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Young Football Ferns wait for Chance

 

AUCKLAND – The Young Football Ferns are monitoring the fitness of Olivia Chance ahead of tomorrow’s clash with group leader Spain at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup after the standout winger was injured in the opening loss to Venezuela.

Chance copped an elbow to the chest 15 minutes into the game that left her with a bruised diaphragm and ribs and eventually forced her from the field late in the game but not before her incisive runs down the left flank revealed Chance as a potent threat and a player to watch in the future.

“Touch wood, all the players will come through okay,” said New Zealand coach Dave Edmondson.

“There were a few bumps and bruises and Olivia Chance was the worst of those. 

“She’s taken part in training today and that was partly an exercise in seeing how painful that still is and whether she can deal with that during the game, but we’re hopeful she can take part but we’ll double check on that before the game.

“She has had trouble with deep breathing and some twisting and turning but she’s pretty tough and keen to give it go and we’re willing to go with that within reason.”

Chance and her teammates showed impressive promise against Venezuela as New Zealand dominated all stats apart from the 1-2 score line and now face an even tougher challenge from European champions Spain who lead the group thanks to a 4-1 win over Japan.

“We’re in no doubt that we have two very difficult matches coming up,” said Edmondson “and having not got anything out of the first match we need to get results in the next two if we are to progress into the knockout stages.”

 “Spain are strutting round the hotel in pretty confident mood and rightly so, but Japan had some pretty good chances in that game while the score was still 0-0. It that shows us that Spain are beatable; that you can create chances against them, but then it also shows that Japan are better than that 4-1 result as well.”

New Zealand’s training has again been disrupted with a storm water logging their training pitch and forcing the team indoors. The weather is expected to remain hot and humid for tomorrow’s 4pm kickoff (8am NZT).

In matches played on Thursday (NZT), Germany continued their rampant Group A form with a 10-1 win over South Africa while South Korea joined them in the second round with a 4-1 win over Mexico.

Nigeria progressed from Group B with their second win, 2-1 over host Trinidad & Tobago, while North Korea claimed their first win, 3-0 over Chile, to keep their hopes alive.

FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup – Group C
New Zealand v Spain
Couva, Trinidad
Sept 9, 4pm (8am, Sept 10 NZT)
Live on Sky Sport 3 from 7:45am

New Zealand (from): 1-Chloe-May GEURTS (GK), 2-Rachel HEAD, 3-Tessa MCPHERSON, 4-Olivia CHANCE, 5-Brittany DUDLEY-SMITH, 6-Evie MILLYNN, 7-Holly PATTERSON, 8-Kate LOYE, 9-Hannah CARLSEN, 10-Hannah WONG, 11-Grace PARKINSON, 12-Stephanie SKILTON, 13-Megan LEE, 14-Katie BOWEN (Captain), 15-Kate CARLTON, 16-Jessie MATHEWS, 17-Sivitha BOYCE, 18-Rebecca BURROWS, 19-Michelle WINDSOR, 20-Jess REDDAWAY, 21-Lily ALFELD
Head Coach: Dave EDMONDSON

Spain (from): 1-Dolores GALLARDO (GK), 2-Ana SAENZ, 3-Ana Maria CATALA, 4-Ivana ANDRES, 5-Laura GUTIERREZ, 6-Nagore CALDERON, 7-Gema GILI, 8-Marina GARCIA, 9-Paloma LAZARO, 10-Amanda SAMPEDRO, 11-Alexia PUTELLAS, 12-Sara TAZO, 13-Elena FERNANDEZ (GK), 14-Arene ALTONAGA, 15-Iraia PEREZ, 16-Paula NICART, 17-Sara MERIDA, 18-Raquel PINEL, 19-Paula LOPEZ, 20-Nerea PEREZ, 21-Patricia ASENSIO (GK)
Head Coach: Jorge VILDA

Young Football Ferns Schedule
FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup – Group C

New Zealand v Spain
Couva, Trinidad
Sept 9, 4pm (8am, Sept 10 NZT)
Live on Sky Sport 3 from 7:45am

New Zealand v Japan
Scarbrough, Tobago
Sept 13, 4pm (8am, Sept 14 NZT)
Live on Sky Sport 1 from 7:45am

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