Happy and Glorious:

Grace Wisnewski could not hear the music playing throughout Estadio Charrua. She was singing so hard.

Macklemore’s Glorious, the song that has become the anthem for New Zealand during their history-making run at the Fifa Under-17 Women’s World Cup, just happened to be playing when the referee blew fulltime in their 2-1 win over Canada.

It was a fitting end to a glorious campaign, New Zealand beating Finland, Uruguay, Japan and Canada to secure a bronze medal.

‘‘I don’t know whether one of the girls requested [the song],’’ said coach Leon Birnie. ‘‘It was such a fitting end. It’s been our song all the way through and to finish with a bronze and to have that playing in the background was just perfect.

‘‘As a coach I feel so lucky to be in this position. It’s something I’ve always dreamed of doing and I’ve had a couple of opportunities now and long may that continue. Getting a bronze is so special. It’s such a humbling moment. The tournament couldn’t have panned out any better for us.’’

New Zealand made a dream start to the playoff for third place, with Wisnewski scoring inside 15 seconds and again 13 minutes later. Her first was the fastest goal in the tournament’s history.

‘‘We came flying out the blocks. We knew they wanted to play, they like to play and they play around the edge of their box and that suits us so when we pressed high up the field we knew we’d have success – maybe not in the first 60 seconds though. But that set the tone for the first half.’’

Those early strikes proved crucial, as New Zealand had their backs against the wall in the second half, with Canada looking ever more likely to

‘‘As a coach I feel so lucky to be in this position.’’

NZ u-17 coach Leon Birnie