Hassett out of squad for baby break
Veteran midfielder Betsy Hassett will miss the Football Ferns’ two-game series against Thailand in Christchurch while she prepares to have her first baby.
Coach Jitka Klimková named a squad of 24 yesterday for the April 6 and 9 matches.
Ali Riley, who co-captained the Ferns in the 2023 FIFA World Cup tournament in New Zealand, returns after sitting out the Olympic Games Oceania qualifying tournament in Samoa in February. Leicester City English Women’s Super League player C J Bott is also back.
Hassett lives in Iceland with her Icelandic partner. The 33-year-old has been based there since 2017 and plays for Stjarnan, in the Iceland premier division. She has earned 157 caps since her Ferns debut in 2008.
She returned to New Zealand to play for the Wellington Phoenix in 2022-23 and was a Ferns regular at the
2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Hassett is the second Football
Fern to take time off in 2024 to have a baby. Midfielder Liv Chance is expecting a baby this month.
She said in October that she was in the first trimester of her pregnancy while playing at last year’s World Cup in New Zealand.
Meanwhile, the Ferns group for the Thailand series includes 16 members of the World Cup squad. Klimková has also included a contingent of players aged 23 and under as she builds to the next World Cup in 2027.
No new caps have been named. Wellington Phoenix goalkeeper Brianna Edwards, who made her debut at the Olympic tournament, has been retained alongside Anna Leat (Aston Villa) and Victoria Esson (Glasgow
Rangers). Esson is one of five Canterbury players, alongside threecap midfielder Macey Fraser, her Wellington Phoenix team-mate Kate Taylor, Finland-based forward Gabi Rennie and Glasgow City defender Meikayla Moore, who was omitted from the World Cup squad.
Klimková said: “As we build towards the Paris 2024 Olympics, we want to establish a side that combines our experienced players with emerging younger talent to put us in the best place ahead of the next FIFA Women’s World Cup. I believe with this squad we have found that right balance.”
The Football Ferns squad is:
■ Goalkeepers: Brianna Edwards (Wellington
Phoenix, 1 cap), Victoria Esson (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland, 22), Anna Leat (Aston Villa, England, 15).
■ Defenders: Ali Riley (Angel City, USA, 159), C J Bott (Leicester City, England, 42), Claudia Bunge (HB Koge, Denmark, 28), Mackenzie Barry (Wellington Phoenix, 14), Katie Bowen (Inter Milan, Italy, 105), Rebekah Stott (Melbourne City, 100), Meikayla Moore (Glasgow City, Scotland, 63), Kate Taylor (Wellington Phoenix, 15), Michaela Foster (Wellington Phoenix, 15), Ally Green (AGF, Denmark, 11).
■ Midfielders: Daisy Cleverley (HB Koge, Denmark, 36), Macey Fraser (Wellington Phoenix, 3), Katie Kitching (Sunderland, England, 6), Indiah-Paige Riley (PSV Vrouwen, Netherlands, 21).
■ Forwards: Grace Jale (Perth Glory, 27), Jacqui Hand (Lewes FC, England, 23, Ruby Nathan (Canberra United, 5), Hannah Wilkinson (Melbourne City, 122), Paige Satchell (London City Lionesses, England, 48), Gabi Rennie (Aland United, Finland, 33).