NZ Ferns vs Iceland | 18 Feb 2022 | 2pm | SS1 and SS7

Football Ferns start their #SheBelieves Cup campaign against FIFA rank 16th Iceland. (Ferns ranked #22)
 

 

Football Ferns starting XI: NZL: 1-Erin Nayler; 2-Ria Perecival, 4-CJ Bott, 5-Meikayla Moore, 7-Ali Riley (Capt.), 8-Abby Erceg, 11-Olivia Chance, 13-Paige Satchell, 14-Katie Bowen, 15-Daisy Cleverley, 17-Hannah Wilkinson 

https://twitter.com/ByPhillipRollo/status/1494462804220211216

LOL ! Edit:
 I just put together my guess at a starting 11 a little while back before seeing the actual one and it's close to the actual one above!
Klimkova has Nayler in goal, Bott instead of Stott and Cleverley (who I initially thought of including) instead of Hassett.
Shame for Hassett who plays her club football in Iceland.....

A strong squad and the starting line-up could be:
                                 Victoria Esson
   Rebekah Stott / Meikayla Moore / Abby Erceg / Ali Riley
                         Ria Percival   /      Katie Bowen
      Paige Satchell       /        Betsy Hassett  /     Olivia Chance
                                        Hannah Wilkinson     

Some very good talent on the bench too like Alfeld (hard to know who will start in goal after Esson's great performance vs. Korea last time out and Alfeld strong in the A-League but needing to be tested at international level), Bunge (we're strong in centre-backs), Bott, Cleverley, Hand, Rennie etc.

would have been nice to see Alfield given the start, seeing her absence has left the nix in a bind. 

FFS awful start to the 2022 season, uncertainty in the box and really poor keeping technique.

Well bugger

Icelandic players look like giants compared to our women?

Last time New Zealand & Iceland faced off was the 2016 Algarve Cup 3rd place game. It was a 1-1 at full time with Iceland edging the Football Ferns on PKs. 

Naylor is looking really shaky in goal - not convinced about her spot TBH.

No communication happening at the back

Iceland goal
https://streamable.com/ymhh8g

1-0 not too bad after the shaky start. Gotta come back more energetic to challenge the icelandic women

 Football Ferns with 0 shots in the first half though, did have that run into the box but seem a bit flat.

After the first 10 minutes we looked better in possession, but not really creating anything. Need to get Chance into space and facing goal. Use Satchels pace a bit more.
Really surprised Esson didn't start after her efforts last game out against Korea.

Wonderful to see Rebekah Stott back in the white shirt!

Considering the entire country of Iceland has a smaller population than Christchurch we should have demolished them.

1-0 loss fulltime.  Had 56% of possession but outshot 7-12. US team on Monday afternoon will be trialling out their younger players. 

Ryan

Considering the entire country of Iceland has a smaller population than Christchurch we should have demolished them.

Do they have international women’s teams of field hockey, netball, basketball, rugby of any international ranking? I presume not and their eggs are primarily in the football basket. Maybe a useful handball team or something. 

But oranges and apples comparison I imagine. Plus they have that renowned high quality national football coaching program 

coochiee

Ryan

Considering the entire country of Iceland has a smaller population than Christchurch we should have demolished them.

Do they have international women’s teams of field hockey, netball, basketball, rugby of any international ranking? I presume not and their eggs are primarily in the football basket. Maybe a useful handball team or something. 

But oranges and apples comparison I imagine. Plus they have that renowned high quality national football coaching program 

Think hand ball is their number 1 sport But that's not the point. In terms of funding, facilities, access to players, etc. we're miles ahead of iceland so the fact that they're in the top 20 and we're not shows that we're doing plenty wrong. We're hosting a world cup soon, we need huge improvements.

Ryan

coochiee

Ryan

Considering the entire country of Iceland has a smaller population than Christchurch we should have demolished them.

Do they have international women’s teams of field hockey, netball, basketball, rugby of any international ranking? I presume not and their eggs are primarily in the football basket. Maybe a useful handball team or something. 

But oranges and apples comparison I imagine. Plus they have that renowned high quality national football coaching program 

Think hand ball is their number 1 sport But that's not the point. In terms of funding, facilities, access to players, etc. we're miles ahead of iceland so the fact that they're in the top 20 and we're not shows that we're doing plenty wrong. We're hosting a world cup soon, we need huge improvements.

Do we know that for sure. Iceland has like highest per capita ratio of FIFA accredited coaches in the world. They have a pro women’s league that Fern Hassett plays in and presumably other international players.

You can do a lot with some top coaching (starting with young kids) and a bit of money.

But for sure there are improvements needed to be made with Ferns and Women’s game. Covid hasn’t helped, Ferns pre Olympics basically didn’t play for 18 mths. Nix Women’s team has only just started. And Klimková has been in her job only a few months. Young girls are only just now coming through Weenix & Ole Academies (pathways that have really improved the men's game). Rome wasn’t built in a day

Piney had a heck of a day pronouncing all the Icelandic player names. I chuckled every time he had a go. 

Yup, poor start.  But concerned that even after that, the Ferns looked more disjointed than any previous games under Klimkova ... Was that the result of trying to integrate new (senior) players into her playing philosophy & style??

Am really impressed with Paige Satchell's progress over the last couple of seasons. Just goes to show how beneficial a couple of seasons of Pro football can be.
Hope she can keep improving and add goals to her high octane game.

Ranix

Am really impressed with Paige Satchell's progress over the last couple of seasons. Just goes to show how beneficial a couple of seasons of Pro football can be.
Hope she can keep improving and add goals to her high octane game.

Yeah to be fair she has turned into more than just a sprinter who dribbled over the byline or shanked a cross - but she still did a massive shank on a simple cross in the game. Interesting to see if she holds down a starting spot

Naylor has to go.  Like Would should not wear the Fern again until she's proven at club level she deserves it.

Marto

Naylor has to go.  Like Would should not wear the Fern again until she's proven at club level she deserves it.

I was hoping she would not be involved in this series, but it seems she is still the number 1 pick despite her poor form internationally.