Kiwi Women Can Make Lightning Strike

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Belief Of Kiwi Women Can Make Lightning Strike

by Jeremy Ruane

As coach of New Zealand's U20 Women's squad last year, John Herdman oversaw a World Cup Finals campaign in which his young charges ran finals hosts Russia desperately close in a five-goal thriller, prior to matching Brazil stride for stride in a goalless draw, arguably the greatest result New Zealand has ever recorded in world football.

Now coach of the senior women's squad, Herdman would love to record similar results during the Women's World Cup Finals in China. “Our ambition is to make lightning strike and cause a major upset”, declares the genial Geordie.

“Drawing with or beating a top team, or taking a top team right to the wire and leaving them in no doubt they've been in a game - those are our aims. And we want to be really hard to beat”, he continued.

Those ambitions would seem to be a decidedly tall order in the eyes of many, particularly in the wake of the under-achieving efforts of both the U17 and U20 men's teams at their respective recent World Cup Finals.

But Herdman is among a select group who, like the players themselves, can sense just how close our country's foremost female footballers are to breaking through to a new level in their ongoing development.

“If it's not at this World Cup, it'll be at next year's Olympics when the girls can show that New Zealand can do the business on the world stage”, confirms a coach who holds his squad in very high regard.

“I have a massive amount of faith in the players. In every game we've played against a team ranked

higher than ourselves, they've taken to the field with a genuine belief that they can cause an upset.

“Having a group of players with that attitude is absolutely priceless for a coach. What's more, the girls know that the teams they're about to play are beatable, but for us to do so, everything's got to go right on the day”.

Last month's televised fixture against the USA was the penultimate fixture in a two-year World Cup preparation programme for the tournament favourites. Herdman has had decidedly less time to work with the New Zealand squad by comparison, and that's putting it mildly.

“Getting thrown into a Women's World Cup campaign less than six months out from the finals was a dream come true for me, but quite a challenge, make no mistake. To prepare a team in that time is very challenging indeed.

“But the backing of NZ Football to make sure we do get what we want has been vital, as has been the genuine commitment from the players.

“It's great to see a group of people committing for intrinsic reward. It's not very often people will sacrifice so much for so little, which makes it a real motivating factor for any coaching team to go beyond the boundaries and share those sacrifices, thereby really appreciating what the girls are prepared to do - it's a New Zealand X-factor”.

NZ Football's Coach Education Manager is also looking forward to the prospects the finals present from a personal perspective. “I'm relishing the challenge of competing against the best - it's what everyone aspires to. Can you outwit the opposition's coach?

“It's also an opportunity to raise self-awareness - to find out where you are and what you need to do to go to the next level. As well, I hope my eyes are open enough to learn from everything I see there, in order to support my players as best as I possibly can.

“A World Cup only comes round once every four years. It's important to me as a coach that the players can walk away from this tournament saying `That was an amazing experience'”.

As for a tournament winner, Herdman has a bob each way. “I think the USA are going to be pretty unstoppable. That said, North Korea are going to be hard to beat. After those two, I'm not sure.

“I can see Australia being a dark horse. And us, of course - you've got to back yourself. Without belief, you're dead. And these players, deep down, believe they can go pretty far in China”.

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup Finals