alumnae aileron: Football Ferns roughed up by Canada

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Football Ferns roughed up by Canada

Published: 8:35AM Sunday July 15, 2012 Source: Reuters

Betsy Hassett is a frontrunner to replace Swedish based professional Kirsty Yallop in the Football Ferns. - Source: Photosport
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Football Ferns coach Tony Readings is confident his side's "below-par" 0-2 loss to Canada in an Olympic warm up in Switzerland this morning was a one-off as London 2012 draws closer.

While the Canadians, ranked seventh in the world, were favourites to beat 23rd-ranked New Zealand at Ch?tel-St-Denis, Readings wasn't happy with the quality of his team's showing.

"Canada were the better team and deserved to win that game," Readings acknowledged. "It was a below-par Football Ferns performance and nowhere? the first with a superb chip over Jenny Bindon in the 30th minute and Canadian captain Christine Sinclair netting her 136th international goal on the break just minutes into the second half.

New Zealand's best chances both cannoned off the crossbar, with Amber Hearn rattling the woodwork early in the first half and substitute Annalie Longo doing the same from a long-range effort midway through the second.

Canada's physical approach disrupted New Zealand, with fullback Ali Riley falling victim to the worst challenges. She was caught by a two-footed tackle from Sinclair in the first half, then a nasty late Robyn Gayle challenge ended her afternoon and left coaching staff sweating over an ankle injury that will be reassessed later today.

The Ferns' Group E opener against Great Britain on July 25 in Cardiff is the opening act of the London Olympics, and Readings is confident the momentum that had been building with results against China and Australia can be restored.

"We'll learn a lot from this and I'd rather do that now than at the Olympics. We know we've got a lot more in the tank, and even though we weren't at our best today, we stayed with a very good Canadian team and only the woodwork stopped us going 1-0 up or getting back in the game at 2-1.

"We've been on a run of consistent performances against teams ranked higher than us, so is a blip rather than the trend. The good thing is we play Colombia in a few days and have the chance to regain momentum.

Canada 2 New Zealand 0, HT: 0-1