FORMER NEW ZEALAND MANAGER TO LEAD CANADIAN WOMEN TOWARDS 2015                              31st August 2011

 

Duane Rollins at the 24th Minute reports that the CSA will announce tomorrow that former New Zealand manager John Herdman will take over the coaching job of the Canadian Women's national team.

Herdman has been working in New Zealand since 2003 and has led the senior women’s team there since 2007. New Zealand has qualified for the last two major events under Herdman.

A source close to the CSA said that the federation underwent an “exhaustive” search to replace Carolina Morace and was never prepared to hire an under qualified domestic coach to save money. Herdman’s salary was not disclosed, but it’s expected to be close to what Morace received.

In New Zealand Herdman also acted as a technical director and he’s expected to undertake the same role here in Canada.

 

The Globe and Mail and All White Kit printed the same news: The CSA will announce on 1st September 2011 that former New Zealand manager John Herdman will take over the Canadian women’s national team.

The CSA has scheduled a conference call for what it calls “an important announcement regarding the women's national team program.”

Coaching experience at the international level was reportedly high on the list of the CSA’s requirements. He was merely 31 when he coached the Football Ferns in the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup – some kind of record, for sure.

 

This summer, New Zealand exceeded expectations and narrowly missed out on qualification out of Group B. Herdman clearly relishes the challenges that come with a long-term youth project, and according to the report, he is also expected to assume the role of technical director.

Now the question is what will become of Carolina Morace’s progressive, “intellectual challenging” brand of soccer.

 

Several players on Twitter lament that they had to learn of the appointment over social networking.