Ferns stamp their passports

The Football Ferns are headed to the 2024 Olympics — and there might just be a glimmer of hope that they can turn some heads in Paris.

No one should get too carried away by their emphatic wins at the Oceania qualifying tournament in Samoa, which were topped off on Monday by a 11-1 thrashing of the Solomons Islands in the final, simply because the gulf in class and resources between New Zealand and the rest is massive in the women’s game.

But it has still been a valuable exercise for coach Jitka Klimkova and her team, while the conditions (humidity and pitch) have been challenging at times. They have also enjoyed the feeling of 32 goals scored (with two conceded) from five matches, after their well-publicised issues finding the net.

But the biggest positive has been the performance of the likes of Jacqui Hand, Indiah-Paige Riley, Grace Jale and Macey Fraser, exhibiting technical ability that has been rare down the years. Add in injured striker Milly Clegg and Klimkova has some genuine creative weapons at her disposal.

Paris will be the fifth consecutive Olympics appearance by the Ferns, since their first in Beijing in 2008.

Monday’s match was a staggering mismatch, even by Oceania standards. That is not being disrespectful to the Solomon Islands, who had performed a miracle to make the final.

They didn’t even qualify for this tournament in 2018 — not among the top eight Oceania nations — so have come from nowhere, helped by an injection in Fifa development funding in 2020, which was directed towards the women’s game.

But they are still ranked 109 in the world (New Zealand are 30th) and are a completely amateur team. That showed. They only managed two touches in the Ferns’ half in the first 45 minutes and New Zealand could have easily doubled their five-goal advantage in that time, such was the volume of chances.

But they had their moment of joy, with Jemima David’s consolation goal in the 55th minute, after a blunder by Ferns keeper Victoria Esson.

As the match progressed it was sometimes hard for the Ferns to keep their standards up — given the disparity — but they lifted when they needed to, with Hand and Riley the attacking standouts, while Rebekah Stott became New Zealand’s 13th centurion.