KEY POINTS:
New Zealand will finish a commendable 12th when final rankings are released after the November 16 Fifa Under-17 Women's World Cup final.
Among the eight teams eliminated after the group phase, New Zealand were in good company and will be ranked higher than the three South American teams and Concacaf runners-up Costa Rica.
In finishing with two one-goal losses - including the unlucky 2-1 result against Denmark - and the 3-1 win over Colombia, New Zealand finished with three points and a 4-4 goal count.
But for that one unlucky goal they conceded against Denmark when Rosie White's shot hit the post and the ball bounced into goalkeeper Lene Gissel's hands and was sent long for Linette Andreasen to snatch the 30th minute equaliser, New Zealand might have won through to the weekend quarter-finals.
Now contemplating what might have been, they are in good company.
Between them, the three South American teams failed to win a match, had only three draws and scored just 11 goals while conceding 28. Costa Rica, who had finished second behind the United States (and ahead of Canada) in the Concacaf qualifiers, failed, like Paraguay and Brazil, to get any points.
In conceding 16 goals, Paraguay had the worst defensive record with France (10) and Costa Rica (8) next. Japan, not surprisingly, scored the most goals - their 17 almost double second-placed Germany (9) with France (8) next best. All three had a penalty included in their tally.
At the other end of that list, Costa Rica managed just one goal while Canada, who will play Germany in one of tomorrow's quarter-finals at Westpac Stadium, scored only twice in winning through. Denmark, set to play Korea DPR in the first of the quarter-finals, fared only slightly better, scoring just three goals, as did Brazil and Colombia.
Interestingly, England, also through to the last eight, forced the least number of corners, averaging just one a game in three group outings. Costa Rica forced six and Paraguay eight, while at the top of the list, the Germans won 24 to head the US by two with Nigeria third on that list with 20.
A key to New Zealand's failure to survive might have been their lack of "mongrel".
In the fair play stakes, Paul Temple's team came out tops in the "fouls committed" column. They were penalised just 18 times with Japan (20) and Colombia (21) next.
Topping that list were Korea Republic (41) ahead of the US (39) and Canada (38).
After pool play, Germany's Dzenifer Marozsan and Japan's Natsuki Kishikawa led the golden boot race with four goals apiece - one ahead of four players including White.
Denmark and Canada, who played in group A with New Zealand and Colombia, were two of the four teams to go through unbeaten, as did the favoured Japanese and Germans.
Quarter-finals will be played in Wellington and Hamilton with the winners going on to Thursday's semifinals at QEII Park in Christchurch.
