Manawatu women named in inaugural squad
Five Central players have been selected in New Zealand’s first female national futsal team
Mikaela Boxall, Ella James, Teejay Lyne-lewis, Hannah Robert and Tilly James, most of whom have a connection to Manawatu football, have been selected in the inaugural Futsal Ferns squad.
While they are all in the Central futsal team, Boxall, Lyne-lewis and James are in the Palmerston North Marist Capital W League outdoor football team, while Taranaki’s Ella James played for Marist last season. Tilly James is also from Taranaki, but travels down to play for Marist.
Robert is from Manawatu, but studies in Auckland.
Coached by Nic Downes, the 14-strong national team will open a new chapter for the indoor game by taking on New Caledonia in three matches at the Trans-pacific Futsal Cup in Tauranga on September 12 to 14.
While this is the first time an official senior national team has been put together, six players represented New Zealand at the world university championship in Brazil last year and Downes was also in charge of that campaign.
Several others have also tasted international action after starring for Central-manawatu against Australian opponents Victoria in the Trans-tasman women’s champions league last year.
Central-manawatu won the first federation-based national futsal league last year to qualify to play in the champions league.
Downes is pleased with the talent he has at his disposal and is confident the Futsal Ferns can make an impact on their maiden outings.
‘‘We’ve got a squad full of players with multiple national tournament experiences who have been performing consistently across them,’’ Downes said.
The selection process was based mainly on displays in the main
events on the New Zealand Football futsal calendar – the national women’s league, national university championships and national youth championships – and Downes said not having any previous national squads to use as a guide gave all comers an equal chance to impress.
As trail-blazers for the female game, Downes and co are unsure of what to expect at the Transpacific Futsal Cup but he is confident his charges will be able to handle whatever is thrown at them.
‘‘We’ve thought about what we might see from New Caledonia but it is very much unknown. So the focus will be on establishing who we are and what our way of playing is,’’ said Downes.
‘‘The players are all coming in with slightly different backgrounds in futsal style, so that will also give us some flexibility on court, depending on what we come up against.’’
The Futsal Ferns are one of three newly-established national sides with under-18 men’s and women’s teams also being introduced, joining the already existing Futsal Whites.