AUCKLAND – Hosts New Zealand are champing at the bit to open the inaugural FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup with a bang against Canada at North Harbour Stadium on Tuesday night.

It’s been 22 months since Paul Temple took over the reins of the Young Football Ferns – who qualified automatically in September 2006 when New Zealand was awarded the hosting rights for the 16-nation finals– so the Sussex-born head coach is well placed to judge whether the build-up is about to pay off.

“We’re ready,” Temple said.

“The anticipation is really building in the last few days and things are looking slick in training. There’s a realisation among the players that the match is just hours away, and we’re really looking forward to doing rather than talking.”

Drawn into a tough group that also contains European powerhouse Denmark and South American champions Colombia, the Young Football Ferns open the tournament against a Canadian outfit who have been open with their title ambitions.

Canada’s coach Bryan Rosenfeld has also hinted that his side would depart from the direct style of football that has seen Canada earn a top-ten ranking at senior level and qualify for nine of ten age-group or senior World Cups, but Temple said his side could foot it with their more fancied visitors whatever they style they adopted.

“We’ll have to wait and see whether they’ll depart from the traditional Canadian style. Every team is different, but there’ll be similar traits and we’re prepared for the different scenarios.

“To an extent we’ll have to be similar in order to match them in that opening period but we’re a good footballing team and when our movement and timing is on, we can hurt teams when we go forward.”

Temple identified Canada’s midfield duo of diminutive Danica WU and captain Bryanna McCarthy as key players which suggests New Zealand’s Annalie Longo might have to call on her 15 caps and two World Cups worth of senior experience to gain the upper hand in the engine room.

In attack, Tiffany Cameron – who netted five goals in as many World Cup qualifiers and scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 friendly win over World Cup favourites USA looms as the Canucks’ primary threat.

“I think all round Canada have got some good players, but there’s a lot of talk about Tiffany Cameron and a lot on her shoulders being their main player up front. But we’ve been working on ways to counter that and are confident we can get them worrying about our front players instead.

Working in New Zealand’s favour, Temple said, were the twin x-factors of a home crowd and an unwavering belief that his side could buck the historical trend of group stage World Cup exits for New Zealand sides.

“The crowd is obviously an advantage for us. We’ll feel their support and backing and feel the people in the stands willing us on.

“There’s a lot of belief in the camp right now, and we go out and perform well against Canada then that belief can continue.”

The match kicks off at 7pm following an opening ceremony featuring hundreds of local performers at 6.30pm.

FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup New Zealand 2008

Match 1

Group A: New Zealand v Canada

Tuesday 28 October 2008

North Harbour Stadium, Auckland

Kick-off: 7pm

New Zealand: (from) 1-Charlotte WOOD (GK), 2-Anna FULLERTON, 3-Rebecca BROWN, 4-Leah GALLIE, 5-Bri FISHER (Captain), 6-Bridgette ARMSTRONG, 7-Caitlin CAMPBELL, 8-Sarah McLAUGHLIN, 9-Hannah WALL, 10-Annalie LONGO, 11-Rosie WHITE, 12-Claudia CRASBORN, 13-Nadia PEARL, 14-Katie BOWEN, 15-Victoria ESSON (GK), 16-Megan SHEA, 17-Jessica ROLLINGS, 18-Lauren MATHIS, 19-Lauren MURRAY, 20-Danielle McFADYEN (GK), 21-Yumi NGUYEN.

Canada: (from) 1-Cynthia LEBLANC (GK), 2-Kayla AFONSO, 3-Bryanna McCARTHY (Captain), 4-Marialye LARAMEE-TROTTIER, 5-Alyscha MOTTERSHEAD, 6-Shelina ZADORSKY, 7-Annick MALTAIS, 8-Caroline SZWED, 9-Amy HARRISON, 10-Tiffany CAMERON, 11-Karli HEDLUND, 12-Nkem EZURIKE, 13-Danica WU, 14-Rachel LAMARRE, 15-Julia IGNACIO, 16-Alex SMITH, 17-Nicole MITCHELL, 18-Sabrina D ANGELO (GK), 19-Diamond SIMPSON, 20-Lauren GRANBERG, 21-Genevieve RICHARD (GK).

Story provided by NZF Media.

For full story visit www.nzsoccer.com