Win or lose, Football Fern Ria Percival will create history when she steps out onto the hallowed turf of Wembley Stadium with her West Ham United team mates to take part in the Women’s FA Cup final in the early hours of Sunday morning (NZT).

No other New Zealander has ever played in an FA Cup final at the iconic venue in London, which has played host to numerous famous events, both in the sporting realm and a wider sense.

Those moments have given the stadium revered status all over the world and Percival is relishing the rare opportunity of creating her own personal connection.

“I never thought this would be possible,” says Percival, who has a New Zealand record of 139 international caps to her name.

“For any footballer, the dream is to play at Wembley and to get the chance to play there in my first year of playing in England is a massive achievement for me. But it’s also a great achievement as a team and as a club.”

Upon entering this year’s edition of the English female game’s most prestigious knockout trophy, the Hammers were not among the favourites to earn the chance to lift it. The women’s arm of West Ham is in its first year as a fulltime professional team and is gearing up for a first ever appearance in the FA Cup final.

Percival’s side will go in as heavy underdogs against a classy Manchester City outfit, who are second in the FA Women’s Super League and have accumulated twice as many points as their mid-table opponents.

But Percival, who has fought back from injury to be available for selection, sees no reason why West Ham can’t continue to upset the odds, particularly after beating fellow top-flight team Reading in the semi-finals.

“I think we’ve gained a lot of confidence after the win against Reading, that’s put us in a good spot and I’ve think we’ve realised we can compete against these teams,” she says.

“We’ve had two defeats against Man City in the league but, in patches of those games, we showed we can compete and even outplay them at times. If we can take that confidence and what we’ve learned from playing against them in the past, then anything can happen on the day.”

While she is set to write her own chapter in the history books on Sunday, Percival won’t be the first Kiwi to feature in a Women’s FA Cup final. That honour belongs to Football Ferns legend Maureen Jacobson, who lifted the trophy with Millwall in 1991.

But the final was not played at Wembley in those days and, while All Whites and Burnley striker Chris Wood has played and scored at the famous ground, that was in regular Premier League action when Tottenham Hotspur were temporarily based there.

A crowd in excess of 50,000 is expected for the Women’s FA Cup final, which would threaten the record attendance for a domestic female football match in England, set at 53,000 way back in 1920.

Percival says the enormity of the occasion is yet to dawn fully on herself and the rest of the West Ham squad but is expecting that to change in the build-up.

“We’re all excited and can’t wait to get there but I think it hasn’t really sunk in for a lot of us yet,” she says.

“I think we’ll get all the nerves and excitement once we go and look at the stadium before the match.”

West Ham United will take on Manchester City in the final of the Women’s FA Cup at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 5 May from 4.30am (NZT).

Article added: Saturday 04 May 2019