Experienced Football Ferns forward Sarah Gregorius feels like she never left.

The 30-year-old, who has played 82 A Internationals for New Zealand, has come out of international retirement to join the Football Ferns as they build towards the FIFA World Cup next year in France.

The Ferns have trained well at San Pedro del Pinatar in Spain this week as they prepare for two international friendlies with World No 23 Scotland starting with the first game on Sunday morning (NZT). Gregorius is happy to be back.

“It is really good being back and in some ways it felt like I never left,” said Gregorius, who has represented New Zealand at two FIFA World Cups and two Olympic Games.  “From a re-integration point of view, I have picked up where I left off. It is awesome to be around the players again and a part of the Ferns' family.”

Gregorius has enjoyed working with Andreas Heraf as he leads his first tour as Football Ferns Head Coach. 

“He is obviously a bit of a character,” she said.  “He has a big personality which I enjoy and I don’t shy away from that sort of thing. It is obviously quite a new environment, system and regime. That is quite good for me as well as everyone is kind of in that boat that it is all a bit new. We are all finding our feet a wee bit.”

Heraf, who was the interim Head Coach in November when the Ferns managed an impressive 5-0 win over Thailand, said Gregorius adds a huge amount both on and off the field.

“She has big experience in the international scene with the Ferns. She scored a lot of goals – more than 20 goals over the years – which is a high number. We don’t have that many players scoring that sort of number. It is good to have her back. She is really important to the environment because she is a positive young woman. That is what we need.” 

Gregorius said back in 2016, when she was last playing for the Ferns, she was playing professionally for AS Elfen Saitama in Japan and playing a lot of international football so it will be a transition to get back to that level of fitness and sharpness. 

“The only real way to get up to speed in international football is to play international football,” she said, adding that she has been working hard on her fitness in the lead up to the tour. “It is going to be a bit of a shock to the system, but bring it on because I need to be able to get that under my belt to kick on.”

Gregorius is not getting ahead of herself. She knows that there are pinnacle world events coming up in the 2019 FIFA World Cup in France and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but she is taking it one step at a time.  

“I want to re-integrate properly and make sure that I still have something to offer the team, rather than getting too far ahead of myself. I am not thinking about World Cups and Olympics, right now I am just focused on Scotland.”

The nerves haven’t kicked in yet, with everyone being welcoming to her re-joining the group, but she expects that to change in the countdown to kick-off.

“Ask me the night before or on the morning of the game and I am sure I will start feeling that buzz and that adrenaline again. I am looking forward to that. Nerves are a good thing – they show that you care and that you are passionate about what you are doing.” 

The Ferns last played Scotland at last year’s Cyprus Cup where they went down 3-2 in the opening game of the tournament. In 2017, Scotland recorded wins over New Zealand, Austria (3-1), Romania (2-0), Republic of Ireland (1-0) and Hungary (3-0).

“It is the perfect opposition for us right now,” she said. “They will give us some clarity on some of the things we want to work on and clarity on what it is going to take to be successful over the next 10 months – two years. When you have a World Cup one year out, it is less about the opposition and more about where the team is at and working out the new structure under Andreas, but we know it will be a good test.”

Highlights of the Football Ferns v Scotland will be available on www.nzfootball.co.nz shortly after the game on Sunday morning.

Football Ferns v Scotland international friendlies
Saturday 3 March local kick off 5pm (NZT Sunday 4 March 5am)
Tuesday 6 March local kick off 11.00am (NZT Tuesday 6 March 11:00pm)
Pinatar Football Arena in San Pedro del Pinatar, Spain