Football Ferns head coach Tom Sermanni is in final preparations for his side's first big step towards this year's World Cup, and he admits he's got some nerves going into it.
Sermanni sat down with TVNZ FC this week to talk about the state of the side as they prepare for next week's Nations Cup, in which they'll play Australia, Argentina and Korea.
"Players are coming in from all sorts of parts of the world. We've got some from here, domestically, but then we've got a lot coming in from Europe and a couple coming in from the US," he said.
"I used to think when I was a younger coach, 'When I get older it'll get a lot easier,' and it actually doesn't. We will be a bit nervous for the games."
The tournament, which for the Football Ferns starts next Thursday against Australia in Sydney, will, however, serve as a foundation for the side to know where they're at heading into their busy year, Sermanni says.
"This next six months will be a lot more testing on and off the field where difficult decisions are going to be made, whether it's selection or actually making squads and playing against very challenging teams.
"We're at the business end now heading right through to the World Cup."
Sermanni also said he managed to catch up with Phoenix coach Mark Rudan last week before the A-League clash at Eden Park and admitted they have "similar" storylines - having both entered Kiwi teams needing a change in culture.
"There was probably a lot of people in the Phoenix who were looking for someone to come in and just take them forward and the club has bought into that," he said.
The TVNZ FC panel, this week hosted by Victor Waters and joined by Simon Plumb and Jack Mabire, also spoke about a couple of another managers currently making headlines in the game.
The team discussed whether Maurizio Sarri is on the chopping block at Chelsea as their season continues to slide, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer enjoying life at the other end of the spectrum with United - and whether he's the man to take over fulltime.
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