Led by 25-year-old captain Abby Erceg, the team includes 12 players with over 50 international caps with only goalkeeper Cushla Lichtwark – a former netballer with the Central Pulse – yet to play at senior international level.
The squad has a settled look with fullback Anna Green – returning from injury in recent times – and striker Emma Kete freshening up the group.
Kete, who returns to the squad with 48 international caps to her name and having played professionally for the likes of Manchester City, Western New York Flash and Sydney FC, earned her place after impressing in the fulltime training programme with the team in New Zealand.
Green – who has amassed over 50 caps since her debut in 2006, has also turned out for Notts County, Sydney FC and Bundesliga club Lokomotive Leipzig – is currently with Auckland club Fencibles United AFC.
New Zealand Football High Performance Director Fred de Jong says the Football Ferns qualification for their third straight World Cup tournament provides another chance to showcase the power of the global game in this country.
“The Beyond Football High Performance Plan aims to put New Zealand on the global football map and provide a pathway to achieve consistent success on the world stage,” de Jong said.
“The world will be watching as our team contest the tournament in Canada and our participation will help improve our nation’s profile on and off the field.
“Growing that profile gives us the chance to improve the resources we have to reinvest and drive the growth of the game as we continue to harness the rapid growth in numbers playing the game in New Zealand.”
Readings says the comprehensive selection process underpinning the squad has put the team in a strong position heading into the nation’s fourth World Cup event, having also appeared in the inaugural tournament in 1991.
“It’s been a lengthy process which really started in 2013 when our funding and resources increased to enable us to consistently play the best teams in the world,” Readings said.
“What we’ve seen over the time since then is regular games against the best teams, where players are frequently tested. During that process, we’ve blooded some new and younger players so it’s been a really thorough selection process and we’ve had a chance to have a good look at players and we’re really confident we’ve picked the best 23 players.”
The squad includes 15 players who featured at the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany and five of those players were also part of the team which contested the 2007 tournament in China.
Readings says the inclusion of those players – including international centurions in Erceg, Ria Percival and Katie Duncan – hasn’t come by accident.
“Raising the experience of the players has been a massive part of our planning. It’s all been about increasing the number of caps, increasing the amount of FIFA tournament experience and also increasing the quality of the caps as well.
“Almost all of the squad have been to youth World Cups as well so we’ve got that experience to fall back on. It also shows the pathway we’ve been putting the players through during this time is seeing some benefits and rewards.
“The players coming through the U-17s and U-20s and some have played in both of those and senior World Cups. All of that accumulation of experience is going to be really important in the big moments and the big games so it’s definitely something we’ll be able to fall back on with real confidence.”
Before the Football Ferns open their World Cup campaign against the Netherlands in Edmonton on June 6, Readings says the team will spend the majority of their time – including their May 24 clash with Japan – subtly refining their approach.
“We’ll be fine-tuning and tweaking some of the things we do. We’ve worked so hard since the start of 2013 in establishing our playing style
and working on what our core vision of the team is so a lot of the hard work has been done now.
“There aren’t too many things we want to be adding at this point, it’s just making sure we can harness the strength of what we’ve worked on and just making sure we are executing the way we want to play against the different styles of opposition we will face in the group stage and beyond.
With the style, systems and squad now in place, Readings says the team can set about achieving the task they set themselves several years ago.
“We’ve had a goal ever since we started this programme about being a team capable of winning the World Cup,” Readings said.
“Everything we’ve done; changing our style, getting the right number of games against the right opposition, the full time programme we’re putting the players through in New Zealand, that’s all around building so we are playing and winning seven games at a World Cup.
“There will be a lot of things that we can’t control and we won’t spend any of our valuable energy in those areas. It will all be around the processes we can do which will lead to us getting the performances we need so the outcomes take care of themselves.”
Football Ferns – FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015
(Caps/Goals – Club)
Goalkeepers
Cushla LITCHWARK(0/0 – Upper Hutt City FC, NZL)
Erin NAYLER (27/0 – Norwest Utd FC, NZL)
Rebecca ROLLS (21/0 – Three Kings Utd, NZL)
Defenders
Catherine BOTT (1/0 – Forrest Hill Milford Utd AFC, NZL)
Abby ERCEG (capt – 112/5 – Chicago Red Stars, USA)
Anna GREEN (56/7 – Fencibles Utd AFC, NZL)
Meikayla MOORE(10/0 – Eastern Suburbs AFC, NZL)
Ria PERCIVAL (102/11 – USV Jena, GER)
Ali RILEY (92/1 – FC Rosengard, SWE)
Rebekah STOTT (38/2 – Claudelands Rovers, NZL)
Midfielders
Katie BOWEN (25/0 – University of North Carolina, NZL)
Daisy CLEVERLEY (3/2 – Forrest Hill Milford Utd AFC, NZL)
Katie DUNCAN (101/1 – FC Zurich, SWI)
Betsy HASSETT (77/8 – Fencibles Utd AFC, NZL)
Annalie LONGO (77/6 – Coastal Spirit FC, NZL)
Evie MILLYNN(2/0 – Western Springs AFC, NZL)
Kirsty YALLOP (89/12 – Vittsjo GIK, SWE)
Forwards
Sarah GREGORIUS (65/21 – AS Elfen Saitama, JPN)
Amber HEARN (98/45 – USV Jena, GER)
Emma KETE (48/3 – Fencibles Utd AFC, NZL)
Jasmine PEREIRA (7/0 – Three Kings Utd, NZL)
Rosie WHITE (68/14 – Fencibles Utd AFC, NZL)
Hannah WILKINSON (68/22 – University of Tennessee, USA)
Coach: Tony READINGS
For more on FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015™ visit www.fifa.com

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