‘He needs to go’

One of the most capped players in the history of the Football Ferns has called for coach Andreas Heraf to resign immediately.

Katie Duncan attended Sunday’s 3-1 loss to Japan and said she was ‘‘furious’’ with his ultra-defensive tactics and even more so with the ‘‘disrespectful’’ comments he made in the postmatch press conference, where he said New Zealand could never compete with a team like Japan.

Duncan played in draws against Japan in 2008 and 2013 during her 119-game international career. She was also involved in many of New Zealand’s most notable results, including two victories against Brazil in 2013 and 2015.

‘‘To have such a defensive mindset and to talk about conceding eight is just plain rude and disrespectful to the girls,’’ Duncan said.

‘‘There’s just no faith in the girls. If that’s your attitude then what are you doing there? What’s his purpose if he’s not believing in his team?

‘‘In the past we’ve come extremely close to if not a draw then a narrow loss against Japan and we know from history that if we put pressure on them and are more physical than them, which Kiwis are because we typically have that fight, then anything can happen.’’

New Zealand’s best player Abby Erceg has already retired as a result of his methods and Duncan said the only solution was for a change to be made. Her preference was for Heraf to resign and for New Zealand Football to conduct an immediate review before more players are lost to the national team.

‘‘He needs to go. This is my personal opinion but he’s not welcome. He’s in charge of the whole technical football in New Zealand and if that’s his attitude, that we can never compete against the world’s best, then he can leave. There’s better people out there surely who actually believe in New Zealand getting better,’’ she said.

‘‘Female footballers don’t do it for the money. We do it because we love it and because we have fun. It’s a great environment to be around. But if the environment is not set up right then the girls will start to question ‘what is the point, then?’

‘‘If the coach is not believing in us and telling us we can’t go out there to do our best as individuals and as a team, and at least compete and try to win games, then what is the bloody point? You may as well not turn up.’’

Duncan said Heraf’s decision to park the bus in a rare home game, which was played in front of a record crowd of 7236, was ‘‘a load of crap’’, ‘‘not good enough’’ and simply ‘‘not the Kiwi way’’.

‘‘We’re fighters, we’ve got spirit and we’ve got mana. To have that reduced, it infuriates me and makes me angry and sad and a lot of mixed emotions because I know it’s not about me, it’s about those poor girls who are in the team at the moment.

‘‘They’re probably scratching their heads thinking ‘what the heck?’ But in a way they’re powerless because they can’t say much to the media because they’re under contracts, and I’ve been there.

‘‘I don’t think it’s a great space for the Football Ferns and it could potentially be quite toxic.’’

Heraf said Duncan’s comments came as a surprise and that he had no intention of resigning.