Ferns qualify for Olympics in style
Performance of young attackers provides optimism for Paris Games
The Football Ferns are headed to the 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 was topped off by an 11-1 thrashing of the Solomons Islands in yesterday’s 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 games, 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 for the Ferns since their first in Beijing in 2008.
Yesterday’s match was a huge mismatch, even by Oceania standards.
That is not being disrespectful to the Solomon Islands, who did remarkably well just 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 almost nowhere, helped by US$500,000 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 managed only 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 up their standards 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.
The Ferns had early chances, with Hannah Wilkinson, Jale and Katie Bowen all missing from close range.
But Hand’s crisp 12th-minute finish after smart work from Wilkinson settled any nerves.
Wilkinson extended the lead in the 20th minute, with Riley again prominent in the build-up, before the striker’s shot crept inside the far post.
Bowen scored the goal of the half soon afterwards, with a crisp half volley from a Jale cross.
The Solomon Islands then held out for a relatively long period, before Jale converted. It was bit soft, as three defenders failed to clear her header, allowing a clean strike from the rebound. Riley put a stamp on her strong first-half performance, with a delightful chipped left-foot finish.
Riley continued to shine after the break, with an impressive first-time shot for the sixth after nice work from Jale.
David’s goal was a jolt, after Esson cleared a long ball straight to the striker, who chipped the Ferns keeper, but there was an instant response, with Wilkinson’s closerange header, before Jale continued the rout, converting a Stott cross.
Klimkova rolled the changes from the 67th-minute mark, with four substitutes. One of them, Katie Kitching, got a quick double, with a strike from the edge of the area, then another clean finish after skipping past some ineffectual tackles.
An 88th-minute goal from teenager Ruby Nathan, coolly tucked away after being set up by Riley, provided the icing on the cake.
Football Ferns 11 (Jacqui Hand 12, Hannah Wilkinson 20, 56, Katie Bowen 25, Grace Jale 37, 62, Indiah Paige-Riley 45+1, 52, Katie Kitching 70, 76, Ruby Nathan 88)
Solomon Islands 1 (Jemima David 55) Halftime 5-0