Just a shame this one had a happy ending for the other characters.
The Football Ferns suffered a blow to their hopes of progressing to the knockout stages of the Fifa Women’s World Cup for the first time — though it helped engineer enormous excitement around their final pool game in Dunedin — when they slipped to a 1-0 loss to the Philippines in Wellington last night.
It was a deflating sequel to the home side’s historic victory over over Norway in the tournament opener just five days earlier.
While the Filipinas celebrated their first World Cup goal and inaugural victory with unrestrained joy, the New Zealanders looked desolate at losing a game they dominated.
The Football Ferns had many more scoring opportunities, but were guilty of misfiring in the final third.
When they did get the ball in the net, Jacqui Hand’s lofted header appearing to make it 1-1 with 22 minutes to play, they were gazumped by the dreaded video assistant referee, which ruled an extremely marginal offside earlier in the attacking movement.
"It’s pretty raw at the moment. Massively disappointing," New Zealand defender Katie Bowen said after the game.
"First half, we got bullied. It just wasn’t there for us tonight."
Defeat is not fatal to the Ferns’ hopes of creating history by making it out of the group stage.
Group A is now open, and the stakes will be high when the Ferns host Switzerland — which played out a 0-0 draw against Norway last night — at the rechristened Dunedin Stadium on Sunday night.
That game was already shaping to be a sellout, and by some distance the biggest women’s event in the history of Otago sport, and now assumes extra importance as the World Cup nears the knockout stages.
The Dunedin clash is shaping up to be a special night, but Football Ferns fans hoping to get lots of opportunities to see their new heroes in the city are set to be disappointed.
The Otago Daily Times understands the team will only arrive in Dunedin the day before the game.
Today, Dunedin hosts Japan v Costa Rica at Dunedin Stadium at 5pm.
