It began with a goal kick, it ended in a goal. In between five different players combined for six touches as the Football Ferns gave the 2023 World Cup its iconic opening game moment. It was a sublime team move that’s origins surely came straight off the training park. A burst of creative joy within a performance otherwise embodied by structure, hard work, and dedication. Ideal kiwi footballing activities, in other words.

Because while Hannah Wilkinson’s goal (with regards to Katie Bowen, CJ Bott, Indiah-Paige Riley, and Jacqui Hand) was The Big Moment in that game, the Football Ferns wouldn’t have beaten Norway for a historic first ever World Cup victory without everything else. The way that the central defenders jammed up to win those headers and interceptions. The desperation blocks that came to the rescue a few times. The composure on the ball and the trust that teammates would be in the right areas in support. The fact that teammates were in the right areas in support. The way that everyone hunted down those loose balls and contested touches. The way that Ria Percival and Malia Steinmetz absolutely owned the midfield areas to take away Norway’s pipelines to their remarkably dangerous front three. The way that the Ferns showed no mercy to said remarkably dangerous front three.

With this win, an embarrassing statistical quirk is no more. New Zealand had previously been the only nation to have qualified for both the Men’s and Women’s FIFA World Cups and never won a game at either. The streak was up to 21 matches (six for the All Whites, fifteen for the Ferns)... with the next worst tally belonging to Honduras with nine, all from their men’s team. The expanded tournament means they might have had some company in the original part of that stat but we don’t have to worry about that any longer. The Philippines game was meant to be the one that ended the run but instead Jitka Klimková’s lot figured why wait so long and got it out of the way with at the first attempt – in front of a crowd of 42,137 at Eden Park in Auckland, the biggest ever for any football game in New Zealand. Words like ‘special’ and ‘magical’ barely even begin to describe it.

You could put a blindfold on and throw a dart at the teamsheet and hit a name worthy of player of the day honours. There were no weak links in this performance – and that includes the coaching staff. How vindicating this must have felt for Jitka Klimková given that she’s had to carry a lot of unwarranted criticism for the team’s poor results. Even though those results were no worse than what came before her. Not to mention the long injury list. Or the mostly higher-ranked opponents. All these things that have been written about in previous TNC articles. You know the drill.

Similar pressure has fallen upon the shoulders of senior players with Hannah Wilkinson bearing as much as anyone as the main striker in a team that hardly scores any goals. Is Wilkie a world class striker? No, of course not. But she’s easily the best we’ve got and she turned in an effort for the ages against Norway capped by what’s instantly become one of kiwi football’s most iconic goals.

Nobody really thought that New Zealand were going to beat Norway... however there were several reasons to think the game would be much more competitive than expected (as detailed here and here if you’re one of those people who need to check the receipts). Because while their squad is stacked with gloriously talented players... that stacking disproportionately favours their attack. They’ve tried to be an expansive and free-flowing team in the past but that led to an 8-0 hiding at the hands of England in the European Championships group stage last year and since they the focus has been on balancing things out by being more pragmatic.

In other words, this is a Norwegian team with superstar players and a great heritage in women’s football (World Cup champs in 1995 – current coach Hege Riise was a key member of that squad)... but also with brittle confidence and a tactical system that doesn’t suit their best players. Their form in recent games hasn’t been flash. They were up against the co-hosts in front of a record crowd all cheering against them. Had they settled quickly into the game then their superior quality would’ve soon shone through... but they didn’t settle. They never settled.

That was because the Football Ferns gave them exactly the type of game that a team in Norway’s position don’t want. The old phrase “one side wanted it more” is a silly one, a completely redundant way to describe a football game, but to the extent that it’s ever true it was true here. The Ferns scrapped for loose balls and generally won them. CJ Bott and Indi Riley in particular were winning all sorts down that right edge. They were credited with 16 tackles between them and that, in a nutshell, is why Noway’s left winger Julie Blakstad was the first player substituted after only 55 minutes. This is someone who plays for Manchester City (although she went on loan to Hacken in January for extra game-time leading into this World Cup). CJ Bott had her pocketed. And whereas NZ won tackles, NOR simply conceded fouls. Lots of them. 15 to 5 was the overall foul count.

It was a trickier task on the other edge against Caroline Graham Hansen but Ali Riley used all her experience in sticking with her as much as possible despite not having the same pace. As for Ada Hegerberg, the crucial thing was less how the central defenders dealt with her and more how they avoided having to by stepping up aggressively and cutting off her service. Hegerberg had four shots but they were all off target (including that brilliant block from Stotty). She had fewer touches in the attacking penalty area than Hannah Wilkinson did up the other end. She was Norway’s best but she was limited.

Even still there were moments that could have swung this game in another direction. Frida Maanum had a decent chance in the first half and then both she and Guro Reiten each had close range snapshots in the second half that were pushed off target. Reiten’s was a golden opportunity near the end. Let’s not forget Tuva Hansen lashing one off the crossbar either... via a tiny but essential touch from Vic Esson which probably didn’t keep the shot from going on target but it definitely helped provide a more manageable rebound to defend.

Also, yes, there was the small instance of Ria Percival missing a penalty kick in the ninetieth minute. The penalty was a blessedly efficient use of Video Assistant Referee technology (funny to read/hear English pundits in particular freaking out about the ref checking the monitor themselves – which is common practice in the A-League). Malia Steinmetz smashed a cross into the area and it struck an outstretched arm. Accidental. Unlucky. Still a penalty.

Wilkinson was off the pitch at this point although Ria Percival probably still would have taken the spot kick anyway. She scored one against Canada in Klimková’s first game in charge and the only penalty the team has had since was converted by Meikayla Moore (vs Philippines) who isn’t in the squad. Percival is the most experienced player in the group and she regularly takes set pieces (free kicks and corners). Nobody was better suited to handle the pressure or the technique. And to be fair to her she barely missed it, catching the underside of the bar, perhaps striking it just a wee bit too hard on account of keeper Aurora Mikalsen moving early in that direction. Not all penalty misses are made equal. This was an inch away from perfection (a la Steph Catley for Australia a couple hours later), well within the realms of acceptable failure... albeit agonising all the same.

That penalty would have killed the game off there and then. Instead we had to traverse through the murk of nine stoppage time minutes as FIFA’s trend of stingy time-keeping continued on from the Men’s World Cup last year (despite there being zero minutes added on in the first half). Squeaky bum time. Cast your mind back to the last World Cup when a dogged Ferns team held off the Netherlands (albeit with much less possession and attacking instances than we saw in this match) all the way up until Jill Roord scored on 90+2’. More recently there was the game against Australia when Anna Green’s wondergoal had NZ up 1-0 going into stoppage time only to concede twice and lose. That was the game in which Ria Percival did her ACL. Close but not close enough might as well have been a motto for the Football Ferns... but not this time. This time they closed it out.

This was such a fascinating game that some of the deeper tactical aspects may need a second article. But it definitely wasn’t flawless from the Football Ferns. The decisiveness in their passing was fantastic but there were nervy moments in both penalty areas. Wilkinson had a couple touches that got away from her (although it was wild to see her running those channels and wrecking the Norwegian defence – that’s not usually how Wilkinson plays so that had to be a specific tactic). Nor could anyone really claim that the Ferns made the most of an abundance of free kick and corner kick opportunities... although the goal did still come from a set piece situation: a goal kick.

At the back Vic Esson needed one or two involvements before she looked comfortable in her first World Cup appearance, while you could say similar things about the back four’s belief that they could shut this Norwegian team out. When they were in shape, no dramas. When they got stretched or turned around there were some slippery moments (literally as well as figuratively – the surface must have been pretty slick on a chilly Auckland winter’s eve). Luckily that’s when we hand it back to that earlier idea about being able to limit what Norway were trying to do.

All of the elements of this performance have been there in glimpses in previous Ferns games. The fact that they strung it all together against Norway is more evidence about how much those annoying defeats were influenced by the players that were missing because look what they achieved when everyone was available (except for Liv Chance, who was rested on the bench). It also shows how utterly valuable that nine-week training camp was. That’s basically a full club-preseason, probably longer than many club preseasons. And this for an international team? Unheard of. But it’s not a coincidence that they looked so cohesive in this game. Everyone knew where everyone else would be and the passes flowed so much more smoothly for it.

Now if the Ferns manage to win against the Philippines... no, let’s not get ahead of ourselves quite yet. Let’s bask in this opening game victory for a little while longer. Leading into this tournament, there was lots of chat about whether Aotearoa knew what was coming, about whether ticket sales were up to scratch, about how much the general population would embrace the event. The ticket stuff was overplayed. Yeah, Aussie’s selling more tickets. They also have five times the population and bigger stadiums. What did anyone expect? But sure okay this opening game result should give things a healthy boost. FIFA will be chuffed.

As for the other bits... they tend take care of themselves. Far too many people have been trying to tell New Zealanders that they should be excited about the World Cup rather than, you know, documenting the extremely palpable excitement that already exists and allowing it to spread contagiously throughout the lands. But thanks to a legendary Football Ferns victory we don’t really have to worry about anymore either. Aotearoa is a football nation now. Sorry but them’s the rules. Hannah Wilkinson said so.

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