With 11 weeks until the women’s FIFA World Cup, the Football Ferns have gathered in Auckland for their all-important training camp.
After an unsuccessful trip overseas last month saw their winless streak extend to 10 games with a 1-1 draw against Iceland and 3-0 loss to Nigeria, coach Jitka Klimkova insisted at the time the team’s upcoming camp will “make a difference”.
With a majority of her squad present, Klimkova reinforced that belief today.
“We are going to spend together many weeks and we don’t need to rush anything, we have time,” Klimkova told 1News.
“We are training every day from Monday to Friday and we are focussing on us, we are focussing on our team connection and our connection with our style of play.
“It’s preparation physically, it’s preparation mentally… and we are going to get ready for those three games during the World Cup so we can get out of it.”
That goal is no easy feat given the Football Ferns’ history – both recently and in the tournament itself.
Along with their 10-game winless streak, the Football Ferns’ goal scoring issues have been well-documented with the side conceding 23 goals while scoring just twice in that run.
In between those two goals was a 561-minute drought.
On top of that, the Football Ferns have never won a game in their five World Cup appearances with 2015 where they managed draws against China and the Netherlands their best result to date.
Despite all those figures and just 78 days to counter them, Klimkova remains confident she and the team have enough time.
“We know we will be getting better during this time,” she said.
“That’s what makes me happy – that we have time to focus on us.”
Specifically on the team’s goal-scoring woes, Klimkova said it was top of her agenda.
“This is a never-ending story – we were focusing on it during our tours but it was always 60-minute quick sessions because we have to save energy for our games.
“But this time we can spend more time on it where players will be focusing more on their roles.
“It’s a lot of repetitions but that’s how I believe we can improve.”
SHARE ME