Tagged with: Football Ferns
Every FIFA event is a challenge for any New Zealand entrant, no matter how simple our qualification journey may be. Trying to overcome the perennial problem of being a big fish in the confederation and a small fish in the wider world will do that to you
The All Whites turned up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup with two stated intentions: to win a game and to progress to the knockout stages. They did neither of those things.
A few spare days after Haiti whupped the All Whites 4-0 (admittedly in an unserious warm-up game), their women’s team completed the set with a 2-1 win over the Football Ferns. Neither team had ever played against Haiti before... not sure we’ll ever want to play them again after how that all went.
The last time we saw the Football Ferns was in World Cup qualifying a few weeks ago when they booked their ticket to Brazil 2027 with a 1-0 win over Papua New Guinea in the final with a performance that…
The purpose of these last two Football Ferns international windows has been to qualify for the World Cup. Those windows are now complete and the Football Ferns have qualified for the World Cup.
Would you look at that, there’s a new Football Ferns squad already. It was only a few weeks ago that they were in camp in the Solomon Islands... but that was only phase one of this World Cup Qualification quest
The Football Ferns don’t lose games in Oceania. The last time they played within the region was the Olympic Qualifying tournament in 2024, almost exactly two years ago, and they won all five games with 32 goals scored and 1 goal against
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.
The Football Ferns are at a crossroads right now... in fact they’ve been stuck there for a wee while. Ever since the World Cup in 2023, they’ve been trying to figure out where they’re going having previously given absolute focus to that co-hosted tournament
The last time we beat Australia was in 1994 when Wendy Sharpe scored a double in Port Moresby for a 2-1 victory. There are only two players in the current squad who were even born when that happened (Esson and Longo).
Three games played, three defeats, zero goals scored, nine conceded. The numbers don’t look pretty but to be fair they were mostly spoiled by the needless game against the USA
What were we hoping to see from the Football Ferns as they took on Venezuela? Probably just the usual objectives of scoring goals and winning games, alongside some more clues as to how Michael Mayne’s vision for this team will look.
The A-League has wrapped up, most of the leagues in Europe have ended, and that makes this a perfect time for a couple of Football Ferns games... in Spain? Yeah righto.
This article was supposed to be a recap of the Football Ferns tour of Chinese Taipei... but in the end there was nothing to recap.
You’d be forgiven for having missed this one but the Football Ferns are off to Taiwan for a couple of games in early April. The first of those games is behind closed doors. The coaching staff is still on an interim basis for this one last tour. The squad is very similar to last time…
After going seven months without any fixtures following the Paris Olympics, a two-match tour of Costa Rica felt very much like the start of a fresh chapter for the Football Ferns
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
New Zealand teams don’t go to these youth World Cups to make up the numbers. Ever-expanding professional opportunities in Aotearoa and beyond mean more top level players are having their talent nurtured from a younger age
There are seven players in Leon Birnie’s 21-woman squad who are listed with overseas pro clubs (only one of those is an A-League team) and that doesn’t include the seven others who have already made A-League appearances for the Wellington Phoenix
It was three defeats from three for the Football Ferns in Paris, with a 2-1 loss against hosts France closing the door on their Olympic quest for another cycle. But it was a good 2-1 loss.