Tom Sermanni’s First Footy Ferns Squad Ain’t No Joke
This Tom Sermanni fella doesn’t mess around, does he? Confirmed in the job on Friday and by Monday morning he’s already named his first Football Ferns squad. It’s the squad that’ll scrap out the Oceania Nations Cup later on this month for a place at the 2019 World Cup in France. It’s also a squad with an excessive amount of talent in it, like, more talent than is really needed for a week’s worth of games in New Caledonia but why take any chances, you know?
Plus the Ferns are in need of a reset, one which has already begun with the new coach being named. This is a team that’s struggled to live up to hopes and expectations at major tournaments recently but in an attempt to bring more accountability into the side, the governing body went and employed a bully and that sure didn’t work out too well. It’s possible to have high standards and still maintain a positive work environment… in fact many people would say those things are essentially linked.
So with Tom Sermanni on board until the end of the World Cup, clearly intended to be an experienced and steadying influence, it does make sense that most of the senior players would be there to have a say in the direction this team is heading in. That and they all love representing their country and other circumstances have meant that that’s something they haven’t been able to do since June and that was a bit of a mess. The Ferns have only played five times in the last thirteen months and they’ll need to play five times in thirteen days to make it to the World Cup – another reason for a squad with plenty of depth and thus rotation possibility.
So who’s he picked? Let’s take a peek, shall we?
GOALKEEPERS
Victoria Esson - Canterbury United Pride (2 caps/0 goals)
Erin Nayler - Girondins Bordeaux (54/0)
Nadia Olla - Auckland (0/0)
Relatively as expected here, especially considering that the U17 team is at a World Cup around the same time which takes Anna Leat out of consideration. Basically whoever else is being picked as goalie is being picked to play backup to Erin Nayler, who has started the season in France in immaculate form. Hopefully won’t have much to do in New Caledonia but always nice to have her there – though it wouldn’t be a terrible time to rotate Esson and Olla in there during the group games for a bit of experience. Anna Leat’s still several years off challenging for that number one jersey and depth is never a bad thing to have. Olla was in the squad last time, Esson is recalled in place of Leat.
Quick look at the overall squad and there are 22 players (Sammy Tawharu was going to be included as a bolter but wasn’t available – her time will come soon enough). Exactly half are overseas professionals and the other half are currently playing in the National League. That’s maybe more than it could’ve been but there are a few notable players out injured, which we can get to later. And even then, that ratio is a bit misleading because Anna Green was playing in the English Super League at the start of the year and Sarah Gregorius has heaps of pro experience. Meanwhile Malia Steinmetz and Grace Jale are absolute locks to play overseas someday.
DEFENDERS
Elizabeth Anton - Auckland (3/0)
CJ Bott - Vittsjo GIK (10/0)
Anna Green - Capital (67/7)
Meikayla Moore - MSV Duisburg (27/1)
Sarah Morton - Auckland (1/0)
Ali Riley - Chelsea FC (115/1)
Stephanie Skilton - Auckland (5/0)
Rebekah Stott - Melbourne City/Sky Blue FC (64/4)
The obvious one here is the lack of the name: Abby Erceg. But, like, did you think she’d be available so quickly? As if Sermanni’s even had time to get a hold of her. Erceg just completed a championship winning season with one of the all-time great NWSL sides, for which she was captain and an ever-present central defender. She’s on holiday right now and she bloody deserves it. Same as Winston Reid should never ever be risked in an OFC Nations Cup again, there’s simply no reason why Abby Erceg needs to play here. She’s retired. Get the team back on the tracks, make it to that World Cup, and then we can talk about Abby Erceg.
Meikayla Moore and Rebekah Stott have emerged as the top choice CBs recently and both are doing fine things. Stott had an injury plagued NWSL season but is back with Melbourne City and looking to win a fourth W-League title in a row whereas Moore stepped up to the plate in Erceg’s absence for the Ferns and looked assured, went to Germany to play for FC Köln and straight away got games, transferred to MSV Duisburg after Köln got relegated and has been even better. You can be handed opportunities through luck and circumstance every now and then but when you immediately fit into the starting XI in three different situations like that… well, there’s a sign of a player who consistently rises to the occasion. Can’t say enough about how impressive that is.
Ali Riley is there. She’s fit again and trying to work her way in at Chelsea and a run of games should do her well, not to mention the benefit to everyone else having her immense influence in the squad. She’s the captain for a reason. Hopefully a spell away with the national team might mean a few more kiwis on the ol’ Girls With Balls podcast too. Riley can play on the wing but is otherwise the lock-in left back. On the right you’ve probably got CJ Bott after the year she’s had playing in Germany and now Sweden. Anna Green is a pretty handy alternative. Ria Percival too if she doesn’t end up playing in the midfield.
Sarah Morton is here as one of six players who were at the recent U20 World Cup. Liz Anton, Malia Steinmetz, Grace Jale, Paige Satchell and Nadia Olla the others (and Sam Tawharu close to making it seven). The Ferns always seem to have a reliance on very young players, although more professionalism around the globe should mean longer careers for more players so that might begin to change. We’ve also got Auckland captain Steph Skilton listed as a defender, however she came up as a striker and may yet be needed there, while Liz Anton is one of the best defensive prospects in the country and has appeared off the bench three times for this team already in the last year. Morton and Skilton both started against Japan.
MIDFIELDERS
Ria Percival - West Ham United (130/13)
Katie Bowen - Utah Royals (52/2)
Betsy Hassett - KR Reykjavik (103/8)
Grace Jale - Auckland (0/0)
Emma Rolston - MSV Duisburg (2/0)
Malia Steinmetz - Northern Lights (2/0)
The first name on the team sheet here is Ali Riley, followed by Erin Nayler, but Katie Bowen is a close third. Since Katie Duncan and Kirsty Yallop retired she’s emerged as the best midfielder in the country. Didn’t play there a heap for Utah, instead getting in as a right back, but she always does the goods for the Ferns. Recently Ria Percival has been playing there too for the national team and if you need a holding mid then you can do plenty worse. She’s been great for West Ham lately. Similarly Betsy Hassett offers some creativity in the middle of the park and brings buckets of experience.
Then you’ve got three youngsters alongside. Grace Jale is one of two uncapped players here, though it’s no surprise to see her rewarded for her performances with Auckland over the last two seasons. Similarly Malia Steinmetz looks like a future captain of this team based on what she does with Northern. The two of them had a superb combination at the U20 World Cup. As for Emma Rolston, she’s coming in fresh off scoring her first goal in the Bundesliga and is one player who’d be a decent bet to be the next Meikayla Moore-esque breakthrough international talent.
It’s a strong midfield with a mixture of youth and experience… possibly a little too much of a mix but so it goes. You can also chuck Sarah Gregorius and Rosie White there if necessary. But these games are a tad too soon for Olivia Chance who is still recovering from doing her knee with Everton earlier in the year. Bummer not to have her there as a bridge between the established players and the rookies. Daisy Cleverley is another who might’ve been picked.
Also I guess the other thing here is we don’t know what formation Tom Sermanni will want to employ or how much his team is going to seek to play in possession. He does have a reputation as being a player-first guy but he also has a long history in this sport which suggests he’s tactically flexible too – you don’t last in this game if you can’t evolve. That’s all stuff we’ll find out soon enough, I s’pose.
FORWARDS
Sarah Gregorius - Capital (85/25)
Annalie Longo - Canterbury United Pride (106/10)
Katie Rood - Bristol City (4/0)
Paige Satchell - Auckland (4/0)
Rosie White - Chicago Red Stars (91/17)
And now to the strikers where injuries have kinda gutted the side. Hannah Wilkinson’s knee means she’s in doubt for the World Cup itself, let alone the qualifiers, while NZF also confirm that Amber Hearn has a knee issue which explains why she hasn’t been playing in Spain. No biggie… but there goes the two top strikers of recent times. At least there’s still Rosie White.
Gregorius and Longo are more attacking mids but as two of the premier players in the National League they could probably take care of business wherever. Paige Satchell is a speedy winger, always gonna be useful off the bench. And sweet as because Katie Rood’s back in the squad after missing out for the Japan game. There was a bunch of, shall we say, odd stuff in the Heraf era and him dropping Katie Rood and Aimee Phillips was definitely odd – two professional players ignored for local amateurs. Phillips has only just got back on the pitch this weekend after moving to Germany while Rood’s now at Bristol City. Phillips isn’t here but Rood is. There isn’t a massive precedent for ignoring professional players who aren’t injured or retired but Heraf is Heraf so no point bothering. Midfielder Jana Radosavljević is another who you’d hope would be in consideration were she not also injured at the moment.
Rood is one of four players added to this squad who weren’t there for the Japan game. Vic Esson is there for the unavailable Anna Leat. Ria Percival would’ve been there if she’d been fit. Grace Jale and Rood are the others. Amber Hearn, Hannah Wilkinson and Anna Leat are those missing from that team. So, yeah, apart from the strikers and having a couple extra in the squad on account of the cramped fixture list it’s actually quite consistent with the team that the last fella thought needed to sit ten players behind the ball and play within themselves. Pretty enormous difference in opposition here but all the same the contrast should be enormous. Looking forward to it.
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