People thought I was dooming with my comments on how the pool match against Fiji went. But I've seen it in other places - a team which relies on individual brilliance somehow gets stymied by a physical and well-organised team which just pushes them off the ball
Birnie had his side in a 4-4-2 formation with a clearly defined idea of what the best eleven looked like – with this specific line-up starting every game except for one (the third group stage game, when they rotated things around)....
As for building up from the back, maaaate. Anna Leat played literally one short pass all tournament. No goalie kicked the ball long more often than she did. They were direct. They were compact. There was almost no difference between their average shape in and out of possession.
It was this push and pull between ideals that led to Maya Hahn switching allegiances to Germany. Having been the standout player in qualifying, she only played 229 minutes at the World Cup itself, being predominantly used as a second half substitute for Macey Fraser. The two most technically gifted players in the group had to do a job-share. Can’t argue with the outcomes... but that stylistic disillusionment was one of the stated reasons for her decision (alongside her strong German heritage, better professional pathways, and other similarly valid personal reasons). That squad as initially named featured only domestically-based players, though at U17s level that’s entirely normal – it’s usually only after this when the pro/college offers begin to emerge. You could also see how diligently Birnie and his team had scouted the nation by the range of regions represented. Ten players were based in Auckland, although several had moved there for football reasons (such as Anna Leat of Arrowtown, Hannah Mackay-Wright of Nelson, Maggie Jenkins of Wellington, and Ayla Pratt of Tauranga). Six more came from the wider Canterbury region – including three from Waimakariri Utd (Macey Fraser, Jayda Stewart & Gabi Rennie) and one from Nelson Suburbs (Amelia Abbott). Only one was based in Wellington (Maya Hahn) back in those days before the Phoenix Academy... ironically six of this squad have since played for the Nix in the A-League Women’s. New Plymouth was also represented by Mackenzie Barry, while a trio of Hamilton Wanderers players flew the Waikato flag in Brown, Wisnewski, and backup keeper Georgia Candy.
International footy is going to be tough to acquire for (Maya) Hahn from here. The pandemic spoiled her best chance of that. Bottom line is that she hasn’t actually played competitively for Germany... maybe they’ll let her switch back? Times have changed since the 2018 World Cup. Klimková’s also got a decent record at recruiting dual internationals. Let us get the lawyers involved and see if it’s still possible.
All of those who remained local have played in the National League but not all of them recently. Britney Cunningham-Lee’s goals took Ellerslie into the WNL last year while Hannah Mackay-Wright was brilliant for Southern United as they made the grand final. On the other hand, several others didn’t appear to be playing anywhere at all in 2023. None more tragically than Aneka Mittendorff who captained this side and, back in 2018, looked an absolute certainty to progress her silky centre-back skills into the Football Ferns one day. It’s not too late for a comeback. We can always hope.
As for the Where Are They Now yarns, here’s a list of the 21 players in the main squad (plus the three non-travelling reserves) and where they played their football in 2023...
Anna Leat - Aston Villa (ENG)
Mackenzie Barry - Wellington Phoenix (NZ/AUS)
Hannah Mackay-Wright - Dunedin City Royals/Southern United (NZ)
Aneka Mittendorff - N/A
Marisa van der Meer - Wellington Phoenix (NZ/AUS)
Macey Fraser - Wellington Phoenix (NZ/AUS)
Gabi Rennie - Arizona State University (USA)
Amelia Abbott - University of Texas (USA)
Maggie Jenkins - University of Central Florida (USA)
Grace Wisnewski - Wellington Phoenix (NZ/AUS)
Kelli Brown – Macarthur Rams/Wellington Phoenix (NZ/AUS)
Jayda Stewart - Coastal Spirit/Canterbury United Pride (NZ)
Britney Cunningham-Lee - Ellerslie (NZ)
Laney Strachan - Eastern Suburbs (NZ)
Genevieve Ryan - Rider University (USA)
Maya Hahn - Turbine Potsdam (GER)
Ayla Pratt - Hamilton Wanderers (NZ)
Rose Luxton - N/A
Arabella Maynard - N/A
Georgia Candy - Wellington Phoenix (NZ/AUS)
Blair Currie - Spring Arbor University/South Georgia Tormenta (USA)
[Aniela Jensen - University of the Pacific (USA)]
[Rylee Godbold - Wofford University (USA)]
[Casey Klyn - Queenstown AFC (NZ)]
Curious that only two of them are playing professionally overseas, Leat and Hahn, although that could hopefully change in the coming weeks with a few of those uni students having graduated. There is still that chunk at the Wellington Phoenix too. Should add the context that Kelli Brown scored absolute bundles in the New South Wales NPL with Macarthur Rams prior to re-signing with the Nix. She pocketed 23 goals in 27 games to finish runner-up for Golden Boot as her Rams team won the state championship.
Blair Currie also spent some time with a semi-pro USLW team (Tormenta FC) during her college offseason. Fellow goalie Georgia Candy (the backup goalies were the only two of the squad not to get minutes in Uruguay thanks to Anna Leat’s magnificence) hasn’t resurfaced at a new club since being released by the Nix but was a Phoenix scholarship player for the first half of last year making one appearance in the ALW.
Already mentioned that three of them played NZ National League in 2023. A few others were nestled slightly below that level. Ayla Pratt (now Ayla Koopu) scored seven goals for Hamilton Wanderers to be the club’s top scorer but they didn’t qualify for WNL (Britney Cunningham-Lee was the NRFL Premier Division Golden Boot with 11 goals). Laney Strachan played a little bit for Eastern Suburbs during the winter season but didn’t partake in the National League stuff.
The internet wasn’t forthcoming with much information on the others, though Arabella Maynard has played some NPL in Australia before so who knows she could be tucked away somewhere unpublicised (or injured, as the case may be – another sad note is that Grace Wisnewski and Marisa van der Meer are both currently sidelined with ACL tears).
Gotta be honest, when you look at it in this context it feels like there ought to be a lot more going on. Despite what they achieved there isn’t much to separate this group from most other U17s waves as far as their professional/international graduates go. Which is another part of the fascination. Our greatest ever FIFA tournament performance and five years later two of them are playing for different countries, several others have been out of sight playing (or not playing as the case may be) at USA universities, the team’s tactics now appear outdated, and the captain is no longer even playing the sport.
But then this was only the five-year check. The night is yet young. Let us see how things are looking after ten. And no matter what has happened since or what will happen in the future, none of it diminishes what they accomplished in Uruguay in 2018 – a truly astounding achievement that genuinely might never be matched... although we’ll always keep on trying.
Haering’s signing adds another professional graduate to the U17 Class of 2022. Milly Clegg is at Western Sydney Wanderers and Ruby Nathan is at Canberra United in the A-League. Aimee Danieli, Manaia Elliott, Helena Errington, and Olivia Ingham are all with the Wellington Phoenix first team while several more are with the Nix Academy. Olivia Page is with Sheffield United. Kiara Bercelli is on the books at Sampdoria though is currently on loan at Chievo.
Errington spent some time with Sporting Lisbon, though wasn’t able to sign on full pro terms. That’s a pretty decent graduation rate already, with several more teammates capable of joining them in the future.
It's been a pretty choice week for the 2018 U17s alumni, with Gabi Rennie making her professional debut for Aland United and Macey Fraser getting a big money move to Utah Royals 🤙https://t.co/JSZnoVXDmp
I'm guessing most of these girls are 16 or younger, being an U16 team aiming to qualify for the 2025 U17 WC.
Moturoa AFC in the Naki, and Grants Braes in Dunners! Only 3 girls at the Phonenix. Do girls generally sign up at a older age than boys at Weenix? I know there are still more boys teams there than girls.
But I imagine a promising 15-16 year old boy from Taranaki, would already be down in Welly, to make a NZ U16/17 team.
FIFA want the U17 World Cups to happen every year so now we’ve gotta go qualify for the 2025 edition before we’ve even had the 2024 edition https://t.co/FPrT1RixVS
I'm guessing most of these girls are 16 or younger, being an U16 team aiming to qualify for the 2025 U17 WC.
Moturoa AFC in the Naki, and Grants Braes in Dunners! Only 2 girls at the Phonenix. Do girls generally sign up at a older age than boys at Weenix? I know there are still more boys teams there than girls.
But I imagine a promising 15-16 year old boy from Taranaki, would already be down in Welly, to make a NZ U16/17 team.
FIFA want the U17 World Cups to happen every year so now we’ve gotta go qualify for the 2025 edition before we’ve even had the 2024 edition https://t.co/FPrT1RixVS
I watched Kya Soloman playing for Taradale in The Central League a few weeks ago against Petone and she certainly gave them the run around. First thing I wondered was why is she not with the Nix!
A sign that the coaches thing they have qualifying covered?!
She will be eligible for the 2025 U17 WC?
If so yes I imagine they think they will win the tourney comfortably without her, and leave Jerez to focus on ALW pre season plus this year’s U17 WC edition
TEAM NEWS | New Zealand and Tahiti's teamsheets are IN for their Group B OFC U-16 Women's Championship game in Suva today. Who are you picking to take the win? 🇳🇿🇵🇫
Watch the Oceania tournament football highlights In FIFA tv. If you think the gk made some howlers in that game you should see some of the super-howlers that some of the other keepers make. And it is the boys as well as the female keepers. Also the likes of Samoa and Tonga that NZ beat 8-0 they themselves are beating some of the other teams 8-0 or 13-0. Watch some of those other games and see what the level is like. Some players look like they have only been playing football a couple of seasons.
Watch the Oceania tournament football highlights In FIFA tv. If you think the gk made some howlers in that game you should see some of the super-howlers that some of the other keepers make. And it is the boys as well as the female keepers. Also the likes of Samoa and Tonga that NZ beat 8-0 they themselves are beating some of the other teams 8-0 or 13-0. Watch some of those other games and see what the level is like. Some players look like they have only been playing football a couple of seasons.
I do wonder where the 10 island teams would slot in if they played in the various NZSS tournaments? I do know in preparation for this tournament Tonga drew 3-3 against a Hibiscus Coast U16 team (9x U14's, 4x U16's, and 3x U16 Reserves) that was missing anyone at NZSS.
Women's football is very much in development phase in all the other associations in the OFC - surely everyone in this thread knows that.
I've been impressed with Samoa so far, comfortably winning all their games except Fiji who they still beat 1-0 and honestly were probably still the third best team in the tourny. Hopefully they give us a crack in the final.
I'm wondering how many players the likes of Samoa and Tonga have for this tourny that are based in NZ/Aus/USA - because if there's quite a few then that explains things.
The Samoa side is coached by former Coastal Spirit and four time Mainland Football Women’s Coach of the Year, Juan Chang, who spent a number of years based in Christchurch.
