Football Ferns coach Jitka Klimková concedes her side deserved to lose their international friendly to Portugal.
“I have to be really honest to our fans, our plan was different: we wanted to have a win, and we lost five zero,” the New Zealand coach said after her side’s 5-0 drubbing in Hamilton.
“And we know that we should be doing a better job, we should be possessing better, we should be defending better.
“So today it was not good enough, and we deserved to lose today.”
Klimková opted for an unfamiliar 3-5-2 formation, pushing captain Ali Riley and CJ Bott licence to maraud on the wings.
But the plan backfired and Portugal outgunned the Ferns in possession, shots and, ultimately, goals.
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Midfielder Olivia Chance, playing in her hometown for the Ferns for the first time, said:
“Individually, we weren’t good enough, and we know that.
“We all know that as players, we wanted to put on a performance.
“We care so much about this World Cup in five months, and today wasn’t good enough.
“Obviously, I’m not happy. I’m at home, and I want to play well. It’s hard to come back to Hamilton and not put on a good performance, but it’s about how we react now,
“You can see these as a bit of a wake-up call.
“I agree with Jitka. It was the basics that we didn’t do well today.
“First touch, get your head up, know what you’re doing next, tracking our players, getting tight … so there’s so many things that we can fix.
“A lot of those girls are disappointed in there. We let ourselves down. So I think, you know, now it’s about what we can do against Argentina and, pick our heads back up and, and go on the next one.”
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