KEY POINTS:
It was a 'bitter sweet' Olympic debut for the Football Ferns when they squandered a 2-0 lead against higher-rated Japan to draw their Games opener 2-2 in Qinhuangdao.
The world No 24 New Zealanders have made rapid progress in the last couple of months but might even have surprised themselves at being 2-0 up with 35 minutes left against the world No 10 Japanese.
However a soft penalty for a push by defender Abby Erceg and a well-taken volley four minutes from the end by Homare Sawa left coach John Herdman scratching his head.
"The players froze in the last 20 minutes," he said, believing a lack of confidence and mental strength when holding a two-goal cushion cost them dearly.
"But the sweet part is we got a draw in the first game and we're still in the competition. The players gave everything to get a result, and I know the players can perform better than that."
A first half goal to midfielder Kirsty Yallop, after strong work down the right by Ali Riley, and a penalty from striker Amber Hearn - one of two dodgy penalty calls by the South African referee Deidre Mitchell in a generally ham-fisted display with the whistle - 10 minutes into the second half had the New Zealanders pinching themselves.
They looked composed in stages, and no one could fault the effort in humid conditions.
Goalkeeper Jenny Bindon performed heroics in goal in the second half before the wall broke just when players might have been thinking about the final whistle.
The job gets tougher for the Football Ferns from here on, with games against world No 5 Norway on Saturday and the world's best team, the United States coming up on Tuesday.
However Herdman remains optimistic. When they analyse the game if the mental aspect is identified as the key factor in conceding the two-goal advantage, he believes that will be easy to fix.
"First game jitters will not be a factor in the remainder of the competition. There's another 20 to 30 percent in this team and if we bring that into the competition it is realistic we can pull a result off," he added.
And the result, despite the disappointment of not grabbing the win, will give a thumb in the eye to those questioning whether they were good enough to be at the Olympics a few months ago.
