After the successful reign of former coach Tony Readings and the recent retirements of several long-serving players, there is a sense of the Football Ferns now entering a rebuilding phase as they look to focus on the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup and 2020 Olympic Games. There are therefore a host of fresh faces on the two-match tour of Thailand but interim co-coach Gareth Turnbull insists winning both games is still very much the main aim.

“We’re mindful of wanting to ensure we have our best players on the pitch to give us that greater chance of being successful while also providing opportunities for our next generation of future talented Ferns,” he says.

“They need to experience what the top level of international football looks like and where our top Ferns are at. The new girls that have come in have certainly looked like they belong and are pushing for minutes themselves. But the focus is to perform to the best of our abilities and the desired outcome is to win.”

Achieving such an outcome on the Football Ferns’ previous tour was always going to be difficult as Readings’ side came up against the United States – ranked number one in the world and reigning World Cup champions.

While Readings felt it was a hugely productive tour in terms of laying the foundations for a promising new era, the results didn’t go New Zealand’s way as they were beaten 3-1 and 5-0 by the classy Americans. The Englishman then stepped down from the role he had held for six years shortly before the Thailand challenge, leaving Turnbull and New Zealand Football Technical Director Andreas Heraf to take the team on an interim basis.

The pair have taken the opportunity to introduce some new blood to the camp with Hannah Blake, Maggie Jenkins, Elise Mamanu-Gray and Jana Radosavljevic all called up for the first time. Fellow youngsters Anna Leat and Grace Jale were also both included in the original squad while Malia Steinmetz and Liz Anton – who both joined Leat on the United States tour – received late call-ups and could also make their debuts against Thailand.

The first match of the tour takes place tonight at the PAT Stadium in Bangkok and Turnbull is pleased with how the preparations have gone.

“The players are in a good space and everyone is fit and available for selection,” he said prior to the team’s official training at the venue overnight. “They’ve responded really well to a slight change in approach and personality and things are exactly where we want them to be.”

Aside from dealing with the threat of the opposition, one of the major challenges in Thailand is the climate with recent temperatures regularly soaring past 30 degrees Celsius and high humidity levels. But the coaching staff have taken steps to prevent that having a worrying impact on the players’ performance and Turnbull is confident it won’t be a problem.

“We’d had no issues with that,” he says.

“We put the majority of the squad through a heat acclimatisation process back home and the overseas professionals followed a similar process so we’ve tried to mitigate the detriments of the heat as best as we possibly can. But hydration and recovery have been a big focus of the past four or five days. It’s not unbearable heat which is good and we’ve been training in the heat of the day as well so we’re used to it I think.”

On the training pitch, Turnbull and Heraf have been careful not to risk undoing the impressive work of Readings and, while introducing some new elements, are striving to keep their messaging as simple as possible.

“We wanted to build on the good work that’s gone on in the past and not come in and completely change some good processes,” he says.

“The players have responded well and we’re going to play in a playing model and style that we feel will be effective and produce results. That’s what the players are here to do, they’re here to win games. They’ve seen some of the success we’ve been able to have on the training pitch and are in a good frame of mind moving forward.”

After taking on the might of the USA, facing Thailand appears a more winnable proposition for the 19th-ranked Football Ferns. But their hosts are also ranked in the top 30 and Turnbull is expecting a testing examination of the squad he and Heraf have assembled on Saturday night.

Thailand do not have fond recent memories of meeting Kiwi opposition though after heading down under last December and suffering three losses to a New Zealand ‘A’ side – 3-2, 2-0 and 3-1. But Turnbull is reading little into those results and believes Thailand will be a much tougher prospect on their own patch.

“Thailand will be strong,” he says.

“They’ve had a big year and have had a lot of games, more than we’ve had. They’ll be well organised, they have very good technical players and a couple with real athletic pace about them. And they’re playing at home in front of their own crowd and conditions they’re familiar with. So it’s certainly going to be a big challenge for us, much harder than it was 12 months ago when we played them at home.”

Both matches will be streamed live by the Football Association of Thailand and the first game will be available to view at the following link: Click here

Football Ferns interim co-coach Gareth Turnbull

Football Ferns tour of Thailand

Thailand vs New Zealand
Saturday 25 November, 5pm (11pm NZT)
PAT Stadium, Bangkok

Thailand vs New Zealand
Tuesday 28 November, 5pm (11pm NZT)
SCG Stadium, Bangkok

New Zealand (from): 1. Erin Nayler (GK), 2. Ria Percival, 3. Anna Green, 4. CJ Bott, 5. Meikayla Moore, 6. Rebekah Stott, 7. Ali Riley (c), 9. Amber Hearn, 10. Annalie Longo, 12. Betsy Hassett, 14. Katie Bowen, 16. Olivia Chance, 17. Hannah Wilkinson, 18. Aimee Phillips, 20. Malia Steinmetz, 21. Anna Leat (GK), 22. Katie Rood, 23. Victoria Esson (GK), 24. Grace Jale, 25. Elizabeth Anton, 27. Stephanie Skilton, 28. Jana Radosavljevic, 29. Elise Mamanu-Gray, 30. Hannah Blake, 31. Maggie JenkinsCo-coaches: Gareth Turnbull and Andreas Heraf