Preparing for the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup Finals has been a particularly interesting experience for Rebecca Smith, given where it’s being played is where she plays for a living. The VfL Wolfsburg central defender has seen at first-hand the preparations which have been going on throughout Germany leading into this tournament, and they’ve left a very favourable impression upon her. "It’s been really intense, actually. The amount of marketing and events they’ve planned around the World Cup has been pretty incredible, and that’s since I’ve been back there since February 2009. It’s really exciting. "They’ve got all kinds of different things - huge posters, magazines, buses … everything’s just advertising the Women’s World Cup. TV games, commercials - everywhere you look, it’s there, so I think it’s going to be really exciting and a really huge event". Certainly when compared with China 2007. "Definitely. I think it’s different. It’s hard to compare what’s going to happen in Germany with a tournament like China, which is such a huge country, and where the language factor denies us the chance to fully appreciate a lot of the marketing and everything that goes on around the tournament. "Whereas I think in Germany, it’ll be in your face and you’ll be able to recognise it a lot more. So I think it’ll be more of a fun experience for us as a team this time". Bex will be captaining the Football Ferns at the World Cup Finals for the second time at this tournament, and the squad which she will lead into battle is one in which she has every confidence. "Absolutely. I’m 100% behind John and all his decisions, and I think the squad he has chosen is by far the strongest Football Ferns team that we’ve ever had. "Having said that, I think that some of the players who are here domestically and have trained with us and built up to this World Cup, but who won’t be able to come with us, have put a lot of hard work and time into it, and we wouldn’t be where we are today without those players as well. "So the combination of the whole squad - those players who are going to Germany and those who are staying here - make this by far the best Football Ferns team I’ve ever seen". It wouldn’t be stretching a point too far to use the word ‘family’ to describe the entire Football Ferns set-up. There’s certainly a family atmosphere about the squad, which stems largely from the fact they’ve been together now for such a long time. "It’s kind of a unique experience, what we have in

New Zealand, because a lot of other national teams have players who play abroad, whereas a lot of our players are based here, so they train together almost twelve months out of the year. This makes us a pretty tight squad. "I’ve been lucky enough to come into the domestic environment this time", says the just-turned 30-year-old - she celebrated her birthday at the Football Ferns Women’s World Cup camp in Switzerland. "It’s been my first opportunity to actually experience it and, day in, day out, see how things are done here, and I have to say it’s a lot of work for the girls. "Because they don’t all live in a really close area, and we train at Millenium Stadium as well as at North Harbour Stadium and different locations around Auckland, girls are coming from as far as two hours away to train, so there’s a lot of time and effort that the girls put in - I even wrote about it on my blog, www.bexsmithkiwi.com" The experience has given Bex a fresh perspective on the locally-based players who have made the commitment to the degree that has come to be expected of a Football Fern. "I have a lot of respect for the domestic players, that’s for sure. It’s a lot easier to be in Wolfsburg and bike five minutes to the field. In the morning, training’s at 8am, so you roll out of bed at 7.15 and bike to the stadium, then do it again in the afternoon. Here, they put a lot more time and energy into it - the commitment’s huge. I’ve got a lot of respect for them here". Mention of her home away from home brings us nicely onto the subject of a possible FIFA Women’s World Cup quarter-final, which will be taking place in Wolfsburg. Bex being Bex, she has already organised the natives to support the underdogs, should the Football Ferns progress! "No problem! Our pre-season for Wolfsburg starts on July 1, and the quarter-final is on the 9th, so the whole team will be going to that game!" Of course, there is one problem - the potential opposition. The Wolfsburg squad may end up having divided loyalties, given the team in the home dressing room is likely to be the reigning world champions and host nation of Germany 2011. They’re beatable, of course, just as the ‘Titanic’ proved to be sinkable. It would need a superhuman effort from the Football Ferns to realise this objective, such has been the Germans’ impressive form leading into the tournament, but were it to happen, surely there wouldn’t be a more appropriate match-winner than Wolfsburg’s favourite Kiwi? "Are you kidding? What a dream, what a dream! Yeah, definitely!!"