The New Zealand women’s Olympic team suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat in their opening game at Paris 2024 against reigning champions Canada.

The much-discussed fixture, in the wake of Canada’s attempt to film the New Zealand training session via drone, saw New Zealand open the scoring with a brilliant goal from MacKenzie Barry in the 13th minute.

A Katie Kitching corner found Barry, playing left back for the game, who controlled the ball, spun, and finished into the top corner for her first goal for New Zealand.

The Tokyo 2020 gold medallists pushed to find an equaliser, but New Zealand's defence remained strong.

With half-time approaching, it looked like New Zealand was going to take a valuable lead into the break, but in the fourth minute of added time, Cloe Lacasse found the breakthrough for the Canadians, with her shot levelling the game at half-time.

The second half saw Canada start strongly, putting pressure on the New Zealand defence, but it still held out.

Eleven minutes from time, the New Zealand defence finally broke as Jessie Fleming picked out Evelyne Viens with a long-range through ball that the forward precisely placed in the net to give the reigning champions the lead.

New Zealand had late attempts to find a way back into the game, but despite the strong performance, could not find the equaliser as the game finished 2-1 in Saint-Étienne.

The team next face Colombia in Lyon on Sunday 28 July KO 5pm [local] / Monday 29 July KO 3am [NZT]. 

Article added: Thursday 25 July 2024