Football Ferns beaten by classy Japan in Spain

The Football Ferns believe they have room to improve after a 2-0 loss to Japan in their first women’s international friendly in Spain.

The seventh-ranked Japanese side dominated the contest in Murcia, barely offering the New Zealanders a chance although the beaten side were more fluent as the match wore on.

Japan’s goals came either side of halftime, with Mina Tanaka finding space inside the box to beat goalkeeper Anna Leat just before the interval.

The second goal less than two minutes into the second spell when Toko Koga found herself unmarked at the far post at a corner and headed home.

Michael Mayne addresses the Football Ferns at halftime in their international friendly against Japan.
Photo: photosport

Stand-in coach Michael Mayne said it took time for New Zealand to find their feet but expected they would improve in the second match between the teams at the same venue on Tuesday morning (NZT).

“Once we adjusted to some of the problems they were posing us and we were able to figure out how to get good ball in the middle third, I thought we actually think we played really well,” Mayne said.

“Obviously a world-class side like Japan, they’ll punish us if we get small things wrong, so we expected that.

“But our reaction to those moments were really good – I thought the players stuck together and there are some positives we can take into the next game.”

Mayne is in charge for the series in the absence of regular head coach Jitka Klimkova, who is taking leave of absence while an investigation into an “employment related matter” is carried out.

He said the players were focused on the job at hand and keen to push their cases for Olympic Games selection.

“Obviously one of the big goals here is the Olympics and preparing for that,” Mayne said.

“There are some players that were able to go out and compete against a world class side. It’s an opportunity to see how they deal with that.

“This is a critical point of our selection process. Everyone’s out there to perform and compete, and I thought everyone who got out on the pitch gave a good showing.”