Football Ferns eye Spanish win

The Football Ferns face Spain tomorrow morning. Photo / Getty Images

The Football Ferns preparations for game two of the series with Spain continued on the fly today as the team moved from Guadalajara to La Roda.

After Wednesday's come-from-behind 2-2 draw with their 15th-ranked hosts, Football Ferns coach Tony Readings says their last 24 hours have been a busy mix of recovery, travel and match planning for everyone on tour.

"It's been a pretty hectic day," Readings said, "we played late yesterday and it was an early start today - up and a three-hour bus journey between venues.

"In that time you've got to try and recover the players while at the same time you're trying to review the last game and get as many learnings as you can in place so we can perform better.

"It's been pretty busy but it's exactly the same for Spain and we're used it so it's no problem for us but it's definitely been a busy day for everyone."

Despite the hustle, Readings says the focus remains clear for Friday's second game; ensuring the team show they have learned quickly from the Wednesday's encounter which saw the two halves take very different shapes.

"What we saw in the first half they were a team that can move the ball very quickly and if we are playing the game in our half of the pitch - as we did for the first half - it's very difficult to disrupt their rhythm and quite difficult to get many meaningful attacks ourselves.

"We need to take a lot of the learnings we did apply in the second half. We were far better and we were able to exert a lot more pressure on them to disrupt their attack and at the same time create a lot more chances and we scored two goals.

As the team builds their campaign towards the FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada in June, Readings says it will be vital to continue to hone their approach to suit what's in front of them.

"We've gone into the this tour looking to be better at choosing which parts of our playing model we need to use in different parts of the game. We've got a style of football we play and within the way we play there is a lot of flexibility to attack in different ways; sometimes play shorter, sometimes longer and sometimes being a bit more effective in transition.

"What we found against Spain was they pressed us very high in the first half and we dealt with that okay at times but we dealt with it far more effectively in the second half. Because of that they dropped off a little bit and we had to adapt again how we played.

"As the game wears on and the opposition start to change things we have to stay one step ahead and I think that's going to be a good test for us. If we can come out of tomorrow's game saying we managed the game a lot better then I think we'll be pretty happy as a team."

If selected, Football Ferns midfielder Katie Hoyle will play her 100th international for New Zealand on Friday, becoming the third player - male or female - to reach that milestone behind team mates Abby Erceg and Ria Percival.

Spain v Football Ferns
Thursday 5 March, 8pm (Friday 6 March, 8am NZ time)
La Roda Municipal Stadium, La Roda, Spain

Football Ferns (from): 1. Erin Nayler (GK), 2. Ria Percival, 4. Katie Hoyle, 5. Abby Erceg (capt), 6. Rebekah Stott, 7. Ali Riley, 9. Amber Hearn, 10. Sarah Gregorius, 11. Kirsty Yallop, 12. Betsy Hassett, 13. Rosie White, 14. Katie Bowen, 15. Meikayla Moore, 16. Annalie Longo, 17. Hannah Wilkinson, 18. CJ Bott, 22. Evie Millynn, 23. Cushla Lichtwark (GK), 24. Jasmine Pereira, 26. Daisy Cleverley

Coach: Tony Readings