Fifa Women’s World Cup: Football Ferns look to find their peak, as tournament countdown intensifies

Football Ferns head coach Jitka Klimkova at training in Napier. Photo / Photosport

The final countdown for the Football Ferns has begun.

The team reassembled in Napier on Friday, ahead of Monday’s match with Vietnam (5:30pm).

It’s the last official preparation game before the start of the World Cup, though it’s understood there will also be a behind closed doors session next week, against one of the other nations doing their initial preparations in Auckland.

Ferns coach Jitka Klimkova told the Herald she plans to use her strongest XI against Vietnam, looking ahead to the tournament opener against Norway on July 20 at Eden Park.

There has been a lot of experimentation within the Ferns over the past year – and heavy rotation within matches – but that phase is coming to an end.

Players had a week off following the end of the training camp on June 29, though some of the later arrivals continued with individual programmes.

Now the team has to find a peak. Their last international games were almost three months ago, with the clashes against Iceland (1-1) and Nigeria (0-3) in Turkey in early April.

The only match practice since then has been against local boys teams or intra-squad matches (seven in total) during the camp.

It’s a contrast with 2019, where the team had games against Norway, USA, England and Wales in a two-month span ahead of the World Cup in France.

“It will be great to compare ourselves with international opposition because we played a lot of internal games, boys teams but always the international game is the best teacher,” said Klimkova.

Vietnam are modest opposition. They will be making their first World Cup appearance and are one of the beneficiaries of Fifa’s decision to expand the tournament to 32 teams, grabbing the fifth qualification spot available to Asian teams, ahead of Taiwan and Thailand.

They have mainly been limited to Asian opposition over the last two years but have benefitted from a steady diet of competitive matches and lost 2-1 to a German selection last month.

The Ferns will be desperate for some confidence and belief and ideally a few goals at McLean Park.

The team has worked on several formations and Klimkova indicated they could use different structures across the three group games at the World Cup.

“We are much more comfortable in more formations than we have been before,” said Klimkova. “I don’t want to put the cards on the table for the opposition. It is always good to be a little bit more unpredictable, particularly at a home World Cup.”

The main focus of the training camp was their work in both penalty areas, with the Ferns lacking a cutting edge up front and solidity in front of their own goal.

“We needed to be better defenders in the box and we needed to be better attackers in the other box,” admitted Klimkova.

Veteran midfielder Olivia Chance (knee) and rookie striker Milly Clegg (ankle) were the only injury concerns at the end of the training camp though both have been progressing well and are on track.

How Clegg will be used is one of the main points of intrigue ahead of the tournament.

The 17-year-old is raw and untested but has potential and appeals as the most instinctive goal scorer among the forwards available.

“She is proving herself,” said Klimkova, when asked if Clegg could start or would be a bench option. “We all know she is incredible in the box, so natural, she can score goals. It is going to be her first World Cup and she is 17 years old so we will see how she is going to [deal with] this situation but I know her ability in the penalty area is unique. So let’s see how she is going to mentally handle this and if she is ready to step on the field then she will be playing.”