Football Ferns Tour Of Panama: Squad Yarns & Preview
There are only a handful of international windows left until the World Cup next year and the Football Ferns have work to do. They weren’t very convincing during Oceania qualifying, coach Michael Mayne has been in the job for less than two years after another messy coaching handover, the team has lost copious quantities of experience in a steady sequence over the past two World Cup cycles, and the usual struggles of scoring goals and getting positive results remain. But there’s a World Cup on the horizon, dammit, and World Cups have a way of galvanising. What better opportunity to kickstart the next era of the Football Ferns?
Michael Mayne has spent most of his tours thus far talking about expanding the player pool and testing the team’s depth. Not sure that depth is really the issue at the moment – we’ve got more professionals than ever, it’s that our representatives in the very top leagues around the planet have dwindled. We’re not short on players, we’re short on key players. But s’pose it doesn’t hurt to give a few more women a taste of the international scene to see who might rise up into that status in the future.
Across nine tours since the start of 2025 (after a long break post-Olympics, when Mayne began putting his fingerprints on this team), there have been 37 players capped by the Football Ferns across 16 matches with 48 women called into squads – including two potential debutants for this window in Helena Errington and Daisy Brazendale. If you’re wondering who the other nine players who’ve been in squads without playing in that time are, four of them are goalkeepers (Claudia Jenkins, Bri Edwards, Geo Candy, Brooke Neary), plus there’s Jana Radosavljević, Malia Steinmetz, Mae Hunt, Ruby Nathan, and Rebecca Lake.
Among the 37 capped players, only Katie Kitching has played in all 16 matches – in fact she’s on a crazy run of 29 consecutive appearances for the national team, having only ever missed one game since her debut (and that was the very next game after that debut). Mickey Foster has played in 15/16 but sadly she did her ACL during preseason with Durham, as did Grace Wisnewski very early in her season with Nordsjælland. Unlikely either of those two are fit in time for the World Cup though Coach Mayne has said he’ll give them every opportunity. He’s also said that this tour will signal a change in focus as things get streamlined towards performing at the World Cup. The information is (mostly) out there. Now it’s about refinement.
Michael Mayne: “This window we’re going to shift the dial in terms of our priorities. What this window gives us since we last played in June is a real opportunity to do a bit of a deep dive from the last 15 months and look at everything as a whole. The staff and I have really worked hard on what we’re going to prioritise on the pitch, off the pitch. We’ve got four tours before I’ll name the squad for Brazil [in the 2027 World Cup]. It’s critically important that we maximise every opportunity. We’ll be working really hard to make sure that we’re starting to build some super clear clarity around combinations and what we’re trying to put on the pitch going forward.”
The first of those four windows will feature two games away against Panama. Not neutral games in Spain with empty stadiums and a training exercise feel but actual away games in a challenging atmosphere, that’s what we like to see. We’d like it even more if we could get some home games against good opponents since the Ferns have only played four games in Aotearoa since co-hosting the World Cup in mid-2023 (two vs Thailand in April 2024 and the WCQ games in April 2026) but we can save that idea for another time because there’s a valuable purpose behind this tour. The World Cup is going to be held in Brazil with relatively similar conditions. Panama’s in a different confederation but still falls within the wider Latin American area so close enough... plus they’re a good quality of opponent for the Ferns to build off the games vs Haiti (lost 2-1) and Morocco (drew 0-0) back in June.
You may recall that Panama came to Aotearoa in 2023 for the intercontinental playoffs where they beat Papua New Guinea (2-0) and Paraguay (1-0) to qualify for their first ever World Cup. They lost all three games at the 2023 WWC (4-0 vs Brazil, 1-0 vs Jamaica, 6-3 vs France) yet they didn’t look out of place. They’re preparing for their 2027 qualifiers later in the year, where they can get through automatically by beating Canada in November otherwise they’ll need to win a consolation game a few days later in order to book another intercontinental playoff. These are their last matches before those qualifiers so they’re at a critical juncture.
Don’t overlook that Panama had a 1-0 win against Australia in July 2025 and then only lost 3-2 because of a stoppage time winner (we’ve been there before, aye?) in the second game of the window. Those games were in Western Australia. Also don’t overlook that the All Whites literally just played Panama themselves, drawing 1-1 in Japan for the Kirin Cup. Same as how both NZ sides played against Haiti within four days of each other back in June. Surely that ain’t a coincidence. It appears that the NZ Football negotiators have mastered the art of “say, while I’ve got you here...”.
As mentioned, there are two potential debutants. Helena Errington has been in sizzling form over in Iceland where she plays for FH Hafnarfjörður. It’s been a bumpy journey to get here, from being an age grade standout for New Zealand and starting National League games for Capital as a 15yo, to training with Sporting Lisbon for six months, to a brief scholarship stint with the Wellington Phoenix, to some state footy in Australia where she was great, to some USL Championship in America where she never even got a chance, to Iceland where she quickly made herself into a starting eleven player getting goals and assists on a regular basis.
And that’s a decent level too. FH just got through a two-legged Europa Cup qualifying tie against Eintracht Frankfurt (losing 4-1 on aggregate) and are challenging for the Best Deild championship heading into the last few rounds of the season. Same division that the Wellington Phoenix signed Makala Woods and Kam Pickett out of. Not world beating stuff, sure, but when a kiwi player is putting up numbers like Errington has been, we’ve gotta at least have a look. And from that career recap you can see that Errington’s got a fair bit of pedigree behind her too... she won Golden Ball at the OFC U19s in 2023 from a squad that also featured the likes of Manaia Elliott, Emma Pijnenburg, Suya Haering, Ruby Nathan, Zoe Benson, Kiara Bercelli, Zoe McMeeken, and Ella McMillan. Errington and Milly Clegg were the only outfielders to play every minute at the U20 World Cup in 2024.
Daisy Brazendale is fresh from captaining New Zealand at the most recent U20 World Cup. Still waiting to hear what she’s up to with her next club after leaving the Wellington Phoenix in search of more minutes – DB made 20 appearances for the WahiNix last season though only two of those were starts... and her role shrunk to just 15 minutes in total during the three playoff games. Word is that she’s looking towards the United Kingdom. That’ll all become clear in due course. Brazendale is hard-tackling midfielder whose distribution has come along pretty nicely during her time at the Nix. Mayne has suggested that he’ll be using her in a different position to her ordinary defensive mid spot though... dunno what that might be although looking at the squad it’s the fullback/wing-back spots that are by far the emptiest. Particularly on the left edge after the injury to Mickey Foster.
Since the squad was initially announced, there have been a couple of changes. Rebekah Stott and Milly Clegg have both withdrawn with injuries which has meant recalls for Emma Pijnenburg and Kelli Brown. There was a quote in the announcement that: “opportunities are there for players to be revisited due to timing of seasons and some players not quite ready for an international window right now”... though it’s hard to see what that applies to here since the A-League is the obvious example of a league where players haven’t been active lately yet a large chunk of this squad has been picked from A-League clubs that are still in preseason mode. That’s no doubt had an impact on Stott and Clegg stepping aside as they seek to ensure they’re 100% ahead of the ALW’s resumption immediately after this window. Brown was a notable ALW absentee until she got recalled. Deven Jackson and Manaia Elliott are the others who’ve been in recent squads. Players like Zoe McMeeken and Rebecca Lake are capable of working their way into Ferns squads but, you know, not without doing something to warrant it first. McMeeken definitely has a window as a specialist wide defender though Lake’s got her work cut out as an uncapped alternative at a time when we’re stacked for CBs.
Indi Riley, Meikayla Moore, and Charlotte Lancaster are all back after missing the previous window (three months ago) due to injuries. Alina Santos was dealing with a concussion at Southampton but returned to make her debut recently against WSL club West Ham in the League Cup group phase... where she was red carded in the first half for a challenge outside the area. There’s no Pia Vlok in this squad since they’re being careful with her loading coming off the U20s ahead of a busy A-League season. It was surprising not to see Emma Pijnenburg in the original group - she did make a perceived downward move to the Dutch second tier with Hera United but is captaining that team and has scored four goals in six games so far from midfield.
Still no sign of Anna Leat or Katie Bowen who’ve each only been involved in 1/9 squads picked by Michael Mayne since the last Olympics. Leat’s had some very tricky concussion problems but has been playing NPL for APIA Leichhardt. Bowen’s moved to Türkiye, where she was playing Champions League qualifiers with Fenerbahçe very recently and has since qualified for the Europa Cup (the only NZer still left in UEFA competition). There was similar uncertainty around Rebekah Stott a while back but she reasserted her spot during World Cup qualifying and has been in the past four squads. Just wish we could get some explanation about some of these other recurring absentees, oh well.
Key question ahead of this tour: Will they return to the 3-5-2 formation that Michael Mayne clearly prefers or will they stick with the more compact 4-3-3 that got them a very good clean sheet against Morocco last time out? Mayne’s been talking about using the three-month gap between tours to get some distance on matters, analysing the team’s strengths and weaknesses so he and his staff can pinpoint what to focus on as things ramp up towards the World Cup. Well, one of those things has been the tendency to pick players for a prescribed formation.
Jacqui Hand as a wing-back is an example of that. Hand plays as a winger for FC Basel and is most effective when operating in the attacking third but if you’re going to play with wing-backs then somebody’s gotta do the job... and so far only Indi Riley has really shown that she can handle that responsibility of being the lone wide option on her side. Gabi Rennie and Manaia Elliott have potential in those spots but if we don’t have natural wing-backs then we probably shouldn’t be playing in a formation with wing-backs, right? There’s been a bit too much shoehorning going on in the past year, rather than arranging the team to suit the talent available. But then maybe it’s all just one game away from clicking into place, who knows. Something to keep an eye on either way. Whichever formation leads to a win against Panama, that’s the one.
GOALKEEPERS
Victoria Esson – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS (34 caps/0 goals)
Maddie Iro – Hills United, AUS (1/0)
Alina Santos – Southampton, ENG (4/0)
It always gets a bit strange with the goalkeepers in a Michael Mayne squad. You can trust that Vic Esson will be there because she always is, currently at the end of her preseason with the Wellington Phoenix. She’ll be 36 years old when the World Cup comes around the corner but that’s prime time for a goalkeeper so no dramas with that. It did feel like Anna Leat had made her inevitable rise to undisputed number one status after starting all three games at the Olympics but a couple of bad concussions since then have really disrupted the career of a goalie who seemed destined to become the best we’d ever seen. Only played one international in the two years since those Olympics. She’s only 25 years old so no reason why she won’t still get there – Esson was still playing NZ National League at the equivalent age – but with Leat not yet signing anywhere else after being released by Newcastle Jets... we’ll give her space but it looks like we’ll be sticking with Esson as we move into the World Cup. Fair enough, that’s why you always need options. Leat has been playing some NPL for APIA Leichardt in the meantime.
Like many in this squad, Esson is very short on match fitness. The only competitive game she’s played since the A-League grand final was the Football Ferns vs Morocco in June (where she kept a clean sheet). That’s probably less of an issue for Esson as an experienced goalie than it will be for anyone else in the squad – can’t do much about that since we’ve got a heavy dose of A-League players right now with no significant moves overseas from last year’s crop and several others (Riley, Clegg, Lake) having returned to the ALW from foreign clubs. It is what it is. There are much stronger leagues than this but also you’re better off playing in the A-League than you are sitting on the bench somewhere else. And it does make a difference that the plethora at the Wellington Phoenix will be performing for a demanding coach with winning intentions, developing habits that’ll also filter into Ferns camp.
Alina Santos has emerged from the goalkeeping strangeness to assert herself as a regular squad member. The faith she’s earned from her national team coaches and the promise she’s shown in her appearances to date have been rewarded with a professional gig at Southampton in the English second tier (same level as Mickey Foster, Katie Kitching & Grace Neville), where she debuted against West Ham in a WSL Cup game last week... and yeah then got red carded in the first half. Rushed outside her area and took down a dribbler. Can’t argue with it. She got clattered in the challenge and needed some physio treatment before the card came out which is not good considering she’d only just got back from a concussion standdown stemming from preseason. Hopefully she’s alright.
Beyond that, the spot given to Brooke Neary last tour (to help prepare her for the U20 World Cup where she stared all three games) has reverted to Maddie Iro. Strangeness there because Iro has never played professionally yet seems to have jumped way ahead of A-League backups Bri Edwards and Claudia Jenkins. You could argue Neary should be in contention too... and on merit rather than as a development exercise this time. But Iro had a strong NPL season, by the sounds of it. Could also be that Coach Mayne, like Darren Bazeley, has specific ideas about the role of a third-choice goalkeeper. Doesn’t really matter. The real question is whether we see Esson start both games or if Santos gets a go in one of them.
DEFENDERS
Liz Anton – Canberra United, AUS (31/0)
Mackenzie Barry – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS (25/1)
Claudia Bunge – Melbourne Victory, AUS (44/2)
Ally Green – FC København, DEN (22/2)
Meikayla Moore – Calgary Wild, CAN (76/4)
Grace Neville – Watford, ENG (13/0)
Kate Taylor – Madrid CFF, ESP (34/3)
We’ve got five centre-backs here. That doesn’t include Rebekah Stott who has withdrawn with injury although she’s been used more in midfield than she has in central defence by Mayne. It also doesn’t include Mickey Foster who has done her ACL and is up against time to return for the World Cup (and even if she does, she’ll be very undercooked). Nor does it include Katie Bowen who either doesn’t want to play internationals at the moment or else she’s insulted the coach unforgiveably because she never gets picked and it’s still a mystery as to why but we’ll leave it there and move on.
The conundrum here is how to replace Foster, who does have her limitations at the top level (pace being the obvious one) but her steadiness and leadership, combined with a cultured left-foot, had seen her start 15 of the previous 17 internationals. If it’s a back three then she’s the LCB. If it’s a back four then she’s the LB. Either way she’ll take some replacing. That’s probably a simpler task in a back three because Kate Taylor is locked on for the middle CB role, she’s now the captain of this team and she deserves that honour. Our highest performing player at club level, currently bossing it in Spain where Madrid CFF sit second on the Liga F ladder after six weeks with their only defeat coming in the lone game she didn’t play. Taylor’s been fantastic since making that transfer and should join this tour full of confidence.
Claudia Bunge is next on the preferred CB list, getting picked in seven of the last eight line-ups. Then we’ve got Liz Anton and Mack Barry who can each play fullback as well as centre-back. All three are A-Leaguers currently out of season, while Meikayla Moore is at the very end of her season in Canada. Again, going by past selection trends we’re most likely looking at an Anton (1), Moore (2), Barry (3) hierarchy... though every tour brings with it new opportunities for those things to change.
Meikayla Moore has been pretty good for Calgary Wild this year. The team is rock bottom of their league but they’ve been much better when she’s there versus when she ain’t. Did go off at half-time of their most recent match so we’ll soon see if that affects anything. Would be nice to get a look at her teammate Tilly James in a Ferns squad at some stage though she’s not been quite as demanding of a call-up and might be injured anyway, having not featured in the last couple weeks. There will be one other Northern Super League addition though: Katie Barrott’s been called up as an assistant coach, previously at the Wellington Phoenix Academy and for the last two years with Halifax Tides (she was there as assistant when Milly Clegg was on loan at the club).
Note that Grace Neville has been used as a right-sided CB in a back three by Watford since joining on loan very recently. She and Iro are the only two recalled players for this tour (and Kelli Brown if you count her, being an injury replacement)... all the other changes are players who’ve been summoned for the first time (Errington & Brazendale) or those who were previously injured (Moore, Riley, Lancaster). Slightly curious one seeing as the Neviller hasn’t done much to change her status. Could be one of those match fitness ones where she’s gotten the nudge ahead of, say, Manaia Elliott or someone on account of how she’s actually been playing games lately. Ally Green too – she’s been in the past three squads but hasn’t hardly been used other than a wing-back start against Fiji and a couple late substitute cameos against Haiti and Morocco. Been getting good minutes for FC Copenhagen and stands to profit the most from Foster’s injury in a back four.
Lots of depth outside the squad in these defensive areas. Stott and Bowen. Elliott. Marisa van der Meer. Zoe McMeeken. Tilly James. Suya Haering. Kinda surprising that Haering wasn’t picked, must have left it a wee bit too late with when her season in France started. Haering has started the last two games for Montpellier at LWB in the French top flight and if that continues then we simply don’t have the top-end depth to be leaving out one of the only two players we’ve got in a big five European league right now (the other being Kate Taylor, obviously). Particularly with our best left-back having just torn an anterior crutiate.
MIDFIELDERS
Daisy Brazendale – Unattached (0/0)
Maya Hahn – Viktoria Berlin, GER (14/1)
Grace Jale – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS (42/10)
Emma Pijnenburg – Hera United, NED (10/0)
Malia Steinmetz – FC Nordsjælland, DEN (35/0)
It was telling that when Rebekah Stott pulled out of the squad, she was replaced by midfielder Emma Pijnenburg rather than a central defender. That’s where Stotty’s mostly played, aside from a couple games at CB when Kate Taylor wasn’t available. It’s also where she’s needed most. Grace Jale has been wonderful since moving permanently back into midfield activities but ideally she needs a short-passer next to her to complement her range. Pijnenburg forged a lovely wee combination doing exactly that for the Welly Nix last season though has since returned to the Netherlands. Brings some good form, albeit at a lower level. Maya Hahn is another who excels at that kinda thing... problem with her is that she’s hardly playing for Viktoria Berlin at the moment. Stuck on the bench after her well-resourced club stocked up for a promotion push.
Mentioned before that Daisy Brazendale probably isn’t going to play in the midfield. That’s a surprise to look forward to. Malia Steinmetz has been in the previous two squads, first as a training player and then as a full selection without taking the field. She’s finally back playing ninety minutes again for FC Nordsjælland although there is a catch: she’s doing so as a central defender. Don’t expect that’ll change anything for the national team though. When Steinmetz inevitably earns her next cap, it’ll be her first since July 2024 at the Olympic Games.
That gives us a four-player rotation for the two midfield spots. Nothing wrong with that... if we need another then Helena Errington is very accomplished there and both Katie Kitching and Hannah Blake could also do a job. Blake’s already been getting some reps as a midfielder for Rangers. All three are better utilised in more attacking spots but they’re all adaptable. And of course there’s Daisy Brazendale, despite whatever else the coach has planned for her. No Grace Wisnewski after her ACL... she hasn’t been as pivotal a player as Mickey Foster so there’s less of an impact there beyond the extremely stink aspect of her own personal setback, especially for Wiz with this being her second ACL. When CJ Bott returns from her maternity leave, it’ll be as a combative central midfielder for the Wellington Phoenix... if she recaptures her previous levels then she’d still be our best right-back/right wing-back, however there’s also room in the midfield so that’s one to ponder down the line. Not yet though.
FORWARDS
Hannah Blake – Rangers, SCO (13/4)
Kelli Brown – Canberra United, AUS (13/5)
Helena Errington – FH Hafnarfjörður, ISL (0/0)
Jacqui Hand – FC Basel, SUI (41/9)
Maggie Jenkins – Perth Glory, AUS (3/0)
Katie Kitching – Sunderland, ENG (30/9)
Charlotte Lancaster – Central Coast Mariners, AUS (4/0)
Gabi Rennie – Eskilstuna United, SWE (49/2)
Indiah-Paige Riley – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS (37/9)
Ah yes, the pressure point. Who wants to score some goals? It’s the perennial weakness of any NZ Football squad... granted, the All Whites seem to be changing that tune these days. And tell ya what there are some promising trends here. Indi Riley is back which always helps. Hardly played much over the past year but that’ll soon change having linked up with the Phoenix. We’ve also seen Maggie Jenkins, Charlotte Lancaster, and Kelli Brown all earn A-League gigs with new clubs for the upcoming season. Milly Clegg too, in her own way.
One of the oddest occurrences in recent Fernies history was seeing their almighty struggle to put the ball in the back of the net in the World Cup qualifying final against Papua New Guinea. Deven Jackson was the starting striker that evening while Milly Clegg sat unused on the bench and Kelli Brown didn’t get on until the last 25 mins. DJ isn’t a number nine and her skittish finishing in that game likely contributed to her losing her spot for this tour. Dunno why Mayne was reluctant to use his genuine strikers that day because either Brown or Clegg (and a couple times both) have started in literally every other game for the past two years. But here we are now and Maggie Jenkins has been added to the group on the back of some immense goal-scoring in the National League and NPL. Got a couple games off the bench last tour and could even be a first eleven player by the end of this one, it’s not out of the question. Brown wasn’t initially picked for either of the last two squads before getting a reprieve with Clegg’s injury. There’s a spot for one of those three in the first eleven and it’s entirely up for grabs with the trio all now competing in the same league.
Beyond them, Katie Kitching will be there somewhere – she’s the second name on the teamsheet after Kate Taylor. And yeah don’t worry about it, she’s been in super touch for Sunderland as they’ve piled on some great early results to have their fans pondering a promotion quest. Gabi Rennie scored for Eskilstuna United recently and has been earning praise for her big mahi on the right wing. Jacqui Hand gets basically every minute for FC Basel these days, benefitting from finally finding a club she can stay at for longer than one season. Hannah Blake’s going pretty well for Rangers, scoring in an Old Firm derby against Celtic recently and starting regularly throughout their European campaign. And you already know that Helena Errington’s smashed the door down with her goals and assists.
Genuinely cannot remember the last time we had a forward group coming into a Ferns tour where so many of them seem to be in productive form. The profiles in the group are slowly changing too, adding more clinical finishing with Jenkins and Brown; speed and mobility with Rennie and Riley; some creative guile with Hand, Blake, and Errington; power with Lancaster; and a little of all of those things (except maybe the power) with Katie Kitching. Pia Vlok ticks all those boxes too and will become an important player for the Footy Ferns soon enough. They’re not rushing her into this squad in between the U20 World Cup and her second A-League season but she’s inevitable so we don’t have to worry about that. What we’re tracking is whether having an active and in-form group of forwards for once will lead to a little more success when it comes to filling the old onion bag.
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