Hannah Wilkinson of New Zealand celebrates the team's 1-0 victory. Photo / Getty Images.
Hannah Wilkinson of New Zealand celebrates the team's 1-0 victory. Photo / Getty Images.
If you are going to play the game of your lives, why not do it on the biggest possible stage?
If you are going to achieve something unprecedented, why not do it when your Prime Minister is in the stands, sitting next to the Fifa president on halfway?
If youare going to inspire a nation, why not do it when more Kiwis are watching than ever before?
And if you want to make a statement, save it for a match broadcast to more than 150 countries.
That was the beauty of the Football Ferns’ epic 1-0 victory over Norway on Thursday night in the opening game of the Fifa Women’s World Cup.
That was the most amazing aspect of what unfolded at Eden Park.
Given what we have seen from the Ferns in recent years, it was so unexpected, an underdog rising to the occasion in the most spectacular way.
The Football Ferns players react after their 1-0 win over Norway. Photo / Dean Purcell
This was Dick Tayler in Christchurch in 1974, or John Walker pursuing Filbert Bayi around the same track.
This was Kiwi at Flemington in 1983, or Marlborough taking the Ranfurly Shield from Canterbury a decade earlier.
This was Alison Roe in the New York Marathon, or Belinda Cordwell reaching the Australian Open semifinals in 1989.
It was remarkable. From the first whistle, the signs were good.
The Ferns showed their intent, tearing into tackles and not allowing their vaunted opponents to settle. They were organised defensively, and calm and composed on the ball. They were positive and inventive, as the Europeans were on the back foot.
Norway had a couple of chances – with Rebekah Stott’s intervention vital as Ada Hegerberg prepared to unleash – but otherwise, it was all New Zealand.
And then came Hannah Wilkinson’s goal, a signature moment like Rory Fallon’s in Wellington in 2009. The move swept the length of the field before Wilkinson applied the finish.
That was just the start of the drama, though, with Indiah-Paige Riley and Ria Percival going close, before Vic Esson’s fingertip save. Percival’s penalty should have been the denouement but added to the story, as the Ferns hung on through the long period of added time.
There were heroes aplenty, from 35-year-old co-captain Ali Riley – who contained the threat of Caroline Graham Hansen – to the spring-heeled Jacqui Hand in just her 16th international.
Percival was outstanding, everywhere she needed to be, while Malia Steinmetz – who almost walked away from the sport a couple of years ago - was calm and energy personified.
Opening match of the Fifa Women's World Cup between the Football Ferns New Zealand and Norway at Eden Park Auckland
New Zealand Herald photograph by Michael Craig 20 July 2023
After saluting the record crowd and celebrating with Chris Hipkins and Jacinda Ardern, the Ferns emerged to face the media scrum.
Steinmetz, who looked like she could play another 90 minutes, summed up the mood perfectly.
“I’ve been in a few games that we’ve lost the lead and everyone always says we are chokers and stuff like that … I didn’t feel that tonight at all,” said Steinmetz. “I knew we had that, we deserved it. So much has led to this, so many years.”
CJ Bott was clearly moved by the atmosphere created by huge crowd.
“It was very emotional for me,” said Bott. “I’m definitely a family girl and I could see my family waving their signs. I could see my boyfriend out there, and then to hear those 42,000 people - it was incredible and definitely brought a tear to my eye.”
Co-captain Percival didn’t stop for interviews, after completing international television commitments, but who could begrudge her? As one local scribe put it: “She did her talking on the pitch.”
Betsy Hassett, a star at Avondale College who has has since played in five countries, including a long stint in Iceland, encapsulated the feeling.
“We did so well because there were a lot of nerves and pressure from being at home in a full stadium,” said the 32-year-old. “We all did really well to somehow play the best games of our lives in front of our friends and families.”
The midfielder labelled the night the greatest of her 146-match international career.
Esson downplayed her vital save – “It helps to have the luck on your side some days” – as she deflected a powerful shot onto the crossbar late in the second half, while she commended her teammates for defending “with all their hearts”.
Winger Indiah-Paige Riley, whose fast feet were a constant threat on the right, joked that she almost went deaf when Wilkinson’s goal went in – “it was that loud”.
Wilkinson was dragged off for a random drug test before finally appearing, to be besieged by local and international media, as she clutched her trophy for player of the match.
“I’m stoked to make the nation proud,” said Wilkinson, who has now scored goals in three World Cups, after also finding the net in 2011 and 2015.
The final word went to Ali Riley, whose first World Cup game was in 2007, when Helen Clark was Prime Minister and George W Bush was still in the White House.
“The result is very important and that’s what people remember,” said Riley. “But for people to see the way we performed and fought, the resilience of this team, how gritty, the effort, the sprinting, everything like that is the kind of performance we want to show. That’s who we are.
“That’s how we can inspire young girls, make our nation proud and hopefully change the sporting culture in this country.”
Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns. A football aficionado, Burgess will never forget the noise that greeted Rory Fallon’s goal against Bahrain in Wellington in 2009.
