Unbeaten in their last four matches against the world number seven side, including two victories, New Zealand coach Tony Readings is in no doubt of what to expect come kick off at midday (NZ time).
“They’ll definitely come out pretty fired up,” Readings says.
“They are at home and we did get the win in the first game and no doubt they are going to improve. That’s the challenge for our team; we’ve got a lot of areas we can improve in as well. So if Brazil do set their stall out to be a better team than they were last time, then we’ve got to be better.”
Readings says that search for improvement in the last 48 hours has been intensive with a detailed review of the opening game victory producing the way forward for the second encounter.
“We’ve done a lot of work, both the staff and players, reviewing the game and that’s what you have to do.
“I think the biggest learning was we felt we were quite comfortable for large periods of the game.
“One area we thought we could definitely improve on is our ability with the ball. That’s both when we’ve got the ball in more open play and also in transition when we win it. We want to be able to attack quickly but not at the expense of keeping the ball.
“That’s going to be a focus tomorrow; our in-possession work building up a bit more patiently and when we win the ball, if we can, being really positive. If not, we’ve got to make sure we retain it because we know we can keep the ball better than we did in the last game.”
Readings maintains Sunday’s victory will not influence how his team go about their task on Wednesday with the longer-term focus of the group still playing a leading hand.
“We’ve had our plan since we boarded the plane. We did take a step forwards in Sao Paulo in some aspects of our game but not all. Now can we maintain or take another step further in the things we did well and the things that weren’t quite up to standard, we’ve got to bring those back up to where they need to be.”
In what is their final outing of a big 2015 year, Readings – who will be able to select from a fully fit squad – called on his side to once again produce a solid defensive effort which will then allow his team the chance to showcase their developing attacking talents.
“Going all the way back to our performances at the World Cup and before that, we’ve had this really disciplined defensive group,” Readings said.
“If you want to win football matches you still need to have that. That’s something we want to retain in this game and we want to be a little bit more expansive when we’ve got the ball.
“I think that would be a really good step tomorrow; to come off the pitch with a win, knowing that a few players had stepped up and collectively people say we were that little bit more attacking and had more cutting edge in the attacking half of the pitch.”
Football Ferns v Brazil
Wednesday 2 December, midday – NZ time
Arena Pantanal
Cuiaba, Brazil
LIVE on SKY Sport
New Zealand (from): 1. Erin Nayler (GK), 2. Ria Percival, 3. Anna Green, 4. Katie Duncan, 5. Abby Erceg (capt), 6. Rebekah Stott, 7. Ali Riley, 8. Jasmine Pereira, 9. Amber Hearn, 10. Sarah Gregorius, 11. Kirsty Yallop, 12. Betsy Hassett, 13. Rosie White, 16. Annalie Longo, 18. CJ Bott, 22. Stephanie Skilton, 23. Cushla Lichtwark (GK), 24. Kate Loye, 25. Aimee Phillips, 26. Grace Jale
Coach: Tony Readings
Story courtesy of New Zealand Football

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