Focus on Women’s World Cup qualifiers

By PATRICIA KEAMO
PAPUA New Guinea Football Association (PNGFA) general secretary Pius Letenge says the sport’s national governing body is focusing on preparing the national team for the 2023 Women’s World Cup qualifiers.
Letenge told The National yesterday that PNGFA had received advice from Fifa that the country had a good chance of securing a spot for the World Cup.
“With New Zealand automatically qualifying for the World Cup as the co-host alongside Australia, that gives PNG a chance because they (Football Ferns) have always been our toughest opposition in Oceania,” he said.
“But that doesn’t mean we underestimate the other countries, we don’t know how they have been preparing so we have to work hard to qualify.”
Letenge said as part of the preparations for the qualifiers, PNGFA’s executive committee would be recommended to recruit international coaches to train the national team.
The local coaches, appointed by PNGFA to run two training camps for the train-on-squad, have years of experience between them.
Letenge said with the inclusion of international coaches, it would bolster the country’s preparations to face other Oceania countries in the qualifiers.
The national team have always been second to New Zealand in Oceania and with the Football Ferns having already qualified as a host nation, this gives PNG a strong chance to qualify for their first World Cup.
Some of the players in the train-on-squad include senior women who were part of the national team that competed in the 2014 and 2018 Oceania Football Confederation’s (OFC) Nations Cup where PNG ranked second and third respectively.