Football Ferns at the 2018 Nations Cup: Game Two vs Cook Islands
There’s a lot to be gained from a very timely tour like this. For one thing, any extended amount of time working with the coaches in camp is valuable, let alone when the head coach has only recently taken over. Plus hanging out on the beach in the sun on recovery days is basically guaranteed to restore morale to the squad after some tough times. Plus the recap of the first game focussed on how cashing in on some international goals is always a welcome opportunity for a Ferns team that doesn’t tend to score a lot against the best teams, a Ferns team who often has to go from ‘too easy’ to ‘too hard’ in terms of their opposition.
Another major benefit is being able to expand the playing group by offering up caps to fringe and emerging players. Following on from an 11-0 win in the first game, that’s what Tom Sermanni chose to focus on against the Cook Islands. Perfectly reasonable - especially in the heat of New Caledonia with a number of games to be played in a short space of time. Gotta use the entire squad if you don’t wanna hit the wall too early and the Ferns need to win this whole tournament to make the World Cup. Anything less would be a shocker.
What does rotation mean? It means eight changes from the team that started the opener. The only players who remained were Ali Riley, Katie Bowen and Annalie Longo… and Riley and Longo were two of the players who only played 45 minutes in the first game. The eight changes saw Vic Esson given the start in goal days after signing professionally in Norway (see the last Flying Kiwis for more on that), while Riley started on the right of a back four that had Anna Green on the left and Liz Anotn and Steph Skilton in the middle. Looked like a 4-3-3 shape, which is an excellent one for the players available by the way. Can see that being a way to break down better teams – you’ve got a midfield that won’t get overloaded and you’ve got support up front.
Katie Bowen and Annalie Longo were in that midfield on this occasion with Malia Steinmetz joining them (Bowen as the holding mid, the other two a little more advanced – Bowen’s job was often to slip back almost into the back three to enable the fullbacks to commit forward, something KB does brilliantly). The front three was all new with Katie Rood and Paige Satchell supporting Emma Rolston through the middle. This was a first senior international start for Rood, Esson, Rolston and Anton and pretty sure a first start for Satchell too. Almost half the squad never having started for the Ferns before… sounds like a recipe for a bit of disjointedness, to be honest. Ah well, if there was ever a time for that, it’s now.
The last three times the Ferns have played the Cooks it ended in an average 10-0 victory. This didn’t really feel like it was going to go that way. The Ferns built up a lot of promising stuff down the left with Riley and Satchell, but initially didn’t see a whole lot of end product for it. They were dominant from the first whistle to the last but you could tell some of the combinations weren’t there yet. Which is fine. Times like that you lean on your most experienced players to lead you and that’s what Annalie Longo did, showing the youngsters how it’s down with a sharp finish to make it 1-0 in the 13th minute. Lesson learned because almost immediately Emma Rolston had her first international goal. Really nice one too, Katie Bowen with a chip over the top for the run of Anna Green who knocked it across perfectly for Rolston to tap it home.
Rolston scored her first Bundesliga goal a few weeks ago too so seems she’s got a very useful habit there. Ordinarily she’d have been playing where Steinmetz started but Rollo’s no stranger to centre forward and she had a solid game there. Especially after her goal, drawing some confidence from the strike and continuing to get into dangerous areas.
The Cook Islands didn’t crumble though. While they barely had a shot all game, they defended with immense spirit and structure, making it difficult for the Ferns to find any kind of space around the penalty area. As such the preference became crosses in from Riley, Green and Bowen but nothing much made it through. It wasn’t until the very end of the half that Rolston would add a second goal. Cross came in from Ali Riley, sweeping up on the left after Anna Green’s cross had gotten through, and Rollo stormed in with a strong header off the bar which the lino agreed had crossed the line.
Before that, however, there was a moment of concern for Malia Steinmetz. She’d had a slow start but was beginning to show what she can do, pick-pocketing opposition players like a Victorian era street scoundrel, and had just made a lung-busting run down the left… which probably had something to do with why she went down looking extremely groggy late. It looked a lot like heat stroke and that seems to have been the diagnosis. Never a nice thing to experience and not something you can really play through either. Upsetting to witness but it happens, she’ll bounce back. The late-afternoon kickoff in Noumea probably made a mess of meal schedules and you would imagine everyone slams back a little extra pre-match hydration next time after this one.
Ria Percival replaced Steinmetz in the midfield, coming on for what was her 132nd international cap – going level with Abby Erceg for the New Zealand record. She’ll break it within a week… though Erceg might yet have something to say about that, who knows.
Rolston had a couple chances to complete her hatty including a goal which was disallowed for offside earlier on. Paige Satchell was always a handful, though her usually unstoppable trick of kicking the ball ahead and running onto it past the defence because nobody can catch her for speed was halted by the number of defenders the Cook Islands had in cover. So did her balance, stumbling a few times. All part of the learning curve.
Katie Rood had more of an influence in the second half and she was the one who finally added a fourth goal, also her first international goal, and mate it was a ripper. Cutting across defenders and thumping it in from range. When Roodie’s able to drift around and link up with players she’s always going to be creative. Fun to see all the rookies up front having their moments to shine… all that was missing was a Paige Satchell goal.
Rood’s goal came in the 68th minute and it wasn’t until the 90th minute that the Ferns were able to tear down the wall again. It didn’t help that they kept hitting the frame of the goal either... except for the one time when it did help after an effort off the crossbar from sub Sarah Morton bounced back for fellow second half sub Grace Jale to score. Just moments after Morton had put one away herself getting up from left back. Both second half subs getting goals. Morton had replaced an industrious and very effective Anna Green and Jale had replaced double-scorer Rolston.
So a funky old game in the end, plenty to talk about with all the rotations and all the first time starters and scorers, not to mention a committed game from the opposition. A 6-0 win was probably fair, although the Cooks will feel like they let it get sloppy at the end of it with two goals in stoppage time. Ultimately what it means is that the Ferns have already qualified for the semis with their third game coming up against Fiji on Sunday evening (7pm NZT) – that one’s a battle for first place in the group.
That’ll comfortably be the toughest game the Ferns will have faced so far after winning their first two by an aggregate score of 17-0. The big advantage there is that after two games the only player not to have taken the field is third-string keeper Nadia Olla while the only players to have played more than ninety minutes are: Katie Bowen (180 mins), Ria Percival (144), Ali Riley (135), Annalie Longo (135) and Katie Rood (135). You’d imagine that quintet might get a rest next game to stay fresh for the semi and final. Either way things are in good shape.
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