Photo credit: FIFA via Getty Images
A few things stand out when you compare this year’s New Zealand Women’s U-20 squad for this year’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup to that from 2022.
First, the familiar faces – five of the squad – Milly Clegg, Ruby Nathan, Ella Findlay, Zoe McMeeken and Emma Pijnenburg – were in Costa Rica in 2022. Two of that group – forwards Nathan and Clegg – have since been capped by the Ferns, with Clegg having played at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Second, the core group at New Zealand’s only professional women’s club – nine of the squad are based at Wellington Phoenix.
And thirdly, there’s five players based in professional environments in Europe and the United States.
For Leon Birnie, head coach of the Junior Football Ferns, it’s these developments in New Zealand’s football landscape that give opportunities for players to make what he describes as “really good football decisions”, with a number of his players now in a variety of college and professional environments both in Aotearoa New Zealand and overseas.
“You can see the pathway now. You know you can make a living out of football.
“When I first come to the job 10 or 15 years ago, I wouldn’t say that that was as clear. So now, for the girls that want to pursue football and want to be a pro footballer and push on, there are genuine pathways within our country and also abroad.
“And with the Phoenix and then with the Auckland entity coming in, I think more and more Kiwi players will get the opportunity to be in good environments, pro environments, earlier, which is great for our country.”
While the benefits of having players in quality environments are obvious for their individual development, success in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup also depends on them developing as a collective, too. Bringing the Junior Football Ferns back together as a unit had been a key focus for Birnie and his coaching team as they planned for this World Cup, he said.
“We actually had a big focus on reconnecting. We called it ‘coming home’, because it’s been exactly that.
“These players have had a lot of time over the last 18 months away where we haven’t been able to have them together. And it was only really July this year where they come back for 10 days that we’re able to have the whole group together.
Fortunately, this process was “almost seamless,” he said.
“They’re very good friends. They all know each other really well, they’ve come through the age group cycles or the federations or clubs together.
“I just hope that they can showcase what we’ve seen over the last three to four months.”
Getting set to take on three very different opponents – 2022 runners-up Japan, plus Ghana and Austria – will see the Junior Football Ferns leaning on that connection piece.
“Every game that we’re playing over here is very different,” Birnie explains.
“The style that the Japanese team to the Austrian team to the Ghana team is completely different. So for us, every game we play we’re going to have to adapt our style to be competitive and look to get results in those games. For me, what I want to see is what I’ve seen from these girls individually as a group over the last, specifically the last three to four months.
“If we can go out there and have players that are capable of possession, confident to get on the ball and play competent under pressure, then I think that’s setting them up to be able to push on with their football in the future.”
New Zealand’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup fixtures:
New Zealand play Japan today at 1pm (NZT) at Estadio Metropolitano de Techo, Bogotá, Colombia.
They then play Austria on 6 September at 1pm (NZT) at El Techo Stadium, Bogotá, and Ghana on 9 September at 11am (NZT)