MONTEVIDEO, November 30, 2018 - New Zealand and Canada pursue their best-ever placing at a FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup when they contest the third-place play-off at the Charrúa stadium in Montevideo on Saturday.
Neither had reached this far previously but are meeting again for the second time in a month since they played a friendly on November 7 and Canadian coach Rhian Wilkinson remembers the 2-1 defeat well.
She said: “Both teams would have been testing lineups and tweaking things for the tournament. It was completely a friendly practice game which I’m really glad we had.”
Wilkinson takes the last match of the World Cup seriously and wants to end it with a medal. She has already won two bronze medals as a player at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and London 2012 and is looking forward to a third.
She said: “It is a huge moment for New Zealand and Canada so we’re taking it seriously. A lot has been said about being in this historical moment for Canada and New Zealand but what we thought about as a team, about the performance and about them being in the best version of themselves and the opposition is the obstacle in the way”.
The semi-final defeat by Mexico left the North Americans in a bad mood but their match focus soon returned.
Wilkinson said: “Obviously the players were upset after the semi-final loss. The coolest thing is about working with youth is how quick they went back. It’s getting over the disappointment and refocusing on a podium finish, it’s an incredible achievement to win any coloured medal at the World Cup.”
