McFarland replaces Tony Readings, who has relinquished the role to focus on the Football Ferns’ Olympic campaign given that the Oceania U-20 qualifiers – postponed from this month – could now potentially clash with the senior programme when rescheduled.
Readings remains involved with the Junior Football Ferns as a technical advisor and Craig Alexander continues as assistant coach. Gordon Forrest moves from assistant coach with the U-20s to the same role with the Football Ferns.
McFarland guided the Young All Whites to the second round of the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Mexico with his side posting a win over eventual quarter-finalists Uzbekistan and a draw against the USA along the way.
He says repeating that feat in Japan would be a by-product of his main focus.
“There are two goals for this campaign,” McFarland says.
“The main one is to produce players for the Football Ferns and alongside that we’re aiming to develop individuals and a team capable of performing on the world stage. One measure of that would be winning a game at the group stage and progressing to the quarter-finals, another could be getting players into professional environments.”
The Junior Football Ferns training group already contains four players who travelled with the Football Ferns to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany last year, a double-edged sword in terms of player availability with a heavy senior programme in the build up for the London Olympics.
“There’s a possibility we won’t have all our players with senior caps, or those on scholarships in the USA, available for the qualifiers but we have a capable group of players here that can meet the challenge of qualifying and that will be part of the development process,” McFarland says.
“With the uncertainty of the scheduling of our qualifiers, it’s possible the Football Ferns may be playing in the Cyprus Cup or another part of their Olympic preparation and of course that is the most important focus this year. We’ll have them for our World Cup and it offers opportunities for others within the group.”
McFarland, who is also director of football at ASB Premiership club Auckland City, has been with the players in a training camp this week and is excited by what he’s seen.
“The talent pool and the base level of skills are getting greater and greater as the sport grows here. What I’ve been struck by is the technical competence of our attacking players. Over the past ten years the technical development of our female players has made big strides and hopefully that translates to us being able to play a certain style of football on the pitch.”
Story courtesy of New Zealand Football.
For more on New Zealand football go to www.nzfootball.co.nz

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