FIFA Women’s World Cup: Football Ferns look to move on from momentum-halting loss

“It’s still in our hands”.

That is the mantra being recited inside the Football Ferns camp as they look to move past the disappointment of Tuesday’s momentum-halting loss to the Philippines in their second round group match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The 1-0 loss in Wellington to a well-prepared and well-drilled Filipino team quietened the buzz around the Ferns following their historic win over competition heavyweights Norway in their World Cup opener last week.

It also dented the Ferns chances of clinching another slice of history at this World Cup by being the first New Zealand side to advance out of their group at a FIFA World Cup.

Dented, but not obliterated.

With Group A still wide open heading into the final group stage matches, the Ferns’ hopes of making it through to the round of 16 sit firmly with them.

A win against Switzerland in Dunedin on Sunday would see the Ferns go through to the round of 16, a loss would end their tournament, while a draw would mean … well, the Ferns don’t really want to entertain that conversation.

Ferns defender Rebekah Stott said her side are focused solely on getting the three points from the fixture.

“It’s still in our hands and we want to keep it in our hands. We have to approach the Switzerland game with the attitude to win the game. We have the home crowd behind us, we have to use that and give it everything,” said Stott.

The fresh focus comes after a difficult 24 hours of reflection for the Ferns.

The team flew back to Auckland on Tuesday night following the match, and spent much of Wednesday debriefing the performance. Stott said that involved some tough, honest conversations as a group.

“We all reflected and looked at ourselves first. There have been hard conversations, but they are only going to help us.”

Stott said as part of the team’s debrief process, the players reviewed clips of Tuesday night’s performance against the Philippines. Some of the footage made for uncomfortable viewing.

The veteran defender was in the thick of the action that led to Sarina Bolden’s decisive goal for the Philippines, failing to deal effectively with the cross into the penalty box.

“Yeah of course, it is hard to watch,” said Stott of Tuesday’s match.

“We have our own clips of the game so review those and kind of buddy up with someone in a similar position and just reflect on the game and what we need to focus on fixing.”

But Football Ferns refuse to dwell on the missed opportunity in Wellington.

With the tough conversations done, the team returned to the training pitch on Thursday fixing their focus firmly on Switzerland.

“We’re only thinking about what we need to do to beat Switzerland. We know we need to be aggressive and really bring it to them,” Stott said, smashing her hands together to emphasise the point.”

The Ferns received a timely boost on Thursday with Michaela Foster returning to the training pitch after being ruled out of Tuesday’s game with a hamstring injury. The up and coming defender is expected to be available for Sunday’s match.