The Man With A Plan

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The Man With A Plan

Football Ferns' Blueprint Looks Far Beyond Rio

by Jeremy Ruane

Football Ferns coach Tony Readings is very much a man with a plan at the moment, one which reaches far beyond the stage most people would think he'd be focusing his attention at present.

Of course, his principle objective at present is overseeing his charges' bid to be New Zealand's sole footballing representatives at this year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and with regards that target, he is quietly confident regarding the Football Ferns' prospects.

"We think that the performance that you put in is always the result of how you train. We've trained really well since coming together on 11 January, and it's been a rare opportunity for us to get some cohesion.

"Normally when we get into a camp environment, we're recovering from jetlag and trying to keep everyone as fresh as we can, whilst trying to get as organised as we can in and out of possession.

"This time, we haven't had those barriers. Due to commitments with their clubs, a couple of players have come in later than the rest, so we haven't been able to play or train them as hard.

"But we always feel confident when we know we've done the work, and the players have certainly done that over the last few days, so we feel good going into these games".

The match in Lae takes place at 5pm NZ time on Saturday, while all roads lead to QBE Stadium for Tuesday evening's second leg clash, which kicks off at 7.30pm, after which the Football Ferns will be bound for a new destination at the start of March.

"I've been with this group of players now for over ten years", says Readings, "and in that time we've always being trying to get ourselves in the Algarve Cup. We've played in the Cyprus Cup, of course, which is a great tournament, but in recent years we've tried quite hard to make the Algarve Cup happen.

"We've developed really good relationships with the people that organise it, so this time we're quite fortunate to be in there. It's great, because we NEED tournament experience.

"We don't get that in our qualifiers, of which we might play three or four matches in total, and not very often. Compare that with England, who play up to ten qualifying games for the European Championships, and up to ten more for the FIFA Women's World Cup.

"So for us to play in a tournament environment is really important. We're looking forward to it, and in Brazil, Russia and host nation Portugal, we're playing three very different teams, which is great because that's good experience for the Olympics.

"We're developing and constantly evolving a style of play which we think can adapt to any type of team we play. So if it's a big strong team which presses, or a smaller Japan-type team which, like us, plays football, then we feel that we've got a style of play which we can tweak and which is quite adaptable.

"I think that's one of the biggest steps we've taken, and that's probably because we've got some very good players who can adapt as required. It doesn't take that long to make adaptations and modifications to our system because the players are smart - they can roll in and out of different things and situations. We're in a good space as a team at present".

Having so many players based overseas certainly assists in this regard, expands the coach of the country currently ranked sixteenth in the women's footballing world.

"We've got players playing in Japan, Germany, England, Sweden, Norway, the USA and Australia at present, and those countries have all got different styles of play. So when players come in, some have experienced playing in Europe, e.g. Ria Percival and Ali Riley have played in the UEFA Women's Champions League.

"Our players can only benefit from being abroad, and while we don't see them as much, which is a bad thing to some extent, at the same time we know that when they come in, they'll be battle-hardened and fighting for their places and playing with and against the best teams and players in the world".

After the Algarve Cup, and barring a disaster against our Oceania rivals in the next couple of days, the Football Ferns will have five months to fill in before setting their sights on representing Oceania as one of the twelve teams vying for medals at the Olympic Women's Football Tournament in Rio de Janeiro in August.

This is the period in which Readings has his work cut out for him at present. "The ideal scenario for us is to play in every FIFA window, which will be April and June, plus some games en route to the Olympics. That's the plan. But having a plan requires funding.

"We've obviously had a funding reduction from High Performance Sport", reflects the forty-year-old on the national body's decision to trim the Football Ferns' funding back to $800,000 - from $950,000 - for the final year of this Olympics cycle.

"However, we've always been a team which has been resourceful, and innovative with how we spend, because we don't have anywhere near as much money as some of the biggest countries in the world.

"Yet we're not going to use that as an excuse for going into Rio with regard to our level of preparation. So we're working hard to try and find some more funds and some more games.

"The other thing for us is we have to play in the FIFA windows. Most of the players in the likes of England, Germany and the USA, to name but three countries, play in their domestic leagues, which means there are times when they can play internationals in their off-seasons.

"We, however, have no option but to play in the FIFA windows, which is why we have to make the most of them. So the plan is to play as many games as possible in every FIFA window, and if we're not able to fund that, then we'll reduce that target to the minimum number of games that we can get in those timeframes".

So you can anticipate the Football Ferns taking to the pitch again during the periods 4 - 12 April, and 30 May - 7 June, as well as in the fortnight immediately prior to the Olympic Women's Football Tournament, which is scheduled for 5 - 21 August.

Post Rio? Readings smiles. "We are planning as far ahead as Tokyo 2020 already.

"This Olympics (2016) was already in our planning eight years ago, and the next Olympics since 2012, in terms of how we develop our U17s and our U20s players.

"The biggest plus is, despite the fact the current Football Ferns squad is pretty experienced now, it's still fairly young. If you look at Abby Erceg, for instance, she'll only be around the 29-30 mark at the next Olympics, so she'll be in her prime. Ditto Ria Percival, and they're our two most-capped players at present.

"Come the Tokyo Olympics, we could have a few players in and around that age or in their early thirties. The way the players look after themselves these days, they're actually playing their best football at that time of their lives - look at Carli Lloyd and Abby Wambach, for example", both of whom were named FIFA Women's World Player of the Year when aged 33 and 32 respectively.

"In terms of age, this team should stay around", Readings affirms. "You've got Erin Nayler, Ria Percival, Rebekah Stott, Annalie Longo, Betsy Hassett, Rosie White … these are young players, so we're hopeful that a lot of the players will remain in the programme, which will be boosted by the likes of Grace Jale, Daisy Cleverley and Jasmine Pereira, to mention three.

"We've got a real depth of talent coming through now, and we're hoping that by 2020 we'll keep together as many of the core group that we have at present, and supplement it with all these younger players fighting, battling and overtaking the older players as well.

"It's a really healthy state going through to 2020 and beyond", declares Readings, who will continue in his role as the Football Ferns' coach until at least the end of the France 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup campaign.

"We have high hopes for the Football Ferns, not just for this Olympics, but far beyond the Games of the 31st Olympiad as well".