Undaunted Erceg buzzing to take on the world’s best
The Olympics are going to be hard work for the Football Ferns, who have drawn world No 1 the United States and No 3 France in their pool. The fourth team is Colombia, who are ranked 24th.
The fourth teams in the other two pools are 52nd-ranked South Africa and 93rd-ranked Zimbabwe, which means the Ferns’ chances of making it as one of the two best third-placed 3-1, earning a ticket to the quarterfinals where they lost a tight one against the United States. In the four years since, they have also added two wins over Brazil, home and away, and played quality opposition more regularly than ever before – the only blemish being their exit after the group stage at last year’s World Cup.
It’s not just as a team that they’ve found success either. As individuals they have led the charge in seizing professional opportunities overseas, even if that teams aren’t great either.
The solution is to beat the US or France, both of which would be unprecedented achievements. But then again, this group has made a habit of knocking over big targets.
Captain Abby Erceg knows her side’s task is tough, but is bearing in mind the advice of someone very close to her.
‘‘My mum said: ‘You’re going seemed unlikely started out.
Duncan thought she was never going to be good enough to make it abroad.
‘‘Then I did get that opportunity,’’ she says, ‘‘and when you’re there, it’s like, oh, I am all right. You think it’s a big bad world out there, and that it’s almost impossible, then when you’re actually out there, you find yourself doing all right; the old Kiwi work-hard ethic comes out, and coaches seem to love that.’’ when they first there to compete against the best in the world so you can call yourself the best in the world’, and she’s right,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s the biggest sporting event in the world and all the games there will be tough. We just need to stick to our guns, do our homework and put in performances good enough to get us out of our group.’’
That the Ferns need an upset or two is something Kirsty Yallop is also
Of the seven survivors from Russia, only Longo hasn’t forged a career outside Australasia – something she’s content with. The others have taken their talents to the United States, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland among others.
Remarkably, they have all started together for the Ferns just twice – in an 8-0 win over Papua New Guinea in 2012, and a 1-1 draw with the United States in 2013. Still, six of the group have started together on 29 occasions, and five well aware of, but, speaking a month out from their tournament opener, she said she had reason to feel that achievable.
‘‘There’s a buzz around the team and all the girls,’’ Yallop said.
‘‘We’ve been working towards this for a real long time, and this is the event where we’re going to make a statement and show everyone what we’re really made of.’’ on 34 occasions. Since 2006 once has there been fewer three of them in a Ferns XI.
The most exciting thing about the group, according to Readings, is that their best years are probably still ahead of them.
‘‘It was a vision of John Herdman’s to build a team of technically good players that we could invest in and then, down the line, reap the benefits of having a lot of senior caps and a lot of experience on the world stage, a lot of Fifa tournament experience,’’ only than he says.
‘‘We’re starting to really see the benefits of that, but the really good thing is those players that we’re talking about, they’ve still got a lot more in them.
‘‘What we’re hoping is that in 2019 (World Cup in France) and 2020 (Olympics in Tokyo), we’re talking about another four years of experience and 200 caps, not 100, because the teams that do have the most experience and the highest average age do have the most success at Fifa events.’’