Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Fifa Women’s World Cup: Teams arrive in Napier for Vietnam-NZ friendly

Doug Laing
By Doug Laing
Multimedia Journalist·Hawkes Bay Today·
7 Jul, 2023 01:16 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The Fifa Secretary General acknowledges New Zealand’s lack of Women’s World Cup ticket purchases and also talks growth in women's football. Video / NZ Herald

Hawke’s Bay’s link with the Fifa Women’s World Cup is taking shape with the arrival of the Vietnam and New Zealand Football Ferns teams in Napier for their final shakedown, before the start of the July 20-August 20 tournament being played throughout New Zealand and Australia.

The Vietnamese flew into Hawke’s Bay Airport early on Thursday, followed about 24 hours later by the New Zealand Football Ferns, to play a pre-tournament friendly at McLean Park on Monday, starting at 5.30pm.

It’s the last match for each side before the 32-nation tournament’s opener 10 days later between the Football Ferns and Norway at Eden Park, Auckland.

Napier City Council events manager Kevin Murphy hopes the match, football’s first full-international at McLean Park involving a New Zealand side, will attract at least 5000 spectators to help restore some of the park’s mojo.

Some of its reputation as a provincial venue for big matches was soured when pitch invaders marred the end of the Warriors-Brisbane Broncos NRL rugby league match, which attracted a near-full house of 16,000 people to the park on May 27.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Despite visits from Fifa officials and competing nations representatives during the tournament planning process over the last two years, Napier missed out on bids to be a match venue and a teams host.

Despite a world ranking of 32 (New Zealand is ranked No 26), a pre-tournament Covid hit that affected 20 of the 23 in the squad, and the toughest of pool-match draws (including defending champion the US and 2019 beaten finalist the Netherlands), the Vietnam team arrived in a buoyant mood after being beaten just 2-1 on June 25 by world No 2 and two-time world champions Germany, in Germany.

The Vietnamese Fifa Women's World Cup football team arriving at Hawke's Bay Airport on Thursday afternoon for Monday's friendly against the NZ Football Ferns at McLean Park, Napier. Photo / Paul Taylor
The Vietnamese Fifa Women's World Cup football team arriving at Hawke's Bay Airport on Thursday afternoon for Monday's friendly against the NZ Football Ferns at McLean Park, Napier. Photo / Paul Taylor

Team captain Tran Thi Thuy Trang told Fifa.com that playing in the Fifa Women’s World Cup is a dream come true for all Vietnamese players.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“I’ve watched a lot of teams participating in the World Cup over the years and dreamed of participating in it myself,” she said. “I am very proud and very happy we have qualified. I think this will be the most memorable moment of my life.”

Of the recent Covid episode, and the Germany experience, she said: “It was very difficult in terms of energy, but the whole team tried their best in the matches, and we did it.

“When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, the whole team was bursting with happiness,” she said. “We were very emotional and happy. The coaching staff and the entire squad celebrated this victory together. We had overcome a lot.”

As in New Zealand, the tournament is seen as a game-changer for women’s football in the respective countries, and Trang said: “This will hopefully be the platform for it to develop more. In general, Vietnamese women’s football is growing. Today, young players are all in good shape and have good technique and strategic thinking.”

The Football Ferns have played seven games this year, failing to score any goals in two losses to the US, two to Argentina, one to Portugal and one to Nigeria, their only goal thus far in 2023 coming in a 1-1 draw with Iceland on February 23.

The Vietnamese weren’t wasting any time, heading for a 4pm training session at McLean Park on Thursday, and the New Zealand team’s first training at the park was scheduled for Saturday morning.

Football Ferns media information did not feature any public engagement before the game, but there is a fan event on Tuesday at 2pm at the “Unity Pitch” at the Marine Parade Sound Shell, as part of the two-day event programme there on Monday and Tuesday. The team will remain in Napier until flying to Auckland next Thursday to enter cup camp.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 50 years of journalism experience in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Armed police arrest man outside Napier restaurant

10 Jun 04:36 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

30 kids on the waitlist: Napier gets two new classrooms for high-needs students

10 Jun 01:19 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

'The ultimate outdoorsman': Napier man dies tramping South Island's Te Araroa Trail

09 Jun 11:12 PM

Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Armed police arrest man outside Napier restaurant

Armed police arrest man outside Napier restaurant

10 Jun 04:36 AM

Police cordoned off a part of Napier and arrested a man on Monday night.

30 kids on the waitlist: Napier gets two new classrooms for high-needs students

30 kids on the waitlist: Napier gets two new classrooms for high-needs students

10 Jun 01:19 AM
'The ultimate outdoorsman': Napier man dies tramping South Island's Te Araroa Trail

'The ultimate outdoorsman': Napier man dies tramping South Island's Te Araroa Trail

09 Jun 11:12 PM
Premium
Richard Gaddum: The 3000 homes Hawke’s Bay doesn’t need to build

Richard Gaddum: The 3000 homes Hawke’s Bay doesn’t need to build

09 Jun 10:01 PM
Clean water fuelling Pacific futures
sponsored

Clean water fuelling Pacific futures

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP