The Young Football Ferns have edged Finland 1-0 to open their account at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Uruguay.
A stunning goal from Kelli Brown late in the first half sealed the clash for New Zealand.
The Hamilton Wanderers midfielder latched onto a loose ball outside the Finnish goal and launched a long-range shot right into the top corner.
It was the opening goal of the tournament.
Despite Finland dominating the possession statistics with 70 percent of the ball, the Ferns were dogged in defence and created several other chances as well.
Coach Leon Birnie was delighted with the result.
"It's a great performance," Birnie told the host broadcaster after the game. "
"We'd watched a lot of footage of Finland in the qualifiers and they're a very, very good side, they've had some great results and we knew this was going to be a real challenge."
The victory’s just the third at the junior FIFA showpiece in New Zealand history.
Striker Rosie White scored a memorable hat-trick against Colombia in Wellington in 2008, in the first-ever win at a U-17 World Cup - while a 5-0 thrashing of hosts Jordan at the 2016 Cup was the second.
Birnie said the goal now shifts to getting to the second round.
"We had two goals when we come over here, one was to get a win and the second was to get out of the group and we're halfway there."
New Zealand play hosts Uruguay on Saturday morning (NZT) before ending pool play against African giants Ghana next Wednesday.
Newshub.
