Anna McPhie. PHOTOS/FILE
FOOTBALL
CHRIS COGDALE
[email protected]
Three Wairarapa United players have been picked for national age-group training camps.
Anna McPhie and Molly Woodhead will go for the Under-20s ID Camp, while Nina Kondo, 14, has been included in the Under-17 ID camp in April.
The selection of 18-year-olds McPhie and Woodhead comes after strong seasons by the pair for Wairarapa United and the Capital Football senior women’s team, who finished fourth in the national league.
McPhie’s goal-scoring exploits in the 2018 Central W-League had her named Capital Football’s Young Women’s Player of the Year.
Woodhead is renowned for her strong defence and was awarded the Wairarapa United Coach’s Player of the Year award.
Kondo is a recent addition to the Wairarapa United squad.
The Solway College pupil is a member of the Paul Ifill Academy and has impressed in two pre-season games for United.
In 2018, Kondo was one of nine players, and the first overseas player, selected for the youth development squad at the professional Japan League club, the Urawa Reds, while she was on holiday visiting her Japanese grandparents.
The training camps are the first steps for the trio towards gaining selection for the Oceania qualifying series for the 2020 Under-20 World Cup, and the 2020 Under-17 World Cup.
