Was an 'interesting'/brave move to appoint Klimkova for 5 years. But can see some of the rationale behind it. Sermanni was always just a stop gap coach, after the Heraf saga. There always seemed a real lack of long term planning, in a reign yes interrupted by Covid. He also never lived in NZ, so real limitations on helping other coaches (incl age group), the FFDP, and working with the best domestic based players etc.
Sermanni really just stuck with the old brigade, hardly bringing in any new players, and yet I don't remember his results being much if any better than Klimkova. Yipe Covid didn't help him.
So NZF have swung 360 degrees and made a punt on a long term appointment, with the aim of trying to improve both the team, and NZ's women's football for the long haul. Ferns have been stagnating for a long time, and there are alot of other nations that are improving quickly as they at last take the women's game seriously. A long term vision seems the right move, whether JK is the right coach to lead it all is just too early to say.
It's not like there is heap of young highly talented, technical female players suddenly arriving on the scene. Where are the female equivalents to Singh, Cacace, Bell etc? Others will know better than me but I just don't see them yet. High hopes for Whinham but she is just starting. A young 18 yr waif, who would probably get smashed over in the senior women's game at the mo. Lets see how she goes with U20s in Costa Rica.
Basically our players just ain't that good. Erceg, Riley and Percival (done her ACL) only ones playing regularly in high level leagues at the moment. But then Riley more often than not, has struggled to hold a spot in the NWSL. Stott and Bowen have been high league regulars in the past. Bott is at Leicester now. But Norway had like 6 players out of the English Women's Super League (WSL). 2 others who played in the recent women's Euro Champions League final.
Sermanni, a high respected coach in the women's game, never progressed the Ferns at all. John Herdman who's now a hero of Canadian football, and obviously very highly regarded, from memory gave up the Ferns role in 2011 (after 5 years) because he just felt he couldn't take the team any further.
Out of curosity this is the team sheet for the last Ferns game Herdman coached. A 2-2 draw verus Mexico at 2011 WWC. Five of the starting lineup, and ten from the overall match day squad are still around the wider Ferns group. A very high number 11 years later.
https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2011/07/05/world/womens-world-cup/new-zealand/mexico/1053396/All of this is not to give Klimkova a free pass. You already sense from her comments, she is feeling some pressure now to get results. Next year is a huge event, you don't want to coach a home team that flops. But lets judge her on that event, not 12 months prior when still is still trying to work out the best setup, squad and juggling player availability. Blending in the best younger talent with the older crew that she wants to retain. We have been crying out for some young players to be given a go. Time & again in football when coaches do that, there can be short term pain.
And re Niche Cache's analysis that the Ferns maybe over ranked by FIFA. I do find it interesting that Portugal (WR 30) a nation of over 10 Million people, with such a strong football culture, and a pro women's league of their own are ranked lower than the Ferns (WR 22). Why is that? Either they are really fudgeing useless with their women's programme, NZ is over achieving a bit with theirs, the FIFA rankings are off, or combination of all 3. We will never ever get close to them in the men's game.
But I guess it just highlights the future challenge for NZ Football. There is a host of countries that if they get their
shark together with women's football, could easily overtake the Ferns. So a long term view, investment in a Nix ALW side (and hopefully one day an Auckland ALW's team), an aligned national coaching setup, getting more girls into various academies etc etc are obviously the right ways too go - whether Klimkova is the right appointment we will know more mid next year.
https://theniche-cache.com/football/2022/6/29/football-ferns-vs-wales-didnt-win-didnt-loseNZ is at #22 on the most recent FIFA rankings... does anyone honestly think there are only 21 better teams than Aotearoa around the world? The depth isn’t as massive on the wahine international side but even still. The Ferns are apparently the 22nd best team on the planet despite winning just one of their last twenty-three matches? That doesn’t feel very logical. And even if it is true then there’s clearly a bigger difference between 22 and a top twenty team than there is between 22 and a team in the 30-realm like Wales.
A large portion of those past 23 games were against teams ranked above them - a long standing problem for the Ferns. The only four games which weren’t against teams currently ranked higher were the two against Wales, one against Cameroon, and one against Czech Republic. From which they’ve had two draws and two losses.
FIFA rankings are ridiculous, overused, and pointless. Forget about the rankings. The Ferns aren’t empirically better than Wales and that’s fine. We don’t want to be playing teams that are clearly inferior any more than we want teams that are clearly superior. What we want is games against teams of a similar level where there’s room to grow but also the pressure to perform. Games like this one against Wales.
The Ferns weren’t able to get the dub however they might have done so with a little more luck and precision. You don’t learn how to win by getting smoked 5-0 by the USA. You learn how to win by playing evenly matched fixtures like this one. The more the merrier.
