Considering all the drama encircling them lately, the New Zealand women’s footballers turned in a performance to be proud of in their Paris Olympic opener.
The Football Ferns, ranked 28th in the world, fell 2-1 to the eighth-ranked defending Olympic champions Canada in their first Group C match after a battling effort at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Etienne on Thursday (Friday NZ Time).
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With the Olympics looming, the team’s coach, Jitka Klimková, stood down and was replaced by assistant Michael Mayne.
Once they got to France, captain Ali Riley was forced to withdraw due to injury and was replaced by Michaela Foster, with Katie Bowen stepping in to lead the side. Riley had been hoping to compete in her fifth successive Olympics.
As if that was not enough, the New Zealand team got caught up in a spying controversy, with some Canadian staff members using a drone to spy on two New Zealand training sessions earlier this week.
Amazingly, the New Zealanders dismissed all the distractions and took a shock 1-0 lead in the 13th minute against Canada when Mackenzie Barry latched on to a corner and dispatched it into the top-left corner of the Canadian goal.
However, the Canadians dominated proceedings after the early goal. The New Zealand defence held firm until the fourth minute of first-half stoppage-time, when Cloé Lacasse produced an equaliser.
In the first half, New Zealand had just the one shot at goal, whereas Canada had six, which pointed to the Canadians’ control.
There was more of the same in the second half and New Zealand goalie Anna Leat was forced to make some outstanding saves to keep her side in the game.
Finally, with 10 minutes remaining Canada turned all their possession into the winning goal when Evelyne Viens slotted the ball past Leat. The goal came after Bowen went down with cramp, then minutes later was beaten to the ball by Viens on a long free-kick.
New Zealand’s next group match, now a must-win, is against Colombia on Sunday (3am Monday NZT) in Lyon.
Canada 2 (Cloé Lacasse 45+4', Evelyne Viens 79') Football Ferns 1 (Mackenzie Barry 13'). HT: 1-1
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