Five-Star White Fires Junior Ferns To Germany
Story by Jeremy Ruane

New Zealand’s Junior Ferns qualified for July’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Finals in Germany in emphatic fashion on the North Harbour Stadium Tigerturf on January 25, trouncing Tonga 11-0 to retain the OFC U-20 Women’s Championship trophy.

The result was enough to ease the Tongans into third place in the four-team tournament, thanks to the Cook Islands scoring a 4-0 victory over American Samoa in the day’s earlier match, that country’s maiden win in international women’s football.

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Published: 26 January 2010

Schoolgirls Strike Back To Sink Young Ferns
Story by Jeremy Ruane / Photos By Graham Hughes

The New Zealand Secondary Schoolgirls extracted some revenge over their NZ Under-17 counterparts in the final game of their three-match series on the North Harbour Stadium Tigerturf on December 18, overcoming the series winners by a 4-3 margin which was far more comfortable than the scoreline suggests.

The Young Ferns enjoyed the better of the early exchanges, with a poor back-pass by Emily Cooper putting Erin Nayler under all sorts of pressure, the schoolgirls’ goalkeeper clearing against the fast-closing Mary Fraser and getting the benefit of the resulting ricochet in the fourth minute.

Seconds later, Nayler grabbed a shot from Hannah Wong at the second attempt, after the tall figure of Fraser had got the better of the statuesque Hannah Wilkinson, one of only two players on the pitch still in with the chance of scoring in all three games in the series.

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Published: 19 December 2009

All Whites Drawn With World Cup Holders
Story by Jeremy Ruane

NB All dates and times quoted below are NZ time.

New Zealand has been drawn with holders Italy in Group F at the 2010 FIFA World Cup Finals in South Africa, following the draw ceremony in the Cape Town International Conference Centre on December 5.

The All Whites will kick off their first Finals campaign in twenty-eight years against another European nation, Slovakia, in Rustenburg on June 15, before tackling the Italians in Nelspruit six days later.

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Published: 05 December 2009

Riley Leads The Way For Kiwis In US College Soccer
Story by Jeremy Ruane

Hard on the heels of the successes of Kirsty Yallop, Ali Riley, Amber Hearn, Hayley Moorwood, Ria Percival and Emma Kete in the 2009 USL W-League competition, a number of New Zealand’s female footballing scholars saw game-time aplenty on US soccer fields, in their pursuit of NCAA honours for their respective colleges.

Chief among them was Riley, the dashing Football Ferns fullback, who was gracing the colours of Stanford University for the final time this year, and was a co-captain in what turned out to be an outstanding NCAA campaign both for the Ivy League college and the Kiwi international personally.

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Published: 27 December 2009

Tafea Win In Lautoka As Kiwi Arch-Rivals Draw
Story by Jeremy Ruane

The clashes of the unbeaten teams on Matchday Three of the OFC Champions League saw Lautoka beaten by Tafea FC in Fiji, while Waitakere United and reigning champions Auckland City fought out a 1-1 stalemate at Fred Taylor Park.

United enjoyed the better of the early exchanges in the latest Queen City derby, but it was Auckland who finally capitalised on the pressure they generated from a string of corners when Chad Coombes thundered home a twenty-five yarder to open the scoring on the half-hour for the visitors.

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Published: 30 November 2009

City Rebuff Resurgent Wellington To Retain Lead
Story by Jeremy Ruane

Reigning NZ Football Championship title-holders Auckland City scored a solid 3-1 win over Team Wellington at Kiwitea Street on January 24, rebuffing a strong challenge from the resurgent visitors to retain their lead on goal difference in the 2009-10 competition.

Auckland began brightly, with Daniel Koprivcic breaking into the penalty area on the right in the third minute. Jamie Duncan was swiftly side-stepped before the striker rolled the ball back into the path of Matt Williams, who blazed over from twenty yards.

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Published: 24 January 2010

Canterbury Win Big As Top Two Extend Lead
By Jeremy Ruane

The dominant teams in the NZ Football Championship, Auckland City and Waitakere United, extended their advantage at the top of the table in round eleven action on February 7, although they recorded contrasting victories to do so.

Canterbury United captured the headlines at English Park however, literally hitting Youngheart Manawatu for six to climb into the play-off placings and give their goal difference a healthy boost, something a 6-0 rout is bound to do.

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Published: 07 February 2010

Top Six Teams Confirmed With Round To Spare
Story by Jeremy Ruane

The six teams which will contest the Hyundai A-League play-offs were confirmed with a full round to spare on the first weekend in February, with Perth Glory, Wellington Phoenix and Newcastle Jets benefiting from defeats suffered by the teams below them in the penultimate round of league action.

North Queensland Fury kicked off the week by keeping their play-off hopes alive with a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Newcastle Jets in a match postponed three days from last weekend.

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Published: 08 February 2010

Wellington’s Superb Defensive Display Denies Coasters
By Jeremy Ruane

A superb defensive effort from Wellington Phoenix, in which Jon McKain, captain Andrew Durante and midfielder Vince Lia were peerless, provided the foundations on which they carved out a 1-0 win over Gold Coast United at Skilled Park on February 7, a result which leaves the victors within a win of securing a home semi-final.

Having qualified for the play-offs thanks to results earlier in the weekend, the visitors’ win left them in fourth spot on the Hyundai A-League table after the weekend’s action, and killed off Gold Coast’s dream of finishing top of the pile at the conclusion of the round-robin phase of the competition.

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Published: 07 February 2010

Comprehensive First Half Sets Up Lynn-Avon Cup Win
Story by Jeremy Ruane / Photos by Graham Hughes

National Women’s Knockout Cup holders Lynn-Avon United retained the trophy in style at North Harbour Stadium on September 20, overwhelming Cup Final debutants Claudelands Rovers 5-1 in a one-sided final which was over as a contest by half-time.

With Katie Hoyle - the Javier Mascherano of NZ women’s football - at her imposing best as she single-handedly dominated midfield, United strangled the life out of their young rivals, scoring some superb goals as they completed the treble of Northern Premier Women’s League Premiership, NPWL Grand Final and the one they want to win most of all, and have now won nine times, the National Knockout Cup.

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Published: 21 September 2009

Olympic Overhaul Three Kings To Claim Chatham Cup
Story by Jeremy Ruane / Photos By Graham Hughes

Wellington Olympic came from behind to down Three Kings United 2-1 and win the 2009 Chatham Cup Final - their maiden triumph in the competition - at North Harbour Stadium on 20 September.

Both teams had yet to be beaten in league or cup action this season, and when United took the lead inside the first three minutes, it gave the Northern League First Division leaders the ideal start in the campaign’s showpiece fixture, a match they were bidding to win in memory of Ken Sargent, the club’s long-serving stalwart, who died a week before the biggest date in Three Kings’ history.

Glenn Eie roamed down the right before slipping the ball inside to Sam Mathews. His progress was thwarted by defenders, whose influence was suddenly negated by an outrageous back-heel from the midfielder, which set up Luiz Del Monte to thrash the ball past the stranded Nic Van Hattum from ten yards - 1-0 to the underdogs.

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Published: 21 September 2009

Northern League Honours Recognise Season’s Stars
Story by Jeremy Ruane

Strong showings from individuals in less well-performed teams were recognised when the 2009 Lotto Northern Regional Football League awards were presented on the weekend.

Onehunga Sports’ top goalscorer, Omi Takuyuki, took out the Northern Premier League’s Player of the Year award, his eight-goal haul and all-round performances earning him the coveted honour, and playing a major part in securing “The Green Machine”’s Premier League status for another season.

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Published: 06 October 2009

Three Kings Prevail In Fiftieth Clash Of The Titans
Story by Jeremy Ruane

The greatest rivalry in New Zealand women’s football turned fifty on 16 August, and Lynn-Avon United and Three Kings United marked the occasion with yet another hard-fought battle to add to the plethora which have preceded this Ken Maunder Park affair, this time in the Northern Premier Women’s League Top Four Play-Offs.

This latest duel won’t rank as one of the most memorable matches between these giants of the women’s game in this country, with tactical nuances far more prevalent than scoring opportunities throughout this closely contested encounter.

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Published: 17 August 2009

Supreme Award Crowns ‘Macca’’s “Amazing” 18 Months
Story by Jeremy Ruane

She only turned eighteen in June, but she has experienced more thrills in the past eighteen months than most young women her age can even dream about.

She’s Sarah McLaughlin, one of a special crop of young female Kiwi footballers who are taking the game by storm as we enter the second decade of the 21st Century.

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Published: 27 December 2009

Last-Gasp Equaliser Sees Empire Oust Colonial Upstarts
Story by Jeremy Ruane

A last-gasp equaliser from Toni Duggan spared the blushes of the “Empire” at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Finals in Santiago on November 27, and served to break the hearts of the “Colonial Upstarts”, who were just thirty seconds away from a famous victory and a special place in New Zealand’s footballing history.

The Junior Ferns were denied the honour of becoming the first NZ representative team, male or female, to qualify for the knock-out stages of a FIFA tournament by England’s late leveller at the Estadio Municipal de la Florida.

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Published: 30 November 2008

North Korea Claim Maiden U-17 Women’s Final
Story by Jeremy Ruane / Photos By Graham Hughes

North Korea scored a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over the USA at North Harbour Stadium on 16 November to become the first nation in history to win the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.

The triumph, at the conclusion of a tense and gripping final, means the Asian giants are unquestionably the queens of age-grade women’s football across the world, as they also hold the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, which they won in Russia in 2006.

The USA got off to the perfect start after just 102 seconds. A long throw-in from Cloee Colohan wasn’t dealt with by the North Korean defence, and the ball bounced into the far corner of the net despite the despairing attempts of Hong Myong Hui to keep it out - she must have made contact for the goal to be awarded, although it was certainly unclear from video footage who did get the vital touch.

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Published: 16 November 2008

Some Final Thoughts
Story by Jeremy Ruane

As I’m typing this, I’m eastward bound over the Tasman Sea, and the gorgeous Cameron Diaz is the star turn on the in-flight movie as the final leg of what has been a longer than anticipated trip home draws to a close.

Why so? Our flight from Shanghai was some three hours late in departing, thanks to a lovely electrical storm which provided its own entertainment, in the form of lighting up the airfield at Shanghai Pudong at regular intervals. Only one flight took the risk of taking off during its wrath, and nothing more was heard from it after its departure - one assumes that it made its destination intact.

It meant a rather frustrating time for those on board our aircraft, and doubtless the situation was repeated on others also. Some folk had to rearrange connecting flights, but thankfully that wasn’t the case for me - this delay just ate up the time I’d have spent wandering around the shops in the transit lounge at Kingsford Smith (the name by which Sydney Airport is properly known).

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Published: 16 August 2008

Back-To-Back Gold Medals For Argentina
Story by Jeremy Ruane

Argentina clinched successive gold medals in the Olympic Men’s Football Tournament on Saturday, downing Nigeria 1-0 in Beijing’s “Birds’ Nest” to claim the crown at the Games of the 29th Olympiad.

Lionel Messi cleverly set up the winning goal just shy of the hour mark for Angel di Maria, whose chipped strike clinched victory for the Argentines in an uninspiring match not aided by the fact it was played in ferocious 42C heat.

Water-breaks were the order of the day as the players endured the challenging conditions in the midday sun, with Nigeria unable to get the better of Argentine goalkeeper Sergio Romero, despite having their fair share of chances to do so in a match watched by 89,102 fans.

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Published: 23 August 2008