By Amy Tennery
AUCKLAND (Reuters) – New Zealand have never won a match in five prior 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 the underdog.
Playing in the same Auckland stadium where the ‘Black Ferns’ secured their sixth women’s Rugby World Cup title last year, New Zealand are determined to give home fans more reasons to celebrate by beating the 1995 champions.
“We’re always seen as the underdogs,” Percival said on Wednesday. “And for us, we’ve always taken it in 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 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,” she 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 this month, 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. We are prepared. We worked really hard to this point,” said Klimkova, who was named coach in September 2021 but was unable to enter the country for months due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“This is an amazing opportunity for us to shine.”
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 Riley, 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.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in Auckland; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
