The Football Ferns have been knocked out of the Women's Football World Cup after a dramatic 2-1 defeat Cameroon in their final pool match in France on Friday (NZ time).
Heading into the match, both nations knew they had to win to reach the knockout stages of the tournament, and it was Cameroon who showed more fight as they scored the match-winning goal with the last kick of the game.
With the scores locked at 1-1 and both teams set to be eliminated from the tournament, Cameroon midfielder Ajara Nchout turned inside Ria Percival and superbly curled the ball past Kiwi keeper Erin Nayler to score the winner which sees the African nation advance as one of the best third-placed teams.
For the Ferns, they finish the tournament with three defeats in France, their equal-worst showing at a World Cup alongside the campaigns of 1991 and 2007.
New Zealand has never won a game in 15 attempts at the Women's World Cup, while they've also never reached the knockout stages of the tournament.
Football Ferns coach Tom Sermanni said he has mixed emotions about the result.
"You always feel a sensation of failure when you don't win any games, but that has to be tempered with the reality that we came up against some tough teams in a tough group," he said.
"At the end of the day, we weren't good enough. We played two games against the Netherlands and Cameroon when on another day, the result could have gone in our favour.
"I'm proud of the girls' effort because they knew we had to win, and they put Cameroon under pressure.
"But I'm frustrated because if we'd just done a couple of things better, I think we would have won the game. We knew in the end, both teams had to go for the win.
"That emotion of frustration is very much in my head, but it will disappear in a short while."
After a dull and scoreless first half, Nchout broke the deadlock when she scored in the 57th minute to give Cameroon a 1-0 lead.
The Ferns managed to level the match courtesy of an own goal when Katie Bowen's cross was deflected into the net by Aurelle Awona with 10 minutes left in the contest.
That goal left both teams needing to score to book a place in the round of 16.
New Zealand had a couple of chances to break the deadlock, but it was Cameroon who came out on top when Nchout won it in the fifth minute of stoppage time with another assured finish.
The Football Ferns will now return to New Zealand to begin preparation for next year's Tokyo Olympics, which they have already qualified for.
Newshub.
