Led by captain Katie Bowen, who has 18 Football Ferns caps, the Junior Football Ferns include five other players; Stephanie Skilton, Evie Millynn, CJ Bott, Megan Lee and Meikayla Moore who have seen top level playing time.
Four others in the squad, Martine Puketapu, Lily Alfeld, Emily Jensen and Daisy Cleverley, have been part of Football Ferns tours in recent times.
Meanwhile, six of the team for Canada were members of the previous New Zealand FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup side in 2012 with Bowen, Millynn, Skilton, Tayla O’Brien, Ashleigh Ward and Corina Brown going around again for the Junior Football Ferns.
A total of 12 players turned out for the New Zealand U-17 side in the 2012 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Azerbaijan while three of the team – Puketapu, Cleverley and Isabella Coombes – were members of the Young Football Ferns side at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica earlier this year.
Junior Football Ferns coach Aaron McFarland believes the amount of international experience accumulated by a large percentage of the squad is one of the key strengths the side will be able to call on in competing at the pinnacle age-group tournament.
“I think it’s got to mean something when you compare us to teams like Costa Rica and Paraguay who will have players with limited international experience and it may, for a quite a lot of them, be their first World Cup,” McFarland said.
“Everyone knows when you play these games that nerves take a toll and hopefully that experience means we can control our nerves and focus more on putting our best performances out on the field which will ultimately help us win the games.”
In addition to the mental edge a number of the players should have, McFarland, who also serves as the Football Ferns assistant coach, sees several technical positives among the group.
“We’ve selected seven forwards so it suggests the country is developing a number of attacking players and we have a lot of pace in the team going forwards while in the back four we’ve also got some experience there in terms of recent international exposure with the Football Ferns.
“Ultimately, pace is a huge asset for this team and I think it’s a really quick side and it’s something you must have to be able to play at international level and we see that throughout this team.”
After a two-match tour of Brazil – also qualified for Canada – earlier this year produced two narrow defeats, McFarland says the team have buttoned down their major areas of attention.
“One of the major things we learned from Brazil was that when we were able to control possession for longer periods of time we were able to be more incisive and make more attacking quarter entries. On the flip side, that leads to us not having to defend as much, so physically we are a lot better towards the end of games.
“We also want to press quite high up the pitch and be successful in doing that cohesively and we’ve made huge steps in that area.”
Those on-field objectives will have a major bearing on whether the team is able to become the first Junior Football Ferns side to reach the knockout phase of the U-20 showpiece, a goal McFarland doesn’t shy away from.
“Naturally everyone wants to do well and I suppose historically we’ve got that goal of getting out of the group. I think if we can openly state that and then put that to one side and really focus on our performance, that will help us achieve that goal.
“If this team can highlight our strengths and perform well under the pressure we put on ourselves at these World Cups then I think we have a really good chance of reaching that objective.”
Standing in the way will by Group D opponents France, Costa Rica and Paraguay and McFarland and his team have done their homework, including viewing several matches played by each of the three nations.
“Having won the U-17s tournament in 2012, France will be the strongest team on paper in this group and they’ll be a real challenge. Paraguay made the U-17s this year and it looks like investment in the women’s programme is bearing fruit at international level. Costa Rica could be a similar story to Paraguay; they’re an emerging nation but they will each pose a threat from what is quite a strong region in women’s football.”
The Junior Football Ferns open their Group D campaign with a clash against Paraguay in Montreal on Thursday 7 August (NZ time) before meeting France three days later. The team then shift to Toronto for their final group stage match with Costa Rica on Thursday 14 August (NZ time).
Junior Football Ferns
(Name – Federation)
Goalkeepers
Lily Alfeld – Mainland Football
Corina Brown – Capital Football
Ronisa Lipi – Capital Football
Defenders
CJ Bott – Capital Football
Emily Jensen – Mainland Football
Megan Lee – Northern Football
Meikayla Moore – Mainland Football
Megan Robertson – Capital Football
Ashleigh Ward – Mainland Football
Midfielders
Katie Bowen (capt) – Northern Football
Hannah Carlsen – Northern Football
Daisy Cleverley – Auckland Football
Isabella Coombes – Waikato Bay of Plenty Football
Evie Millynn – Capital Football
Forwards
Tayla O’Brien – Northern Football
Briar Palmer – Capital Football
Jasmine Pereira – Northern Football
Martine Puketapu – Auckland Football
Emma Rolston – Capital Football
Stephanie Skilton – Auckland Football
Belinda van Noorden – Mainland Football
Head coach – Aaron McFarland
Assistant coach – Jitka Klimkova
Goalkeeper coach – Kevin O’Leary
FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Canada 2014 Match Schedule – Group D
New Zealand v Paraguay
Wednesday 6 August, 8pm (Thursday 7 August, midday NZ time)
Montreal
New Zealand v France
Saturday 9 August, 5pm (Sunday 10 August, 9am NZ time)
Montreal
New Zealand v Costa Rica
Wednesday 13 August, 5pm (Thursday 14 August, 9am NZ time)
Toronto
Story courtesy of www.nzfootball.co.nz