New Zealand ready to upset the odds in Women’s World Cup opener

AUCKLAND – New Zealand have not won a match in five previous appearances at the Women’s World Cup and while they are long odds to beat Norway in Thursday’s opener at Eden Park, co-captain Ria Percival said the Football Ferns are relishing the role of underdogs.

Playing in the same Auckland stadium where the “Black Ferns” secured their sixth women’s Rugby World Cup title in 2022, New Zealand are determined to give home fans more reasons to celebrate by beating 1995 champions Norway.

“We’re always seen as the underdogs,” Percival said on Wednesday.

“And for us, we’ve always taken it in our stride and we’ll do exactly the same with the first game tomorrow, but for us we’re just excited to be here, we’re ready to go.”

Norway, who have 2018 Ballon d’Or Feminin winner Ada Hegerberg back in the mix after an extended absence prompted by a dispute with her federation, are a dangerous attacking side and New Zealand must find a way to neutralise their threat, said Percival.

“They can bring an attack,” the 33-year-old midfielder added.

“So for us, it’s just focus on our job that we want to do to obviously stop them from... being dangerous.”

New Zealand snapped a 10-match winless streak with a 2-0 win over Vietnam in a friendly in early July, putting a positive stamp on preparations that were filled with “a lot of ups and downs”, said coach Jitka Klimkova.

“We feel like we are really in a good place,” said Klimkova, who was named coach in September 2021 but was unable to enter the country for months due to Covid-19 restrictions.

“We are prepared. We worked really hard to this point. This is an amazing opportunity for us to shine.”

Norway coach Hege Riise said that her squad are leaving nothing to chance, with an enthusiastic home crowd squarely on their opponents’ side.

“They will rise to the occasion and with 40,000 (fans)... they will be probably the stronger opponent for us. It’s a good challenge for us as well to show what we (are) here to achieve, to perform in each game and see how far that will take us,” said Riise.

Should a win over Norway prove out of reach, New Zealand have a golden chance to grab a first victory when they meet tournament debutants the Philippines in their second Group A match in Wellington. They close out the group against Switzerland.

Percival’s co-captain Ali Riley said the hard work was done and now it was time to just enjoy the tournament.

“We’ve done everything we can do to be ready for this moment,” she said, adding that the support of the home crowd would be key.

“The noise, that will give us energy,” added the 35-year-old, who is playing in her fifth World Cup.

“But also I know what that can do for any little girl, seeing these players, these awesome, confident, empowered women and athletes just living their dreams.”

In the other opening day match, Ireland are also eyeing an upset against Australia in Group B.

Experienced star midfielder Denise O’Sullivan is fit for Ireland after being hurt in the abandoned friendly with Colombia.

The 29-year-old was rushed to hospital last week after a fierce tackle in a closed-door warm-up match against the South Americans that was called off after 23 minutes with the Irish players “fearing for their bodies”.

Despite their worries over Colombia’s physicality, captain Katie McCabe said they could give as good as they got and were ready for similar treatment from the Sam Kerr-led Australia, one of the World Cup favourites.

“We knew obviously that Colombia were going to be physical but that is going to be the case in every game,” said the long-time Arsenal player, 27.

“We’re Irish, we don’t shy away from physicality, it’s ingrained in us, the hardworking team we are.

“So yes, we are ready for Australia to be physical tomorrow, we’ll be prepared to match it.”

Her manager Vera Pauw said Ireland have a plan to stop star forward Kerr, 29.

She said: “We will play our game and have our game plan and part of it is indeed dealing with Sam but also with many other players.

“Australia is not just Sam Kerr, Australia is a lot of good players and we’ve watched them, analysed them of course and we’ve set our game plan.” REUTERS, AFP