All Whites midfielder Olivia Chance and coach Jitka Klimková speak to the media. Photo / Photosport
All Whites midfielder Olivia Chance and coach Jitka Klimková speak to the media. Photo / Photosport
OPINION:
With just over four months until the Fifa Women’s World Cup hits our shores, New Zealand Football is staring at one of the biggest missed opportunities in its history.
To say the Football Ferns are approaching the tournament in poor form is an understatement.
The bare-faced stats are bleak.
They haven’t scored a goal in five matches this year and have found the net just once in their last 12 hours of football.
Since taking the job after the Tokyo Olympics in mid-2021, head coach Jitka Klimkova has overseen three wins, three draws and fifteen defeats. New Zealand have scored just 10 goals in those 21 outings.
At this time in the World Cup cycle, all that should be needed are tweaks to the team. The best 11 should be locked in and others should be pushing their cases for inclusion in the 23-strong squad.
Instead, a gilt-edged opportunity to qualify for the knockout rounds of a senior World Cup for the first time is starting to look less and less likely, unless a stunning reversal of fortunes can be engineered in the four remaining warm-up fixtures before the Big Show arrives.
New Zealand was awarded co-hosting rights to the World Cup in mid-2020.
The Football Ferns have played 24 matches in the time since, more than enough time to create a competitive environment where every match and every training session provided players an opportunity to push for a place in the World Cup squad.
Unfortunately, too many senior players have set their sights on this tournament being their international swansong, without doing enough to justify their place in the side.
That attitude seems to have permeated Klimkova’s selection decisions, with a reliance on the same core group of players she inherited after the Tokyo Olympics, during which New Zealand lost all three matches.
There are simply no repercussions for poor performance.
Players continue to be selected, despite mediocre showings at best. Collectively and individually there’s a lack of accountability for what is supposedly an elite sporting side.
Three days after the humiliating 5-0 loss to Portugal last month, the Ferns played Argentina with the chance to redeem themselves.
As they checked out the playing surface an hour before kick-off in what could be considered a reasonably important game, a number of senior players seemed more intent on getting the best video content for their Instagram accounts than focusing on righting the wrongs of the previous match.
The Football Ferns risk blowing a massive opportunity. Photo / Photosport
Before the two games against the United States in January, New Zealand captain Ali Riley confronted journalists after a media conference and told them in no uncertain terms they should be more supportive of the team.
During that media conference, she talked of a negative attitude towards the side and suggested any type of critique by fans meant they weren’t true supporters. The narrative was repeated by other members of the squad in various media situations during that series.
That internal perception is imaginary.
The vast majority of comment surrounding the Football Ferns leading into that two-game series was positive. Any criticism was entirely performance-based and driven by a frustration with the side’s results and a continued inability to score goals.
To be frank, the best way to engender support is to win some matches.
Addressing the goal drought is Klimkova’s most pressing issue and even though it’s almost too late now, fresh ideas are needed.
For starters, Wellington Phoenix teenager Milly Clegg needs to be given an opportunity to show what she can do. She is young, raw and inexperienced, but so was Michael Owen when England took him to the World Cup in 1998.
It might be a sugar-hit, but something different needs to be tried, because the strike-force has been ineffective.
Even if it turns out Clegg isn’t ready for the international stage, she could do no worse than the current crop of strikers. The travesty is there have been five opportunities this year in which her state of readiness could have been assessed and none were taken.
At the other end of the park, goalkeeper Brianna Edwards — who has stood out in Phoenix colours this season — had to watch on while Erin Nayler was given all three matches in the recent window.
After 80 matches for her country, surely there’s not too much more to learn about her.
By contrast, Edwards could have been blooded and tested at international level.
It’s hard to find positives from the recent matches against Portugal and Argentina, but there were a couple.
Phoenix defender Michaela Foster — who didn’t even have a full professional contract a year ago — showed in her first two appearances for New Zealand that not only does she belong in the Ferns squad for the World Cup, she should be starting.
And CJ Bott - who was only able to play the first match against Portugal - was far and away the best player in a white shirt, showing the benefit of playing and training at top-level club Leicester City.
The World Cup group New Zealand has been drawn into is one they could realistically get out of. Norway, Switzerland and the Philippines will be a tough, but not insurmountable challenge.
On current form though, it’s hard to back New Zealand with any degree of confidence.
Being knocked out in group play at their own World Cup would be disastrous.
Co-hosting this tournament is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take advantage of home conditions and advance to the knockout rounds at a World Cup for the very first time.
