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Indiah-Paige Riley came into the Football Ferns’ pre-World Cup training camp at the start of May knowing she had a fight on her hands.
After making a hot start to her New Zealand international career, setting up the winning goal as the Ferns beat the Philippines – one of their World Cup opponents – last September, her playing time had dwindled.
A recovery from a concussion limited her to just a handful of minutes in February, but the 21-year-old was fully fit in April and didn’t get a single minute off the bench in the Ferns’ draw with Iceland and loss against Nigeria.
Kerry Marshall/Getty Images
Indiah-Paige Riley started for the Football Ferns against Vietnam and assisted Jacqui Hand’s goal.
“It lit a fire inside my belly,” Riley said at the end of week one of the nine-week training programme. “I wanted to come in here and really show why I want to be a part of that 23-player squad for the World Cup”.
Eleven weeks on, Riley was not only named in that squad, but appears to be in line to start when the Ferns kick off their campaign against Norway at Eden Park in Auckland next Thursday.
She did just that on Monday night in Napier, where the Ferns eased to a 2-0 win over Vietnam at McLean Park, impressing with her attacking runs on the right flank and setting fellow forward Jacqui Hand up to score the team’s second goal, just before halftime.
RIley said on Tuesday “it was nice to see my name in the starting XI and I knew I had a job to show why I was starting and to try and keep that spot”.
”It’s always nice to contribute to a win,” she added, “I probably could have scored myself with the chances that I had, but I was happy to get an assist.”
What makes Riley’s journey to this point all the more remarkable is not just the fact that she’s had to rise over the past three months, after knowing she was on the bubble and at risk of missing the cut.
It’s the fact that she wasn’t on the radar of Ferns coach Jitka Klimková at all in her first few months in the job and it took repeated inquiries from Stuff to get her there.
She was twice asked about Riley, when the first fixtures of her tenure were confirmed at the end of September 2021, then again when their participation at the 2022 SheBelieves Cup was confirmed in the first week of that year, but didn’t recognise her name.
“Let’s connect after,” she said following the second instance “and you can give me more information about her, because I haven’t heard this name yet.”
Riley was born in Auckland, but grew up in Queensland and played for Brisbane Roar in A-League Women before moving to Fortuna Hjørring in Denmark in 2019, making her a rare New Zealand-eligible player based in Europe.
She made one appearance for Australia’s Matildas in early 2021, but remained available for both countries as it was only a friendly match, and eventually, the New Zealand coach came calling in 2022.
“I was in Denmark riding my bike back from the grocery store and I was listening to music, so I had my Airpods on,” said Riley.
“When you wear your AirPods and a message comes, they read you the message.
“It said her number, because obviously I didn’t have it saved and it started reading the message and I was like, what? Then we chatted.”
Riley’s first call-up came in September last year and she was instantly installed as a starter, playing 90 minutes in each match as the Ferns beat Mexico and the Philippines in Los Angeles.
But her playing time shrank after that, to the point where she didn’t feature at all in the last matches the Ferns had before their pre-World Cup training camp and the selection of their squad.
Klimková said after Monday’s match that Riley earned her starting spot after “performing very well during the trainings in those nine weeks” that the Ferns were in camp.
“Every day she stepped on the field, she performed better and better and this starting position, it’s absolutely deserved.”
Reflecting on her unusual journey at the Ferns’ World Cup squad announcement last month, Riley said: “It’s extremely crazy to be honest”.
“Just to be here now when less than a year ago I made my debut, it’s insane.
“I’m so happy and grateful to have been able to make the switch – and that [Klimková] learnt my name.”
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