Ford Football Ferns vs Colombia

Tuesday 5 December KO 3pm [local] / Wednesday 6 December KO 9am [NZT]

Estadio Metropolitano de Techo, Bogotá, Colombia


After a draw in their first clash, the Ford Football Ferns finish 2023 with a second game against FIFA Women’s World Cup quarter-finalists Colombia in Bogotá. 

While the first game at a packed Estadio El Campin was a loud affair, tomorrow’s match will be played without fans at the request of Colombia, but will be broadcast live and free on FIFA+ and TVNZ.

The Ford Football Ferns finished strongly in the first fixture, and could have won it late on, so will be keen to pick up where they left off against the FIFA World No. 22. 


What head coach Jitka Klimková said about her team’s preparation for the second game:

“We want to tidy up a few things that we saw in our first game. Obviously, it was tough because for many of our players it was their first performance in such a high altitude. We focused a lot on our recovery physically during these two days and talked about what we want to achieve with our possession. 

We want to take care of the ball a little bit more so we can pass to each other and let the ball do the work for us instead of running up and down. So that's our first improvement that we want to see tomorrow. More possession.

And of course to progress in the final thirds to create more chances and score goals. And then in our defence we want to win the ball a little bit higher on the field so we are talking about what we need to do for that.”


Likely Team:

If she starts, Inter Milan defender Katie Bowen will earn her 100th cap for the Ford Football Ferns, just the 11th player to reach that milestone. 

At the pre-match press conference Jitka Klimková announced that defenders Ali Riley and Marisa van der Meer were both out of the game with injury. It was later confirmed that van der Meer ruptured her ACL in the warm-up of the first game against Colombia so will be unfortunately out for a long period. 

Sunday’s game featured a debut for Sunderland’s Katie Kitching but this game could potentially see the uncapped trio of Manaia Elliott, Aniela Jensen and Ruby Nathan given an opportunity as Klimková looks at her options to create goal scoring opportunities. 


Player to Watch: Leicy Santos

The midfielder had some good moments in the first game but didn’t get chance to fully show her quality. 

A dangerous player, Santos has played over 100 games for Atlético Madrid and scored against England in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 quarter-final where her side were only narrowly defeated by the tournament runners up. 


Where to Watch: 

The match will be available live and free on FIFA+ and TVNZ Duke / TVNZ+ from 9am NZT.  

Stream live on FIFA+

Article added: Tuesday 05 December 2023