Flying Kiwis – February 23
Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)
Nothing but good news for Winston this week in every way. Nothing but good news in that there was no bad and nothing but good news in that there was only news too. We’re still at least a week away from Winnie getting back on the park but so long as there are no hiccups he’ll be back in training now.
Which means that their game on the weekend against Sunderland is a proper chance for his comeback, at least Slaven Bilic has said as much.
If not then, the week after that against Spurs is looking likely. One thing’s for sure, he oughta be there on March 14 (NZT) for the Hammers’ FA Cup quarter final against either Manchester United. The reason for that fixture was a thoroughly comprehensive win over Blackburn Rovers (Championship) on Monday morn that has WHU in with a real shot at their first major trophy since winning the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1999-00. Maybe.
(If you don’t wanna count that one (like, the competition doesn’t even exist anymore – it was only really an early/pre-season backdoor into the UEFA Cup and West Ham didn't make it past the second round that season) then you have to go back to the old Second Division in 1980-81. They did famously lose to Liverpool in the 2006 FA Cup Final though.)
Anyway, here are the highlights. Ben Marshall actually gave Rovers the lead in the first half but Victor Moses soon hauled that back before Dimitri Payet put the Hammers on top. Then, at 2-1 with 55 mins played, Blackburn pretty much blew it as Chris Taylor got himself sent off for a second yellow. Emmanuel Emenike added a double before Payet polished it off in injury time, despite Cheikhou Kouyate making it 10 v 10 on 75 mins with his own red while the score was at 3-1.
Elsewhere, respect the sacrifice. This stat goes for every player in the top 92 English Football League clubs, covering the Premier League down to League Two:
Shout outs to Chris Wood and Max Crocombe too. Crocombe has been chugging away in League Two, contracted to Oxford but played five games on loan at Barnet early in the season before switching to National League Southport on an initial three-month deal that was extended for the whole season. He’s played 17 times so far with six clean sheets, even winning the club’s Player of the Month award for January:
Up Next: West Ham vs Sunderland, 1.45am Sunday (NZT)
Chris Wood – Leeds United (English Championship)
Woody was already in proper doubt for Leeds’ FA Cup tie with Watford but any chance he had of an early return was ruined when he was also struck down by a virus.
Steve Evans to YEP: “Chris won’t make it for the weekend. I’m never one to sit there and give hope when there’s not and he’s just not quite right. We can’t establish whether it’s his hamstring because he’s just got a little virus that gives you a problem top to bottom and people will know what I mean by that. That completely rules him out and that would have ruled him out on his own.”
So no Cup game for him, if the hammy comes right then Leeds play Fulham on Wednesday and Brighton the following Tuesday. Or maybe not, they rushed him back last time and he ended up with a different muscle injury. He’s close all the same. Before the virus struck Wood was rated a 50-50 chance to play on the weekend.
Sadly the Cup dream is over though. The Whites may have toiled hard away to the Premier Leaguers of Watford, holding on tight in defence, but a comical own goal from Scott Wootton was the difference. Look at him, he’s beyond the back post. He’s hit that back towards his own goal. What this dude needs is some smaller shinguards.
Up Next: 8.45am Wednesday morning at home to Fulham (NZT)
Tommy Smith – Ipswich Town (English Championship)
There was no game for Ol’ Smithy this time around. With a few Championship teams still in the FA Cup, there were a handful of postponements to the regular round of fixtures and Town were one of those teams treated to a break. With the way results panned out, they sink now to ninth, five points out of the playoffs, albeit with a game in hand. They almost sunk further than that though, with the club popping up on a list at the Ministry of Justice of companies being served with winding-up orders. They’re a notoriously cheap club, but that felt like a pretty big stretch all the same. Turns out it was a service provider mistake.
Ipswich Town Managing Director Ian Milne to Radio Suffolk: “What happened was that a service provider issued a court petition for non-payment between Christmas and New Year whereby their automated processes accelerated this action, despite an agreement for payment to be made in early January.”
The payment was made, the creditor withdrew the petition and the entire issue was dismissed. Phew, that sounded a little NZ Football there for a sec.
Anyway, Ipswich play in-from Hull City on Weds morning. Top of the table and with only one loss in ten, Hull demolished Ipswich 3-0 the last time they met (in Hull) and they most recently held Arsenal to a 0-0 draw in the FA Cup. Smithy’s gonna need to be on form.
Looks like the Soccer School's doing well though:
Up Next: Ipswich vs Hull, 8.45am Wednesday (NZT)
Marco Rojas – FC Thun (Swiss Super League)
Hey check it out, somebody who isn’t injured and it’s Marco Rojas! The so-called Kiwi Messi (once again, terrible nickname) got all 90 minutes for Thun, the first time he’s done that in the Swiss Super League since the end of September, funnily enough that being the last time they played Young Boys too. To be fair that period includes a semi-serious injury and a winter break.
So yeah, Young Boys. One of the better teams in the division, sitting comfortably third, although with an axe to grind after a disappointing 1-1 draw away to the bottom team last week. They really did mean business, and they proved it nice and quick when Yuya Kubo beat his man, keeper Guillaume Faivre diving in late and taking him out. Penalty, up stepped Guillaume Hoarau who made no mistake.
Not much else happened in the first half, but as the second went on it started to open up. Firstly through YB who doubled their lead in the 63rd. Brilliant turn by Horau who then flicked it inside to Kubo and his shot was deflected between the two defenders on him and past the keeper for 2-0. Yoric Ravet then headed narrowly wide from a corner, before Thun finally posed a threat, Roman Buess drawing a top save from a strong header. Seconds later Kubo should’ve put the game beyond doubt as he was found wide open in the middle on about the penalty spot, a superb early ball across on the counter by Ravet. But somehow the Japanese youth international blasted it way over the top. Oops.
Usually when he starts, Rojas has been subbed off by now. But here he really came on in the last 15 minutes. First a shot at goal that drew big shouts for handball as it was blocked, no call. Then he waded to the back post on a deep cross and managed to get his header on target despite his natural vertical handicap, that one drew another decent save from YB goalie Yvon Mvogo. And then in the 88th minute he did get the call, winning a penalty after being taken down in the box. Buess converted but it was the final act in a 2-1 loss. Big impact from Lil Marco though, that’s what we wanna see.
Up Next: Home to league leaders FC Basel at 1.45am Monday (NZT)
Jeremy Brockie & Michael Boxall – SuperSport United (South African Premier Soccer League)
Brock and roll, baby. Take a peek at this fella:
After being suspended the week before in a 2-0 win over University of Pretoria (Mike Boxall got the full 90), Brockie was back in the starters and doing what he does best… scoring superb volleys. Unfortunately this one, against Kaizer Chiefs, wasn’t worth any points on the table. Despite being an 84th minute equaliser, SSU went and conceded again in the 89th min, William Twala stealing the points for the home team. Still, at least Brox was back on the scoresheet. It hasn’t been a season like his first one where he could stop scoring but he’s had a few important ones all the same. SuperSport are 11th of 16 teams after 20 games and Brockie has missed only one start (suspension for his fourth yellow card of the season). Kickoff called him SSU’s “first name on the teamsheet”. In those games he has 6 goals. Michael Boxall has 17 starts with 2 goals and 6 yellows, per whoscored.com. Not fantastic on the league table, for a team with a decent wage bill it was enough for them to sack their coach at the end of January. Here's Brockie talking about the adjustments.
Up Next: Away to Jomo Cosmos at 2.30am Sunday (NZT)
Dan Keat and Friends – Gothenburg AIS (Swedish Superettan)
Remember the last game of the 2015 Swedish football season, kiwi Dan Keat (formerly of LA Galaxy) scored a screamer for Falkenbergs FF as they avoided relegation to the second tier by the skin of their teeth. His goal helped them to a 1-1 draw and a 3-3 aggregate against Sirius that saved their top flight status by away goals. Here’s the stunner in its majestic glory:
Ah, but after 70 games and 9 goals, including a second division title to get them promoted in the first place, Keat was released at the end of his contract and ended up back in the Superettan (II) anyway. You know this, it’s already been covered in Flying Kiwis. The club referred to him as an “extremely hard-working, two-way player with very good offensive qualities” and he apparently “brings professionalism and has a very high physical capacities with enormous good test values”. (Quotes from GAIS.se). So good for him, that move went through early in January and this week there were some developments that get him back in the spotlight.
First off, they lost in the Swedish Cup by Helsingborg. 3-1 away to the eighth placed team in Sweden last season (Swedish footy runs on a different schedule due to the weather and all that). The Swedish Cup is a weird one, it’s notoriously disinteresting to fans, who don’t always bother going even to the final. So the Swedish FA have messed around with the format, it being knockouts for the first two rounds, then a group stage, then knockouts from quarter finals on. They’re in the group stage at the moment, GAIS advancing that far on penalties away to Norrby IF last round – which was played in August. Yeah, bit weird. So they have two more Cup games to try get that top spot and a place in the quarters (which is unlikely). Anyway, that Helsingborg game was Keat’s competitive debut for the club but it was also the competitive debut for another kiwi – Steven Old. The former Nix defender has also found his way to GAIS, and he isn’t the only one:
Check it out, Craig Henderson is there too now, as of the other day. A trio of kiwis playing in Sweden for GAIS:
“Getting a third player from New Zealand to GAIS is special and in this case it is a midfielder who has played a lot together with Dan Keat. They are good friends and have known each other since they were little. Hopefully, it will also be a force on the field, says chairman Tomas Andersson.”
Surprisingly Henderson has never played for the All Whites, having pulled out with injury after getting selected for a friendly against Mexico in 2010. Maybe it ain’t too late, not if we get a NZ-led promotion run this season. They have two more Cup games, against Orebro SK (I) and BK Forward (III), those games will be played weekly before the main season starts in early April.