Flying Kiwis – February 13
Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle vs Marco Rojas – sc Heerenveen (Dutch Eredivisie)
There are three things that get the Flying Kiwis radar all perked up: goals, transfers and derby games. This one falls into the latter, as Ryan Thomas’ PECers took on Marco Rojas’ Heeries. Only problem was that while Thommo has long since paid his dues with his team and continues to go from strength to strength, Marco’s in those early stages and still trying to prove himself. So in a case of reverse fortunes, Rojas was left on the bench as an unused sub while Thomas was given the captain’s armband.
At least that made the game easy to cheer for… and the kiwi favourites lived up to the billing (despite a couple scares). Wouter Marinus and Younes Namli made sure that Zwolle hit the sheds with the advantage and Mustafa Saymak smacked in a third after Denzel Dumfries had made things tricky. Zwolle then eased off with the victory mostly assured and that allowed Reza Ghoochannejhad to make it 3-2… but the Zwolle defence woke up and killed it off after that.
Nice to see Thommo getting ninety minutes in, also nice to see Zwolle winning. They’ve been patchy since coming back from the winter break and a minor fitness scare for their NZ midfielder didn’t help. Having ended the first half of the season with a disappointing 4-0 defeat at ADO Den Haag, they then dropped three of their first four games after the resumption (including getting knocked out of the cup). Also nice to see Ryan and Marco bump into each other on the pitch after the final whistle.
That was in the midweek. Things reverted back to the dumb stuff on the weekend. Thomas retained the captaincy but needed a bit more heat in his shooting boots in the 2-1 defeat at Utrecht. It wasn’t a good performance. They were 2-0 down a quarter of the way into things and it could have been worse. They picked it up in the second half and Thomas threatened a couple times but that was all they could muster until Mustafa Saymak scored a late penalty (in the third minute of injury time, so no hope for an equaliser). Not enough, though, all a bit flat after the short turnaround.
Up Next: PEC Zwolle vs Ajax at 4.45am on Monday (NZT)
Tyler Boyd – CD Tondela (Portuguese Primeira Liga)
Might as well cut straight to the chase here, check this out:
36th minute of the game, away to Pacos de Ferreira. Miguel Cardoso barges past his defender down the left and whips in a smart cross. At the same time across comes the right winger, dashing towards the near post, and he leaps up ahead of his defender to header in the goal. That right winger? None other than Tyler Boyd, of course. Making his third start of the league season, this was his third goal.
Having scored in the last game before the winter break (a consolation against Benfica, coming off the bench), Boyd was given the start a month later in their next game but was replaced after 58 minutes of a 1-1 draw with Vitoria Setubal. He’s since come off the bench three more times before getting the full ninety in this one. First time he’s played 90 mins for Tondela since the first game of the season (he also got ninety in a cup game a week before the Liga kicked off).
Crazy game, this. Tondela had already taken the lead thanks to Pedro Nuno and were looking good 2-0 up at half-time. Boyd wasn’t far from that first goal either, the cut-back from Tomané going behind his run, which created the space for Nuno to strike. Tondela were already having to absorb a lot of possession from the home side and it only got worse when, almost an hour in, Ícaro had to be a dumb bugger and hurl six springs up into a one-legged challenge which saw him given his marching orders.
Tondela are a solid counter attacking team with a decent defensive shape, they were holding on pretty well with eleven men but obviously it got harder after the red. What they needed was to even that out with a red for the other lot, right? Well ten minutes later they got exactly that… except it was Rui Correia who was sent off and he wasn’t even on the pitch. One of the Ferreira subs was marched without even getting out there. All goods, Tondela held on for a valuable 2-0 win that gains them plenty of ground on the relegation fodder below.
Gonna be interesting to see if Tyler’s able to sneak back into the All Whites conversation now that he’s doing stuff on the regular and there’ll soon be a new national team gaffer. He fell out of favour with Anthony Hudson after declining a call-up but you’d imagine the new boss brings a clean slate with him. There aren’t many kiwi players with the pace and attacking instinct of Boyd, after all.
Up Next: Tondela vs Sporting, 9.00am on Tuesday 20 Feb (NZT)
Olivia Chance – Everton vs Anna Green – Reading (English Super League)
After her FA Cup heroics last week, there’s been plenty of Olivia Chance chatter on the Everton website. A talk about her double against Bristol City but also a published feature about her career that first appeared in the Everton club magazine. We’ll begin with last week’s effort and some more on a contentiously intended goal…
Olivia Chance: “It was a shot! It was a genuine attempt on goal so I was pleased to see it go in. Obviously we needed it in the game but on personal note, it has been a while since I have been on the scoresheet. There were no doubts over the second one! Chloe Kelly has played a good ball over from the right, Courtney [Sweetman-Kirk] has made a good run to create a little space and I just had to put it in the back of the net. I was a little bit nervous to see the keeper get a hand to it but thankfully it wasn’t enough.”
For the full recap, check up on last week’s Flying Kiwis but suffice to say that Chance’s double led Everton to a 3-1 win over Bristol City. Liv digs a bit of FA Cup action too, as she explains…
OC: “It is a year since I signed for Everton. On my debut I scored a brace in the FA Cup, and one year later I have done the same. A big aim this week has been going forward and being positive, so I wanted to have an effect on this game in that manner. It’s great to get on the scoresheet but more important than that was winning the game and staying in the FA Cup. It is a competition that we want to do well in.”
As for the magazine feature, it’s a pretty interesting read. Click the link below and have a peek at it, she talks about her own career developments and her dreams of playing at the Olympics as well as her place in the national team and the wider Football Ferns situation. Chance stepped away from the Ferns briefly to finish her university studies in America before she’d really had the opportunity to work into that squad on the regular so she’s been a bit of a late bloomer at the international level. Just got named in the team to play Scotland as well.
Olivia Chance on the Fernies: “We have a new coach as well, Andreas Heraf, so there is a fresh environment. It is a transitional period for us, certainly. We are starting to generate more players into the professional leagues all over the world. For instance, there is Anna Green at Reading over here, our captain Ali Riley plays in Sweden, Katie Bowen is in America, Katie Rood’s at Juventus and Amber Hearn is currently with FC Koln. So slowly we are getting there and hopefully this current time will be a huge step towards progressing as a team and as a country.”
Wait but you see that versus in the chapter title? Sweet as, mate, got ourselves another head to head. And unlike the other one where one dude didn’t even play, both Olivia Chance and Anna Green got full games against each other. A bit rare that, Chance can say she’s played herself into the starting team maybe but Greenie’s had to do what Rojas is currently doing and wait patiently. With recent injuries in the squad, she’s now got a little window to impress.
However Everton are the form team (well, neither’s in great form but Everton have at least been playing better) and they took the lead pretty quickly on a very chilly afternoon thanks to Courtney Sweetman-Kirk and Chloe Kelly made it 2-0 within half an hour. Rachel Furness’ header had it at 2-1 going into half-time and it was Reading who played most of the football in the second… yet the closest they could get was when Brooke Chaplen’s shot, with only eight mins left, rocketed off the post. So… pretty darn close. But Everton claimed it 2-1. Jumps them up to eighth and only behind Reading on goal difference now.
Ain’t it lovely when it all comes together? This was only the second time all season that Chance had played the full ninety in a league game (her fourth start) and the first start at all for Green in this season’s WSL. Prior to this it’d been seven mins off the bench against Bristol City and cup games. But they both had full games in the one they played against each other. Beautiful. And if you’re keen on a full replay then it was live streamed on the WSL’s Facebook.
Up Next: Everton have an FA Cup game against Lewes at 3.00am on Monday while Reading are off until the following Thursday against Bristol City, 8.45am (NZT)
Chris Wood – Burnley & Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)
Honestly, these two. If it’s not one thing after the other then it’s just one really long thing. Neither has played a game in over a month, The Woodsman last played on December 23 while Reidy’s been out since the first week of January (although he did return to the bench last week at Brighton).
Sean Dyche has been casual with his comments on Woody’s knee injury, every week he seems to suggest he’s on the brink of a return. But what wasn’t initially considered much of a knock has continued to linger. It’s been diagnosed as an MCL issue but maybe he’ll wanna go get a second opinion with Andy Durante’s doctor or something.
Sean Dyche: “They’re humans aren't they? One settles down quickly, one doesn’t. Medial ligament injuries usually settle down quickly, his hasn’t. Each person will heal in different ways, that’s the undefinable. You can treat two bodies exactly the same and they react differently. I was generally expecting it to be three weeks or so, now we’re at five or six weeks, which was unexpected, but they’re humans.”
Burnley lost 1-0 to Swansea as Ki Sung-yueng whacked in the winner with around ten mins left of an otherwise tight one. Probably gotta admit that Swansea, looking resurgent under Carlos Carvalhal, deserved it more.
As for Winston, he slipped back off the end of the bench with fitter dudes available to play Watford and thus got to watch from the comfort of his warm bed at home as the Hammers won 2-0 (goals from Hernandez and Arnautovic, one in each half). It wasn’t a recurrence of his injury though, instead it was a throat infection that laid him down. In other news, West Ham signed Man United legend Patrice Evra – last seen kicking a fan in the crowd at Marseille – for the rest of the season. Cool.
Up Next: Burnley are next up against Southampton at 4.00am on Sunday 25th while West Ham travel to Anfield to face Liverpool at the same damned time (NZT)
Jeremy Brockie – Mamelodi Sundowns (South African Premier Soccer League)
Still waiting on that first goal for the new club but at least Brockie’s still in with a shot at a third straight Nedbank Cup victory. The Sundowns had to sweat it out against CT All Stars for a 1-0 win. Percy Tau scored the goal an hour in while Brox played 81 minutes before being replaced by Thokazani Sekotlong. Didn’t play poorly, didn’t miss any sitters or anything. It’s just taking a minute to adjust to a new team is all.
Soccer Laduma Best & Worst: “Jeremy Brockie: 5/10 - Brockie didn't threaten that much in either half. Although, he hardly any services to work with.”
That makes it four games for the Brazilians now, without a goal to show for it. He came off the bench in his first two games though and has only logged 185 minutes all up so we’re far from having to worry about his form (granted, he wasn’t banging them in for SuperSport when he got sold). With all the competitions that Mamelodi Sundowns are slugging away at, he’ll get plenty of opportunities.
Jeremy Brockie: “When you get to a new club‚ you always want to find your feet and put the ball in the back of the net. I didn't have too many chances against City‚ disappointed with the header that I had against Chiefs. I'm slowly getting closer and closer and I'm sure once that first one comes‚ there will no pressure on me whether from the technical team or players. They know that it will happen when it happens. Once that first one is off my back‚ it will start flowing from there.”
Up Next: Thursday at 6.30am at home to Free State Stars in the PSL (NZT)
Rebekah Stott – Melbourne City (Australian W-League)
One more game in Aussie to take care of for Stotty before she heads back to America to meet her new Sky Blue teammates… and it’s the small matter of the W-League Grand Final. That’s after Stott featured in an impressive 2-0 win away from home against Brisbane in the semi, Aivi Luik breaking the deadlock in the second half via a deflected shot (against her old team) before Welsh international Jess Fishlock added another. Super win for City, who qualified for the semis in fourth and then knocked out the premiers.
Then again, City are the two-time defending champs so they know their way around a knockout game and Stott was a part of those victorious squads so she’s looking to go back to back to back. Plus she won with Melbourne Victory back in 2010/11. Basically all Rebekah Stott does is win. The Roar had their chances here but couldn’t make them count. They’ll play Sydney FC in the final after they beat Newcastle 3-2 in extra time.
Up Next: Sydney vs Melbourne City, 7.00pm on Sunday, W-League Grand Final (NZT)
Abby Erceg – North Carolina Courage (American National Women’s Soccer League)
ICYMI:
Up Next: FOOTY FERNS DUTY! (and also NWSL preseason)
Michael Boxall – Minnesota United (American Major League Soccer)
Up Next: Preseason Impressions
Stefan Marinovic, Myer Bevan & Corey Brown – Vancouver Whitecaps (American Major League Soccer)
Okay, just business as usual then. The Whitecaps have now completed their Hawaii tour, Marinovic firmly reinforcing his first choice keeping status while Myer Bevan was part of the second half team that played the first game of three (getting subbed off late for a 15 year old academy bloke) before missing out on the next two matches. Corey Brown didn’t join the travelling squad at all. Hey but Bevan looks like he had a good time at the beach in the meantime.
Up Next: More preseason, same as all the Americans
Jake Gleeson, Bill Tuiloma & Stuart Holthusen – Portland Timbers (American Major League Soccer)
This is nice of them…
And this is nice of Billy and a few teammates…
Up Next: You know the drill
Tommy Smith, Kip Colvey & Deklan Wynne – Colorado Rapids (American Major League Soccer)
And so it begins. Smithy has linked up with the Rapids and walked straight into the first XI for their next preseason game, a 9-0 win against a UPSL team (Sporting AZ). Jack Price also started, an English midfielder who’s signed from Wolverhampton Wanderers in his homeland. After an hour they made a complete run of changes, with Deklan Wynne amongst the introductions. No Kip Colvey on this occasion. But guess what? Colvey won the team beep test a couple weeks ago in their initial fitness testing, just as he did at San Jose Earthquakes a year ago. The man can run all day.
The team’s now back in camp in Tuscon and will play a friendly against Phoenix Rising in a couple days. The MLS regular season begins in three weeks.
Up Next: See Above
Erin Nayler– Girondins Bordeaux (French Division 1 Féminine)
Not a bad view for a very decent goal, that. Pleased to say that it was the only goal of the game as well as GB bounced back to winning ways in beating Albi ASPTT. Exactly what they needed after being on the wrong end of a couple 1-0s the past two games. It also means a first clean sheet for Nayler since before the winter break, always a bonus, and it comes just in time for the rematch next week, the last game before the international break, with Erin’s old team: Olympique Lyonnais. Never did get a league start for them so it’ll be rewarding to show ‘em what they missed out on.
Up next: Bodeaux vs Lyon, 3.00am on Monday (NZT)
Max Crocombe – Salford City (English National League North)
D’oh! Especially when it’s the only goal in a 1-0 defeat. That’s consecutive losses for Salford now although they still cling to that first place, two points ahead of Harrogate Town, and promotion looks to be a dead-set. 13 games left to make that happen. (For the record, Crocombe’s mostly been very good this season, don’t wanna give the wrong impression here).
Up next: Away to Alfreton Town at 4.00am on Sunday (NZT)
Shane Smeltz – Retired (Wherever He Wants)
Pour one out for the homie.
Whack an ad to support the TNC grind. It only takes a second and every bit goes towards advancing the Niche Cache Revolution to the masses. You deserve better than S**** and The H*****.