The Football Ferns may have fallen 3-1 to Japan in front of a record crowd at Westpac Stadium in Wellington on Sunday but coach Andreas Heraf is firmly of the belief they can beat the best sides in the world and make history at the FIFA Women’s World Cup next year.

Heraf has set his side the goal of becoming the first ever team from New Zealand to make it past the group stages of a senior World Cup and, to do that, knows they must win at least one match – which would also be a first for a team from these shores, of either gender.

The Austrian – who took on the role on a permanent basis in December of last year after a brief interim spell – and his coaching staff are taking a step-by-step approach to competing with the best teams in the world.

While disappointed with the defeat to Japan, he believes there were several positives to take from the match and is confident the Football Ferns will make the country proud in France next year, provided they come through Oceania qualifying in November.

“Everybody who knows me knows how much I hate to lose,” he says.

"I apologise if my comments after the game were misunderstood. I was referring to the fact that there is currently a gap in technical quality between New Zealand and a top side like Japan and it is difficult to bridge this. But I am sure it is still possible and that we can beat sides of this quality," he adds. 

“The result against Japan was disappointing but it was pleasing to score a goal against one of the best teams in the world and also keep them scoreless for a whole half – both of which we have struggled to do in the past.”

In the absence of injured regulars Ali Riley, Ria Percival and Olivia Chance, Heraf was also pleased to see a promising young player make her debut in Sarah Morton while Stephanie Skilton made a successful transition to the centre of defence.

The goal now is to take the next steps towards building for the World Cup – the qualifying process for which takes place via the OFC Women’s Nations Cup in New Caledonia – and Heraf sees no reason why the Football Ferns can’t write themselves into the record books in France.

“We’ve seen a lot of teams from New Zealand in a number of sports win on the world stage and I think that’s also possible in football,” he says.

“In regards to the Ferns, I’m really convinced we will do that in the future and it’s our big goal. We still have some way to go but I think we will be able to compete with teams like Japan and even beat them on the world stage if we continue to work on technical improvements, are well-organised, have a high fitness level and a strong team spirit.”

Japan, who won the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2011 and were runners-up four years later, showed just why they are rated so highly with a classy showing in Wellington, the impressive Mina Tanaka scoring a hat-trick in the first half.

The Ferns hit back immediately after going behind to the opening goal, Meikayla Moore smashing home an equaliser for her first ever international strike.

“It was pretty amazing to score and to have as many people as we did watching the game, I was even tearing up during the national anthem,” she says. “It was an amazing moment and my friends and family were all there to watch so I was very proud.”

Moore joined Skilton and Rebekah Stott in a middle three at the back as New Zealand looked to contend with the attacking threat of Japan, who arrived in Wellington having just won the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.

The Ferns had never beaten Japan in eight previous encounters and the high quality of their attacking weapons led to the hosts needing to nullify those threats. Heraf is keen to see his side build a solid platform from which to attack and much work will be done on their offensive approach over the coming months.

“We worked on our defensive shape against Japan but we are also working on different areas, especially the attacking area because it is really important to score goals and we have not done this enough previously,” he says.

“We are working on the different areas piece-by-piece – defending, attacking and set pieces. All these areas will be put together as a parcel for the World Cup and we will then be able to compete against these teams.”

Article added: Tuesday 12 June 2018