It’s been six long months since the Football Ferns last took the pitch. Six months in which a couple of players have retired, some have gotten injured, plenty have had club transfers, and a bunch more have put themselves into the big selection pot

A week ago, this game wasn’t a particularly enthralling proposition. The Football Ferns were served with a brutal Olympics group and part of that parcel was facing the defending champs first up. But then the Canadians imploded.

One year on from co-hosting a spectacular World Cup, the Football Ferns have another major tournament to tackle. This time it’s the Paris Olympics. Not nearly as serious as the World Cup but still a big deal... although don’t get your hopes up

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.

The club season has been going so hard lately that news of a fresh Football Ferns squad came as a bit of a surprise. But then of course there’s a new Ferns squad because we cannot forget the small matter of an Olympic tournament on the near horizon

What did we need to see from the Football Ferns in these games? Goals, victories, and a confident/ruthless attitude against a weaker opponent. Did we see those things? Yeah, we did... in the first game

Eight months after the World Cup, the Football Ferns are returning to Aotearoa with a pair of games against Thailand. Both games will be hosted in Christchurch, which didn’t get any World Cup matched yet after this series will have hosted as many home games as any other city over the past five years

The Football Ferns are going to the Olympics. As expected, they burst through the Oceania qualifying tournament winning every game and scoring a bunch of goals. They got progressively more efficient from game to game

There are few aspects of the New Zealand football experience more unique than going to Samoa, winning a few double-digit victories, and thus qualifying for a major tournament that only 12 nations on the planet get to participate in

There were happier ways that the Football Ferns could have brought the historic year that was 2023 to a conclusion... but this was probably the most truthful way.

Multiple Football Ferns coaches over the past decade have talked about trying to modernise the way the team plays. More passing, more movement off the ball, more creativity. That kinda thing

Brace yourself folks because this right here is the most fascinating Football Ferns squad we’ve been handed for a very long time. Even the World Cup squad didn’t compare to this one.

The Football Ferns went to Chile and they lost both games. The first was a disappointing tactical approach in front of a pretty decent local crowd. The second had no crowd at all, in fact it was played behind closed doors.

In the end, the thing that kept the Football Ferns from making the knockouts of their home World Cup was the thing that was always going to be the problem: their lack of goals