New Zealand will play at next year's Women’s Soccer World Cup in Brazil after beating Papua New Guinea 1-0 on Wednesday in the final of the Oceania Confederation Qualifying Series. Sunderland midfielder Katie Kitching scored the only goal of the match in the 55th minute, sending New Zealand to a World Cup for the seventh time.
Papua New Guinea still has a chance to qualify through an inter-continental playoff during the international window in November or December. New Zealand was denied twice by VAR, four times by the woodwork and repeatedly by Papua New Guinea goalkeeper Betty Sam who was outstanding in a hard-working defence.
Deven Jackson appeared to have scored from Rebecca Stott's through ball in the 32nd minute but the VAR showed Jackson had been caught by PNG’s offside trap. New Zealand was awarded a penalty in first half stoppage time after Maya Hahn was brought down in the box but the decision was overturned after the officials considered replays for more than five minutes.
New Zealand’s finishing let it down on numerous occasions, notably when Jackson missed an open goal in the 51st minute. “It's amazing. We had a job that we had to get done tonight and we did what we needed to do to get the result,” New Zealand coach Michael Mayne said.
“We're over the moon with going to the World Cup and now we can plan and see what we have to do this year to get ready for the World Cup. "At halftime we spoke about our finishing. Frustration had to be tempered. We were creating, we felt a goal was going to come and it was one of those games in which we had opportunities but weren't clinical when we needed to be,” said Mayne.
England beat Spain again in Women's World Cup qualifier
London: England came out on top again in its latest clash with Spain, winning 1-0 in a Women's World Cup qualifier at Wembley Stadium.
Lauren Hemp’s third-minute strike settled the game that leaves European champion England top of Group A3 with a 100 per cent record. It was a repeat of last year's Euros final and the World Cup final of 2023 and the latest head-to-head between these giants of the women’s game.
England triumphed at the Euros to win back-to-back titles, but it was Spain that was crowned world champion in 2023.
England, ranked No. 4 in the world, secured the victory against No. 1 Spain through Hemp’s goal, which was turned in from an early corner. Spain's Alexia Putellas thought she had cleared the effort but couldn't prevent it from crossing the line. The 2027 Women’s World Cup will be staged in Brazil.
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