Following Our Football Ferns: Vive la Dark Horse
Katie Bowen scored a beauty and she's rather funny.
As we gear up for Olympic mayhem, one of the more interesting teams to follow is our Football Ferns. Let's not beat around the bush here as our Ferns certainly aren't expected to compete for a medal, but they do have huge underdog potential and over the past few years a core group of Ferns has grown under coach Tony Readings' guidance, leaving us with a glimmer of hope that something special could go down in Rio.
Two games against Australia's Matildas served as a final hit-out ahead of the Olympics, two games against our trans-Tasman rivals who are a far greater chance of an Olympic medal. You wouldn't have known that the Matildas were up against the Ferns though, for all that commentators were concerned, this was all about the Matildas and their greatness which was a bit of a bummer but what do you expect from Aussies, right?
The first game in Ballarat went the way of the Aussies, 2-0, which could be viewed as a fair reflection of where the two teams are currently at. Last night though, before those damn Socceroos were tipped up by Greece, our Ferns put together a strong display and managed a 1-1 draw, heck they could have even won the game. That the Ferns improved from game one to game two is super impressive and they definitely showed signs of their dark horse ability.
So what can we take away from these two games, besides how awesome it was to see New Zealand take on Australia in women's football? I'll sit with that for a second - we aren't graced with Ferns vs Matildas football too often, far less often than we would all like and a lot of this could be thanks to a similar mindset that is evident on the men's side of things. Kiwi football is blatantly looked down upon by Australia, mainly because we've never really been as good as the Aussies and then there's the whole Asia/Oceania situation as well. I'm gonna take this moment to call for more trans-Tasman football games, at least between the Ferns and Matildas but why stop there? Let's have a full on trans-Tasman series once a year where both the men's and women's teams compete against each other.
Both games saw Readings opt for a 4-2-1-3 formation and the coach enjoys a luxury of rolling out a pretty settled team, even with the sub rotations. Ali Riley, Abby Erceg, Meikayla Moore and Ria Percival form a strong defensive group with goalkeeper Erin Nayler sitting behind them. There's plenty of experience here with Riley playing her 100th game in Ballarat and in their skipper Erceg, the Ferns have one of the classiest central defenders on the planet.
Katie Duncan sits in front of the back-four, playing the holding midfielder role and the only change Readings made from game one to game two was bringing in Kirsty Yallop for Betsy Hassett. Hassett still got minutes in the second game, coming on for Duncan and her impact was highly evident. The front-four was the same for both games with Annalie Longo pulling the strings in behind an impressive striking group which had Hannah Wilkinson coming back from a lengthy lay-off to play on the left, Amber Hearn in the middle and Katie Bowen on the right.
Bowen scored the Ferns' goal last night with a slick shot...
What excites me about this Ferns team is the punch that comes off the bench. If Hasset isn't starting, she's a near certainty to come off the bench and add a play-making presence in the latter stages of the game while having both Sarah Gregorius and Jasmine Pereira come off the bench is lethal. Gregorius came on to play down the left with Pereira playing down the right, Gregorius is a nippy winger while Pereira is also qucik but is more powerful.
Readings brought Gregorius on for Wilkinson in both games, giving Gregorius half the game to add some spark and this could have also been because Wilkinson had been out injured for a substantial period of time. Pereira came on in the 76th minute and 77th minute for Bowen in both games.
There's plenty of room for improvement ahead of the Olympics and finding a way to win will be at the top of the list. In 14 games since May 24 2015, the Ferns have scored more than a single goal just twice with a 2-2 draw against China at the World Cup and a 7-1 thrashing of Papua New Guinea. This year's Algarve Cup saw them lose to Brazil 1-0, draw with Russia 0-0, beat Portugal 1-0 and draw with Iceland 1-1, so scoring goals is a key improvement that must be made. The Ferns couldn't manage a shot on target in their 2-0 loss but in a better showing last night they put three shots on target.
In saying that, this is an extremely gritty Football Ferns side who have conceded more than 2 goals just once in the past 14 games. Erceg, Percival and Riley are among the five most-capped Ferns ever and that experience at the back will be crucial moving forward, I'd suggest that success at the Olympics will come via strong defensive displays against more favoured teams.
And that was why it was awesome to see Bowen knock that shot it from outside the box.
There's definitely a threat up front in this Ferns side and with a strong defence, they have the ability to score goals when opportunities are presented. Whether it's Bowen, Wilkinson, Hearn, Gregorius or Pereira, there is an attacking threat waiting to fully click into gear.
For now, I'll leave you with the highly entertaining goal-scoring Katie Bowen...