Football Ferns in World Cup Qualifying, Phase One: Squad Yarns & Preview
Gather round, everyone, it’s time for a new round of Football Ferns activities. The Fernies are about to take the next step in their World Cup cycle by playing some actual World Cup Qualifiers. Throughout 2025, Coach Michael Mayne repeatedly spoke about his “campaign plan” and how everything is building towards Brazil 2027... well, now it’s time to book our tickets.
That process begins with three group stage games to be played in Honiara (SOL) against Samoa, Solomon Islands, and American Samoa. It’ll be the first time we’ve ever faced American Samoa. Three games in a week during the Melanesian summer is an arduous physical task for sure... though anything other than three hefty victories would be a shock, no matter what the conditions. The Ferns have only scored nine goals in their last 16 fixtures... they might score that many in each of these games, it’s certainly been done before (their last dip into Oceania footy included a 6-0 win vs Samoa and an 11-1 win vs the Solomons in the final).
As such, the Mayne Man has understandably been lenient in a few selection cases. The press release, as always, kept things pretty vague but there was this quote in there from the coach:
“This tour presents some different challenges, especially with the global nature of our squad and players both in the middle of competitive seasons or in preseason and looking to establish themselves, so we have had to account for a number of factors when selecting the final 23.”
In other words, this isn’t a tour where we need our absolute full capacity squad (not that Mayne has ever picked one of those) so a number of players whose club stature might be adversely affected by dipping away for ten days have been given leaves of absence. Particularly those who are in preseason or midseason training camps. This is a FIFA window so there won’t be many competitive games going on but preseason training is one of those critical every day scenarios.
Gabi Rennie was excellent for Eskilstuna United last season but will have to reassert herself now that they’ve been promoted to the Swedish top flight. Jacqui Hand only linked up with FC Basel in Switzerland a couple weeks ago, same deal with Ally Green at FC København in Denmark. They’re the three obvious cases of these leaves of absence (as the NZF legal team would describe it: The Finn Surman Precedent – after he was left out of equivalent All Whites games last year for the same reason, a move which worked out brilliantly for all involved). In contrast there’s someone like Grace Wisnewksi with FC Nordsjælland in Denmark who has been picked, since she’s already established herself thanks to a strong first half of the campaign.
This is not a very experienced squad. Annalie Longo has retired. CJ Bott’s pregnancy is going to keep her out of the team throughout 2026, although she should return before the 2027 World Cup – she’ll still be under contract with the Phoenix next season and the examples of Betsy Hassett and Liv Chance suggest that a maternal return is fully possible. Speaking of whom, Hassett nor Chance are in this squad... Chance is without a club after Kolbotn (Norway) got relegated so that takes her out of contention. Not sure if Hassett has re-signed with Stjarnan (Iceland) or not but if she hasn’t then she’s in the same boat as Chance, if she has then she might be in the same boat as Hand/Rennie/Green. The other two players missing from the squad vs Aussie are both injured: Anna Leat and Kate Taylor. Two starting eleven players but so it goes.
Another tour without Katie Bowen? Look, maybe Inter Milan are being jerks about it, we don’t know. She’s definitely an important player for them same as she is for the Ferns. She doesn’t need to be risked for these matches. Taken in isolation, there’s nothing abnormal about her skipping these WCQs, it’s just that after only being picked in 1/5 squads last year any absence of hers look dubious. Bowen remains our highest-performing player at club level.
However, Rebekah Stott has been recalled so that’s cool. Stotty’s a bit more accessible since she’s playing in the A-League and her presence brings some much-needed veteran know-how in a squad where her 108 caps and Meikayla Moore’s 74 caps are the only tallies that exceed 40 caps across the 23-player group. No Hassett, Bowen, Bott, Chance, or Rennie (the only other active players with 40+ caps). Clearly Michael Mayne doesn’t put the same premium on experience as other coaches because in six squads, only one of those seven most capped current players has been picked for more than two of those tours (not counting Longo, who was everpresent until she retired). Moore’s been there 6/6 times. Bott, Rennie, Hassett, and Stott have been in two squads each. Chance and Bowen just once.
It’s a weird one. The veterans shouldn’t have an automatic claim to their spots if they aren’t playing well enough to deserve it... but Bowen, Bott, and Stott always have been. Probably Rennie too (although she’d been in the last two squads and we’ve already established why she’s not in this one). There’s never been a proper explanation but the closest we’ve gotten was Mayne emphasising how he was building out the depth. He also recently did a piece for The Coaches’ Voice website where his messaging and selection process got some fascinating focus...
Michael Mayne, Coaches’ Voice:
Communication is big for me – understanding and staying connected with players and staff to maintain aligned messaging. It is also really important to build good relationships with club coaches and try to stay in touch with them semi-regularly. The reality is that the moment the international window closes and players jump on a plane back to their clubs, everything is club football for them. The trap you can sometimes fall into as international coaches is putting too much on the players, in terms of what they need to progress and how they need to do it, when you don’t have a lot of control over that. So I try to reduce everything down as much as I can. We offer performance summaries for the players, with two or three things they could progress with us and their club before the next selection window. We link everything back to our way and how we do things, that we think they can progress or keep strengthening. It is two or three things, max, because that is probably all they have the capacity to think about.
Clarity is key at high-performance levels. I now have a process where there is feedback for the players that comes directly after the selection windows if there is further clarity needed for decisions. This is linked to clips from their club, that talk to the things that have been part of the selection conversation. I try to give as much clarity as possible, so that players know the direction they are heading, or what is needed to get the call-up they want. We have developed a robust selection process that our analysts, my athletic performance lead and medical team all feed into. I build something of a selection panel, which is a mixture of my coaching group, plus a couple of outsiders who can check and challenge, or play devil’s advocate. It is all based on what we are seeing and observing: the numbers, footage and conversations. Players will know we have covered all bases in order to make good, strong decisions for the team.
That bit about “all they have the capacity to think about” isn’t him calling his players dumb, by the way. Just saying that if you want players to implement this advice then you’ve gotta streamline it to the most important few aspects, otherwise it gets lost in the fog. Also recognising that he’s the national team coach and their club coaches are going to have their own things to say, not always overlapping either.
Not gonna lie... it kinda sounds like he could be overthinking things. Losing sight of the forest for all the analytical trees, which fits in with the claim last tour that Rebekah Stott had been given “the feedback [she] needs” to explain her absence from that squad. If you can find stats and footage to justify dropping the captain of the best team in the A-League, while simultaneously picking several other players from the same competition in the same position, then you can probably find stats and footage for anything. But Stotty must have taken note because she’s been recalled.
As have Grace Jale and Mack Barry, who between them only earned three caps in 2025. Manaia Elliott was dropped for the Aussie games too but she’s back. Not to mention the latest phenom to come through the Aotearoa ranks: Pia Vlok, who just a few months ago was captaining Aotearoa at the U17 World Cup. This is what is possible when the Wellington Phoenix are winning games. Most tours last year only saw 2-3 Nix players picked but there are seven in this squad. Not just picked for the sake of it, not just picked because they’re the most visible, but picked because their form merits it. Jale has been a revelation in midfield for the Nix, the position it now seems clear she should have been playing all along. Barry’s formed a big part of the best defensive unit in the ALW. Vlok and Elliott are scoring goals and creating chances. Emma Pijnenburg should be in line for her first national team start, potentially Lara Wall too considering the fullback/wing-back stocks here (no CJ Bott, Ally Green, or Grace Neville... and with Mickey Foster potentially required at CB or CDM).
The thing about Pia Vlok’s selection, at 17 years old, is that it’s got nothing to do with her age. We’ve seen those types of decisions in the past with someone like Ruby Nathan who was picked before she was ready as a way of accelerating her development – and in previous eras with fewer pros to choose from it used to happen all the time. But that’s not true of Pia Vlok. As young as she is, what she’s doing in the ALW puts her toe to toe with the best footballers from New Zealand. She scored a hat-trick last week, come on now. The last NZer to score an ALW hatty was Hannah Wilkinson. Vlok is tall and mobile, she holds her own physically in the A-League, and there’s clearly no doubting her skills. She’s been banging in goals from outside the box with both feet at a degree of precision to match anyone in our ranks.
That long shooting capability is something that also happens to be a speciality of Charlotte Lancaster, the other bolter in this squad (Maddie Iro has been called up before, albeit only as injury cover). Lancaster, like her Newcastle Jets teammate Kelli Brown, got her start at the Wellington Phoenix but it was after she was released and she started playing down in the NPL that she really figured it out. Had a couple years coming back to the National League and thrilling the locals too. Then got signed to the Jets by her former Eastern Suburbs coach Stephen Hoyle and has scored three goals in eight games as of this summons. She’s another one who is big and strong and loves to give it a rip from distance. Rocket of a left boot. Lancaster has been in and out with injuries this season but when she’s played she’s impressed enough to at least have a look at her in a Ferns jersey.
There’s the making of a very imposing team here. Frankly, Mayne could do a lot worse than to mirror how the Wellington Phoenix have been playing under Bev Priestman, with a defensively sound style that relies on strength and big effort – echoing the Ferns when they were at their most competitive. On that note, gotta pay close attention to is the tactics because Mayne dove headlong into a 3-5-2 formation when the team returned to action after a post-Olympics break and stuck with it right up until the last game of the year, when the positives of having that extra striker and the dynamic wing-backs were finally overridden by consecutive scoreless defeats against Mexico, a 6-0 loss to the USA, and then a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Australia. For the last game of 2025, Mayne and his crew designed the team in a 4-1-4-1 with Kate Taylor as a defensive midfielder and it worked way better in a 2-0 defeat. Will he stick with that against the Oceania sides? It doesn’t really matter as far as these games are concerned but it’ll be telling with regards to his wider reign.
After these three group games, the Ferns will be back on the horse in April for the semis and the final. Winner of the tournament will qualify directly to the 2027 FIFA World Cup. Runners-up will enter the intercontinental playoffs. The semis and final will be single-legged knockouts and they’ll be hosted by New Zealand, making for just our third and fourth home games (knock on wood, gotta qualify first) since co-hosting the World Cup in 2023. Four games in almost three years... not exactly capitalising on the buzz, aye? But at least we’re getting something – Kelli Brown, Maya Hahn, Manaia Elliott, Emma Pijnenburg, Lara Wall, and Alina Santos have all debuted since the last time the Ferns played in Aotearoa (possibly soon Pia Vlok, Charlotte Lancaster, and Maddie Iro too). First chance they’ll get to potentially play in front of friends and whanau in senior national team colours.
GOALKEEPERS
Vic Esson – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS (31 caps/0 goals)
Maddie Iro – Hills United, AUS (0/0)
Alina Santos – University of Denver, USA (1/0)
Right, so we’ve got one experienced goalkeeper in great club form with 31 caps, who has played at major tournaments and in Champions League qualifiers. Then we’ve got a keeper with one cap and an uncapped keeper, neither of whom have played professionally yet. But you know what? That’s just where we’re at with goalies these days. Mayne has cast the net pretty wide to try and find depth in this position and if anything it’s gotten worse over the past twelve months.
For starters, Anna Leat is injured. She’d been playing superbly for Newcastle Jets, making far and away the most saves in the ALW to this point – her excellent largely clouded by the amount of goals she’s conceded but we saw when the Phoenix smoked the Jets 5-1 recently what it looks like without Leat. Her shot-stopping has been bailing out a leaky defence and what’s more her passing from the back has gone to new levels of slickness (probably the area where she most exceeds Vic Esson). Leat started all three games at the Olympics in 2024 before missing most of the following year due to concussion and a career break. There’s little doubt that she’s the Ferns’ top keeper... but she’s injured. Picked up a knock in training. Dunno the severity of it, there’s every chance she returns long before the Ferns play their first game of this window on 27 February... but there’s no reason to risk anything. (There’s a good read on Leat’s concussion battles on the PFA website – a long-term recovery that was clearly much more intense than was ever made public at the time).
Especially not when the Ferns have only conceded two goals in their last ten matches against Oceania teams (scoring 75 goals themselves). Hence Santos and Iro are here, both of whom having been involved in squads under Mayne before. Santos has become a bit of a regular and she repaid much of that faith with a very solid debut performance against the Aussies last tour. Curious to see that Iro is listed with Hills United in the New South Wales NPL... she’d previously been in the USA college system like Santos. Iro was with High Point Uni in 2024, transferred to DePaul in 2025, and now seems to have skipped that scene altogether.
As for the other goalkeeping options, well, nobody’s exactly putting their hand up at the moment. Bri Edwards is the back-up at Western Sydney, only making one appearance so far this season. Claudia Jenkins has lost her number one spot at Adelaide United to 17-year-old Ilona Melegh. Welly Nix depth like Aimee Danieli and Brooke Neary aren’t any more advanced in their careers than Santos or Iro. Una Foyle was in and out for Cork City in Ireland last year. Geo Candy just signed with South Melbourne, the same NPL level that Iro is going to be playing at (albeit in a different state). Not a lot happening there, ya dig.
We did have had Blair Currie, former NZ age-grade keeper who was very good for Wellington United during a quick National League stint last year, sign professionally in Finland this week but it’s too early for a national team call-up. Even if it wasn’t, she’d fall within the same category as players like Jacqui Hand and Gabi Rennie who are busy seeking to nail down their club spots during preseason. One to watch, though.
Santos earned this latest call-up with how well she performed against Australia on debut. Plus, unlike a lot of kiwis in the NCAA, she played heaps and played very well for Uni of Denver last year. It’s Iro who is the surprise presence ahead of a bunch of goalies with professional contracts. But another thing that Iro has in her favour is that she’s been a highly regarded young keeper for Canterbury United and at all the NZ age-grade levels, keeping her close at hand for someone like Mayne who came up working with those various teams and will know Iro’s game well. Compare that to Edwards and Jenkins who began in the Aussie system and then switched over. Edwards did go to an U20 World Cup but was back-up to another Aus/NZ dual-national in Muprhy Sheaff (dunno why Sheaff has fallen off, she was the third keeper at the last Olympics and hasn’t been seen since). Also, while this shouldn’t have affected the selection process, it is cool that these games are all being played in the Solomon Islands and Madeleine Iro has Solomons heritage through her father.
DEFENDERS
Liz Anton – Canberra United, AUS (26/0)
Mackenzie Barry – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS (22/1)
Claudia Bunge – Melbourne Victory, AUS (38/0)
Michaela Foster – Durham, ENG (30/1)
Meikayla Moore - Calgary Wild, CAN (74/4)
Rebekah Stott – Melbourne City, AUS (108/4)
Lara Wall – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS (2/0)
Needless to say, it’s a relief to see Rebekah Stott back – keeping alive an incredible stat that probably won’t last much longer: since Abby Erceg became the first NZer to reach 100 caps, on 25 October 2014, every single Football Ferns game has involved at least one centurion. A couple times only off the bench but there’s always been someone with 100+ caps on the pitch. 11 years and 119 games. Stotty’s the only one who can maintain that with neither Bowen or Hassett in this squad. The next closest is Meikayla Moore with her 74 caps. Stott and Bowen are 32 and 31 years old so it’s not like they’re on the brink of retirement though.
Kate Taylor was the only player to start every game for the Ferns in 2025 (Kitching and Brown also featured in all nine matches but that included substitute apps), so without her central presence either in the middle of the back three or in defensive midfield there’ll have to be some adjustment... and Rebekah Stott is the obvious candidate to take over that role as the instigator of Fernies possessions. Might even be why she’s been recalled. Not sure of the extent of Taylor’s injury but she’s missed the last five games in a row for Dijon. It’ll be the first match that she’s missed with Michael Mayne as coach. She was captain in the most recent fixture.
Liz Anton and Claudia Bunge have been regulars during Mayne’s Reign, deservedly so off the back of their excellent ALW performances. For Anton there was also a solid stint in Norway, where she finished the season as Kolbotn’s captain, getting to experience a different style of footy which will only make her a better player. Bunge has already had a spell like that playing in Denmark. Mack Barry hasn’t had that (she’s off-contract after this Nix season though, could be time?) but she is a key part of the best defensive record in Australia – along with Lara Wall who debuted as an injury replacement for the North American tour last October and has now made consecutive squads since.
Meikayla Moore is the only outfielder in the squad who’s not in-season at the moment. Her re-signing with Calgary Wild was only announced last week (keep an eye on her teammate Tilly James, a kiwi ex-pat who missed most of last season with injury but could get into these convos if she has a strong campaign). Moore is also the second most capped player in the team. Based on recent selections, Mouse is behind Anton, Bunge, and Foster in the pecking order. Stott and Bowen should be ahead too, if all is well. Kate Taylor obvs. And now we’ve got Mack Barry in this squad too. Defenders never have much to do in these OFC games but those training sessions will be crucial because centre-back is the most competitive position right now. There are eight CBs who’ve been mentioned in this paragraph (with the likes of Bex Lake and Marisa van der Meer also hanging about) and we won’t be taking eight CBs to the World Cup, that’s for sure.
Curious that there’s no CJ Bott and yet there’s also no Grace Neville. Those are the only two specialist right-backs in the team... if it’s a wing-back scenario then Indi Riley, Hannah Blake, and Manaia Elliott will share those duties. If it’s a back four, which arguably suits the wider playing group better, then maybe Elliott hangs around but the others will be needed further forwards, leaving Barry and Anton to sort things out. Lancaster can also play LWB while Elliott and Riley are equally adept on either side. Wall and Foster would be the left fullbacks. Foz has been playing CB for Durham this year but we all know her versatility.
MIDFIELDERS
Maya Hahn – Viktoria Berlin, GER (8/1)
Grace Jale – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS (36/9)
Katie Kitching – Sunderland, ENG (23/6)
Emma Pijnenburg – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS (7/0)
Grace Wisnewski – FC Nordsjælland, DEN (5/0)
This is a pretty useful midfield quintet, ya know. Grace Jale has discovered her true calling as an imposing ball-winner in midfield who also possesses a tremendous crossfield switch. That range of passing/shooting is a theme throughout this squad with a lot of the newer players bringing similar skill sets with them. Already mentioned Vlok and Lancaster in that regard. Jale, Brown, and Elliott have also made a habit of scoring A-League bangers from outside the box. As has Grace Wisnewski over at Nordsjælland. For what feels like the last decade or so, the emphasis has always been on keeping possession and playing prettier football (All Whites and Football Ferns both, and especially at the youth levels) and it hasn’t led to better results. There’s room for the silky stuff within any strategy but it works best when sprinkled on top. The most successful AW and FF teams have always been built upon defensive solidity, high workrates, and physical strength... just like the Wellington Phoenix Women are doing at the moment.
It’s hard to forecast team selections without knowing how they’ll set things up... but there’s nothing to worry about in this area, particularly not if we’re assuming that Stott or Foster take care of the CDM duties. All five of these midfielders are currently first choice starters for their clubs. All five of them have scored goals from midfield this season. Wiz is the least experienced yet she plays at the highest level – she only made her first Ferns start in the most recent game. Pijnenburg has never started for the national team. Hahn only debuted last year but very quickly became an important player with her crafty passing. Kitching has straight-up been one of the team’s most valuable performers over the past two years and continues to impress for Sunderland in the English second tier, usually playing as a second striker or attacking midfielder.
This is a midfield group without Annalie Longo, Katie Bowen, Betsy Hassett, or Liv Chance. Ria Percival retired two years ago. It’s a very fresh looking group but if this is what our midfield is going to look like for the next 5+ years then we’re in decent shape. Especially with Malia Steinmetz working her way back from injury at the moment (as a teammate of Wisnewski in Denmark). They’ll have the run of the house in these games so it’s combinations that we need to be looking for. All of these ladies are capable of playing vertically as well as sideways. They’ve all got creativity. Let’s see who works best together.
FORWARDS
Hannah Blake – Durham, ENG (8/0)
Kelli Brown – Newcastle Jets, AUS (9/0)
Milly Clegg – Vittsjö GIK, SWE (20/2)
Manaia Elliott – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS (5/0)
Deven Jackson – Melbourne City, AUS (6/0)
Charlotte Lancaster – Newcastle Jets, AUS (0/0)
Indiah-Paige Riley – Crystal Palace, ENG (34/7)
Pia Vlok – Wellington Phoenix, NZ/AUS (0/0)
Here’s where it gets fun because it’s not often that Ferns forwards get to pad their stats with goals. Last time the Ferns played in Oceania, for the Olympic Qualifiers in 2024, they scored 32 goals in five games. You can look at the international goal counts for these players and see who’s played OFC games before: six of Indi Riley’s seven goals have come in OFC games; all of Grace Jale’s nine goals have come in OFC games; Jacqui Hand’s not here but 5/9 of her goals were against confederation pals as well. This is when the feasts are served... and there are quite a few players here who could use some goal gluttony.
Milly Clegg first and foremost. It’s been a weird start to her professional career, with big (deserved) hype followed by a massive early move to the NWSL... offset by an extended injury break and a habit of getting stuck on bad teams. She’s been a wooden spooner in her two full club seasons (Wellington & Halifax). Including her Ferns stuff, she’s played 58 professional games and has only scored seven goals – though that’s hardly her fault considering her teams have a 9w-14d-35l record in those matches. Fortunately, blessed escape has come her way thanks to Vittsjö in Sweden where she should be a regular feature for a mid-table calibre club and now these World Cup Qualifiers have swung around in time for her to do something about that 2 goals in 20 caps thing. Those two goals were against Japan and Venezuela, putting her in company alongside only Kitching, Stott, and Moore within this squad for having scored multiple goals against non-OFC opposition. But a hat-trick or two in Honiara wouldn’t go astray. Get the confidence rising again.
Indi Riley is also in an odd situation only hers hasn’t been resolved. She’s the Ferns’ most potent attacking player, whether she’s on the wing or at wing-back (might as well put her on the wing where she can operate higher up, right? – best players in their best positions and all that)... but at Crystal Palace she mostly plays fullback and that’s when she even gets to play at all. She’ll get to stretch her legs on this tour, at least. During the 2024 Olympic Quals, Indi Riley scored six goals with three assists in less than 300 minutes (2.74 goal contributions per 90) as her and Jacqui Hand absolutely dominated. Hannah Blake might be in a similar situation at Durham where, same as what happened last season, she played a lot to begin with but seems to have fallen down the queue in the back half of the fixture list. It’s a pity because she’s a clever player who links up nicely yet seems to get undervalued probably because she doesn’t fit neatly into any positional mould (much like Andre De Jong for the All Whites).
Clegg and Riley are the only forwards in this squad who have even scored an international goal – the defenders have more goals than the forwards... but that’ll soon change. Kelli Brown and Charlotte Lancaster have been thumping them in for Newcastle Jets this season while Manaia Elliott has a couple screamers for the Nix and Pia Vlok has four goals from eight shots outside the penalty area including with both feet (and another goal from closer in, making her the leading NZ scorer in the ALW at the mo’). Brown and Lancaster haven’t even played that much due to injuries earlier in the term, and when they have played it’s usually been out wide which puts their three goals each into even more impressive context. Deven Jackson hasn’t had the same success since moving to Melbourne City, largely stuck playing off the bench and still searching for her best role. Not ideal that they’ve lost three of her four starts either. But she has scored for them in the Champions League and she’s coming off a couple of excellent seasons with Canberra and Newcastle.
DJ is in a pocket alongside Hannah Blake and Charlotte Lancaster, where she’s right on the fringes of a full-strength squad. If Macey Fraser, Gabi Rennie, and Jacqui Hand are all available then cuts will be required. You can almost never bank on having a full-strength squad though, so you need to be able to go a few players deep in every position. The All Whites can’t expect Chris Wood to be available every window hence they can’t just build their team around their main man – as soon as you start relying on one player, no matter how good, you stop being a team. Macey Fraser has been a key creative force when she’s played for NZ... but we also have Maya Hahn and Katie Kitching. Annalie Longo has retired... but we’ve got Grace Wisnewski and Emma Pijnenburg ready for the next step. Katie Bowen should be getting picked... but even without her we’ve still got Claudia Bunge and Kate Taylor. That’s the way it should be.
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