Coach Leon Birnie is keen for his New Zealand players to show off the full range of their abilities when they take on Finland tomorrow morning (NZT) in their first match of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Montevideo, Uruguay.

The Oceania representatives have the honour of opening the tournament and thousands of tickets have already been sold for their Group A clash at Estadio Charrúa. The sense of occasion will provide a unique set of challenges to deal with but Birnie is urging his charges to take it in their stride and concentrate on the task at hand.

“We want to make sure they get over the moment and the occasion quickly because it will be a big thing for some of these girls – it’s their first proper international game with a big crowd and that’s going to play its part,” he admits.

“We’re going to try to make it as normal as possible for them so they can go out and express themselves. They’re all good players, that’s why they’ve been selected in the side and we just want to see those attributes come alive against some of the best players in the world. If they can do that then hopefully the result will take care of itself.”

New Zealand are certainly taking plenty of confidence into their World Cup campaign after flying through the qualifying stages – scoring nearly half a century of goals and conceding just one in their five games – before following that up with a morale-boosting 2-1 win over an accomplished Canada outfit in their final pre-tournament hit out last week.

“It was a really good performance and it was great to get a result – I think it really opened up the girls’ eyes that we can compete and get results on the world stage,” Birnie says. “That’s what we’ve been telling them all along but we’ve also been realistic and they know every game is going to be hard. Finland is going to be a really challenging game but that result against Canada puts us in a really good space mentally.”

Birnie and the rest of his coaching staff are acutely aware of what to expect from Finland after meticulously studying their first-up opponents.

“We know quite a lot about them, we’ve got about 12 games of footage over the last 12 months against some big footballing nations – like England, Sweden, Germany and Spain – and they were able to perform really well in those. So we’re quite versed in what they’re like as a team – they’re a very good, well-coached side and it’s going to be a big challenge,” Birnie says.

“We’re going to have to perform really well to compete with them and we’re going to have to execute everything we’ve worked on, take our chances and, by the end of the game, there should be some really tired girls if we’re going to come away with some points.”

The 21-strong squad includes Football Ferns goalkeeper Anna Leat, and three other players – captain Aneka Mittendorff, Gabi Rennie and Maggie Jenkins – who represented New Zealand at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in August. Birnie, who likewise knows what it’s like to compete on the global stage after leading New Zealand to the U-20 event in 2016, says the experience of that quartet is invaluable.

“Having them in this environment, especially off the field, has been a big help. They’ve been able to talk to the girls on how to deal with downtime and manage yourself off the field,” he says.

“And tomorrow they’ll be able to help manage moments of the game. If we can’t get the communication out there then we’ll be relying on those players. There’s a few good leaders in there and that experience is invaluable for the other 17 that haven’t been to a World Cup.”

With each team having only three matches to accrue enough points to make it past pool play, a strong start is essential.

“It’s really important, if you get a win first up and then another win or a draw then you’re probably out of the group. If you don’t then the following two games become life or death so it would be great to get three points straight off the mark and then have a bit of a lifeline later in the tournament if required,” Birnie says.

“We have to go out there and perform like we did in the Canada game and get it right tactically. Then if we can deal with the occasion and the crowd and overcome that quickly then I think we’ll be in a good space to hit the ground running.”

FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup (all NZT, live on SKY Sport)

New Zealand v Finland
Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo
Wednesday 14 November, 8am

Uruguay v New Zealand
Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo
Saturday 17 November, 11am

Ghana v New Zealand
Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo
Wednesday 21 November, 9am

New Zealand (from): 1. Anna Leat (GK), 2. Mackenzie Barry, 3. Hannah Mackay-Wright, 4. Aneka Mittendorff, 5. Marisa Van Der Meer, 6. Macey Fraser, 7. Gabi Rennie, 8. Amelia Abbott, 9. Maggie Jenkins, 10. Grace Wisnewski, 11. Kelli Brown, 12. Jayda Stewart, 13. Britney Cunningham-Lee, 14. Laney Strachan, 15. Genevieve Ryan, 16. Maya Hahn, 17. Ayla Pratt, 18. Rose Luxton, 19. Arabella Maynard, 20. Georgia Candy (GK), 21. Blair Currie (GK)
Coach: Leon Birnie

Article added: Tuesday 13 November 2018