All you need to know ahead of the kickoff of the Fifa Women’s World Cup Play-Off Tournament and Football Ferns friendly-internationals beginning at Waikato Stadium on Friday (kickoff at 7pm.)
It’s been almost three years since New Zealand was named joint host of the Fifa Women’s World Cup and localfootball fans finally have a chance to witness some serious competition via the inaugural staging of the World Cup Play-Off Tournament, beginning Saturday.
That event sees 10 teams competing for the final three slots in the World Cup main game in July.
Alongside those playoff matches, the Football Ferns - don’t worry they’ve already qualified - will be completing their pre-tournament build-up with friendly matches against Portugal and Argentina.
Portugal, who are yet to qualify for the World Cup proper, are ranked 22 in the world and will offer a perfect chance for the Football Ferns (ranked 24th) to test themselves against a similarly-skilled side.
This is the first time a tournament of this kind has ever been staged by Fifa and is part of the process of boosting participating countries in the World Cup from 24 to 32 teams.
So what teams are in the hunt for the remaining World Cup spots?
The 10 participating teams in the Play-Off Tournament represent almost every continent across the globe with Asia (Thailand, Chinese Taipei), Africa (Senegal, Cameroon), North and Central America and the Caribbean (Haiti, Panama), South America (Chile, Paraguay), Europe (Portugal) and Oceania (Papua New Guinea) all involved.
Portugal and Chile are the two top-seeded teams and get to skip the first round of matches.
On Saturday the action begins with Cameroon facing Thailand for the right to play Portugal in the Group A final, while Chile will await the winners of Senegal-Haiti in Group B.
In Group C, the winners of the Chinese Taipei-Paraguay and Papua New Guinea-Panama ties will face off for a place in the World Cup.
Thursday February 23 - Runner-up M3 v Runner-up M4, 1pm, Waikato Stadium
Thursday February 23 - Winner M3 v Winner M4, 2pm, North Harbour Stadium
How are the Football Ferns involved?
Some smart cookie at NZ Football arranged for a few friendly matches for the side, as well as the tournament top seeds, to help build some hype and provide valuable preparations for both this tournament and the World Cup itself in July.
As a result, tonight New Zealand will take on Portugal in Hamilton, while a visiting Argentina side takes on Chile at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland.
Then, on Monday, New Zealand will square off with Argentina in Hamilton in the first of two matches this week. The return match will take place on Thursday in Auckland as part of a double-header with the Group C runners-ups squaring off in their final match in New Zealand.
How meaningful are these matches for the Football Ferns?
Despite their friendly status, the three Football Ferns fixtures in the coming week present as an important milestone in their World Cup preparations.
After 18 months of building and experimentation, the world No 24 Ferns have to start to show their true colours following the one-sided series with the United States — where they were seriously overmatched — and mostly unconvincing efforts against South Korea last November.
Goal scoring — and more specifically chance-creation — has been a major Achilles heel for the side and they’ll be looking for specific improvement in the final third of the pitch.
There would have plenty of soul searching going on for the Football Ferns after heavy losses to the USA last month. Photo / Photosport
Portugal won’t be easy.
This is their best generation of players, who reached the European championships for the first time in 2017. They finished second behind Germany in their World Cup qualification group, then beat Belgium and Iceland to become the UEFA representative at the Play-off Tournament.
Argentina, meanwhile, already qualified for the World Cup after beating Paraguay 3-1 in South American qualifiers held in 2022 and are ranked 29th in the world.
Ferns captain Ali Riley will bring up 150 senior international appearances against Portugal and is expecting a successful week from her side.
“We are not playing not to lose, we are playing to win,” said Riley. “That comes with confidence and I expect the leaders on the team and the senior players - who weren’t on the last tour - to really show we are going for it. It’s the mentality we need to practice and that starts now.”
Football Ferns Schedule:
Friday February 17 - Football Ferns v Portugal, 7pm, Waikato Stadium
Tuesday February 21 - Football Ferns v Argentina, 7pm,Waikato Stadium
Thursday February 23 - Football Ferns v Argentina, 7pm, Albany
Catching the action
The Herald will be live blogging the three Football Ferns matches while Prime TV will be providing free-to-air live coverage. Sky Sport will also be screening all three Football Ferns matches live.
