Group A: New Zealand | Norway | Philippines | Switzerland

KiwiMancunian

Maybe the wrong place but is anyone familiar with obstructed view tickets at Sky Stadium? Can't think where that would be.

At Eden Park it's behind the team benches... which are huge. The front three of four rows are impeded. Even low down in Wellington I could see them obstructing.

Good fun tonight. Crowd didn't really know what to do for most of the game, but football did what football does best and the excitement and nerves built throughout the game and turned it into an awesome evening.

Lots of Aucklanders going home with a new appreciation for the world game.

I GOT A FUCKING TICKET!!!!!! UP THE FUCKING FOOTBALL FERNS!!!!!!!

Football40s

Yeah true &  there were a number of empty seats also…

LG

What was the final crowd number? Looked about 48k. You could tell it was mainly non football fans - NO singing. Not even a Mexican Wave. But they showed up and got to see history being made. Well done. I like the cultural touch. Instead of Vuvuzela's or  waving scarves, tee shirts, bangers, they were waving Poi's. That looked quite cool

 Many of those seats were probably people queueing for donuts. Massive queues

Showtimenixie? Did you see the match? We beat Norway 1-0 Wilkinson with the goal and Hand with the assist on a set play from our goal kick. Incase you missed it. Esson with the clean sheet.

Think I’ve missed out on what looks like it’s going to be one of the great moments of NZ football up there with Rory’s goal and Pasty’s save. 

Great job the Ferns and here’s hoping they can keep up the performances!

Absolutely one of the most exciting games I have watched for ages. People were predicting a 0-4 loss which would have killed off NZ interest in the tournament. But this outstanding win will turbo charge the public. Kiwis love winners. Expect the next two NZ pool games to sell out. As for the game, I can’t believe it was the same team that bumbled it’s way through the warm up games. Great skill, high work rate, lots of energy and passion. They were deserving winners against a much higher rated team. Brilliant win

So glad I got tickets at the last minute. Brilliant performance from the team.

Are you watching are you watching are you watching Erceg are you watching Erceg!

Bowan the kiwi Rio Ferdinand. 
Was a nervous last 20 mins when we started to tire, thought the subs were interesting. Wilkinson was "effective" think was the commentators word. Three in the midfield couldn't be faulted.

Nest day and I'm still buzzing.  We didn't look like the underdog.  We had so much control, some excellent passing, and made some great chances.  

Norway looked like they were gonna score but on the counter.  And to be fair the defenders saved our asses with 2 very clear chances.

Just a fudgeing excellent game from a fudgeing excellent team.

Brilliant win, totally unexpected especially given warm up games, but we have not seen that kind of game plan/performance form the ferns in 2-3 years!
Norwegians were totally shellshocked from our first press and we continued it! All 11 starteds played out of their skins.

I'm shocked that our resident expert on women's football hasnt made a single comment on any of the threads yet - half expected SN to be in here demanding Klimkova out or suggesting Ali Riley was sharke!

But in all seriousness, Wilkenson proved why she should be starting, yes she's not quick and sometimes her touch lets her down, but the runs she made and her positioning caused the defence major problems, and to be in the right spot to receive the cross from Hand - sublime!
Paige-Riley was awesome as well - pressued every pass and forced errors all night. The back four did their job admirably, givving Esson very little to deal with and the few opportunities she had to make a save she did well - including the tip onto the bar from the Norwegians one decent shot at goal.

Only criticism is around the subs, Buinge on made sense, but I think Riley could have been subbed at around the 85th min, she was cramping up - fresh legs needed, Rennie for Wilkenson had little impact. 
Are the ladies allowed 3 or 5 subs in this tourney?

And what the fudge was going on with added time - none in the first half - when there is usually at least 1 minute, and the 9 for the second when there was only 1 card, very few injury stoppages!

As a non kiwi but a resident and obviously avid football and nix fan, this was great to see. Crowd, whilst not a footballing one, grew into the game with the team and sounded like it was some noise at FT. Given what I’d read about the ferns’ form in the run up, wasn’t expecting much but boy did they step up! Ian Wright on Twitter was loving it! Buzzing for the Philippines game, hopefully last night should shift the last couple. Don’t think there were many left pre game tbf. Well done ferns, superb moment of history made 👍

theprof

Brilliant win, totally unexpected especially given warm up games, but we have not seen that kind of game plan/performance form the ferns in 2-3 years!
Norwegians were totally shellshocked from our first press and we continued it! All 11 starteds played out of their skins.

I'm shocked that our resident expert on women's football hasnt made a single comment on any of the threads yet - half expected SN to be in here demanding Klimkova out or suggesting Ali Riley was sharke!

But in all seriousness, Wilkenson proved why she should be starting, yes she's not quick and sometimes her touch lets her down, but the runs she made and her positioning caused the defence major problems, and to be in the right spot to receive the cross from Hand - sublime!
Paige-Riley was awesome as well - pressued every pass and forced errors all night. The back four did their job admirably, givving Esson very little to deal with and the few opportunities she had to make a save she did well - including the tip onto the bar from the Norwegians one decent shot at goal.

Only criticism is around the subs, Buinge on made sense, but I think Riley could have been subbed at around the 85th min, she was cramping up - fresh legs needed, Rennie for Wilkenson had little impact. 
Are the ladies allowed 3 or 5 subs in this tourney?

And what the fudge was going on with added time - none in the first half - when there is usually at least 1 minute, and the 9 for the second when there was only 1 card, very few injury stoppages!

I think for extra time they may be doing the same thing as the men's tournament last year.

Ended up rewatching some of the game this morning - can’t believe how early sky cut away from the game!

What Sky missed:
- Whole stadium bouncing to Freed from Desire “na na”s
- The ladies bouncing around for their lap of honour
- One of the girls, I think our captain, heading back to the centre circle and just standing there by herself for a while - a really nice moment watching her soak it in 

pickledmyself

Was having second thoughts about going tonight after this morning's tragedy and the weather forecast. Christ I'm glad I went. What an atmosphere after that amazing full field goal and at the end. Awesome to shove one up the Murray Deakers of the world who have tried to talk this team and cup down for the last year. Get fudgeing IN!

Christ. Not to be mean, but: he's still going? (as in commercially, not mortal coil). 

I've been a vocal critic (I think fairly) of the team in recent times here.

So I ought to say - that was my favourite game I've ever seen live and a magical win for football in NZ. Don't stop believing I guess!

To her credit, Jitka set the team up wonderfully and made all the right selections, and she said we would be "gritty" - we weren't just gritty but aggressive in a good way, tenaciously got stuck into every tackle, every player ran their absolute heart out and even though the chances were pretty even, we genuinely deserved the win and it wasn't a sharkhousery/defensive nervewreck or anything like people may have expected. Equal shots, equal possession and we had them rattled nearly the whole game. Let's hope we can build on this terrific start and get what we need to progress from the group stage (and ideally win our group!). 

Monto

theprof

Brilliant win, totally unexpected especially given warm up games, but we have not seen that kind of game plan/performance form the ferns in 2-3 years!
Norwegians were totally shellshocked from our first press and we continued it! All 11 starteds played out of their skins.

I'm shocked that our resident expert on women's football hasnt made a single comment on any of the threads yet - half expected SN to be in here demanding Klimkova out or suggesting Ali Riley was sharke!

But in all seriousness, Wilkenson proved why she should be starting, yes she's not quick and sometimes her touch lets her down, but the runs she made and her positioning caused the defence major problems, and to be in the right spot to receive the cross from Hand - sublime!
Paige-Riley was awesome as well - pressued every pass and forced errors all night. The back four did their job admirably, givving Esson very little to deal with and the few opportunities she had to make a save she did well - including the tip onto the bar from the Norwegians one decent shot at goal.

Only criticism is around the subs, Buinge on made sense, but I think Riley could have been subbed at around the 85th min, she was cramping up - fresh legs needed, Rennie for Wilkenson had little impact. 
Are the ladies allowed 3 or 5 subs in this tourney?

And what the fudge was going on with added time - none in the first half - when there is usually at least 1 minute, and the 9 for the second when there was only 1 card, very few injury stoppages!

I think for extra time they may be doing the same thing as the men's tournament last year.

Correct, expect to see a lot of extra time at this tournament. Its FIFA driven to stop time wasting and to maximise effective playing time. They worked out in a 90min game there was only something like 60mins of action, so whenever there be an stoppage for treatment, substitution, penalty, red card, VAR or celebration of a goal, time is getting added on to make up for it.

There is also another change we may see in the knockout stage. So we have five substitutions per game now but from the round of 16 onwards, teams are permitted to make an additional sixth substitution in extra time, but this change cannot be made before the 90 minutes of regulation time has ended.

The extra substitution can be made before the start of extra time, if a knockout game is tied after 90 minutes, but that will count as the extra substitution.

LG

What was the final crowd number? Looked about 48k. You could tell it was mainly non football fans - NO singing. Not even a Mexican Wave. But they showed up and got to see history being made. Well done. I like the cultural touch. Instead of Vuvuzela's or  waving scarves, tee shirts, bangers, they were waving Poi's. That looked quite cool

There were multiple Mexican waves - but I guess they just didn't show them on TV. But yeah, between that and the 'defence clap clap clap' chant it was pretty much a library at times. 

Respect to the 3 or 4 lads that did shirts off at 80 mins haha

I have been quite loud in my calls to get rid of the coach after a couple years of horrible results etc.

But fair play - the return of key players as she has spoken to, and clearly the time in camp, as she also spoke to, have made a significant difference. 

We were great last night.

I though Hand had an excellent game - not usually a fan of hers on TV, but live, it was great to see her movement/runs and ability to drop into the holes. She did really well.

Fully expect both of the Ferns remaining games to be sold out now, if not already.

We played better than Australia 

Fundamentally last night. NZ were a team, Norway were just individuals.

KiwiMancunian

Maybe the wrong place but is anyone familiar with obstructed view tickets at Sky Stadium? Can't think where that would be.

I think they are mostly the ones near the front rows on the TV camera side,so partially obstructed by the team benches shelter.

Good luck for anyone after tickets to the Philippines game. They were effectively sold out of each issue soon after they became available. Hopefully the resale option works for people. I was at the Wellington Fan Zone and there were lots of internationals there. All of the ones I saw and talked to were right behind NZ! Maybe we're going to be everyone's favourite second team. And why wouldn't they back NZ - that Ferns game was one of the best complete games of football I've seen! They all went beyond what any of us have ever seen from them before - individually and as a team! What a start to the Tourney!

Oh and while I'm here - for anyone around Wellington at the time - check out the GROUP E chat for info joining in on the big Netherlands Fan Parade planned before the Netherlands vs USA game in Welly.

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Pretty much nothing on the resale website either. Match should pretty much be a sell out

martinb

Think I’ve missed out on what looks like it’s going to be one of the great moments of NZ football up there with Rory’s goal and Pasty’s save. 

Great job the Ferns and here’s hoping they can keep up the performances!

 Crazy, I was at all 3

Yakcall

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Pretty much nothing on the resale website either. Match should pretty much be a sell out

Resale website is a friggin mess. Hard to find seats together and I suspect allows people to (for example) buy 2 seats from 3 seated together.

YouCanCallMeAl

LG

What was the final crowd number? Looked about 48k. You could tell it was mainly non football fans - NO singing. Not even a Mexican Wave. But they showed up and got to see history being made. Well done. I like the cultural touch. Instead of Vuvuzela's or  waving scarves, tee shirts, bangers, they were waving Poi's. That looked quite cool

There were multiple Mexican waves - but I guess they just didn't show them on TV. But yeah, between that and the 'defence clap clap clap' chant it was pretty much a library at times. 

Respect to the 3 or 4 lads that did shirts off at 80 mins haha

Four - and I could hear the countdown from the other end of the field. Nuts. One of the highlights of the night. I considered joining them in solidarity...

Gullitesque

pickledmyself

Was having second thoughts about going tonight after this morning's tragedy and the weather forecast. Christ I'm glad I went. What an atmosphere after that amazing full field goal and at the end. Awesome to shove one up the Murray Deakers of the world who have tried to talk this team and cup down for the last year. Get fudgeing IN!

Christ. Not to be mean, but: he's still going? (as in commercially, not mortal coil). 

Apparently about to be reincarnited by NZME

ahmad

Yakcall

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Pretty much nothing on the resale website either. Match should pretty much be a sell out

Resale website is a friggin mess. Hard to find seats together and I suspect allows people to (for example) buy 2 seats from 3 seated together.

I had a nightmare with that resale site - wanted to take my daughters to the Norway game, but after a dozen attempts with each getting the "purchase unsuccessful" message I just gave up.

Swiss look pretty handy. While the Philippines aren't that flash, they are fighting hard. Ferns will need to be on form for both games!

I'm interested to hear the thoughts of the pen in the Swiss game. 

watching_from_far

I'm interested to hear the thoughts of the pen in the Swiss game. 

What’s to hear? It was a penalty. 
Yes, the Swiss player was already on the ground, having just stretched to get a toe to the ball, but the Filipina kicked her, not the ball.
Unfortunate, soft maybe, in that Switzerland were not scoring from that play, but under the laws of the game it’s a penalty. 
I never like a penalty where the team that is awarded it doesn’t look like actually scoring from that play.
I gues it could be filed with all the others that would never have been awarded without VAR.

ClubOranje

watching_from_far

I'm interested to hear the thoughts of the pen in the Swiss game. 

What’s to hear? It was a penalty. 
Yes, the Swiss player was already on the ground, having just stretched to get a toe to the ball, but the Filipina kicked her, not the ball.
Unfortunate, soft maybe, in that Switzerland were not scoring from that play, but under the laws of the game it’s a penalty. 
I never like a penalty where the team that is awarded it doesn’t look like actually scoring from that play.
I gues it could be filed with all the others that would never have been awarded without VAR.

 Wrong group but justice that NZL missed the penalty last night?

Heck, we must be favourites to top the group now.

Napier Phoenix

Heck, we must be favourites to top the group now.

It'll depend on that Norway Switzerland game right?  If Switzerland pumps Norway then we would be likely to nab 2nd.  If Norway wins then it's gonna be goal difference deciding spots.

ahmad

ClubOranje

watching_from_far

I'm interested to hear the thoughts of the pen in the Swiss game. 

What’s to hear? It was a penalty. 
Yes, the Swiss player was already on the ground, having just stretched to get a toe to the ball, but the Filipina kicked her, not the ball.
Unfortunate, soft maybe, in that Switzerland were not scoring from that play, but under the laws of the game it’s a penalty. 
I never like a penalty where the team that is awarded it doesn’t look like actually scoring from that play.
I gues it could be filed with all the others that would never have been awarded without VAR.

 Wrong group but justice that NZL missed the penalty last night?

ahmad

ClubOranje

watching_from_far

I'm interested to hear the thoughts of the pen in the Swiss game. 

What’s to hear? It was a penalty. 
Yes, the Swiss player was already on the ground, having just stretched to get a toe to the ball, but the Filipina kicked her, not the ball.
Unfortunate, soft maybe, in that Switzerland were not scoring from that play, but under the laws of the game it’s a penalty. 
I never like a penalty where the team that is awarded it doesn’t look like actually scoring from that play.
I gues it could be filed with all the others that would never have been awarded without VAR.

 Wrong group but justice that NZL missed the penalty last night?

Don’t know about ‘justice’; it was a ball heading into a dangerous area, but penalties like that are gifts really. Not quite the same feeling as a deliberate HB saving a goal, getting hacked down driving through the defence to be one on one or being pulled down from behind as you are swinging your leg through for the shot. 
Particularly with those hand balls. Ask the question, was it deliberate, did they gain a clear advantage by it. That’s what should determine a penalty. Neither applies, play on, keep the game moving.
Saw too many last couple of years where there was no deliberation, no advantage, but a free goal given. There were a few EPL ones like that last season.. player never knew where ball was in a scramble but it brushed his arm which was ‘outside his silhouette’. Really?. Arms are used for balance.

ClubOranje

ahmad

ClubOranje

watching_from_far

I'm interested to hear the thoughts of the pen in the Swiss game. 

What’s to hear? It was a penalty. 
Yes, the Swiss player was already on the ground, having just stretched to get a toe to the ball, but the Filipina kicked her, not the ball.
Unfortunate, soft maybe, in that Switzerland were not scoring from that play, but under the laws of the game it’s a penalty. 
I never like a penalty where the team that is awarded it doesn’t look like actually scoring from that play.
I gues it could be filed with all the others that would never have been awarded without VAR.

 Wrong group but justice that NZL missed the penalty last night?

ahmad

ClubOranje

watching_from_far

I'm interested to hear the thoughts of the pen in the Swiss game. 

What’s to hear? It was a penalty. 
Yes, the Swiss player was already on the ground, having just stretched to get a toe to the ball, but the Filipina kicked her, not the ball.
Unfortunate, soft maybe, in that Switzerland were not scoring from that play, but under the laws of the game it’s a penalty. 
I never like a penalty where the team that is awarded it doesn’t look like actually scoring from that play.
I gues it could be filed with all the others that would never have been awarded without VAR.

 Wrong group but justice that NZL missed the penalty last night?

Don’t know about ‘justice’; it was a ball heading into a dangerous area, but penalties like that are gifts really. Not quite the same feeling as a deliberate HB saving a goal, getting hacked down driving through the defence to be one on one or being pulled down from behind as you are swinging your leg through for the shot. 
Particularly with those hand balls. Ask the question, was it deliberate, did they gain a clear advantage by it. That’s what should determine a penalty. Neither applies, play on, keep the game moving.
Saw too many last couple of years where there was no deliberation, no advantage, but a free goal given. There were a few EPL ones like that last season.. player never knew where ball was in a scramble but it brushed his arm which was ‘outside his silhouette’. Really?. Arms are used for balance.

Was a clear hand ball.  Should it be is another question but with how they have been officiated the last few years it's clear as day.  The first one theu checked which bounced off her legs into her an arm would have been a harsh call (but could still easily have been called) so I was kinda glad we didn't get that call.  But second one was hand ball every day of the week.

Norwegian press not happy with their team. From a Voerman tweet.
https://www.nrk.no/sport/nrk-bors-norge-new-zealand_-_--ser-helt-paralyserte-og-livredde-ut-1.16488262

Never said otherwise.