(Reuters) – New Zealand Women head coach Jitka Klimkova was disappointed with her team’s performance in Friday’s 5-0 friendly defeat to Portugal, saying they were “not good enough”.
New Zealand, co-hosts of this year’s Women’s World Cup along with neighbour Australia, struggled against Portugal, who will compete in the final qualifying playoffs next week for one of the three remaining spots at the July 20-Aug. 20 tournament.
“Today it was not good enough and we deserved to lose,” Klimkova told reporters on Friday.
“We know that we should be doing a better job. We should be possessing better. We should be defending better.
“We have to put pressure on the ball much quicker. We can’t give the opposition time like how we gave Portugal.”
Midfielder Olivia Chance said the defeat was a “wake-up call” for New Zealand, who are 24th in the world, two spots below Portugal.
“We care so much about this World Cup in five months and today was not good enough,” Chance said. “Individually we weren’t good enough and we all know that.”
The Football Ferns are due to face Argentina in two friendlies, on Monday at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton and Thursday at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland.
Argentina, ranked 29th, defeated Chile 4-0 in their friendly on Friday.
“We let ourselves down, so I think now it is about what we can do against Argentina and put our heads back up and go on the next one,” Chance added.
This year’s World Cup, where the United States are defending champions, will be the first edition to feature 32 teams.
(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru; Editing by Michael Perry)
