Chance copped an elbow to the chest 15 minutes into the match in the Trinidadian city of Couva, leaving her with a bruised diaphragm and ribs and eventually forcing her from the field late in the game.
But not before her incisive runs down the left flank revealed Chance as a potent threat and a player to watch for the future.
“Touch wood, all the players will come through okay,” coach Dave Edmondson says.
“There were a few bumps and bruises and Olivia was the worst of those. She’s taken part in training today and that was partly an exercise in seeing how painful it still is and whether she can deal with that during the game.”
“We’re hopeful she can take part but we’ll double check on that before the game. She has had trouble with deep breathing and some twisting and turning but she’s pretty tough and keen to give it go. We’re willing to go with that, within reason.”
Chance and her teammates showed impressive promise against Venezuela as New Zealand dominated all stats apart from the 1-2 scoreline.
They now face an even tougher challenge from European champions Spain, who lead the group thanks to a 4-1 win over Japan.
“We’re in no doubt that we have two very difficult matches coming up,” Edmondson says. “And, having not got anything out of the first match, we need to get results in the next two if we are to progress into the knockout stages.
“Spain are strutting round the hotel in pretty confident mood and rightly so. But Japan had some pretty good chances in that game when the score was still 0-0. It shows us that Spain are beatable and you can create chances against them.
“But then it also shows that Japan are better than that 4-1 result as well.”
New Zealand’s training has again been disrupted with storm water logging their training pitch and forcing the team indoors. The weather is expected to remain hot and humid for tomorrow’s 4pm kickoff (8am NZT).
In matches played on Thursday (NZT), Germany continued their rampant Group A form with a 10-1 win over South Africa while South Korea joined them in the second round with a 4-1 win over Mexico.
Nigeria progressed from Group B with their second win, 2-1 over hosts Trinidad and Tobago, while North Korea claimed their first win, 3-0 over Chile, to keep their hopes alive.
FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup – Group C
New Zealand v Spain
Couva, Trinidad
Sept 9, 4pm (8am, Sept 10 NZT)
Live on Sky Sport 3 from 7:45am
New Zealand:(from) 1-Chloe-May GEURTS (GK), 2-Rachel HEAD, 3-Tessa MCPHERSON, 4-Olivia CHANCE, 5-Brittany DUDLEY-SMITH, 6-Evie MILLYNN, 7-Holly PATTERSON, 8-Kate LOYE, 9-Hannah CARLSEN, 10-Hannah WONG, 11-Grace PARKINSON, 12-Stephanie SKILTON, 13-Megan LEE, 14-Katie BOWEN (Captain), 15-Kate CARLTON, 16-Jessie MATHEWS, 17-Sivitha BOYCE, 18-Rebecca BURROWS, 19-Michelle WINDSOR, 20-Jess REDDAWAY, 21-Lily ALFELD
Head Coach: Dave EDMONDSON
Spain:(from) 1-Dolores GALLARDO (GK), 2-Ana SAENZ, 3-Ana Maria CATALA, 4-Ivana ANDRES, 5-Laura GUTIERREZ, 6-Nagore CALDERON, 7-Gema GILI, 8-Marina GARCIA, 9-Paloma LAZARO, 10-Amanda SAMPEDRO, 11-Alexia PUTELLAS, 12-Sara TAZO, 13-Elena FERNANDEZ (GK), 14-Arene ALTONAGA, 15-Iraia PEREZ, 16-Paula NICART, 17-Sara MERIDA, 18-Raquel PINEL, 19-Paula LOPEZ, 20-Nerea PEREZ, 21-Patricia ASENSIO (GK)
Head Coach: Jorge VILDA
Story courtesy of NZF Media.
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