I'm starting to really like New Zealand, because they're so young and yet so gutsy. You can see the difference between them and their opponents just from a look at their faces or their bodies as they run, it's a team who are very much still girls standing up to some very formidable women. Seventeen year old Ria Percival is sprinting around in these yellow boots like a paddington bear, and they're all just so adorable. They're in way over their heads, but there's still this joy at playing the game that came shining through every time they held off another attack by the Danes. I'm really pulling for them to bag a goal against China before they go home.
In the first half, the Kiwis bunkered down and held off the Danes, with the best opportunities for both teams coming on the same run of play, when a miscue by a New Zealand defender led to a Danish corner. After a dangerous flick into traffic in front of goal, the kiwis cleared it but two midfielders collided fighting to bring down the clearance, and Emily McColl swooped in for it, burning into the Danish half but then slamming on the brakes and turning to maintain possession when she realized she had no support and no targets, fighting off multiple Danish midfielders. By the time her teammates got forward, the Danes had dispossessed McColl and the onrushing New Zealanders had left a lot of open space behind them, leading to a Danish counter-counter-attack. The Danes in true Scandinavian form used the long ball to try to squeeze in behind the New Zealand defense, getting some opportunities out of it.
To keep a clean sheet in the first half, kiwi keeper Jenny Bindon wore her ovaries on the outside, coming way off her line and out of the box to play long balls by the Danes, beating strikers to them by a half yard to make clearances with her feet. So far I haven't seen a keeper take control of the penalty area as authoritatively as Bindon did, covering for an inexperienced defense, as well as coming out and hauling down crosses and corners cleanly in amongst the forest of Danish attackers. She was also clearly having a hell of a good time, and so was I watching her. But eventually making that many risky plays off her line had to come back to haunt her, and when Bindon arrived late on a challenge outside the box, she was lucky one of her defenders hauled down the Danish attacker and drew a yellow card that could easily have gone to Bindon for sweeping out her opponent's legs. Bindon surprised me by getting a hand on the free kick by Katrine Pedersen, but could do little more than deflect it up into the top netting, and the Danes took a 1-0 lead after an hour.
After the hour mark, the kiwis were starting to show their youth and were visibly tired the rest of the way, while the Danes switched tactics a little and started using more controlled passes to break down the sagging New Zealand defense. A few minutes later, the Danes won another free kick, and Pedersen's kick to the far post found Paaske Sorensen beating her marker to get a head on it. Another kiwi defender mistimed her jump for a clearance, and Sorensen's header went back across the face of the goal to the other post, giving no chance for Bindon to get to it. I have to give the kiwis credit though, tired and discouraged as they had to be, within a minute they were right back swirling around the Danish box, tongues wagging but still looking to score. Young and outmatched, but these girls were still class.
Denmark 2 – 0 New Zealand
'60 Pedersen
'66 Sorensen
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