Flying Kiwis will keep you up to date on the endeavours of New Zealand sports folk overseas. Not the battlers, mind you, but the genuine overlooked and underappreciated superstars that for some ridiculous reason don’t get a look in on local media. Normally we’d cover the most recent week’s games, but having had a little break over the holidays, we figured we’d get you up to speed on the whole season’s worth of games.

Chris Wood – Leicester City (English Championship)

It’s been an up and down season for Woody. It started off slow, as he found himself playing off the bench most games, but he went through a great patch of form around August and September, mostly in the League Cup as others were rested. Leicester City went on a bit of a run in that cup, eventually losing 3-1 to Manchester City in the Quarter Finals. Unfortunately a third round loss to Stoke City meant they weren’t able to replicate that run in the FA Cup as well. For Wood, the seasons highlight has surely been his hattrick against Carlisle Utd in the second round of the League Cup, which earned him a real shot at a starting gig. Leicester are pretty well set with their forward line, former England international Dave Nugent is the playmaker, and in the past few months Jamie Vardy has established himself as the second starter with a number of goals, including the Football League goal of the month for December. Vardy’s strong form and an untimely (aren’t they all?) injury has meant Wood has been getting most of his game time off the bench once more these days, with just four league starts all season (plus 10 substitute apps). It’s good to remember that Wood is still only 22 though, and with The Foxes on a red hot streak in the League (6 consecutive wins), they’ve established themselves as clear leaders in the Championship, 5 points ahead of their nearest rivals, and with automatic promotion to the Premier League looking much more than just a hope and a dream. Wood made a few brief appearances in the EPL back with West Brom, but was never able to carve out a permanent role, spending most of his time on loan before finally sealing the move to LCFC last New Year’s. The future looks bright.

He also gets points for fluke goal of the year:

...and for best taste in toasted sandwiches:

Up Next: Leicester City host Middlesbrough 4am Sunday morning (NZT)

Tommy Smith – Ipswich Town (English Championship)

Definitely the most consistent of the lads. Smith, barring a brief hiatus due to All Whites duty, has played every single available minute for Ipswich, fortifying his role at centre back for Mick McCarthy’s side. While he’s not the physically strongest player, CB partner Christophe Berra more than makes up for that, he’s clever and usually in the right place. Plus his aerial ability is superb, so much so that he’s been making himself known going forward too with a few goals to his name. It’s slightly hard to believe based on his disappointing All Whites form against the speedy Mexicans, but Tommy Smith is a genuine talent. His distribution from defence is a little shaky, especially given his tendency to the long ball (something he has in common with Winston Reid – so maybe don’t expect that Phoenix-style flair to transfer entirely to the national team), though that’s just the way McCarthy’s teams play, to be honest. Ipswich hasn’t managed a cup run in either domestic knockout. Still, their league form has been decent and they remain in the running for a playoff spot and maybe, should things pick up for the best. They’re currently 5 points off sixth place with a game in hand. Oh, and Tommy also scored a contender for goal of the season in the loss to QPR recently:

Up Next: 4am Sunday morning vs Reading (NZT)

Marco Rojas – VfB Stuttgart (Bundesliga)

It’s been a long way back from injury for Marco Rojas, or ‘The Kiwi Messi’ as some idiots have dubbed him. He scored on debut in a preseason friendly match, but picked up a foot injury which derailed his entire preparation, and probably set him back months with the time that he missed training with the top team and learning whatever processes the German leagues require. Plus, y’know, it was never realistic to expect a guy in his position to walk into a top 10 team in one of the toughest leagues in the world. His integration into Stuttgart has been pretty much ignored, and it’s almost impossible to find records of him playing anywhere. No appearances on the bench or anything. Plus the reserve system is very different in Germany. Instead of playing non-league games in a specialist reserve league, the reserve teams (Stuttgart II in this case) play in lower leagues, challenging for promotion and everything. It’s more like a parent/feeder club relationship. So for Marco to play reserves he’d effectively need to be loaned out. So by the process of elimination, we can figure that he’s training hard with the first team, and hoping for a break one day soon (one different to the one in his foot obviously). In the absence of any game analysis, here are some pretty pictures of him training:

For the record, Stuttgart is sitting in tenth place on the Bundesliga table with 19 points from 16 games.

Up Next: Stutters host Mainz on Sunday morning 3.30am (NZT)

Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)

The pride and joy of New Zealand football. Where would we be if he hadn’t committed to the All Whites? No, banish the thought. Winston is not only the best current NZ player, but he is one of the most important players at a top flight club. His defensive leadership for the Hammers was crucial to their early season success at the back (scoring goals was a different matter…), as they kept 3 clean sheets in their first 4 EPL games. They’re still deep in the relegation battle, but will be looking forward to the return of Winston Reid (David Gold reckons that return could be sooner than most think…). To be honest, and this isn’t just because he’s a stalwart of this column, West Ham are actually pretty lost without him. They’ve called in Roger Johnson (formerly of Birmingham and a few others) on loan to help fill the short term gaps, and that’s a pretty good indication of their troubles. Andy Carroll is finally back up front, but the goals are yet to flow. He’s only played 10 EPL games this season, but Winston Reid is, on balance, the best performing Hammer of the season, with 2 man of the match performances and a cheeky goal to boot.

Up Next: Tomorrow morning they try overhaul a 5 goal defecit in the return leg of the Carling Cup semi with Man City (NZT)

Ryan Nelsen – Toronto FC (Major League Soccer)

A new addition to this column, we’ll try keep an eye out across the Atlantic at how Mr Nelsen affirms himself in the cutthroat world of football management. Since retiring from the game midway through last season to take this job, things haven’t been exactly smooth sailing. Inheriting a struggling team, Nelsen took them to the giddy heights of, well… third to last. But the MLS is a franchise league, so there’s no relegation, so all good Ryan. This is the season that he’ll really be judged on. There are still a few months until the league begins, and a full preseason to come, but expectations are rising after some very solid recruitment. They drafted (yeah, they have drafts) a very highly rated centre back, Nick Hagglund, who seems to be of the nugget variety (he’ll love working with Nelsen then), plus picked up midfielder Dwayne De Rosario, the team’s all-time leading goal scorer, from DC United (the team where Nelsen made his name). De Rosario left Toronto in 2011, and has played 77 times for Canada. Then Ryan Nelsen really showed his influence, as he managed to bring in the talented US international Michael Bradley from AS Roma, English tough guy (he spent a month in prison after a ‘bar fight’ 8 years back) Bradley Orr on loan from another of Nelsen’s old teams Blackburn, and a former teammate at Tottenham, Jermaine Defoe, the most high profile of all. The wage bill must be getting pretty high, hopefully he can coax the results to justify it. If Nelsen is one thing above all else, it’s a born leader.

Up Next: Not much, but watch this space…