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Coach of Ferns is watching closely

Football Andrew Voerman

The Football Ferns won’t be playing again until the end of February, but that doesn’t mean coach Jitka Klimkova´ won’t be busy.

In her first two windows in charge, she has already had the chance to work with 28 different players, as well as England age-group international Grace Neville, who is considering a change of allegiance.

As she looks to ensure no stone is left unturned on the road to the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup on home soil, A-League Women is set to become the centre of attention over the next few months.

With the addition of the Wellington Phoenix, who made their debut against Western Sydney Wanderers last night, there are 20 players in the league who are eligible for the Ferns – as many as there are everywhere else in professional football.

While there are a couple of veterans – centre back Rebekah Stott and forward Hannah Wilkinson at Melbourne City – the A-League Women Kiwis are mostly up-and-comers.

By the time the next A-League Women season rolls around, the Ferns’ plans for the World Cup will be firming up, so this campaign is set to be crucial for those hopefuls.

‘‘I’m going to watch all the players who are involved in this league,’’ Klimkova´ said after the Ferns’ year-ending win over South Korea.

‘‘I am glad they have this opportunity to play quality games because that’s what we need. We need to be committed to our individual performance plans and if you have an opportunity to play in a quality league that’s what’s best in terms of the daily environment for our players.’’

A dozen of the Ferns-eligible players in A-League Women can be found at the Phoenix, coached by Gemma Lewis, who has run the Future Ferns Domestic Programme for the past two years and is also the national under-20 coach.

She has worked plenty with the Ferns’ two goalscorers against South Korea, young forwards Paige Satchell and Gabi Rennie, and she said they were the perfect examples for her predominantly teenaged Phoenix squad.

‘‘Gabi – our players look to her massively, because a lot of them are a similar age [20] or were playing with her or playing in age-group teams with her.

‘‘For them to be able to see her do it and to watch the pathway that she’s come through to be there scoring goals at senior international level, it’s huge for our girls.

‘‘It fuels them to want to display that themselves as well and to have those big moments they can really hold onto and be a part of.’’ .’’

By the time the next international window rolls around in February, most of the A-League Women season will be done and dusted, and Lewis is hoping someone from her squad – which contains just one player with Ferns caps, forward Grace Jale – will be in line for a callup.

‘‘We see that as a success,’’ she said. ‘‘As much as it might mean losing somebody for a game, the more players that we’re able to get noticed by Jitka and pulled into that environment, the better.

‘‘We want to produce players that are pushing the older Ferns and showing what they can bring to the table and I’m hoping the way we want to play will lead Jitka to see them as desirable.’’

Every match in the opening round of A-League Women was set to feature a New Zealander.

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2021-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

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