There are moments that seem endless and others that pass faster than a simple wink. This action seems frozen in time, as if it had come from another dimension, a kind of emotional lift that rarely happens in the world of sport. This moment takes place during the final of the 2019 Youth World Cup in Sheffield, England. The French women’s U24 team faces New Zealand and has the opportunity to score the first goal with a penalty shot. The siren sounds, Laura Thomazo grabs the puck, shoots with all her strength and … Nothing goes as planned, the puck hits the vice-captain NZ, Anastasia Burn, in the head and the player of the French team receives a 5-minute prison sentence. Rarely, such a short game action had seemed so long. Because even if this type of action may seem anecdotal, in a hockey game, it will have an influence on everything else for the two teams …
The “French Losing Federation” took the opportunity to point its nose and the supporters of the France team were stunned. They will have to play the next 5 minutes with one player less … This is when the New-Z take the opportunity to put pressure on the French side, but to the general surprise, the French team resists, they show remarkable solidarity. The Kiwis may well move the game from right to left to create a gap, Marie Giacomello’s teammates always manage to push the puck into the walls. At 2 minutes 50 seconds from half-time, Sophie Arnaud-Chatelain saves her teammates incredibly thanks to an intervention one meter from the goal. The end of the first period does not change with the return of Laura Thomazo and the signal for the end of the first period comes.
Mirror, mirror on the wall, tell me who will win ?!
Sum up of this first period, a greater presence at the bottom on the French side, but the fact of having played 5 minutes with one less player will be likely to hurt. On the side of the NZ, it will be necessary to avoid the walls and continue to move the opposing defense to find a breach and go to the goal. At this point in the game, it’s impossible to know who will bring the trophy home.
The second period begins with extraordinary pressure from New Zealand, the French are united but really have trouble containing the teammates of Eloise Sharpe who are very close to scoring. Perrine Meunier saved the Bleues two meters from their goal, but she found herself alone in her danger zone … The Kiwis took the opportunity to put pressure on the goal and score! Petra Clarkson opened the scoring for New Zealand with 10 minutes remaining in the game. The French reaction is quick and for almost 4 minutes, France pushes and proves that from a collective point of view, it is the best nation in this U24 Women’s World Cup. With 7 minutes and 15 seconds left in the game, the Bleues get a good free kick in the NZ camp and negotiate it perfectly to tie the game. It’s Clémence Meunier who scores the goal and everything becomes possible again. The atmosphere is getting more and more electric and it’s not a bad joke, knowing that we are playing in the water.
And in the end it’s always New Zealand that wins…
Following this equalization, the players of Max Habesztrau, the French coach, resist and manage to prevent a goal while the puck is only one meter from the goal. It is the second turning point of the match, because we feels that the French have given everything in the battle and a minute after this action, Kirsty Burnows gives the advantage to the Kiwis. After an action that would have moved the puck across the width of the field, New Zealand leads 2 – 1. There is only one minute left, but the French will not come back. New Zealand even took the opportunity to worsen the score to 6 seconds at the end. Final score, 3 – 1 for Kiwis!
This strong emotions’ game didn’t end well for the French team, which nevertheless takes a beautiful silver medal. This generation has something special and we haven’t finished hearing about it! On the Kiwi side, the players have again proven that New Zealand is the country that dominates female underwater hockey.
