Football Ferns coach Jitka Klimkova issues instructions during a FIFA Women's World Cup training camp. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
Decision making in front of goal will make or break the Football Ferns at this year's FIFA Women's World Cup.
And could influence whether New Zealand is competitive internationally in years to come.
Football Ferns head coach Jitka Klimkova knows she has limited time to change her players' mindset before the ninth edition of the global tournament kicks off in Auckland in July but she is aware that New Zealand could fall behind the rest of the world if changes are not made to the way young players learn the game.
The Football Ferns have struggled to score goals since Klimkova came on board in 2021 and have also leaked goals against international opposition of varying quality.
Three weeks into a nine week New Zealand based build-up for the world cup Klimkova has seen progress in the first influx of players who have been training nearly daily under her guidance.
These players who are already in the fold are predominately the younger or less experienced world cup hopefuls. They are being inducted into the way Klimkova wants to play.
"We have to really make better decisions in front of the goals so that we can score goals and then better decisions defensively in front of our goal so that we are not conceding such soft goals that we conceded in the past. So I am happy with our improvement box to box but we need to get better inside of the box," Klimkova said.
Klimkova will dedicate a lot of the training time ahead of the Football Ferns' first world cup game against Norway to decision making.
She said it would be repetitive.
In the future she hoped it would not be the senior national team coach drilling this into the country's top players.
"We need to start working even with our youth teams, with our young players to have more like Milly Clegg a talent who comes as a 17-year-old to this environment and she's the one usually scoring goals. So I think having more of those forwards will help us to be more successful in the future."
Milly Clegg is the type of player Football Ferns coach Jitka Klimkova wants more of. Photo: photosport
Clegg who plays for the Wellington Phoenix in the women's A-League has been a star at age-group level and made her senior debut in April.
She had been on Klimkova's radar for a while and appears to be the type of player the coach wants to find more of.
Klimkova was aware of the state of women's football in New Zealand before she signed a six-year contract that takes her though until the 2027 World Cup.
She has come through coaching ranks in New Zealand, having served as head coach of the Women's U-17s at the FIFA 2014 U-17 Women's World Cup and as assistant coach to the Women's U-20s and the Football Ferns.
After a stint overseas, a return to New Zealand in the top job gave Klimova a different perspective.
"I can see improvement, there is no doubt about it, but we have to look and see how much even the European countries are improving, how much they are spending time with their young players and how much they are improving in that area.
"That's something that I feel we have huge potential [for] here in New Zealand to start really working regularly with young players so that when they have this chance they are more prepared for these challenges in the senior national team."
Klimkova wants her team to inspire the nation at the world cup. If only so that future Football Ferns head coaches have more options.
"If young boys and girls will see how football is beautiful and find the passion for this sport I really believe in the future this can help us to have more athletes to have more footballers so that we can pick from a wider number of players and we can have really strong athletes to be choosing from."
With up to 37 players to choose from for her final world cup squad which will be locked in in late June, Klimkova has an open mind about who will make the cut.
"I am always pushing everybody, I'm pushing the younger ones to really take this chance and compete no matter what.
"It doesn't matter if you are younger or if you are more experienced we will be really picking the best player at that moment."
