With less than 24 hours to go before Jitka Klimková’s first game in charge of the Football Ferns kicks off, the mood in the camp is positive, with players and staff raring to go.

“It’s been an amazing week so far,” says Klimková from Ottawa.

“We are putting all those little puzzles together. We are doing a lot of work together. We are putting the style of play together: How do we want to play in attack? How do we want to play in defence? We have a lot of meetings about the style of play. Of course, then we go to the field and try to implement everything that we are talking about.

“Our session number one, compared to session number five today, the improvements we've made is unbelievable and that's only five days.”

Football Ferns head coach Jitka Klimková: "It’s been an amazing week so far.” Photo credit: Andre Ringuette / www.photosport.nz

 

With so many new faces – six uncapped players coming into the Ferns camp for the first time – what’s stood out to captain Ali Riley has been the energy, drive and competition the new call ups have brought to the squad.

“I'm really proud. I'm really impressed because these are players who might not necessarily have gotten the chance if the quarantine situation had been different. They've come in and are working so hard,” she says.

“They're obviously excited to be here. They're asking questions, but then they're putting in hard tackles in training. They're doing everything that's being asked of them.

“Of course, it makes the players who are already considered veterans work harder, but it also makes the players who are coming in and who are new, seize an opportunity.

“One really important part of it is kind of respecting the opportunity to wear the badge and respecting the opportunity to play for the Football Ferns and the players who have come in, these new faces, absolutely understand that 100 per cent.

“I believe, and I really hope that you'll see kind of a recharged version of the Football Ferns. And again, this is still very, very new and we have two shots at it [in Canada], and it's not just going to stop here.

“This is just the beginning, but I think the energy is completely different. And a lot of that you can attribute to the players who were in this camp for the first time.”

The Football Ferns take on Olympic champions Canada as part of the North Americans’ celebration tour. Catch the game from 7.50 am on Sky Sport 7, with kick off at 8am. If you don’t have Sky Sport, register for your $10 Football Ferns pass here.

Football Ferns squad:

Victoria Esson, Avaldsnes IL, 3/0
Anna Leat, West Ham United, 5/0
Erin Nayler, Unattached, 73/0
CJ Bott, Vålerenga, 27/1
Katie Bowen, KC, 73/3
Tahlia Herman-Watt, Arizona State University, 0/0*
Meikayla Moore, Liverpool FC, 44/3
Ali Riley, Orlando Pride, 137/1
Amelia Abbott, University of Texas, 0/0*
Hannah Blake, University of Michigan, 2/0
Daisy Cleverley, Georgetown University, 12/2
Betsy Hassett, Stjarnan, 123/13
Aniela Jensen, University of the Pacific, 0/0*
Ria Percival, Tottenham Hotspur, 153/14
Emma Rolston, Arna-Bjørnar, 6/6
Olivia Chance, Celtic FC, 22/1
Ava Collins, St John’s University, 0/0*
Jacqui Hand, Colorado College, 0/0*
Maggie Jenkins, University of Central Florida, 1/0
Gabi Rennie, Indiana University, 3/1
Sam Tawharu, University of Iowa, 0/0*
Rosie White, OL Reign, 109/24
*Debut Football Ferns squad

Article added: Saturday 23 October 2021