This Football Ferns tour of California, taking in enticing games against Mexico and The Philippines, did sorta get announced all of a sudden just a couple weeks before it was due to happen. That might have something to do with why the broadcasting was a bit of a shambles as the Philippines game was streamed on a sketchy internet connection while the Mexico game wasn’t broadcast at all. Neither game was open to the public. But both offered very valuable opportunities for the Ferns to play the kind of teams that they could feasibly beat and wins are a rare commodity for this team – with only one in their previous 23 matches.

So regardless of this tour being easy-come, it definitely couldn’t afford to be easy-go. Mexico didn’t qualify for the 2023 World Cup whereas The Philippines did (for the first time ever) – more on the current state of those two teams in the squad write-up – however they’re both exactly the kinds of tests that this Ferns team will face at that World Cup in less than a year’s time. As co-hosts, Aotearoa will be a top seed when the groups are drawn. They’re going to have at least one game against an even or lesser matched opponent and if they’re ever going to win a game at a World Cup then that’s the one. Hence the need to learn how to win against those types of teams with these types of games.

Would ya believe it... that’s exactly what the Football Ferns did. Not once but twice. A 1-0 win over Mexico and a 2-1 win against The Philippines. Were they stellar performances? No they were not. Were they at full strength? Not even close. Did they need a little luck their way? Of course they did. Does any of that matter? Well, maybe a little bit... but the results were the most important thing and the Ferns found a way to get them despite a short-handed squad and some on-field sloppiness. This is not a team that’s been able to win many games at all these past few years let alone without needing to play to their full capacity.

The win against Mexico broke a seven-game winless streak for the Ferns... which sounds bad but actually they had a 15-game winless streak before that. It was Jitka Klimková’s second win coming in her twelfth game in charge (that soon became 3/13). Coming after a 0-0 draw against Wales, that meant this was the first time the Ferns have gone consecutive games without a loss since November 2018 at the Oceania Nations Cup and the first time that’s happened outside of their confederation since the Thailand tour in 2017.

Then by winning against The Philippines as well they made it back to back wins for the first time since... the OFC Nations Cup in 2018... but also the first time doing so against non-OFC teams since, get this, wins over Brazil (1-0) and China (4-0) at the Valais Women's Cup in 2013. Part of that is playing too many games against teams that are considerably better than them but still. They had to come from behind to beat The Philippines too and that’s something they haven’t done for who knows how long. Not to mention a three-game unbeaten streak.

You have to go back to a 3-1 win over Hungary at the Cyprus Cup in March 2017 for the last time the Fernies won a game without keeping a clean sheet. Their 11 subsequent wins have all been to nil (five in OFC, six outside). Basically, for the Ferns to win games lately they’ve had to be flawless at the back. That wasn’t the case against The Philippines and they still got the dub. Sounds a lot like progress, that does.

Annoyingly, the Mexico game wasn’t broadcast at all. Not on telly, not even streamed. There was a short highlights package put up by NZ Football but that one didn’t arrive until Monday afternoon despite the game having taken place on Saturday morning NZT. Hence there’s limited things to be able to say about it. Based on the NZF twitter coverage it does sound like the kiwi team had the better of the match... though you’ve gotta take official accounts with a grain of salt at the best of times. Still, it’s good to at least hear that they were creating chances. Even better to see that they managed to take one of them – a typical banger from CJB on her return to the side after a couple injuries kept her out of recent squads. As if she’d ever score anything other than a banger, to be fair.

That goal came in the 84th minute. The reason that CJB was so far forward was that she was playing right midfield by that stage as the Ferns found themselves having to improvise with their substitutions. Very short on attacking and midfield options due to injuries and illness and thus the wide defenders got to be unleashed further forward. CJ Bott made the most of it.

That injury bug began before the squad was even named. Rebekah Stott, Ashleigh Ward, and Emma Rolston were all listed as out due to injury – to go with the long term absence of Ria Percival (and unavailability of Abby Erceg and Katie Bowen). Curiously both Ward and Rolston were named on the bench for their clubs the weekend prior to the international window, with Rollo even taking the field, but s’pose a flight to California wouldn’t have helped even if they were close to recovery.

Meanwhile Daisy Cleverley was named in the squad but was not included in her last club game before the break. Another injury. She’d be replaced in the squad at late notice by Maggie Jenkins – who was involved in JK’s first two squads (when border issues limited worldwide availability). Jenkins attends University of Central Florida so she took a cross-coast flight and linked up with the gals.

It doesn’t stop there. Hannah Wilkinson and Grace Jale were ruled out of the Mexico game due to covid. Wilkie had started seven games in a row, all seven she’s been available for under Klimková. Jale is arguably the closest to a like for like replacement for Wilkinson and would surely have had a role to play in these fixtures either way. Neither would recover for the Philippines game, in fact they’d be joined in isolation by Malia Steinmetz.

Worst of all was the injury suffered by Annalie Longo midway through the first half against Mexico. Having relaunched her international career after a year off with two fine showings on the previous tour, she’s now going to miss the World Cup after suffering an ACL/MCL tear. Awful news. The second serious knee injury suffered by a Ferns midfielder in the first half of an international in the last five games after Ria Percival did something similar against Australia back in April. Percy should be able to recover in time for the WC. Longo’s about a 5% chance at best given the timing. Aniela Jensen, another current USA university student and fresh off an excellent U20 World Cup campaign (as well as having also partaken in a Klimková squad), was called up to replace Longo.

Obviously can’t say much about the performance... but the Ferns did line up in another 4-4-2. Same shape they employed on the previous tour, JK clearly embracing the idea of multiple wide players given her emphasis on byline crosses and such. Indiah-Paige Riley started on debut and got some positive feedback. Vic Esson made her third straight start and kept a clean sheet. CJ Bott returned at RB following two tours missed through injury. Paige Satchell and Jacqui Hand took care of the striking duties. Here’s the line-up...

Football Ferns vs Mexico: Vic Esson | CJ Bott, Meikayla Moore, Claudia Bunge, Ali Riley | Indi Riley, Betsy Hassett, Annalie Longo (Malia Steinmetz 26’), Liv Chance (Liz Anton 61’) | Paige Satchell (Kate Taylor 78’), Jacqui Hand (Gabi Rennie 61’)

Some of those substitutions are far from straight swaps. CJ Bott and Ali Riley moved into the wide midfield spots as Liz Anton and Kate Taylor entered the game, Taylor probably at CB with Meikayla Moore at RB (given that’s what happened in the next game). Indi Riley would’ve finished up front. That’s how it’s gotta be when you’re short-handed in the California heat and chasing a late win... which they got. Sweet as.

One more thing from that game: Vic Esson’s clean sheet. Her second consecutive clean sheet. Her fourth clean sheet in her last six caps. Yeah, Vic Esson is the only goalie to have kept a clean sheet since Klimková took over and she’s got four of them. Prior to the 2-0 win over South Korea the Ferns had conceded in 15 consecutive games. They’ve held their opposition scoreless in 4 outta 9 since. Anna Leat’s return to the fold does shake things up a bit but there’s no doubt whatsoever that Vic Esson, right now, is the Football Ferns number one goalie.

Having said that, Vic Esson sat out the second game. Goalkeeper was about the only position with enough healthy depth to be able to rotate so that’s what Coach Klimková did. Erin Nayler got the start and Anna Leat came on in her place for the last quarter of an hour. Only one other change from the Mexico game and it was the enforced one of Annalie Longo. Liz Anton came in at right back with CJ Bott backing it up as a right midfielder. Call it a reward for her goal, why not. Also with Malia Steinmetz in the covid tent, Liv Chance actually got to play in the position she does for Celtic as a central midfielder.

This one was also behind closed doors but NZ Football streamed it on their YouTube channel. Admittedly that did mean having to deal with some sketchy stadium wi-fi but it was good enough, no dramas. After not being able to watch the Mexico game you won’t read any complaints here. Interestingly enough, Mexico then played a friendly against Angel City FC – Ali Riley’s NWSL club. Angel City went with a very rotated team and lost 2-0... apparently Riley, the club captain, hosted her national teammates in an executive box for that one.

The Philippines, coached by Alen Stajcic, are a well drilled team built largely of dual-nationals mostly from the American system. Not a team to take lightly and they proved it to the Ferns early on. Paige Satchell probably should’ve made it 1-0 inside three minutes as she turned into space about ten yards out only to slice her shot completely off target... but after that the Phillies kinda ran the show for awhile. Didn’t create much but they kept the ball in the Ferns half and with a few too many sloppy touches from the kiwi side on display the worry was that a crucial mistake might be forthcoming. Definitely a couple scares.

The Ferns settled back into control after about ten mins although it still wasn’t clicking. Those poor touches in particular were keeping them from moving the ball like they wanted to. Some bad passes out of defence didn’t help either. However Klimková did something very smart midway through the half when she swapped Jacqui Hand and Indi Riley. Hand up front, Riley to left mid. That made an immediate difference as Hand sought to drop in and collect the ball whereas Riley and Satchell had been too similar in wanting to make direct vertical runs. Suddenly those moves were flowing. The tempo rose. The confidence visibly improved.

Then they conceded a soft goal right before the break. Indi Riley tried to dribble through one too many players in the midfield and then the quick ball over the top reached Sarina Bolden already in motion with only Meikayla Moore anywhere near her. Mouse might’ve stopped her had Bolden not taken the first-time shot. Her outside of the boot volley was sharp but Erin Nayler still got two hands to it and really should’ve kept it out. She didn’t. Philippines led 1-0 at the half.

On came Gabi Rennie for Liz Anton with CJ Bott reverting to her standard right back spot. Hand to right midfield. Rennie took the Hand idea even further by trying to be a genuine hold-up player. Her control didn’t always allow that strategy much success but, tell ya what, that’ll be a weapon once she develops it. Already got that mobility to her game.

Anyway, even if a few touches continued to go astray, the Ferns returned for the second half with a notable sense of urgency and won several corner kicks in a row. Weird thing with their corners was that they always took them short. Every single time, going short with the wraparound... but Philippines kept covering them so that we couldn’t get that angled cross in cleanly. A pity because the Phillies comparative lack of height/physicality at the back was leaving many second phase balls there for the taking when those crosses did arrive. If only Hannah Wilkinson had been available.

One of those corners saw the ball cut back deep to CJ Bott who tried her luck from range. Not the first long shot of hers this game but the first where she connected properly. Had it been aimed for the corners then it would have been a stunning goal. Instead it was tipped over the top. But from the resulting corner kick Meikayla Moore was hauled down and a penalty was given.

Surprisingly she took it herself. Dunno what the hierarchy is there or if it was as simple as ‘I won it, I take it’ but it was a gutsy call from Mouse given the emotional fallout of her own goal hat-trick in this very same State of California seven months ago, putting herself at the risk of another unwanted moment of exposure. The ref took ages to be sure nobody was encroaching and through it all Moore was stood so still you couldn’t even tell if she was breathing. Then the whistle went and she calmly side footed it the opposite way to the keeper’s dive for 1-1 with 70 mins gone. Her fourth international goal. Redemption.

That left plenty of time for the Ferns to complete the turnaround and win the thing. Ally Green came on at left back with Ali Riley moving to LM. This was also when Anna Leat joined the fray. It was an 84th minute goal that won it against Mexico. This time the Ferns only had to wait until the 82nd minute for Indi Riley to burn a defender on the right wing and cut back beautifully for Paige Satchell. That shot was blocked in the six yard box but Ali Riley was lurking to bang that sucker home. Already scored a couple times for Angel City this year now here was a massive international goal. Just her second in her 147th cap (taking her past Abby Erceg for second all time in Ferns caps, by the way). And in her home city of Los Angeles. Outstanding.

Gotta flash back to that move from her namesake too though. Indi Riley’s addition to this playing group was huge as a rare kiwi attacker at a high level club team. This is what that looks like. The goal stemmed from Indi Riley being able to beat a defender in a 1v1 situation and then pick out a smart pass from there. Who else in this team can do that? Maybe Paige Satchell with a burst of pace but her end product is erratic and multiple times this game she got to the byline only to take the ball out of play. Satchell is improving at a rapid rate and a season of regular minutes for the Wellington Phoenix is another promising step forward. But that’s the value of Indi Riley in a nutshell.

Kate Taylor came on for the yellow carded CJ Bott with five to play. Moore to RB, Taylor to CB. Loved the desperation defending that the Ferns served up in stoppage time giving it everything in the Cali heat to hold on for the victory. Even then there was a late free kick headed off the post in the final minute but we’ll gloss over that almighty scare because the Football Ferns have won back to back games. Get in.

Football Ferns vs Philippines: Erin Nayler (Anna Leat 78’) | Liz Anton (Gabi Rennie 45’), Meikayla Moore, Claudia Bunge, Ali Riley | CJ Bott (Kate Taylor 85’), Betsy Hassett, Liv Chance, Jacqui Hand (Ally Green 78’) | Indi Riley, Paige Satchell

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