Beaten 7-0 by South American hot-shots Venezuela in their first match, Papua New Guinea can still slip into the last four if they can somehow beat the European side in their final group match.
The Slovakians lost 6-2 to Venezuela after striker Deyna Castellanos spearheaded another goalfest for the South Americans in an exciting match by scoring a first half hat-trick to pave the way for a comfortable victory.
But Slovakia refused to let their heads hang however, and were rewarded for their attacking endeavours with a goal from Martina Surnovska shortly before the interval.
Nathalie Pasquel extended Venezuela’s lead again with a superb individual effort in the second half, only for the impressive Surnovska to strike once more.
Yet Venezuela’s victory was never in any doubt, with strikes from Yuleisi Rivero and a second from Pasquel sealing the win after a hugely entertaining game.
Nicknamed the Kurakums (or “weaver ants”), Papua New Guinea’s coach Margaret Aka pointed to the positives ahead of her team’s next match.
“The players did their best and deserve credit for their performance.
“We put up a good defence in the first half and our tactics were spot-on. It’s fair to say that the girls played the game we wanted to see,” Aka says.
The match kicks off at 6pm local time at Wutaishan Stadium in Nanjing on Wednesday 20 August.
Ends
Match Details
Girls’ Youth Olympic Football Tournament
Group A
Wednesday 20 August, 2014
At Wutaishan Stadium,
Nanjing, China
Slovakia v Papua New Guinea
Kick-off: 6pm local time