Football Ferns coach says New Zealand will never compete with Japan's quality
Japan's Mina Tanaka showed her class with a first half hat-trick which helped sink the Football Ferns in the women's international in Wellington on Sunday.
Football Ferns coach Andreas Heraf says he would rather play defensive and lose 3-1, than have a crack and potentially lose by more.
The 50-year-old, who has also worked as New Zealand Football's technical director since arriving from Austria in August, made a series of curious remarks after the Ferns lost 3-1 to Japan at Westpac Stadium in Wellington on Sunday afternoon.
They attracted a record crowd of 7236 for a women's football match in New Zealand, but many would have left scratching their heads after the Ferns setup in a 5-4-1 formation and held just 27 per cent of possession.
Football Ferns coach Andreas Heraf demonstrates a move to Katie Bowen, left, and Rosie White at halftime of their match against Japan.
Heraf said the approach was to work on their defence with an eye to next year's World Cup. More broadly, he said New Zealand could not compete with the talent countries such as Japan have.
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"We will never have that quality to compete with Japan and even be better than Japan. That's not working.
Football Ferns coach Coach Andreas Heraf speaks to Rosie White.
"[Japan] have I think 127 million people in [their] country, we have 4.5 million, so there must be a difference. There is more money, more facilities, better coaches in the country. The gap is that big, so for that I think we tried to do our best and the girls have done that."
That was quite a statement to make for the person responsible for not only coaching the Ferns, but overseeing the entire high performance programme in New Zealand.
This was only Heraf's fifth game in charge of the Ferns, but he rebuked a question that suggested he was starting his tenure from a negative mindset.
Football Ferns coach Andreas Heraf and defender Meikayla Moore speak to media after the game on Sunday.
"What would you prefer?," he replied.
"To try and play some football?," was the response from the journalist.
"And losing 8-0?," Heraf responded.
Football Ferns' goalkeeper Erin Nayler has no chance to stop Japan's first goal.
"When have they lost 8-0?," the journalist asked,
"No, but you could lose 8-0 against a team like they [Japan] are. It's not a negative mindset, it's a smart one."
So fear of a hefty defeat appeared to be behind the defensive tactics.
Football Ferns' Sarah Gregorius crosses in front of a banner supporting her.
They could well have lost by six if Japan had put away their chances.
They were up 3-1 by halftime thanks to a Mina Tanaka hat-trick. The first 45 minutes also saw Meikayla Moore score for the Ferns, as well as hitting her own post when trying to clear a cross. Japan also had a good penalty shout waved away.
In the second half, Japan missed an open goal and hit the post.
The Football Ferns form a huddle before their game against Japan.
Another exchange with Heraf centred around how people might perceive the team after such a porous performance in front of so many fans.
"Could you imagine how negative the mindset would be if we lost 6-1 for example?," was his response.
"We were working on not conceding too many goals and I think, to be honest, conceding three goals against Japan is OK. I don't like it, because I want to play nil, but we conceded three goals, but if you're honest we could concede five, six, seven or eight, and then it would be really interesting what you would tell me here if we conceded six, seven or eight."
The attention then turned to Moore, sitting next to Heraf, as a NZF staffer directed a question her way about her first international goal to get the heat off Heraf in what was turning into a tense press conference.
She was then asked about the positives to take from the game, and she went through a number of pauses before producing a 30-second answer which provided no positive outcomes from the game.
"We're all behind Andreas' thinking," she then offered up, unprompted.
It will be interesting to see if that remains the case, with former captain Abby Erceg having already walked away from the Ferns and back into retirement after their two losses to Scotland in March.
AT A GLANCE
Japan 3 (Mina Tanaka 17' 34' 44') New Zealand 1 (Meikayla Moore 18'). HT: 3-1
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