Gregorius reaches century
The Football Ferns’ centurion ranks are set to grow by one when the Algarve Cup begins in Portugal tomorrow (NZ time), with Sarah Gregorius on the verge of reaching the special milestone.
If she takes the field against Belgium, Gregorius will become the 10th player to earn 100 caps for the national women’s football team, but it remains to be seen how many more she will add after that.
The 32-year-old has been without a club since moving to Amsterdam last year to take up a role with FIFPro, the global players’ union, but has remained in the selection frame, earning her 98th and 99th caps off the bench at a tournament in China last November.
Gregorius was the team’s brightest attacker in 2019, and especially so at the World Cup, so it’s easy to see why it might be worth sticking with her through the Tokyo Olympics in July.
But coach Tom Sermanni acknowledged last week that her future was something they had talked about in China and would talk about again in Portugal.
‘‘We had a chat in November around that and obviously she’s taken on a fairly major role and an unbelievable opportunity.
‘‘We’ll continue that chat when we get to the Algarve Cup and we’ll make decisions around what is best for her moving forward and what is best for the team moving forward.’’
Gregorius did not wish to speak ahead of the Algarve Cup, where the Ferns will face Belgium, then either Italy or Portugal, then one of Denmark, Germany, Norway or Sweden, between now and next Wednesday. Her goal against England last June remains the last scored by a Football Fern – they later forced an own goal against Cameroon at the World Cup – with no-one finding the back of the net in almost 600 minutes of action since.
The attacking end of the pitch has been a problem area for a while now – the Ferns scored just five times in 1080 minutes in 2019 – and it was highlighted when the country’s leading goalscorer Amber Hearn confirmed her retirement last week.
The three matches at the Algarve Cup will comprise the bulk of the Ferns’ preparations for the Tokyo Olympics, with a match away against Japan in April, and nothing planned for June.