I never would have thought the All-Whites could hang with Brazil, but they kept it close in the first half by staying organized on defense, while Brazil kept breaking down in the last third, kind of a common problem in the early games of this tournament: lots of long shots, but poor teamwork and timing on passes. (One exception was Germany running up the score on Argentina.) Daniela took a long, dipping shot early on to slip one over Kiwi keeper Jenny Bindon and put Brazil up 1-0, but the Brazilians looked a bit clumsy throughout the rest of the half. New Zealand bunkered down and held them off for quite a while, but could barely hint at a counterattack.
Over the course of the second half, the Brazilians started to get their act together with better teamwork, and started taking advantage of the growing exhaustion of the All-Whites, who no longer had the energy to venture out of their own half. With her defenders wilting and failing to close on Brazilian strikers, four more went past Bindon to make it a blow out. New Zealand has a very young team, as one can tell from one look at their freshly scrubbed little faces, so I look forward to more from them since as the Queens of Oceania, they'll be a fixture in every WWC until FIFA gets a clue and folds them into Asia. Brazil better pick it up a bit if they're going to be a credible threat in this tournament, though.
Brazil 5 – 0 New Zealand
'11 Daniela
'54 Cristiane
'73 Marta
'86 Renata
'90+ Marta
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