Pretty light in the forwards, but great to see Gabi Rennie selected. Offers good pace and power. Hope she gets plenty of game time to test herself at this level.
Doubt the forwards will be seeing much of the ball. Wish the Ferns incl Rennie all the best, but truth is they are on a hiding to nothing. Haven't played for a long time, and will line up against 3 top quality sides. For a contrast the Matildas have recently played 4 top Euro teams in warm up friendlies.
It is really going to be damage limitation, and some park the bus stuff unfortunately.
This generation of Ferns, have been well left behind as other teams have progressed. It won't be until there is conveyer belt of talented technical female players, coming out of Weenix & Ole, as there is with the boys/mens game that things will change.
Witness the success of Buckingham's U20s, and the justifiably high expectations now on the Tokyo Oly Whites. Those 2 high quality academies, were a huge part of that.
Real shame that the first top quality female prospect to come through Ole, midfielder Maya Hahn, has switched to Germany. Hopefully there is a few more like her now coming through Ole & Weenix.
I agree with your comments. The Ferns are totally up against it in these Olympics. No prep games, Tough group and have issues scoring goals. They will have to defend like anything to just stay in matches. But that's actually what this bunch is good at. Recent victories over European opposition has been just that, stout defence and scrapping the odd goal. But yeh I think the lack of prep will be our undoing. and we could be in for a tough time. Rennie I think is a good selection for counter attacking options if that's the case. There is young talent in NZ as our U17 girls proved against there peers at the WC. But they will be left behind in progress if they are not playing regularly at a high level. A good result for this team would be staying competitive and actually scoring a few goals. A win in any game would be a massive result.
Agree Rennie is fast but lacks other aspects. Congratulations to her upon selection, unsure how much game she will actually get but good environment to develop should she want to. There are a number of excellent Forwards/Attacking in NZ previous and past players which also could compete at this level or overlooked in the past which is a shame as NZ in need of attacking players going forward.
With Wilkinson being the only experienced forward there we can forget about scoring goals.
She'd be miles away from being selected by Aussie and co. At times the Ferns feel more like an Old Boys network for girls then our national team. Comments made recently by the likes of Naylor only help to reaffirm this.
You contradict yourself there somewhat. You call them the old girls network. But question the merit of bringing in someone new, young and talented. Edit. May have misread your comment. Thought you were referring to the new selection with your Aussie comment, but think I got that wrong.
Pretty light in the forwards, but great to see Gabi Rennie selected. Offers good pace and power. Hope she gets plenty of game time to test herself at this level.
With Wilkinson being the only experienced forward there we can forget about scoring goals.
She'd be miles away from being selected by Aussie and co. At times the Ferns feel more like an Old Boys network for girls then our national team. Comments made recently by the likes of Naylor only help to reaffirm this.
You contradict yourself there somewhat. You call them the old girls network. But question the merit of bringing in someone new, young and talented. Edit. May have misread your comment. Thought you were referring to the new selection with your Aussie comment, but think I got that wrong.
Nah it's a closed shop to the up and comming with players probably not good enough still involved who seem to hyper-inflate opinions of their ability.
I'm hoping the advent of a Nix women's team and a new coach might see a number of "old girls" dropped.
I want to see the team do well and have been to Canada, the last two Olympics and various EU games supporting them but it's time for some new blood.
Pretty light in the forwards, but great to see Gabi Rennie selected. Offers good pace and power. Hope she gets plenty of game time to test herself at this level.
With Wilkinson being the only experienced forward there we can forget about scoring goals.
She'd be miles away from being selected by Aussie and co. At times the Ferns feel more like an Old Boys network for girls then our national team. Comments made recently by the likes of Naylor only help to reaffirm this.
You contradict yourself there somewhat. You call them the old girls network. But question the merit of bringing in someone new, young and talented. Edit. May have misread your comment. Thought you were referring to the new selection with your Aussie comment, but think I got that wrong.
Nah it's a closed shop to the up and comming with players probably not good enough still involved who seem to hyper-inflate opinions of their ability.
I'm hoping the advent of a Nix women's team and a new coach might see a number of "old girls" dropped.
I want to see the team do well and have been to Canada, the last two Olympics and various EU games supporting them but it's time for some new blood.
Out of interest, who should be there that isn't? (and who shouldn't be, that is?)
Team GB's women's football team are playing a behind-closed-doors friendly tomorrow against New Zealand, but the game is not being filmed for broadcast. Finding a training friendly at short notice is good news for GB's Olympics prep., after the Zambia warm-up game was cancelled
3-0 loss to Great Britain in what will be the Ferns only warm up game https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/sport-olympics/nikita-parris-and-ellen-white-on-target-as-great-britain-beat-new-zealand-in-olympics-warmup-b945801.html
Yes. And score a couple of goals from open play over the tournament would be a good result. Everyone else has had way more prep than us. So we are certainly going in heavy underdogs.
Yes. And score a couple of goals from open play over the tournament would be a good result. Everyone else has had way more prep than us. So we are certainly going in heavy underdogs.
I think scoring 1 goal over the 3 games could be a small win. Very low expectations
I'm picking the Ferns for the upset against Australia, upset in a draw or last minute goal to win. Both sides have been pants and pants + pants = something better then pants.
I'm picking the Ferns for the upset against Australia, upset in a draw or last minute goal to win. Both sides have been pants and pants + pants = something better then pants.
They are capable of an upset. Aussie have not been getting results or scoring many goals lately. At the end of the day its 11 v 11 and the ferns do have some quality players. And there's nothing like getting one over the old foe over the ditch. They did beat England not that long ago too.
I'm picking the Ferns for the upset against Australia, upset in a draw or last minute goal to win. Both sides have been pants and pants + pants = something better then pants.
They are capable of an upset. Aussie have not been getting results or scoring many goals lately. At the end of the day its 11 v 11 and the ferns do have some quality players. And there's nothing like getting one over the old foe over the ditch. They did beat England not that long ago too.
Even more recently they got beaten 3-0 by Great Britain. They have played only that game in nearly 18 months, whilst their 3 pool opponents who all have more quality all over the pitch have had 4-6 warm up games. Ferns are going to do well to avoid 3 defeats.
I'm picking the Ferns for the upset against Australia, upset in a draw or last minute goal to win. Both sides have been pants and pants + pants = something better then pants.
They are capable of an upset. Aussie have not been getting results or scoring many goals lately. At the end of the day its 11 v 11 and the ferns do have some quality players. And there's nothing like getting one over the old foe over the ditch. They did beat England not that long ago too.
Even more recently they got beaten 3-0 by Great Britain. They have played only that game in nearly 18 months, whilst their 3 pool opponents who all have more quality all over the pitch have had 4-6 warm up games. Ferns are going to do well to avoid 3 defeats.
yes that's right they are definitely the underdog. I'll be cheering them on though. Hopeing for an upset. Especially against Aussie.
I wish I could share your optimism. I really really hope Im wrong but this is quite possibly the toughest they have ever had it. Virtually no build up apart from their own training sessions and in reality no attacking players of real world note. I just cant see us scoring sadly. Again though I hope I am proved completely wrong.Royz
I'm picking the Ferns for the upset against Australia, upset in a draw or last minute goal to win. Both sides have been pants and pants + pants = something better then pants.
I'm picking the Ferns for the upset against Australia, upset in a draw or last minute goal to win. Both sides have been pants and pants + pants = something better then pants.
That's not how math works. Two negatives = a bigger negative.