Football Ferns vs Japan: Valuable Reminders From Forgettable Games
These were never likely to be very memorable results and that’s exactly how it panned out. The Football Ferns went to the neutral territory of Spain to meet a very good Japanese team whereupon they lost 2-0 and 4-1. It was a tour disrupted before it had even begun by the unexplained absence of NZ coach Jitka Klimková, further compromised when Macey Fraser stayed back to get settled with her new NWSL club.
We’re presuming that’s what happened, anyway, since NZF were equally as vague when explaining that Fraser had withdrawn for “personal reasons” as they were with Klimková’s “employment matter”. But less than two weeks since her arrival in Utah, it’d be fair enough to feel she needed to hang back and get acclimatised. Joe Bell did the same thing with an All Whites squad earlier in the year. No dramas.
Might be some dramas with the coaching stuff though. That remains to be seen. It’s all speculation at this stage so no need to go trawling through the territory of imagination when there is actual football to talk about. The investigation will run its course. In the meantime, regular assistant Michael Mayne stepped up as the interim coach. We’ll park that one for now.
This series existed so that the Football Ferns could get back into the rhythm of competing against the best teams in the world ahead of a tough Olympic group. Japan certainly represented that (even if it wasn’t until the second half of the second game that they really turned it on). The Ferns therefore got dealt a firm reminder of where their levels need to be as Japan punished mistakes with a ruthlessness that, frankly, was not very accommodating. But then that was the whole point. It takes ninety minutes of pristine defensive effort to keep these sorts of teams at bay and that’s not what we saw in either game. So it goes. The reminder was necessary. Better now than in Paris in a few weeks.
So, yeah, this was a bit of a doomed series from the outset... and yet there were some valuable developments. A switch in formation kept things productive. One messy moment in the second game aside, we had a convincing statement in the goalkeeping situation. And most valuable of all was a banger of a goal from a teenage prodigy which might just prove to be a tipping point for the women’s national football team of Aotearoa.
GAME ONE
The first game saw a return of the 4-4-2 shape that the Ferns hadn’t utilised since the first game of the Oceania Olympic Qualifiers, yet which was so successful against Norway at the World Cup. It’s a give-and-take option because with this team’s attacking record you don’t really wanna be dragging players out of the forward line but this way does seem to get the best out of them defensively with wide midfielders who’ll help their fullbacks and the ability to set a midfield block. Defensive solidity is always crucial in major tournaments.
Between the sticks was Anna Leat. It’s an arm-wrestle between Leat and Esson for the gloves these days, with both of them finishing their club seasons in excellent form, though Leat’s probably nudging that 60:40 based on the selection trends since the WWC. Back four was full-strength as per those World Cup games with CJ Bott, Katie Bowen, Rebekah Stott, and Ali Riley all in place. There were a few changes for the second game, and these days Ali Riley (who’s hardly playing for Angel City) is less locked on as the top choice left back than ever before. But that quartet remains the proven tops.
Malia Steinmetz was the deepest midfield option in keeping with her emergence as one of this team’s premier players over the past twelve months. It was already a sneaky trend that they tended to play better with Steinmetz in the team beforehand but then the World Cup saw her explode into prominence and the retirement of Ria Percival has hammered home her importance even more. A great first season in Denmark with FC Nordsjælland hasn’t done her any harm either. Alongside her would probably be Macey Fraser in an ideal world but she wasn’t there so Katie Kitching got the gig. Wide on the right was Grace Jale returning to a role she’s played lots of for the Ferns. Michaela Foster was a curious selection at left-midfield. Again, not a role she’s unfamiliar with but different to how she’s been used by the Wellington Phoenix. Up front were Indiah-Paige Riley and Jacqui Hand... our two most potent attackers of the past twelve months.
For the first twenty minutes, it wasn’t looking too good. Japan had the Ferns trapped in their own half with little sign of escape. But then NZ started shifting more of the play towards their right edge with long throws (another Grace Jale special) and crosses giving them a slight foothold. None of it led to any shots but the intention looked alright. They’d survived the initial threat unscathed and were making a game of it. So, naturally, they lapsed and conceded in stoppage time to waste their half’s work with the HT whistle imminent. Silky move by Japan but Foster didn’t track a runner and Stott was slow to closeout and that’s how it goes. Mina Tanaka of Bayer Leverkusen got the goal.
Then the Ferns did the same trick in a different context right after the half. Hannah Wilkinson and Grace Neville were both subbed on at HT (in place of the two Rileys who were nursing injuries and didn’t play in game two). Japan swiftly won a corner and nobody bothered to mark Toko Kaga who was wide open from the corner of the six-yard box for the header. Jacqui Hand was there but she was marking two players. Looked like Wilkinson might have been the one who lapsed, hunting after the ball in the middle without strictly marking anyone. Probably more a case of bad communication than one player’s specific error. Wilkie was very disciplined to stay at that back post for the next corner though.
And thus in the space of about three minutes of game time, with a half-time break sandwiched in between, this game had completely gotten away from the Ferns. Further substitutions ensued. Seven of them overall... which might have actually been illegal but nobody seemed to notice. There were some hints of attacking possibilities whenever they could muster a set piece, although the lack of powerful headerers in the team really does kinda limit the potency of that stratagem. Mostly the latter stages were to be remembered for a flurry of saves by Anna Leat and a couple of consecutive injury scares for Katie Bowen. It ended 2-0 to Japan. NZ had zero shot attempts. Let’s move on.
GAME TWO
There were five changes for the second game. Stotty had a rest which allowed Meikayla Moore to make her first start for the national team since February last year (in a 1-0 loss vs Argentina in Auckland). Interesting that she got the nod ahead of Claudia Bunge, though that would reflect their recent club form. The two Rileys sat this one out while Vic Esson had an illness so that might be why Leat started both games, or perhaps that was going to happen anyway. Grace Neville came in at left back. Milly Clegg got the go up front, only her second ever senior international start. Kate Taylor replaced Kitching in the midfield. Ally Green took over for Foster as the left-back playing left-wing. The rest as per.
The first half of the first game had been pretty good, all things considered, until they conceded with less than a minute remaining. The first half of this game was spectacular. The glory fell to the youngest player in the eleven but before that the foundation was set by the combative nature of Steinmetz and Taylor in midfield. Those two were ferocious at challenging for all they could, disrupting the Japanese passing game to where the favourites didn’t create a decent chance in the entire forty-five.
The Ferns were more direct with their passing, going over the top a few more times to skip the Japanese press that had bricked them in deep last time. Those passes rarely found their targets but they did stretch the field and within five minutes the NZers had already had a couple of blocked shots. Much better from the Fernies. More aggression, more energy, more physicality. They caught Japan off-guard and then dropped them to the canvas when Milly Clegg drifted out wide to collect the ball, sliced infield as she does so well, and then smashed a shot high inside the near post for 1-0. A trademark move from Clegg who is so dangerous in that situation. This time she shot near when she usually curls it inside the far post but you’ve seen the set-up before with NZ youth teams and the Wellington Phoenix. A wonderful goal.
Ten minutes later, Clegg got into a similar spot and this time whipped a beauty of a cross towards the far post. Jale probably should’ve gotten a touch on it. Two moments of flashing creativity from the 18-year-old striker highlighting exactly what she offers this team... and what this team has been lacking without her.
This time the Ferns closed out the half with confidence to take a 1-0 lead into the sheds. On track for a special result... aaaaand then it all fell apart as the sleeping beast was woken. Japan made three subs at HT. Maika Hamano came on and scored twice. Remina Chiba came also scored off the bench. Hamano plays for Chelsea. Chiba for Eintracht Frankfurt. The momentum completely swapped as Japan sparked things up with their supreme depth and the Ferns had no answer, particularly after Taylor and Steinmetz were replaced. It was different gravy from one half to the other. Oh well. Beaten comfortably by a top-ten nation in the world, as was to be expected. Japan are capable of doing this to far better teams than the one from Aotearoa... remember when they beat Spain 4-0 during the last World Cup?
LESSONS LEARNED
Okay so we forget about the results. Take them for what they are and then discard them. The important thing then becomes what was gained from this tour. How did this this tour help the Football Ferns better prepare for the Olympics and whatever else comes beyond it?
The 4-4-2 shape is probably the one to stick with, but the worry is that it leaves them light in the midfield... as Japan exposed in both games. Steinmetz and Taylor were able to wrecking ball the situation for half a game but could not sustain that. Still, hopefully this was a reminder that we can’t be too passive in these contests. Still gotta take the game to them, as we did against Norway a year ago. Working through new combinations makes this tricky but Steinmetz and Taylor seemed to mesh well. Kitching is probably best deployed as a number ten, to be fair. Daisy Cleverley had some tidy touches off the bench in both games but Taylor put by far the best foot forward to start alongside Steiny in Paris next month.
Of course, Macey Fraser should be available for that tournament so maybe not. Fraser’s magic touches and thumping shots are what she’s best known for but she also has a great workrate and was one of the best tacklers in the A-League last season. She can easily do this same job whilst also providing more quality on the ball. Down the line, Grace Wisnewski is another hard-tackling midfielder to consider. With the news that she’s moving on from the Wellington Phoenix to “explore other opportunities” she’s suddenly right back in the conversation post-ACL.
The left side needs work. Foster and Green each offer good defensive instincts and both are very tidy crossers, especially from set pieces. But Foz isn’t really quick enough and Green needs a few more tricks. Pairing Foz with a speedy overlapping fullback could alter that... if only we had one. Grace Neville has potential. However, Grace Jale served up her best half of footy in ages before game two went belly-up so if we keep her on the right and bring Indi Riley back on the left, where she predominantly plays for PSV, then that oughta do it.
Which brings us to the frontline, where Jacqui Hand absolutely has to be there and, after what she showed in game two, it also feels like we’ve reached the symbolic moment when Milly Clegg becomes a first eleven talent. She’s mostly been out of the picture since bursting into the World Cup squad last year – her late substitute appearance in game one was the first time she’s taken the pitch since her one-and-done feature for Western Sydney Wanderers way back in November. It’s been awhile. That NWSL debut should come next... Clegg’s already been an unused sub on three occasions for Racing Louisville.
There’s this constant accusation circling around that the Football Ferns always pick the same old players. That’s rubbish, of course. Just because they never had a specific moment when they unceremoniously dumped a bunch of senior players, just because the transition happened gradually, doesn’t mean it never happened. The squad is stacked with players who either debuted under Klimková or became regular selections during this regime. To be honest, it seems like when people say that they’re mostly just talking about Hannah Wilkinson... who really does get a very unfair amount of criticism despite being the only consistent attacker through an era where she was the only forward with any kind of goal-scoring track record. We weren’t exactly bursting with alternatives these past five years.
Like, is Wilkie a world class striker? Nope. But she’s one of the better ones in the A-League which has kept her starting games for the national team while they went about the process of bringing through younger talent like Indi Riley, Jacqui Hand, Grace Jale, and Macey Fraser. None of them are number nines. So basically we’ve been waiting for the inevitable day when Clegg overtakes HW... and that might have just occurred with Clegg’s first international goal. Some will say it should have happened sooner. Others will say that’s a bloody lot to demand of an 18-year-old who has only played 25 professional games for club and country combined. What matters is that we’re there now.
Keep in mind that we’re yet to see a single second of Football Ferns action with both Milly Clegg and Macey Fraser on the pitch together. They never overlapped in the Wellington Phoenix either. Not in the A-League, nor in the reserves since Clegg was signed from Auckland United as first team player. Even at the U20 World Cup they both went to, Fraser didn’t play at all (still never heard why that was, so we’ll assume it was an injury). Canada vs New Zealand on 25 July in game one of the Olympic tournament ought to rectify that long-overdue coincidence.
The third goal conceded in game two happened after Anna Leat shanked a long clearance. Could have been dealt with better but Leat was at fault for instigating it. She has that tendency every now and then with Aston Villa too. Sometimes she underhits her aerial passes leading to trouble. But she’s otherwise fantastic with the ball at feet, especially the short passing, and most importantly is always available for the pass back. Leat and Esson can go toe-to-toe in a lot of areas but this is one where Leat has a clear advantage.
Not sure when the Olympic squad will be announced. Australia have revealed theirs already but NZ does have a wee coaching situation to deal with first. Based on what we saw here we can guarantee places for Leat, Bott, Bowen, Stott, A.Riley, Steinmetz, Jale, Hand, I.Riley, Foster, and Clegg. Hugely likely to include Fraser, Esson, Neville, Kitching, and Taylor. That leaves room for two more plus the four travelling ressies. Going to assume that Bunge and Wilkinson get those nods. Could as easily be Moore and Cleverley. We shall find out soon enough.
Finally, the other major takeaway is that simple one alluded to way back at the beginning of this article. A lesson which tends to need a booster shot from time to time. That lesson is that the best teams are ruthless. The best teams will punish your mistakes. Therefore you need to avoid making mistakes unless you’re willing to throw away all of your hard mahi because it takes a full ninety-plus minute effort against these sides.
The Ferns spoiled an otherwise solid first half in game one by conceding a dumb goal, then another one straight after the break, and that was that. Game two was more about the adjustments that Japan made, recapturing their rapid passing patterns with a triple substitution, but the Ferns were soft in possession with their first couple opportunities in that half which played into the wavering momentum just enough to leave them dusted. This series was intended as a reminder of where the standards are against the best in the world and that’s exactly what they got out of it. Now we forget all about it and look forward to the hat-trick that Milly Clegg is going to score against Canada in six weeks.
All of our Niche Cache mahi is made possible by the fine folks who support what we do over on Patreon, Substack, and Buy Me A Coffee – get amongst if you appreciate the kiwi sporting perspectives
Also helps to whack an ad, share the yarns, and to tell your mates about us
Keep cool but care