Sarina Bolden spoils New Zealand party and hands Philippines historic win
Sarina Bolden headed the winner as the Philippines spoiled the co-hosts New Zealand’s party with a stunning 1-0 victory in their Women’s World Cup Group A clash.
The Philippines lost 2-0 to Switzerland in their opening match and had been widely expected to struggle against the Football Ferns, who were coming off their first World Cup win, over the former champions Norway, and looking to book a spot in the last 16.
Instead, the Philippines secured their own first World Cup win to keep alive their hopes of progressing in their debut tournament. New Zealand did not lack in effort but had seemingly lost the magic touch of their historic opener and missed a series of goalscoring opportunities.
“Our goal was to inspire our nation and it was not the result that we wanted but the fight and the passion was definitely there tonight,” said the New Zealand coach, Jitka Klimkova. “It is heartbreaking but this is not over yet – we still have time to reset and refocus.
“The grit I think was something that was more seen in the game against Norway. The physicality, how we were against Norway, was a little bit different today.”
Bolden made them pay in the 24th minute when the forward got up well to fire a header directly at the New Zealand goalkeeper, Victoria Esson, who fumbled it into the net to give the Philippines their first World Cup goal.
The Ferns, roared on by 32,357 crowd at Wellington Regional Stadium, dominated possession as they poured forward looking for an equaliser. Defender Katie Bowen sent a shot wide in the 38th minute and in first-half stoppage time, the co-captain Ria Percival’s shot rolled straight at the Philippines goalkeeper, Olivia Davies-McDaniel.
In the 58th minute defender CJ Bott looped a cross into the box but Hannah Wilkinson, the hero of New Zealand’s opening win on Thursday, sent her header over. Ten minutes later Wilkinson did well to drag the ball back from the byline and crossed for the forward Jacqui Hand to head it into the net, only for the officials to call it back for offside.
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In a frenetic finish, the Philippines’ striker Carleigh Frilles also got the ball into net from an offside position and New Zealand’s Grace Jale was foiled from close range by a fine Davies-McDaniel save. “It means everything to us,” said Davies-McDaniel. “I think we really put our head down and we knew what was coming at us tonight.”
The Philippines face Norway on Sunday, when New Zealand play Switzerland, with all four teams in the group still able to qualify.