The team that made dreams come true
As Gemma Lewis embraced Aneka Mittendorff after New Zealand’s penalty shootout win over Japan in the quarterfinals of the
Under-17 Women’s World Cup, she asked a pertinent question.
‘‘What have we actually done?’’ she said. ‘‘What have we actually done?’’
What they’d done was make history, and with a win over Canada in the third-place playoff, they didn’t stop there.
Lewis assisted head coach Leon Birnie in Uruguay, the same role she fulfilled at the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in France in August and currently has with New Zealand Football’s Future Ferns Domestic Programme.
As she continues to help develop young players, Lewis has a tangible example of what’s possible. ‘‘That’s huge, that we’ve shown it’s attainable,’’ she said after returning to Auckland yesterday.
‘‘It gives you something to point to to say we can compete on the world stage. Now it’s going to be about trying to back this up, so it’s not just one group, or one tour, or one campaign.’’
Before their tournament opener against Finland, New Zealand had one warmup fixture, a
2-1 win over Canada, who they would beat again by the same score 18 days later.
In that warmup match, the team implemented its pressing game plan against proper opposition for the first time, and it worked a treat – so much so that the coaching staff was surprised when Canada didn’t adjust to it in their second meeting, where it led to a goal inside 16 seconds.
‘‘That was when I got real confidence, that if we could get the tactics right as a staff, and if the girls could keep executing them, and if their fitness levels lasted, that we could disrupt these teams,’’ Birnie said yesterday.
‘‘I was just happy that we were able to go press high, get an early goal, and then in the last 15 to 20 minutes, I’m yelling stuff to the girls. Credit to them, they hung in there and they had that determination and that got us through.’’
Birnie said there were two reasons why the squad was so good at sticking to the game plan.
‘‘I’m a firm believer of simplifying things.
‘‘When you’re showing them footage, they need to see successful examples of what you’re asking them to do, so a lot of thought goes into what we present to them, and when they watch that, they can see if they do what we’re asking them, it works.
‘‘Secondly, and probably more importantly, it’s a credit to the players. For them to go and execute it for the long periods they did, and when they were tired and finding it hard to concentrate, it shows maturity beyond their years.
‘‘That sums up this group.’’