PRESSURE ON CANADA AFTER DRAW WITH KIWIS
Quality for quality, Canada may be superior to New Zealand in women’s soccer by multiple measures, but their match Thursday night at Commonwealth Stadium was a coin toss, soggy start to disappointing finish.
And it was a nerve-racking one, at that, for fans looking to see Canada collect a perfunctory three points for a victory and all but punch their ticket to the next round of the 2015 Women’s World Cup.
In the end, all Canada could manage was a single point for a 0-0 draw with New Zealand, still enough to lead Group A with four points, with one match remaining for all four teams, but not at all what they were looking for.
China and The Netherlands, both 1-1, have three points each, while the Kiwis have a single point, following the draw.
On reflection, Canadian head coach John Herdman may have done his side no favours at all by confidently declaring his outfit the better team, which they are on ranking, with Canada is No. 8 in the world, New Zealand, No. 17.
The Football Ferns played like a team determined to make their one-time head coach eat his pre-game bravado. And they played with more desperation, not surprising since they needed at least a point from the match to have any hope of moving on.
They got that, and they earned plenty of respect, in the bargain, perhaps most of all from Herdman, who had coached many of those women during his stint as their head coach from 2006-11.
Neither team seemed unduly affected by a 35-minute delay caused after an electrical storm moved into the area before the match was four minutes old.
If anything, the delay stiffened New Zealand’s resolve.
The Kiwis trademark pressure game came within a whisker of paying off in the 33rd minute, when Betsy Hassett won a oneon-one battle with Kedeisha Buchanan and promptly sent Hannah Wilkinson away in the Canadian zone.
Alyssa Chapman took Wilkinson down in the Canadian scoring box and referee Bibiana Steinhaus of Germany correctly awarded a penalty,
Amber Hearn stepped up to the spot and drilled one dead centre and high. Too high, in the end. It clanked off the crossbar as 35,544 fans at Commonwealth Stadium held their collective breath.
Hearn was the most dangerous New Zealand player, generating four shots on goal, in the end. But she was well-supported by a clearly motivated team.
The penalty kick was wellearned by the Football Ferns, a desperate side after losing a 1-0 heartbreaker to The Netherlands in their opening match, despite controlling play for much of that one.
As they had against China, it was Canada that controlled the ball 59 per cent of the time to 41 per cent for New Zealand in the first half. They upped the percentage in the second half and produced most of the chances, but just couldn’t solve Naylor.
This was a match in which Canada, having come through the pressure-cooker of opening day with a 1-0 victory over China PR on a Christine Sinclair penalty in the 92nd minute, was meant to play more freely, especially against a supposedly inferior opponent. That didn’t really happen. They produced a small cluster of first-half chances. Jonelle Filigno directed a header on goal from a Sophie Schmidt cross, but Kiwi goalkeeper Erin Naylor smothered that one.
Not long afterward, Ashley Lawrence threaded a pass to Sinclair, but Naylor read that one and sped out to cut off any shooting angle for the Canadian striker, blocking the Canadian’s shot with her hands.
Early in the second half, a ball ricocheted to Sinclair on the right side of the box and she tried a kick toward the net, but a div- ing Naylor got a hand on the ball to deflect it away from the goal.
Canada actually put the ball in the New Zealand goal in the 45th minute, but Melissa Tancredi was called offside on another play setup by Schmidt.
Tancredi had another clear chance in the 75th minute, but Naylor just managed to block the ball as she slid out to cut off the Canadian striker.
That chance came not long after Schmidt sent a long free kick on a high arc that saw the ball just elude Naylor’s outstretched hand, but bounce off the top of the crossbar.
As the whistle sounded to end the match, the Canadians sagged visibly, while New Zealand waved to the crowd, their chances of advancing slender, but still alive.
Canada now heads to Montreal for its final Group A match against the Netherlands on Monday night at Olympic Stadium. Perhaps they will also find their ‘A’ game on the flight to Eastern Canada.
Tight as the matches have been in the group so far, they almost certainly will need it.