Ferns relaxed and focused for Olympic opener

There’s a calmness emanating from the Football Ferns camp ahead of Wednesday night’s Olympic Games opener against Great Britain at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.

Tony Readings and Rebecca Smith share a joke at the offical press conference.

July 23, 2012

CARDIFF, UNITED KINGDOM – There’s a calmness emanating from the Football Ferns camp ahead of Wednesday night’s Olympic Games opener against Great Britain at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.

The first event of the London Olympics – the match is two days before the opening ceremony – is the first time a Great Britain women’s team has ever played at the Games and the first Great Britain match at any Olympics since 1960 so there is an extra sense of occasion about the fixture, something only amplified by the iconic Welsh venue.

However, the Ferns are showing little sign of being distracted or overawed by that and captain Rebecca Smith says the team are now just ready to play.

“We’ve been preparing for this game for a long time,” Smith said.

“We’ve played some pretty big teams in the build up, had some decent results and improved with every game so from a performance standpoint we’re confident we can give the best performance we’re capable of.

“Being here in Cardiff and being part of the Olympics is an amazing experience and players are excited, feeling fresh and ready to go out play.

“Great Britain are a great side but as the host nation there’ll be a lot of pressure on them. They're the better team on paper so we’ve got nothing to lose by going out there and playing our game.”

Great Britain and England coach Hope Powell has added only two Scottish players to an otherwise all English playing squad giving the Great Britain team a familiar look despite their Olympic debut. New Zealand have met England twice since 2010 drawing the first encounter and losing 2-1 at last year’s Women’s World Cup after leading for most of the match.

New Zealand coach Tony Readings has a full squad to choose from for the match with Ali Riley back to full training after missing last week’s international against Colombia through injury.

He has two more sessions to settle on a starting 11 but says whoever gets the chance to be get New Zealand’s 2012 Olympic campaign underway will embrace the honour.

 “We are always proud to pull on the New Zealand shirt and to do it at the Olympics is even more special because you are representing not just the football people of New Zealand but representing the whole country and part of the wider Team New Zealand,” Readings said before his side’s walkover of Millennium Stadium pitch.

“To be the first New Zealand athletes to compete is magic for us and we’re really looking forward to it.

“I guess there could be some added pressures but for us there’s more pressure on the hosts in front of an expectant crowd.

“For us it’s just another game of football. We’ve played in front of big crowds many times now – we played in front of 55,000 at the World Cup in 2007 – so it’s not something that fazes our players anymore. We play most of our games away from home so this one is no different.

“It’s a proud moment but one that we’re relishing and we can’t wait to get on the pitch.”

The Football Ferns take on Great Britain at 3am on Thursday (NZT) with Group E rivals Brazil and Cameroon clashing at 5.45am (NZT), also in Cardiff.

Women’s Olympic Football Tournament
Group E
Great Britain v New Zealand
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
July 25, 4pm (3am, July 26 NZT)
Live on Sky Sport 5

Great Britain: (from) 1-Karen BARDSLEY (GK), 2-Alex SCOTT, 3-Stephanie HOUGHTON, 4-Jill SCOTT, 5-Sophie BRADLEY, 6-Casey STONEY (captain), 7-Karen CARNEY, 8-Fara WILLIAMS, 9-Ellen WHITE, 10-Kelly SMITH, 11-Rachel YANKEY, 12-Kim LITTLE, 13-Ifeoma DIEKE, 14-Anita ASANTE, 15-Eniola ALUKO, 16-Claire RAFFERTY, 17-Rachel WILLIAMS, 18-Rachel BROWN (GK).
Coach: Hope POWELL

New Zealand: (from) 1-Jenny BINDON (GK), 2-Ria PERCIVAL, 3-Anna GREEN, 4-Katie HOYLE, 5-Abby ERCEG, 6-Rebecca SMITH (captain), 7-Ali RILEY, 8-Hayley MOORWOOD, 9-Amber HEARN, 10-Sarah GREGORIUS, 11-Kirsty YALLOP, 12-Betsy HASSETT, 13-Rosie WHITE, 14-Kristy HILL, 15-Rebekah STOTT, 16-Annalie LONGO, 17-Hannah WILKINSON, 18-Rebecca ROLLS (GK) .
Coach: Tony READINGS

New Zealand Olympic Schedule
July 25
New Zealand Women v Great Britain
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
4pm (3am, July 26 NZT)
Live on Sky Sport 5

July 26
New Zealand Men v Belarus
City of Coventry Stadium, Coventry
7.45pm (6.45am, July 27 NZT)
Live on Sky Sport 5

July 28
New Zealand Women v Brazil
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
2.30pm (1am, July 29 NZT)
Live on Sky Sport 8

July 29
New Zealand Men v Egypt
Old Trafford, Manchester
Noon (11pm NZT)
Live on Sky Sport 9

July 31
New Zealand Women v Cameroon
City of Coventry Stadium, Coventry
7.45pm (6.45am, August 1 NZT)
Live on Sky Sport 4

August 1
New Zealand Men v Brazil
St James’ Park, Newcastle
2.30pm (1.30am, August 2 NZT)
Live on Sky Sport 4