Kenneth Heiner-Moller believes Canada hit new heights in a Women's World Cup win over New Zealand that set up a decisive Group E showdown against Netherlands.
Jessie Fleming and Nichelle Prince scored second-half goals to see off Football Ferns in a 2-0 victory for Canada in Grenoble. The victory secured Canada's passage into the last 16 and moved it level on points with Netherlands, the group leader and reigning European champion.
REPORT | Canada 2-0 New Zealand
Top spot will be determined when the two nations meet in Reims on Thursday and Heiner-Moller expects his side to take the game to its highly fancied rival, which beat Cameroon 3-1 in Saturday's early match. "We reached another level today in the way we got around some of their defensive structures," Canada's head coach said.
"We have a very intelligent group of players who can switch between modes within games, and they did a very good job today.
"New Zealand are a hard team to beat but we expect a step up against the Dutch and we'll need to look closely and see where we can hurt them. If we continue growing in the tournament from match one to match two I think we'll have a great game."
The defeat was New Zealand's second in as many matches and its hopes of advancing in third now hinges on overcoming Cameroon and hoping results fall its way elsewhere. "We were thoroughly outplayed, so I have to congratulate Canada on an outstanding performance," said New Zealand boss Tom Sermanni.
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