New coach Jitka Klimkova has confirmed she'll be making some line-up changes for the Football Ferns' rematch with Canada on Wednesday (NZ time).
In her first match in charge of the national side on Sunday, Klimkova's team were outclassed by the Tokyo Olympic gold-medallists, thoroughly beaten 5-1 in Ottawa.
Despite Sunday's heavy defeat, Klimkova has no hesitations about giving some of the lesser experienced members of her squad a run in Montreal
"We are going to make changes," says Klimkova.
"We are going to give the opportunity to the younger ones, and we are going to have some new starters.”
Klimkova says she'll look to make five or six changes to her starting XI, while maintaining a foundation of her veteran leaders.
The defensive unit struggled to cope with Canada's variety of weapons in the capital last weekend, but Klimkova is confident they've adequately addressed some of those issues.
The most obvious candidate for promotion is defender Tahlia Hermann-Watt, who was named to the bench for the first test but never made it onto the field.
There are also other options at goalkeeper, with Anna Leat and Vic Esson waiting in the wings to replace Erin Nayler, who had a torrid time in the opening game of the series.
"That was the challenge or situation that we were talking about with the players and with our coaches, and we believe it's sorted out," Klimkova insists.
"We are expecting a very similar style of play from Canada, but now I would say specifically defensively, we are more prepared for the flank areas and to defend those areas."
Last month, Czech-born Klimkova took over the head coach role from Tom Sermanni, who stepped down after the Tokyo Olympics.
