The game kicks off at 1pm on Wednesday on the oval ground at Auckland’s North Harbour Stadium and Riley could be forgiven for being a little bleary eyed when the first whistle is blown.
The versatile defender starred for her FC Gold Pride team on Sunday as the San Francisco Bay Area outfit won the USA Women’s Professional Soccer League title with a 4-0 win over the Philadelphia Independence.
Star Canadian striker Christine Sinclair found the back of the net twice while Brazilian Marta and Kandace Wilson also got on the scoresheet as the Pride won their first WPS title in the league’s second season.
But Riley did not have time to celebrate the achievement with her jubilant team mates and instead had to head straight to the airport to begin her 12-hour long-haul flight to Auckland.
Not long after touching down, the 22-year-old will then have to make her way to the training ground to prepare with the rest of the Football Ferns side for their opening clash.
She will be joined by fellow overseas-based professionals Hayley Moorwood (Chelsea, England), Rebecca Smith (Wolfsburg, Germany) and Kirsty Yallop (Kristianstads, Sweden) – a quartet whose considerable talent goes some way to explaining why New Zealand are overwhelming favourites to take the title and book themselves a place at next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany.
If they succeed in that goal, it will put the icing on the cake of an impressive year for Riley. As will as picking up the OFC Player of the Year gong, Riley was also named WPS Rookie of the Year – a massive achievement given that the United States league is the toughest in the world.