a team that had been together as long as they have, that did surprise me. I suppose nerves in the 1st half was the main reason so maybe I'm being harsh.

I think why people appreciated this game more and most have alluded to this, is that they just got on with it. No petulance, diving, rolling around injured, time wasting, kicking for touch. They got on with it and played football and it showed with no extra time in the first half (when did that last happen) I can't recall any players doing an RVS or Tim Brown special and leaping in 2 footed (let alone leaving their feet) in fact i don't even recall 1 slide tackle.

Now if we had 9 more players (sans keeper) with the same skill as Longo, we'd be world beaters.

Personally, I appreciated the game not so much due to the lack of petulance and diving etc but for the fact that it was more physical and more skillful than I expected.

Yeah - I would back up comments about physical and skill aspects - lot better than I expected probably because these girls have been playing football all their life.

Only managed to catch 15 minutes of the game (frigging work)- but must say that I was pleasantly shocked at the ability of the girls. Had been chatting to a few people about it- and didn't have very high hopes for it- they're so young, and a women's footballing ability is typically not that of a man's (no offense intended). However am happy to eat my words and say that what I saw was fantastic football, great effort girls.

Have been away from the radio this morning, what has been the response to it on Radio Sport?
And does someone involved with the team have an email address for the team so we can send them good luck messages? Or is it better to start a thread on here and leave them here because I think I read they came on here and read the match thread