Football Ferns forward eyes England move after Colombia friendlies

The lasting memory of Jacqui Hand’s contribution to the Football Ferns in 2023 will be a pass that turned into an assist.

After a surging run down the right flank at Eden Park against Norway, she crossed the ball for Hannah Wilkinson to score the goal that would give New Zealand its first win at a FIFA Women’s World Cup.

That tournament ultimately ended in pain for the 24-year-old forward.

Not just because the Ferns were eliminated after the group stage for the sixth time in six appearances, but because she played through a high ankle sprain as they drew with Switzerland and crashed out.

Yet as they set their sights on the next tournament in 2027 – as well as on the Paris Olympics next July – Hand is eyeing the next move in her club career, having drawn a line under her time at remote Finnish club Åland United after two seasons.

Where exactly she will end up is yet to be confirmed, but she has a clear destination in mind.

“I’ve got a few things that are in the works,” Hand said this week from Bogotá, where she is with the Ferns ahead of two friendlies against Colombia, today and Wednesday (NZ time).

“My goal since before I went to college was to play in England. I’ve got my British passport – my dad was born in England.

“That's always been my goal, to get to England, and that's the plan at the moment.”

Hand said goodbye this week to Åland United, a club based in the capital of a Swedish-speaking series of islands in the Baltic Sea, who have to take lengthy ferry journeys to the mainland for their away matches.

She said she would miss the club and that she had become “a completely different person and player in the two years I’ve been there”.

“I look back two years ago and it was my first professional contract and I was just so new to it all, and so my first season was a lot of learning. My second season I was settled in and knew what to expect and so I was able to really get stuck in. I think it was a wonderful place to have my first professional experience. My coach [Steve Beeks] has helped me so much. I have him to thank for where I'm at in the national team.”

Hand leaves Åland having scored 14 goals in 32 league matches, while helping them win the Finnish Women’s Cup during the 2022 season.

It was just over two years ago that she made her debut for the Ferns, during coach Jitka Klimková’s first window in charge, as one of several American college players given a shot when Covid-19 travel restrictions kept others away.

She has now made 17 international appearances and scored two goals – against South Korea in November 2021 and Vietnam in July this year. She would have made more if it weren’t for a knee injury that kept her out late last year and early in 2023.

The Ferns have several new players involved this month, including teenage forwards Manaia Elliott and Ruby Nathan who will be pushing Hand for playing time at the pointy end of the pitch.

“Even a year ago, I was in the position of being new, with some of the older players not knowing who I am,” Hand said, as she reflected on now being an established figure in the Ferns environment.

“Now being in that position, it gives me a whole new perspective of being in their position such a short time ago.

I think that also helps a lot with being connected to them coming in and being able to help them understand their position.”

Hand has moved between playing wide on the left and up front for the Ferns and she said she was comfortable moving between the two positions going forward.

“We switch between shapes, depending on how we feel each each game and who we come up against. When we're playing more as a front three, I will be looking to be on the wing, and then when we play two up front, that's when my role has been playing up front.

“I'm happy and capable of doing both roles, depending on what the team needs.”

Playing with two lines of four in defence and midfield and two up front appears likely as the Ferns eye an Olympic campaign where they are set to have to do a lot of defending.

Their three opponents are set to be drawn from a pool of nine of the world’s best, with Colombia – quarterfinalists at the World Cup – likely to be the weakest team they could potentially face.

Whether she lines up on the left or in a centre forward partnership this month, Hand is set to link up with Grace Jale, a fellow Aucklander she has known for years as they’ve come through age-group football together.

They’re room-mates in Bogotá this week and Hand said it was “so cool” to still be sharing experiences with Jale: “She's an amazing player and to have her qualities on the field and hopefully being able to play together is very exciting”.

Goals remain the biggest thing the Ferns need to find, after a World Cup where they only scored once in 270 minutes. A new combination that is also an old combination might well be the way forward.