Junior Football Ferns Schedule
15 May
New Zealand v U-20 v LA Strikers
Home Depot Centre, Los Angeles
5pm (12pm May 16 NZT)
17 May
New Zealand U-20 v Pali Blues
Home Depot Centre, Los Angeles
5pm (12pm May 18 NZT)
19 May
New Zealand U-20 v USA U-20
Home Depot Centre, Los Angeles
3pm (10am May 20 NZT)
http://www.fifa.com/u20womensworldcup/news/newsid=1629300/index.html
draw for the wwc is on the 4th of June
Draw not made till June but match dates and venues already out:
Tournament runs August 19 - September 8
Fourteen of the 16 teams participating in the tournament are already known: Japan (automatically qualified as hosts), China PR, Korea DPR and Korea Republic (AFC); Canada, Mexico and USA (CONCACAF); Argentina and Brazil (CONMEBOL); New Zealand (OFC); Germany, Italy, Norway and Switzerland (UEFA). The two CAF (African) teams will qualify between 4 and 20 May.
Opening match and some other games will be in a recently-repaired stadium at the heart of the earthquake disaster zone- the Miyagi Stadium. See:
http://www.fifa.com/u20womensworldcup/news/newsid=1620012/index.html
Nice detailed report on the NZ side features on the FIFA website this week:
http://www.fifa.com/u20womensworldcup/news/newsid=1629300/index.html
This report mentions Rosie White will miss the US friendlies due to serious foot injury, along with other up-to-date news:
"The Whangarei-born Wilkinson will soon become the latest Kiwi footballer to enter the US college circuit when she takes up a scholarship at the University of Tennessee. For now though, the focus is on national team duties in the US over the coming weeks. Wilkinson, though, will have to make do without prolific strike-partner White who will miss the trip having suffered stress fractures in her foot. On the positive side for the Junior Football Ferns is the addition of New Zealand-born, Australia-raised defender Rebekah Stott, who is set to make her international debut after impressing in Australia’s W-League."
The girls won their first game in the US v the LA Strikers 3-2.
and lost the 2nd match to the Pali Blues team 3-0. Pali Blues are two times champions of the W-League, the second tier of professional women’s football in the USA. Big test tomorrow to see how they match up with the USA U-20 team.
DRAW FOR WOMEN'S U-20 WORLD CUP, JAPAN AUGUST 19- SEPTEMBER 8 MADE LAST NIGHT:
http://www.fifa.com/u20womensworldcup/news/newsid=1643468/index.html
In Group A, hosts Japan were drawn alongside Mexico, Switzerland, and New Zealand. The Japanese have shown tremendous progress in the last year, following in the senior side's footsteps, while tournament regulars Mexico will also be looking to impress.
NZ v Switzerland: Sun. 19 (Japan time) NZ v Japan: Wednes. Aug. 22 NZ v Mexico: Sun. Aug. 26
(Miyagi) (Miyagi) (Kobe)
"We are very excited to be playing the host nation in this time of great momentum for football in Japan. To be able to play in Miyagi also means a lot to our country as that area suffered, as we did, from an earthquake in the past two years."
Aaron McFarland, New Zealand coach
The 16 teams were split into four groups of four, with the top two teams from each group progressing to the quarter-finals.
The groups:
Group A: Japan, Mexico, Switzerland, New Zealand
Group B: Brazil, Korea Republic, Italy, Nigeria
Group C: Korea DPR, Canada, Norway, Argentina
Group D: USA, China PR, Germany, Ghana
The 21-day tournament will take place across five venues, including Hiroshima, Kobe, Miyagi, Saitama and Tokyo, with the historic Japanese capital playing host to the final.
Ticket sales for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Japan 2012 will commence on 23 June via FIFA.com. Ticketing prices will vary in categories across the different matches and a special ticketing price is being offered for fans below the age of 20, the same age limit for the participating players, in the Category 3 area.
will definatly wach the mexico game in kobe, hopefully i can get to the other games also.
looking forward to this
but it is going to be hot, with lots of games being hotter than 30 degrees with high humidty, it will definatly test us
Group D looks pretty tough.
NZ Women's u-20's (Junior Football Ferns) start their World Cup on Sunday 7.20pm (NZT)
LIVE ON SKY SPORT 3 FROM 7PM:
http://www.nzfootball.co.nz/index.php?id=11&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=1791&tx_ttnews[backPid]=10&cHash=2d6a5d308c
The Junior Football Ferns beat Kanagawa University 2-1 on Sunday afternoon thanks to goals from Wilkinson and Rebecca Burrows while on Tuesday the side went down 3-1 to 12 time Japanese champions NTV Beleza with White scoring New Zealand’s goal.
McFarland says experience playing in the 35 degree heat of the first game will provide invaluable conditioning while the pace and skill displayed by Beleza in the second match will help to raise the Junior Ferns’ own game ahead of a Swiss game New Zealand are targeting for a winning start to the tournament.
“Beleza were top class as you would expect from one of Japan’s most successful club sides. They gave us a torrid time to be fair and we were able to test our defensive systems and to score from a set piece was a nice bonus.
We didn’t see much of the ball but we looked good when we had it and we took a lot of positives. I like having that sort of tough test before your first game as there is no way the opposition can play at that pace.
“Our first aspiration is to win that first game and that will be the springboard to achieving the next aim of getting through of the group. We’re not shying away from wanting to at least get out of the group and we believe we have the fire power to do it.”
New Zealand’s match against Switzerland kicks off at 7.20pm on Sunday (NZT) with live coverage on Sky Sport 3.
FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Japan 2012
New Zealand v Switzerland
Miyagi Stadium, Miyagi
August 19
4.20pm (7.20pm NZT)
Live on Sky Sport 3 from 7.05pm
New Zealand: (from) 1-Erin NAYLER (GK), 2-Bridgette ARMSTRONG, 3-Rebecca BURROWS, 4-Nadia PEARL, 5-Tayla O BRIEN, 6-Evie MILLYNN, 7-Holly PATTERSON, 8-Olivia CHANCE, 9-Georgia BROWN, 10-Kate LOYE, 11-Katie ROOD, 12-Steph SKILTON, 13-Rosie WHITE (captain), 14-Katie BOWEN, 15-Tessa BERGER, 16-Ashleigh WARD, 17-Hannah WILKINSON, 18-Caitlin SMALLFIELD, 19-Lucy CARTER, 20-Corina BROWN (GK), 21-Jess REDDAWAY (GK).
Coach: Aaron McFARLAND
Switzerland: (from) 1-Pascale KUEFFER (GK), 2-Audrey WUICHET, 3-Carolyn MALLAUN, 4-Carina GERBER, 5-Anja THUERIG, 6-Lia WAELTI, 7-Cinzia JOERG, 8-Egzona SELJIMI, 9-Eseosa AIGBOGUN, 10-Mirnije SELIMI, 11-Cora CANETTA, 12-Nadine BOENI (GK), 13-Sabrina RIBEAUD, 14-Nadine FAESSLER, 15-Sarina SCHENKEL, 16-Carmen PULVER, 17-Fabienne ROCHAIX, 18-Natasha GENSETTER, 19-Karin BERNET, 20-Noelle MARITZ, 21-Sina AUTINO (GK).
Coach: Yannick SCHWERY
New Zealand schedule
New Zealand v Switzerland
Miyagi Stadium, Miyagi
August 19
4.20pm (7.20pm NZT)
Live on Sky Sport 3 from 7.05pm
New Zealand v Japan
Miyagi Stadium, Miyagi
August 22
7.20pm (10.20pm NZT)
Live on Sky Sport 1 from 10.05pm
New Zealand v Mexico
Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium, Kobe
August 26
7.20pm (10.20pm NZT)
Live on Sky Sport 1 from 10.05pm
Come on Kiwi! Great to be able to watch this on the tele! Go girls, do us proud!!!
Sound would be nice...?
Girls are on now, nil all after 35 mins
WOOHOO, great ball in behind, little jink to the byline to create space, the angled ball back to a well timed run and finish! 1-0
Great goal, did everythng right
1-0 up at HT and looking pretty good. Hope they can build on the lead.
It's been a good game to watch so far. Good periods of possession only sometimes spoiled by a bit of sloppy passing but otherwise we're looking good. Ashleigh Ward is my team mates daughter so I've been keeping tabs on her a bit, so far so good, including a goal saving tackle near the end. The girls look happy coming out of the tunnel too.
Massive crowd 
Come on girls! Great goal Evie 
Rosie White \o/
Gooooooall! 2-0 yeeeeeeeah!
Had a better time watching this than the disgrace of an opening game that Liverpool had this morning... Thank the sweet baby Jar Jar Binks for these girls for making my weekend!
Playing really well, gotta be proud of the team! Get in girls! Fuck em up!!'
How awesome is it to be dissapointed about conceeding a late goal that didn't change the final result!
Good win for the girls, but a better side might have punished us more for some of those errors. Who do we face next?
Japan next, then Mexico.
Yeah! Bring it on for the next game!!!
Well dOne girls, did us proud!!'
Well done, first win since 2008 ?? I liked the attitiude of those big forwards of ours, very determined. Good vision for the second goal
Thorougly enjoyed watching that game, and not just because all of the girls were babin'.
