The Football Ferns will complete their overseas preparation for the World Cup against Iceland. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Football Ferns will play Iceland and Nigeria in Turkey next month as part of their preparation for the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia in July.
The team plays Iceland on Saturday 8 April and Nigeria four days later.
New Zealand is ranked 24th in the world, Iceland 16th and Nigeria 45th.
Nigeria’s confirmation means the Ferns have played a team from each FIFA confederation outside of Oceania in preparation for the tournament.
The games will be the last overseas games the team will play before the tournament, with the extended squad gathering in New Zealand from the end of May to begin pre-tournament and warm-up games two months before the tournament.
“These are two good teams and a great test for us before the tournament,” said coach Jitka Klimková.
“We played Iceland just over a year ago so this game is a good opportunity to see how we’ve progressed.
“We also really wanted to play an African team, so we have challenged every other confederation and Nigeria are the perfect opponents,” she said.
“As a team we were disappointed with the results against Portugal and Argentina so I know everyone is keen to get back on the pitch and show what we can do.”
New Zealand lost 5-0 and 1-0 to Portugal in February and also to Argentina 2-0 and 1-0 last month.
-RNZ
