This is a tricky wee junction for the Football Ferns that we find ourselves at. By all accounts it seems like they’ve gotten their mojo back from after the travesties of 2018 but that unfortunately didn’t align with hitting their targets at the World Cup last year. Perhaps it was too much to expect so soon after being forced to hit the reset button. Dunno. But it’s no secret that they disappointed at the big show and four years is an eternity to have to wait for a chance to put it right... and that’s only for those players lucky enough to still be there in four years.

The one consolation of that is that they have the Olympics this year to recalibrate towards instead. The Olympics feature fewer teams and are a much tougher prospect for the Ferns to be winning games at than the World Cup but they blew that one so this is what they’ve got. And with Tom Sermanni hanging around and adding a bit of structural continuity to the mixing pot hopefully that makes the difference.

That difference will have to be in attack. The Ferns are stacked with quality and in-form defenders and hard working midfielders but the one area they are blatantly short on is game-breaking creativity. Players who can make something happen out of nothing. Tom Sermanni sorta seems to have built his team up from the back and there just wasn’t the time to get the balance going forwards as well, a task significantly hampered by circumstances leading into the World Cup. Hannah Wilkinson had just recovered from an ACL injury and only made her return within a month of the first game. Sarah Gregorius and Rosie White were without professional clubs and playing men’s club footy in Wellington. Emma Kete hadn’t played at the top level for a couple of years. Paige Satchell was still playing in Aotearoa. And Katie Rood and Emma Rolston who had combined for 10 goals at the Nations Cup in qualifying weren’t even in the squad.

The whole attacking corps was compromised in some way... a ruthless state of affairs to take into a World Cup. A World Cup in which the Ferns would score one goal in 270 minutes and it was an own goal ten minutes from the end of their final game. They’ve since been held scoreless in friendlies against China and Canada and next up is the Algarve Cup, with three more games all against good European opposition to try and find some solutions to this very New Zealand Football of a dilemma. We’re seeing a change in mentality from the All Whites theses days filtering upwards from the age group teams but that’s on the back of the players they have coming through. Sarpreet Singh, Ryan Thomas, Joe Bell, etc. The Ferns have players capable of controlling possession and cutting teams open but it’s proving a lot tougher to do than simply saying you’re gonna do it when the legacy of The Way It’s Always Been still lingers.

This week saw two very relevant happenings independent of this Algarve Cup squad finally being announced (seriously, they play their first game on Wednesday night in Spain and we only got the team within a week of that kickoff... Erin Nayler’s club confirmed that she was in the squad on twitter before NZF could be bothered to let anybody know). The first happening was Maya Hahn switching international allegiances to Germany and the second was the retirement of Amber Hearn. Two players at the opposite ends of their careers, two players whose job it is/has been to help bring the goals.

Amber Hearn was obviously coming to the end of her career. She’s the all-time leading goal scorer for the Ferns with 54 from 125 appearances – the most recent of those appearances coming in the infamous 3-1 defeat against Japan in Wellington in 2018 in which she captained the team in the absence of Ali Riley. An absolute legend of the game in this country. Her international exploits need no explanation but even at club level she was a pioneer and a leader, not the first to pick up a pro contract in Europe but one of the first to have a sustained and successful long-term career over there. Especially with the goals she scored for USV Jena in Germany, really making a name for herself in a league where quite a few kiwi women have found their first pro experiences (currently Paige Satchell and Meikayla Moore are doing exactly that). She moved to Spain a year and a half ago but busted her knee and wasn’t able to recover in time for the World Cup and at 35 years old it sounds like it was just time. Hearn played at two World Cups and three Olympics. Amongst her quotes in NZF’s announcement of her retirement were these...

“My goal was always for us to be successful on the world stage. I felt that breaking into the top eight was so achievable when I was playing but it just never happened. I’m hoping Tom knows he has a team that can score goals and want to be known as a team that can attack.”

As for Maya Hahn, she was a member of the U17 team that won the bronze medal at their World Cup a couple years ago but never really had as much of an impact in that squad as she should have. As incredible as that achievement was from that team, it still, to be completely honest, wasn’t a million miles away from the long ball and set piece and deep defensive line kiwi footy of old and Hahn therefore, as a ball-playing midfielder and silky attacking influencer, didn’t have a major role. She only started one of six games despite being Player of the Tournament in qualifying... although she did score in the penalty shootout against Japan in the quarters. She’s currently at University of Oregon doing her thing and has already participated in a couple German U20s camps with that World Cup coming later in the year.

She qualifies for Germany through her father so no dramas there whatsoever but what’s frustrating is that it feels like there have been several times over the last few months where she or her dad have nudged at NZ Football through the media to come and claim her. Which apparently they just never bothered to do or something. Even now she’s still saying that if NZF had been willing to embrace a more modern and attacking style of play then she’d have happily stayed. At the end of an interview she did with Stuff was a telling phrase: New Zealand Football declined to comment.

Thus she’s made her permanent one-time switch to Germany and best of luck to her. You certainly can’t ever blame a player for doing what’s best for their careers. I’d be extremely curious to learn what, if anything, NZ Football did to try and keep her though. At a time when players of Maya Hahn’s mould are desperately needed... instead she’s slipped away. And our top goalscorer’s retired in the same week. Hmm.

All of which is worth pondering on as we get to this Algarve Cup squad. Coming eight months after the World Cup there’s not a whole lot that needs changing. There’s gonna be a lot of continuity with plenty of established senior players for this tournament. If they fail to give a good account of themselves again in Tokyo then perhaps we may need to shake things up but no reason at all to be hitting the panic button now with all those mitigating factors of the last couple years. No reason to even think about it. But Tom Sermanni has still managed to ease a couple uncapped players into this 24-woman squad – which will play three games over 7 or 8 days – along with a couple exciting returnees.

GOALKEEPERS

Victoria Esson - Avaldsnes, NOR (3/0)

Anna Leat - Georgetown University, USA (3/0)

Erin Nayler - Girondins Bordeaux, FRA (69/0)

So... one of the major issues for this tournament is that there aren’t a whole lot of players who are getting regular club football at the moment. Most of the European leagues have only just come back from their winter breaks (with the exception of the English clubs) while the Scandi and American-based players run year to year so they’re currently in offseason mode. That’s a thread that we could weave throughout all the positions here but it’s not one that’ll majorly affect the Olympics. By mid-July those 2020 seasons will be smack bang in the middle of things. Of course the flipside is that it’ll be two months into the European offseason... but then that’s the same for everybody else too. That’s what warm-up games are for.

Great to see Anna Leat back amongst it. She took a while off, including missing the World Cup, to get established in uni in the States which was the mature thing to do considering that she would only have been a backup to Erin Nayler anyway. Nayler has been having a fine old season for Bordeaux with her team still in with a chance to crack the Lyon/PSG duopoly for the Champions League qualifying spots... but she’s kinda lost her starting spot in recent weeks. She was good but Romane Bruneau was better. So it goes. She’s still the standout numéro un in the Fernies squad.

And Vic Esson has been there for every one of Tom Sermanni’s squads so far. Currently gearing up for another season in Norway where she’ll presumably be teammates once more with Rebekah Stott (once Stotty ends her magnificent Melbourne City season in a couple weeks). Locally based keeper Lily Alfield drops out to make way for Leat, Nadia Olla is the other domestic keeper who’d have been in with a shot.

DEFENDERS

CJ Bott - Valerenga, NOR (21/1)

Claudia Bunge - Glenfield Rovers (2/0)

Meikayla Moore - MSV Duisburg, GER (38/3)

Ali Riley - Orlando Pride, USA (131/1)

Stephanie Skilton - Papakura City (11/0)

Rebekah Stott - Melbourne City, AUS (78/4)

Nicole Stratford - Unattached (2/0)

Marisa van der Meer - Cashmere Technical (0/0)

Alrighty so the big news here is that there’s no Abby Erceg... but there’s nothing else to that, she just can’t leave the United States while she’s in the final stages of her green card process. It was the same reason she missed the November games. Bit of a bummer but that absence gave Claudia Bunge the room to show she has potential at the international level, Bunge is again included here and so is Meikayla Moore who hit all her targets in returning to football with Duisburg after the winter break in Germany as she overcame the achilles injury that ruled her out of the World Cup. Moore has been excellent for the Ferns for the last couple years and continues to thrive and improve wherever she plays. Brilliant to have her back and even without Erceg a centre back duo of Moore and Rebekah Stott (whose exploits for Melbourne City over the last couple months have been nothing short of superb – but surely you’ve been keeping up to date with all that in Flying Kiwis each week) is nothing to worry about. We know what Abby Erceg can do, this is about further establishing the depth behind her.

Ali Riley and CJ Bott have both joined new clubs recently, Riley moving to America for more game time after limited opportunities at Chelsea and Bayern Munich and Bott stepping up to one of the better teams in Norway after a lovely time in Sweden last year – she’ll have Champions League qualifiers after/during the Olympics. They’re probably the starting fullbacks depending on the formation, Riley on the left and Bott on the right, though Bott’s equally adept on the left and Moore and Stott can play right back. Maybe even Nicole Stratford too who along with Bunge and regular squadie Steph Skilton is there as CB depth. Stratford has had a wild 12 months. From absolutely nowhere the Northland cop was picked as the replacement for Moore at the World Cup and she followed that by signing with USV Jena in Germany and making her Ferns debut in November against China. But she’s left Germany for personal reasons and is now back in the FFDP, one of four players from that programme to be selected here.

One of whom is 19 year old Marisa van der Meer, a fullback for Canterbury Pride and a first XI player for the U17s in Uruguay. She comes in directly for Sarah Morton who had been involved in the past six Ferns squads (though only has three caps from outside the OFC games). We’re at that stage where the U17s from 2018 are gonna start knocking on the door for full international status now. Ten of them are in this year’s FFDP class, one is already a full international (Anna Leat)... and another’s trying to make the Germany U20 squad. So that’s awesome and MVDM should probably get that first cap on this tour.

Two other notes: Anna Green is still out injured so that’s why she’s missing. Which makes it interesting to wonder who’d miss out on an Olympic squad from the CBs when Erceg returns and if Green is fit and in contention. The other thing is pretty sure Sermanni rolled out back threes in the last two friendlies too so that’s a distinct possibility here again for Bunge, Skilton, and Stratford to stake their claims for what might only be one Olympic selection... maybe even less than one since you only get to take 18 players (plus up to four alternates) to the Olympics as opposed to 23-women at the World Cup.

MIDFIELDERS

Katie Bowen - Utah Royals, USA (67/3)

Olivia Chance - Bristol City, ENG (18/0)

Daisy Cleverley - University of California, USA (8/2)

Betsy Hassett - Stjarnan, ISL (117/13)

Annalie Longo - Melbourne Victory, AUS (120/15)

Ria Percival - Tottenham Hotspur, ENG (147/14)

Jana Radosavljevic - BV Cloppenburg, GER (2/0)

All as per usual here, mate. Daisy Cleverley returns to the squad after missing the games in China but she was in the World Cup group so nothing unexpected. Our midfield is extremely settled these days with Olivia Chance and Ria Percival both playing really well in the English WSL, Chance especially because unlike Percy she began her season on the bench and had to work her way into where she’s now a locked on starter for the Robins. Katie Bowen’s out of season but will be back with Utah in the NWSL soon... although she does tend to play right back for them and not midfield. Also I notice that Betsy Hassett’s changed clubs in Iceland by the looks of it. She was with KL in 2019 as they came runners-up in the cup. Can’t find any news on the interwebs about that move though.

In contrast to the trickiness surrounding the World Cup so many Ferns players are in much better situations now and Annalie Longo is a prime example. She’s doing wonders for Melbourne Victory, playing every week against top Australian and American players, and even scored a couple goals in her last game. Olivia Chance is fit and playing great having been between clubs (thanks to injury) at the WC. Looking at the defenders too, Moore’s fit and raring to go. Bott broke her wrist at the World Cup and is all good now. Ali Riley’s at a club where she should hopefully be starting every week. And just wait ‘til we get to the strikers.

Which leaves Jana Radosavljević and she fits into that category too. Went with the Ferns to Thailand in late 2017 but then after setting herself up in the second tier of German footy (after some FFDP work) she busted her knee and missed out on the World Cup, although she may not have been picked anyway dunno. Rado made her debut against China in November and has started every league game for BVC this season, scoring three goals from midfield. She’s a player who is a bit of a gamble compared to the much more established players in this squad but she could be the type of player they need to link into the attack, either as a midfielder or a secondary striker. Only time will tell but it’s great to see Tommy Shades explore the possibility. He’s said himself that this is not a time for experimentation so you know whatever the team does here will be legit.

And just sneakily, if Ria Percival plays all three games then she’ll hit 150 caps.

FORWARDS

Sarah Gregorius – Unattached (99/34)

Michaela Robertson - Wellington United (0/0)

Katie Rood - Lewes FC, ENG (12/5)

Paige Satchell - SC Sand, GER (16/1)

Rosie White - Reign FC, USA (106/24)

Hannah Wilkinson - Sporting CP, POR (94/25)

And now for the strikers. At the World Cup, Hannah Wilkinson was without a club and only just back playing at all. Now she’s scoring goals for fun for Sporting Lisbon. Not always a starter, in fact she generally plays as an impact sub, but she’s found the back of the net in a variety of ways. Her ability in the air remains unparalleled in this Ferns unit and if we can unlock that skill then goals will follow... though whether she plays from the start will be interesting to see. It might be that the impact sub role is ideal. Wear a team down with the high pressing of Gregorius and White or whoever else and then chuck on The Closer.

Speaking of Sarah Gregorius, she’ll earn her 100th cap with her next appearance. She was unattached at the World Cup and remains unattached now working for FIFPro as her day job. That’s a bit concerning as far as the footy goes but she’s desperate to have one last crack at an Olympic tournament. Grego started all three World Cup games and the four final preparation games for it too. Seven in a row. But she was a sub both games in China so another one that’ll be curious to see where she fits in now that Wilkie’s back in full contention and others have been added to the crew. Let’s not forget that Gregorius was the last Ferns player to score an international goal... all the way back seven games ago with the winner against England.

Rosie White was unattached at the World Cup. She’s now employed by Seattle Reign in the NWSL, playing mostly in midfield for them last season as injuries rattled the squad and even scoring a couple important goals. She’s more likely to play off the bench in 2020, some battler called Rapinoe may get in there ahead of her, but that’s a full time professional environment there where she belongs. Same deal with Paige Satchell. Tom Sermanni’s a big fan of her sizzling pace and that’s one raw element that could bust things open for the Ferns if harnessed correctly... so her moving to SC Sand in Germany since the World Cup is perfect for her to hone the rest of her game and add the technical ability and final product to her natural gifts. She’s doing a good job of it too, the quarter of an hour she got against Bayern Munich last week was her ninth substitute appearance of her maiden professional campaign.

Then there’s Katie Rood, aka the only female footballer on the planet to have gender pay parity at both club and international level. How’s that one for ya? She was kinda unfairly overlooked for the World Cup despite us being short of options up front but has settled back into scoring goals for Lewes in the English second tier, having also played against Chelsea and Arsenal and a couple other top flight teams in cup competition... in fact she scored against Chelsea. She’s a natural goalscorer and a player therefore with a lot to prove on this tour. Meanwhile Michaela Robertson is the other uncapped player. She would have gone to China but for injury and the Capital Footy forward brings an extra layer of pace and skill to the team. You know, exactly what they need.

So you can’t say Tom Sermanni isn’t aware of where the Ferns need to improve. The attacking players he’s introduced/reintroduced since the World Cup all fit that concept of being able to beat that defender, play that killer pass, finish that half-chance which was lacking in France for various reasons. Couple that with the improved club situations of most of the established forwards and midfielders and fingers crossed that’s the difference right there... because we don’t have a lot more time to figure it out if it ain’t.

Support the coverage of kiwi women’s footy and everything else we do on Patreon, sweet as

Also whack an ad whenever you read something decent and spread the good word of TNC to all your mates

Keep cool but care