Venezuela handed a very much under-cooked Football Ferns a 3-1 defeat in the first of two internationals between the nations in Spain on May 31, the South Americans' goals all coming from distance in a match played at the Marbella Football Centre. While Ricardo Belli's side enjoyed slightly the better of the opening exchanges, it was Michael Mayne's charges who offered the first threat on goal in the contest. Grace Jale won possession in midfield, instantly allowing Annalie Longo and Katie Kitching to combine for the benefit of Milly Clegg, who was denied the opening goal by a fine Nayluisa Caceres save. Mariana Speckmaier, a player familiar to New Zealand fans following her eye-catching exploits for Wellington Phoenix in the 2023-24 season, led the "Vinotinto" response, her twenty-five yard rangefinder sailing over the crossbar. Three minutes later, the Football Ferns dodged a bullet when struggling to clear their lines under Venezuelan pressure, with defenders getting in each other's way until an authoritative clearance was unleashed by Kate Taylor. Unperturbed, the Venezuelans came again, overlapping fullback Michelle Romero rampaging down the right before cutting inside and battering a rising drive beyond the diving figure of Victoria Esson, but also the crossbar. It was a let-off which the Football Ferns failed to heed, for in the 25th minute, Venezuela opened the scoring. The impressively performed Gaby Garcia sent Ysaura Viso scampering to the by-line, from where she pulled the ball back into the stride of Deyna Castellanos. The Golden Boot winner at the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup added another goal to her CV in fine style on this occasion, exploiting the space the Football Ferns afforded her to send a twenty-yarder storming into the far corner of the net, beyond the diving figure of Esson and over the head of Taylor, who attempted to head the shot to safety but was beaten by its sheer ferocity. The Football Ferns didn't take this setback lying down, and came close to levelling the scores on the half-hour. Taylor sent Grace Neville racing down the right, from where she delivered a pinpoint cross to the near post. Clegg, arriving on cue, struck a first-time angled volley goalwards which Caceres tipped over the bar in splendid fashion - a terrific save. Venezuela dealt with the corner, and threatened again in the 34th minute, Garcia inviting Speckmaier to cut in off the left and let fly. Esson smothered her shot, then looked on as a Jale drive was blocked by Veronica Herrera, after she had been released down the left by a raking pass from Michaela Foster. The danger wasn't over for "Vinotinto", however, as the Football Ferns equalised in the 38th minute. Longo and Clegg teamed up on the right to play in Kitching through the inside right channel, from where she drilled a shot goalwards. Caceres produced a fine parried save, but Kitching was onto the rebound in a flash and pulled the trigger again. And again Caceres rose to the challenge with another outstanding denial, but this time fortune wasn't on her side, the ball spinning into the net rather than past the post as had been her intention. Parity prevailed for less than two minutes, as Venezuela recaptured the lead after another defensive lapse by the Football Ferns. Castellanos and Garcia combined to send Romero racing down the right towards the by-line, from where she jinked inside the covering run of Jale - why was an attack-minded player employed as a wingback? Square peg, round hole … - and thundered a ferocious drive into the net via the far post from an acute angle. 2-1 should have become 3-1 to the South Americans on the stroke of half-time, as they once again exploited the open spaces down New Zealand's left flank, Romero again leading the charge. This time, she fizzed in a low cross which went beyond both Esson and Meikayla Moore to Joemar Guarecuco, racing in on the far post, past which she contrived to direct the ball with the goal at her mercy. Coach Mayne didn't hesitate to plug the gap which was causing the Football Ferns problems aplenty for

the second half, with Manaia Elliott replacing Jale at the interval. And he addressed another issue which had been causing his charges problems in the first half, one of their own making. Far too often, passes were over-hit, with Maya Hahn, in particular, guilty of playing ambitious balls forward in the hope that Clegg would latch onto them and take on the Venezuelan defence. The cheap concession of possession in this way certainly didn't aid the Ferns' cause against a team ranked some twenty places below them, and this practice, too, was curtailed in the second spell. As a result, chances were few and far between during the second half, the first of them coming just three minutes after the resumption of play, with Caceres punching a Foster free-kick off the head of Clegg. Eleven minutes later, Venezuela were a little too casual in playing the ball out of defence, allowing Longo to pounce and let fly from twenty-five yards, with Caceres back-pedalling frantically. Fortunately for the 'keeper, the Football Ferns' captain's snapshot was wayward. "Vinatinto" didn't heed the warning, however, as Longo caught substitute Daniuska Rodriguez in possession in the 64th minute and again fired goalwards. Caceres was in position to grab this effort, and a long-range shot on the run from Elliott twenty minutes later, as the Football Ferns' search for a second equaliser continued. In between times, Venezuela had looked to extend their advantage on a handful of occasions. Esson was right behind Rodriguez's shot after Garcia and the eye-catchingly performed Barbara Olivieri had worked a one-two on the right in the 67th minute. Nine minutes later, and seconds after Clegg had been denied a penalty when hauled back while taking on four players in Venezuela's penalty area, Olivieri and Garcia teamed up again, this time for the benefit of Raiderlin Carrasco. Elliott's timely tackle snuffed out the threat she posed, but two minutes later, New Zealand's goal was again under threat, this time thanks to friendly fire. An under-hit back-pass from Moore towards Esson gave Ailing Herrera, on her debut, a sniff of an opening, but thanks to the combined efforts of the goalkeeper and Taylor, she was unable to exploit it. Esson blocked an Olivieri attempt soon afterwards, the striker having nipped in behind the defence. The Football Ferns responded by putting the ball in Venezuela's net, but it had crossed the dead-ball line just before Claudia Bunge was able to hook it back across goal after reaching Kitching's angled free-kick in the 83rd minute. The ball was in the net again three minutes later, and this time it did count - for Venezuela. Rodriguez picked out another debutant in Melanie Chirinos, who turned Rebekah Stott before battering a twenty-five yarder over the diving figure of Esson and in via the underside of the bar - 3-1, game over. The Football Ferns tried to reduce the deficit in the time remaining, with Elliott's good work down the right seeing her evade three challenges before delivering a cross towards Kelli Brown, Yenifer Gimenez bravely headed this clear, sparking a counter-attack in which Olivieri got the better of Taylor but not Esson, who pawed her cross-shot to safety. The teams meet again in Algeciras in three days' time, and the Football Ferns will be looking to produce a markedly better performance than was witnessed on this occasion. Elliott's performance in this match merits a start, while Liz Anton, Emma Pijnenburg, Jacqui Hand, Betsy Hassett - welcome back! - Deven Jackson, Grace Wisnewski and Stott should also be strong contenders for selection in a match which demands some "bouncebackability" from Michael Mayne's charges. Venezuela:     Caceres; Romero (Apostol, 73), V. Herrera, Gimenez, Carrasco; Dayana Rodriguez, Guarecuco (Daniuska Rodriguez, 60), Garcia; Castellanos (Altuve, 81), Viso (Olivieri, 61), Speckmaier (A. Herrera, 73) Football Ferns:     Esson; Moore, Taylor, Bunge; Neville (Hassett, 59), Hahn (Hand, 60), Longo (Pijnenburg, 87), Foster (Stott, 77), Jale (Elliott, 46); Kitching, Clegg (Brown, 86) Referee:     Seth Galia (Gibraltar)