Rosie White – Chicago Red Stars (American National Women’s Soccer League)

And there it is. With the Boston Breakers ceasing operations going into the 2018 season, all of its players were made available in a dispersal draft and with the seventh pick in said dispersal draft, Rosie White was snapped up by the Chicago Red Stars, thus ensuring another year of NWSL footy for her. Lovely news.

Rosie was one of the better players for Boston last season, transitioning from striker into a more attacking midfield role – a move that produced more than a couple yellow cards, just quietly. It also provided four goals and Rosie was a regular from start to finish. Unfortunately the Breakers were kinda stink and after winning two of their first four games, they went on to win only two of their remaining 21. Chicago Red Stars, on the other hand, edged their way into fourth place where they were narrowly beaten 1-0 by Abby Erceg’s North Carolina Courage in the semis. Going from second to bottom to a semi-final team though. That’s a decent boost.

The Red Stars were busy in the dispersal draft, they clearly had their eyes on a few players after drawing with Boston twice in 2017. 27 different players were snapped up and Chicago took four of them, picking Rosie White at #7 overall and then taking Ashton Miller and Joanna Boyles (both new draft picks) before grabbing the rights to USA international defender Whitney Engen as well, Engen who took 2017 off but has left the door open to a return to football. Picked ahead of RW were: Rose Lavelle (Washington), Savannah McCaskill (Sky Blue), Megan Oyster (Seattle), Midge Purce (Portland), Abby Smith (Utah), Kyah Simon (Houston)… although that all depends on individual needs for each team as well.

ChicagoRedStars.com: “A New Zealand international, White played with Liverpool of the Women’s Super League in England for the 2015 and 2016 season. During the two years, White appeared in 22 games, scoring four goals. The midfielder was picked up by the Boston Breakers ahead of the 2017 NWSL season. White found the field in 22 matches, totaling nearly 1800 minutes. She tallied the second-most shots on the team with 45, scoring four goals. Since 2009, White has appeared in 84 international matches for New Zealand, where she has scored 17 goals.”

Up Next: Introductions will be in order first of all

Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)

So… this week PEC Zwolle were thumped in the cup 4-1 by AZ Alkmaar. Diederik Boer was sent off and a slightly shuffled team – which didn’t feature Ryan Thomas – simply couldn’t compete. Stumped for possession and with only one shot on target. Well next up they faced league leaders PSV Eindhoven and things were bad before it even started.

Turns out Ryan Thomas was injured and he wasn’t ready to return for PSV. Bram van Polen and Mustafa Saymak were also injured and Boer was suspended. Hence an utterly different midfield three took the park against PSV and they were straight smoked. Held in there well enough until keeper Mickey van der Hart was sent off late in the first half and next thing they’d lost 4-0. Luuk de Jong scored a hatty and Joshua Brenet got the other. Zwolle had three shots compared to 25 for PSV. One on target compared to 12. 41% of possession. Solid game from Hirving Lozano too, the Mexican winger. He was the one who drew the foul against van der Hart plus he grabbed a couple assists.

The word on Thomas is that he’s “day to day”. Sounds like he wasn’t far from playing on the weekend so he should be a good shot at the next one and based on what they did without him fingers will be crossed. He’d better be because it’s against Heerenveen midweek… although Marco Rojas has mostly been an unused sub for that lot recently. Same again this week.

Here’s an Alkmaar player enjoying not having had to play against Thommo.

Up Next: Zwolle vs Heerenveen, 8.45am on Weds (NZT)

Olivia Chance – Everton / Anna Green – Reading (English Super League)

FA Women’s Cup this week and times are good for Livvy Chance and mates. Bristol City were a good draw, a team in a similar position on the PSL ladder to them. Mighta been even better with a lower league team (Sunderland beat Brighouse Town 13-0 and Chelsea beat London Bees 10-0) but Bristol City at home was winnable. Having said that, Chloe Arthur but BC in front with pretty much the first shot of the game. And it was only keeper Kirstie Levell’s gloves that kept it to one goal at the break.

Then the good stuff happened.

EvertonFC.com: “Head Coach Andy Spence’s half-time team talk seemed to worked wonders - as the Blue Girls came out firing in the second half and were level five minutes after the restart. Chance found space on the left and her cleverly disguised shot from a tight angle on the left found it’s way into the back of net. The host’s second soon followed. Chloe Kelly won a corner down the left and took it herself, providing an excellent cross for Brougham to plant her header past Watson to hand the Blue Girls the lead. On the hour mark, however, Levell produced another superb save from Estcourt to preserve Everton’s lead. But Chance made the game safe, tucking home a Kelly cross from the right in front of 712 spectators, assuring Everton’s passage into the next round.”

Two goals for Olivia Chance! That goes down pretty nicely with a Football Ferns squad to be named soon. Chance is a lock for that team but the more she does here, the more likely she is to crack that starting team on the regular. Everton went on to win 3-1 and will play Lewes FC in the next round.

Having said that, there was some controversy over the intentions for that first goal…

Do have some bad news though… Reading lost 1-0 to Birmingham in the same round of the FA Cup. It’s been a tough start to 2018 for Reading who’ve yet to win since swapping calendars. Marissa Ewers smashed one into the top corner in the 34th minute after Brum had caused some early trouble. The home team got a lot better as it went on, subbing in Anna Green for the last 33 minutes, but they never did find the equaliser. Greenie came in for an injured Harriet Scott. Never wanna see a teammate hurt but we’ll see if that opens up some more playing time for Anna, at least.

Up Next: Haha, well… Everton vs Reading at 3.00am on Monday

Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)

David Moyes: “We hope Michail Antonio has a chance of being available. Winston Reid is coming on a bit, that would be the main ones. Jose Fonte, we had to bring him into the squad [for Crystal Palace] because of the numbers but he could do with a couple of reserve team games because he's been out for a while. We need all the numbers we have got.”

It’s preeeetty boring right now in the PL with Winston Reid and Chris Wood both out injured but as Dangerous Dave said right there, Winnie’s getting close. And having been out of the squad for five straight games since getting injured against Shrewsbury, Winston was on the bench as they took on Brighton this weekend (they also drew 1-1 with Crystal Palace).

He didn’t play, but at least he’s close. And amidst a chaotic week in which the Hammers whiffed on a couple transfers and ended up sacking their director of player recruitment after allegations of racism… they lost 3-1 to Brighton & Hove. Some magnificent goals in there but oh well. They did at least sign Jordan Hugill from Preston as well as youngster Oladapo Afolayan and they sold both Andre Ayew (back to Swansea) and Diafra Sakho (to Rennes). As well as some loans in each direction (main one being Joao Mario coming in from Inter).

Up Next: WHU vs Watford at 4.00am on Sunday (NZT)

Chris Wood – Burnley (English Premier League)

Ready to return yet, Woodsman? Got a date ready for the big return, something to mark off on the calendar? Nope? Okay then.

Sean Dyche: “Chris Wood is making good progress again so hopefully that will be in a straight line now and we’ll get him back.”

Without him the Clarets grabbed a couple draws, first a 1-1 with Newcastle that didn’t do either team many favours but also didn’t really hurt either of them. Karl Darlow’s own goal with five minutes left was the difference after Jamal Lascalles had put Newcastle ahead. It meant Burnley were still without a win since December 13 and that didn’t change on the weekend, although Johann Berg Gudmundsson’s late leveller against Manchester City, earning them a home draw against the champions-in-waiting, was a massive boost for the injury struck Clarets.

Also, they ended the transfer window with two new signings: Aaron Lennon on an undisclosed from Everton and Georges-Kevin Nkoudou on loan from Spurs. They coulda added more but Sean Dyche missed out on his target defenders and decided against signing “stop-gaps”. And Steven Defour’s out for the season after going under the knife on a recent injury. That’s all that then.

Up Next: Swansea vs Burnley, 4.00am on Sunday (NZT)

Katie Rood – Juventus (Italian Serie A)

This initial season for the Juve women’s team has gone pretty well so far, safe to say. They won their first 11 games of the season and just made it a dozen from a dozen in their first game back. Necessary too, as you may assume that being perfect through more than half the season would have you well clear on top but Brescia’s only lost once themselves and it was against Juventus.

The latest was a 3-0 win over Mozzanica, thanks to goals from Barbara Bonansea, Benedetta Glionna and Arianna Caruso. With the points seemingly in the bag, it meant an opportunity to get some subs out there and one of those was Katie Rood, making her third appearance of the league season to date and her longest too, getting fifteen minutes in there. First gig since November too (although that includes the long winter break). That’s what we wanna see, pushing on into that first team picture as much as possible.

Up Next: 2.30am on Sunday against Roma (NZT)

Jeremy Brockie – Mamelodi Sundowns (South African Premier Soccer League)

For the first time with his new club, Jerry Brockie found his way into the starting team. Away to Cape Town City and with the opportunity to extend their lead at the top against one of their main rivals. The first ten minutes were fairly quiet. A half chance from Thamsanqa Mkhize’s cut-back and then this…

Soccer Laduma: “City were nearly embarrassed and punished four minutes later after a horrible back-pass let in Jeremy Brockie left alone with Sage Stephens, but the shot-stopper threw his body on the line to put off the New Zealander from finding the back of the net.”

Khama Billiat finally put one in the net soon after the second half restart and Brockie was subbed off with an hour played. Didn’t get on the scoresheet but the team held on for the win, which was helped by Robyn Johannes getting sent off for Cape Town for a second yellow in injury time. Cape Town put a lot of pressure on them after falling behind although with very few clean chances to show for it. The win puts the Brazilians five points clear at the top with a game in hand on Orlando Pirates.

Not the best example of what Brockie can do, though. Soccer Laduma gave him 4/10 and said: “The New Zealander was quiet in the match and barley had a sniff at goal.” Which sounds about right from reports. New club, new teammates and all that. He’s just settling in (plus he’s a cup specialist anyway and he should get to prove it once more on the weekend).

Ooh and look who came to visit the other day? It’s Usain Bolt! The sprint legend and massive footy fan dropped by training with Sundowns which makes Brockie the second kiwi (on record, at least) to have trained with Bolt after the Jamaican also dropped by Japan to see Mike Fitzgerald not so long ago.

Up Next: Nedbank Cup round of 32, away to CT All Stars at 7.00am on Saturday (NZT)

Erin Nayler– Girondins Bordeaux (French Division 1 Féminine)

Big game here against Marseille, Erin Nayler’s lot with the chance to put some space between them and those teams below, keeping the pressure on the four teams ahead as well as bouncing back from their cup defeat last time… but it didn’t quite work out like that. GB fell 1-0 to Lyon, a second half goal to Viviane Asseyi making the difference. Competitive contest but a game they should really have won against the bottom team in the division. Marseille have been coming good lately, granted. This was a second Ligue 1 win in three for them after no wins in 11 prior. Shame it had to come here is all.

Up Next: ASPTT Albi vs Bordeaux, 3.00am on Monday (NZT)

Los Americanos (American Major League Soccer)

The MLS season doesn’t begin until the first week of March so there’s a full other month between then and now. But that’s fine because with several kiwis trying to earn spots on those MLS roster, preseason is the best glimpse we’ll get at where they stand before things officially get slimmed down and decisions need to be made.

Let’s start with the All White-caps. Stefan Marinovic is a dead cert so there’s nothing to worry about there. He’d have to be awful coupled with one of the other goalies playing out of their skin for him to lose this spot. They cut their long-serving fan-favourite GK for him after investing in Stefan through the playoffs.

Things look chilly there. So naturally the team upped and went to Hawaii for a training camp. 35 players were taken on the trip with Marinovic obviously amongst them and Myer Bevan, as a dude with an MLS contract now, was also there. No sign of Cory Brown though. They only took the first two of their SuperDraft selections (Justin Fiddes and Lucas Stauffer) so third rounder Brown seems to be set for a season in the USL as it stands. Marinovic on the other hand… he went surfing.

Jake Nerwinski on Daily Hive: “And then we got the rest of the day to ourselves. I ended up going surfing with Stefan Marinovic, Nicolas Mezquida, and our head of video analysis Andy Peat. Andy was probably the best. He showed us all up, for sure. I’m just happy I caught a few waves and got up more than Stef, because we had a competition going on. He was definitely the worst (I’m allowed to say that because he’s my roommate and one of my good friends on the team).”

Next up we’ve gotta take a peek at Portland Timbers, were Jake Gleeson, Bill Tuiloma and Stuart Holthusen are all vying for positions. Oh hey, g’day Billy!

The Timbers played Seattle in Tucson in their opening preseason game, though they’d already played a training ground friendly against San Jose before that. Three thirds of 30 minutes, with different teams in each. The first 30 was basically a top strength XI and featured no kiwis. The second saw Jake Gleeson step in with the gloves and Tuiloma at centre-back. Then Tuiloma stayed in there for the final third while Gleeson was replaced.

The team was more or less the same against Seattle, which was a proper 90 minute game that was live-streamed and everything. Seattle won 2-1 but these things are never about results. For the second half, Tuiloma came in at CB again but Gleeson was given this one off so they could get a look at third-stringer Kendall McIntosh who played with Tui for the T2 side last season. Good minutes for Tuiloma, albeit with the second XI – not that we could expect him to walk into being first choice like that. Again, no sign of Holthusen. The MLS SuperDraft is notoriously fickle in terms of providing actual MLS players and Holty was always more of a T2 signing anyway.

As for Gleeson, his task is to win out over Jeff Attinella, the bloke who stole his starting gig last season. So far not so good in that regard. Attinella’s done well in both preseason games and he’s clearly the early pick for the 2018 opener. Gleeson will be backup if he’s not traded or anything so we’ll see how this battle goes. As well as a new head coach, the Timbers also have a new goalkeeping coach so there might be some fresh slates.

Portland Mercury: “The Timbers' rationale for not signing a new starting goalkeeper, despite the churn at the position in 2017, is straightforward. Both Gleeson and Attinella have done the job effectively at different points in the last two years, and they've done it on the cheap. All told, Portland spent less on goalkeeping than all but three teams in 2017. The club would like to see one of the two step up and spend its money elsewhere. The question is who it will be.”

Minnesota United are also into preseason. Michael Boxall appears to still be first choice. Sweet as, moving on now.

How about Uncle Tony’s Colorado Rapids then? They popped over to Scottsdale, Arizona to play Sporting Kansas City in a friendly. Tommy Smith’s gonna link up with the team when they return to Arizona for a second camp later in the week so he was nowhere to be seen. Wouldn’t call it a completely first choice starting team then, Huddo mixed it up a bit. They played 120 minutes in the heat with full-scale changes coming after an hour, allowing both Deklan Wynne and Kip Colvey to get out there. Wynne played an hour while Colvey was replaced midway through his spell.

Sporting Kansas City won 2-0 and they rocked up with three distinct lineups. James Musa played the last half-hour for the third of those. Manager Peter Vermes played 35 different guys across three exhibition games so there’s heaps of competition for Moose to add to his single MLS game – although he played a lot more in the first two games (against a Phoenix Rising trial team and Sporting Arizona). Second most of everyone combined.

SportingKC.com: “Sporting KC has used a balanced attack in the early stages as seven goal scorers found the back of the net and six players recorded assists. Gerso was the lone contributor to strike twice, having led the team in 2017 with 10 goals in all competitions, while Cristian Lobato was the only player to provide a goal and an assist.

Swope Park Rangers midfielder Kuzain led the squad through three games with 165 minutes played, while the versatile James Musa wasn't far behind at 150 minutes. Kuzain was one of nine Sporting KC Academy products to earn playing time alongside Daniel Salloi (one goal), Gianluca Busio (one goal), Jaylin Lindsey (one assist), Sebastian Cruz, Cameron Duke, Felipe Hernandez, Matt Lewis and Zach Wright.”

This is turning out to be a large task… but we’re nearly done.

That’s Kyle Adams in there, signed with the apparent intention to play for Houston Dynamo’s USL affiliate team Rio Grande Valley but he got some minutes early in the Dynamo’s preseason schedule, good for him. Then last we have Elliot Collier at Chicago Fire who, despite being a draft pick… actually got to play some footy! And he scored a goal as well.

He got out there in the 65th minute as part of a raft of changes. The first team played the first half and then the rest of them split the second half, seconds and then thirds. Collier was in the third set but it didn’t take too long before he slipped one past the keeper for the second and final goal of the game (they were playing the University of South Florida). Witness the moment below!

Speaking of kiwis in American footy…

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