It took 21 seconds for the Football Ferns to take the lead in the semi-final. Twenty-one seconds. New Caledonia ran the ball down the left from the kickoff and Ria Percival won it back off them down by the kiwi goalline. She exchanged passes with Meikayla Moore, CJ Bott played it forward to Paige Satchell… and Paige Satchell ran like seventy metres at an absolutely rapid clip, beat a bunch of defenders for pure pace, and then dished it up on a platter for Betsy Hassett to score.

The Ferns are expected to win all their here games handily but with a place in the World Cup and the Olympics both on the line for the tournament winner there’s a lot at stake. There’s always the possibility of something shocking. But this was not a close game. The first minute goal came too quick to say whether it affected anything, though it’s hard not to feel like New Caledonia took it quite hard. If they thought they had a chance coming into the game then within thirty seconds of kickoff they sure didn’t look like it any more. A sloppy backline constantly allowing kiwis to beat the offside trap most of all.

It’s just like… why they thought they could get away with a high line against New Zealand is a bit weird. And this was not a particularly interesting game to watch as a result. New Caledonia barely got over half-way and were 7-0 down after 45 mins. That’s with Rosie White hooking a volley over the top from six yards, disallowed goals to Meikayla Moore and Emma Rolston for offside, Betsy Hassett rounding the keeper but losing the ball, a brilliant sliding block to clear the ball off the line, pretty sure there was a post that got hit as well… the Ferns didn’t even play that well to win this as comfortably as they did. There was no stage in the game in which it was close, making things all a little less than tense.

A Ferns debut for Nadia Olla though. The Auckland keeper was called up for the Japan game and this was her first opportunity to take the park – meaning that every single player in the squad has gotten minutes now. We also had a back four which predictably recalled Ali Riley and CJ Bott, with Anna Green and Meikayla Moore in the middle. Greenie spent some time at CB the previous game so the plan was clearly premeditated. In midfield we had a very strong trio of Ria Percival, Katie Bowen and Betsy Hassett. Up front Emma Rolston got another start at striker with Rosie White and Paige Satchell flanking her.

Satchell scored a goal. She also set a few up. Storming game from her, Satchell also started against the Cook Islands, a team that played quite deep and defensive, the opposite to what New Caledonia did, and wasn’t nearly as effective. But here against a style of play that allowed her space to run into she was absolutely sizzling. It’s the best thing about this tournament so far that players on the fringe of the squad like Satchell, Katie Rood and Emma Rolston have had such excellent, potentially even breakout, campaigns. Rood didn’t feature in this game. Rolston did… and she scored a hat-trick. Probably should’ve had more too but no need to get greedy. One of her goals was a pretty awesome long range volley that she lobbed over the stray keeper, quite the strike.

Good to see Rosie White put a couple away as well, it’s been a quiet tournament from her mostly and yet she’s still scored four times without looking particularly sharp. The best players tend to do that. There was also a goal for Katie Bowen to go with Betsy Hassett’s opener. That adds up to eight. On a very steamy late afternoon in Noumea, with drinks breaks in each half, it wasn’t too much of a thing that the Ferns settled down in the second half and only added the one goal to the tally. Liz Anton, Grace Jale and Steph Skilton all got extended cameos off the bench. Jale is the only player in the squad not to have started a game at the Nations Cup but she has come off the bench in all four matches.

Top Scorers For NZ (2018 Nations Cup)

Emma Rolston – 6
Sarah Gregorius – 6
Annalie Longo – 5
Rosie White – 4
Betsy Hassett – 3
Katie Rood – 3
Grace Jale – 2
Ria Percival – 1
Katie Bowen – 1
Meikayla Moore – 1
Paige Satchell – 1

Doesn’t seem much point in getting into the little details from a game like this, the defence was rarely tested and the attack found it too easy. There were very solid performances from the starting midfield trio, which was cool. Also about as expected given the class available there. Useful to see they can still score early goals even without Annalie Longo playing.

The Ferns will play Fiji in the final on Saturday at 7pm. They beat Fiji in their final group stage game with their best performance of the tournament so far on the way to a 10-0 victory. Fiji pulled one out of the bag to beat Papua New Guinea 5-1, an excellent second half showing there getting it done. Gotta rate the chances of triumph against a team you beat by double figures last week.

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