KEY POINTS:
New Zealand coach John Herdman was left fuming at a couple of crucial refereeing decisions as the Junior Football Ferns beat hosts Chile 4-3 in their second-round match at the Fifa Under-20 Women's World Cup yesterday.
The victory means a win for New Zealand over England in their final group match on Thursday will book them a place in the quarter-finals - a first for a New Zealand team at a Fifa tournament.
But Herdman will not know for a day or two whether key midfielder Ria Percival will be cleared to play after she was shown a second yellow card, then red in the dying minutes of yesterday's win.
The New Zealand camp have appealed on the grounds of mistaken identity, maintaining if there had been a foul committed - and they were far from convinced - then right-back Caitlin Campbell, not Percival, was the guilty party.
Herdman wants the decision sooner rather than later as he prepares his team for what is a must-win game for the Ferns. England can get through with a draw.
In yesterday's early game, England and Nigeria followed their first-round wins over Chile and New Zealand with a 1-1 draw.
Costa Rican referee Erika Vargas was out of her depth for the game in Coquimbo.
In her first wrong decision, she failed to send off Chilean goalkeeper Claudia Endler after she had brought down Ferns striker Sarah McLaughlin in the 37th minute and conceded a penalty.
Endler stayed on and was kept busy in pulling off crucial saves in the face of the New Zealand onslaught.
In a match in which the visitors attacked constantly, New Zealand had 29 shots (16 on goal) to Chile's 11 (8) and won the corner count 6-3.
It was frenetic from the start, with Rosie White playing in a good ball which forced Endler down to grab the ball in the face of Liz Milne's attempted strike in the opening minute.
After other early misses, White broke the deadlock in the 21st minute when she gathered and turned on the edge of the penalty area before snapping home the opening goal.
Her successful shot from the spot then made it 2-0.
The Chileans got one back in the 50th minute when Maria Mardones got her head to a punched clearance from New Zealand goalkeeper Charlotte Wood and headed home from 20m.
Just seconds after replacing McLaughlin on the 67th minute, Renee Leota hooked the ball into the Chile goal when their defence failed to clear a Campbell corner.
White stretched the lead to 4-1 in the 75th minute, completing her hat-trick with a simple side-foot finish from a freekick.
It was 15-year-old White's second international hat-trick in 17 days, following her triple strike at the Under-17 tournament earlier this month.
White is now joint leader in the golden boot with American Alex Morgan, while the Ferns are the joint top-scoring team with the US on six goals.
In the late confusion, New Zealand conceded two goals but without looking likely to allow Chile to get back into the game. As was the case here at the Under-17s, the hosts are out of the reckoning after just two games.
