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 For New Zealand it will be their fourth World Cup but arrive in the
Alberta capital searching for a first win on the sport's biggest
stage.
Considered the tournament dark horse by many, New Zealand had the
easiest passage into the tournament needing just five days and three
matches to secure their place outscoring their opponents 30-0.
But the 17th ranked Football Ferns are sure to find the going much
tougher in Canada starting with a young, talented Dutch side, who
are surprisingly making their World Cup debut.
"Every game is going to be close and this one will be no different,"
New Zealand coach Tony Readings told reporters. "Holland are 12th in
the world for a reason.
"Of all the teams I have seen play recently they are the one that
embraces possession style football more than most teams.
"They've got the players to do it and play to their strengths."
Despite having never played in a World Cup the Dutch do not lack for
experience with five players with more than 100 caps.
The Dutch are well organized defensively and have plenty of power up
front in veteran Manon Melis and 18-year-old Vivianne Miedema, who
could emerge as one of the players of the tournament.
Melis, 28, has spent 12 years on the national team and is her
country's all-time leading scorer with 54 goals while Miedema led
the Dutch with 16 goals in the qualifiers, including the decisive
away goal in Italy that ensured they advanced.
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"We have a good team, everybody is talking about Miedema and she is
a great player, a young talent but I think we have more than that,
it is a team," said Dutch coach Roger Reijners, who has set the goal
of finishing among the top three European teams, which ensures they
qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
"We are newcomers and it is good for us and our team to play games
against world class teams make us better.
"Of course we want to win our games but we will see how far we go."
(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)
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