Flying Kiwis – March 20
Elliot Collier – Chicago Fire (American Major League Soccer)
Leading your Flying Kiwis this week… it’s Elliot Collier. If you don’t know then you know now, Collier’s been on a rise so sharp these last few months you’d think he was shot into orbit by those Rocket Lab folks. He was one of the three NZers drafted into the MLS earlier in the year but while Cory Brown ended up in the USL and Stuart Holthusen seems to have fallen off the face of the earth, there was Elliot Collier making his MLS debut in week one and now here he is making his first start in week two. Not only that but the joker went and scored a goal!
Apparently he’s the seventh New Zealand-born player to score in the MLS. A right place, right time kinda goal but still made no mistake with it. Shambolic defending from Minnesota United as well and we’ll come back to that in a second. Collier’s strike levelled things up after Ibson had followed up a wonderful point-blank save from Richard Sanchez… which ended up being for nothing because it fell right back to Ibson who stabbed it in, 55 minutes gone. Then Collier did his damage four minutes later.
Collier is a striker with plenty of height, probably his defining attribute at this stage, yet he didn’t play this thing as a target man – he was a right winger capable of pulling off some tricky play. Shows there’s plenty to EC’s game and he’ll perhaps be a little bummed that he didn’t do this a couple days before the All Whites squad was announced or he might have been in there. Hey, probably just a matter of time.
The Fire were without Bastian Schweinsteiger (for childbirth reasons) which led to Luis Solignac playing through the middle instead of out wide, hence there was room for Collier. We’re still looking at a regular bench spot for now… but considering how much trouble a few other New Zealanders are having breaking into matchday squads that’s already incredible. They also signed MLS veteran striker Alan Gordon this week who’ll be another threat to the lad.
Minnesota responded in the 65th minute to retake the lead through Sam Nicholson, heading home Ethan Finlay’s cross. Great cross and an open header. It was then Minnesota who had the best chances in the final twenty minutes or so, the Fire unable to catch a second equaliser, and it ended 2-1. Two defeats from two to start the season. But on the positive they picked the right man of the match.
Wot you reckon, lad?
Up Next: Chicago vs Portland, 10.00am on Sunday 1 April (NZT)
Michael Boxall – Minnesota United (American Major League Soccer)
The thing about that Elliot Collier goal is that it featured a little too much Michael Boxall in the build-up. You will have guessed already that he was going head to head with Colly if you spotted the Minnesota thing. Boxall was on hand as Collier tried to cut past Ibson with the Brazilian dropped back in defence. Rasmus Schuller stuck a boot in and the ball popped away where Ibson and Boxall each had the chance to clear it… but left it for each other. Nemanja Nikolic took the shot and it was saved but then Collier scored on the rebound.
Not good and it’s another example of messy defending from the Loons. However apart from that they were largely untested and even with forward Kevin Molino ruled out for the season with the injury he sustained last week they were too good on attack and more than deserved to take the points here in their first home contest. Happy days, then.
Zone Coverage Player Ratings: CB Michael Boxall, 6 — Solid performance from the New Zealand international. He will be missed when on international duty next week.
FiftyFive.One: Boxall and Calvo were pretty good! There was just a single bad mistake to report from Minnesota’s defenders against Chicago, which must be an all-time low. Of course, however, it led to the goal. The Loons gifted the Fire their equalizer, through two failed clearances, both of which bounced off of Ibson. But the fault primarily belongs to Michael Boxall, who shied away from the ball because it would’ve meant clattering into his Brazilian teammate. There’s a time and a place for not body slamming the other players on your team (which is: most times and places), but the center of the box with the ball tricking towards the goal is not one of them!
It’s a shame, because Boxall otherwise had an excellent game, and stood out of the two center-backs. In the first half, the Kiwi was the main reason why the game was scoreless, making three strong defensive plays to break up or delay Chicago counter attacks. He was alert and active the whole match. Calvo was under a bit less pressure, but passed every challenge. When they have been organized, opponents have scored just a single goal against them this year (San Jose’s tiki-taka third). The other goals have come on counters and goofy individual mistakes. Obviously it’d be nice for those not to happen, but on the whole, Minnesota’s defensive four has been relatively solid.
Here’s the issue now: not only is Mike Boxall off to play for the All Whites next week but so is Francisco Calvo for Costa Rica… so they’ll need two more centre-backs to fill in against New York Red Bulls. Far from ideal but then they’ve now won two of their first three games so there’s some buffer room that they clearly didn’t have last season in similar situations. And when the results are good, the fans are happy. When the fans are happy, centre-backs are secure in their positions.
Up Next: NY Red Bulls vs Minny Utd, 12.00pm on Sunday… but not for Boxall (NZT)
Ali Riley – FC Rosengård (Swedish Damallsvenskan)
You know what that means. Rosengård’s Swedish Cup run will continue into the final after they beat Djurgården 2-1. Anja Mittag opened the scoring just before the hour from the penalty spot, a reward for FCR’s having the best of the game until then, but who won the spottie? None other than Ali Riley. Just like we’ve seen so many time for club and country she went storming into the box from the left, dropping a shoulder to glide past her marker but taking some contact as she did. Whistle blown, penalty given. It looked like one might be enough but in the final minute of the regulation ninety Jenna Hellstrom equalised for Djurgården, pumping it into the net from a scramble on the end of a long free kick launched into the box.
Pretty gutting and yet Rosengård aren’t the kind of team to panic about something like that, they’ve won too many important games to let them get away that easy. Five minutes of injury time to play, definitely enough time to get that winner. Which they did courtesy of Fiona Brown after a skilful touch and assist from Mittag again. Check out the highlights here. The final takes place on Monday 20 March NZT and they’ll play Linköping FC.
Up Next: Rosengård vs Djurgården on Monday at 2.00am (NZT)
Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)
West Ham didn’t have a game this weekend thanks to FA Cup-based postponements so Davie Moyes scooped up the lads and took them to Florida for some warm weather training which sounds like an expensive and unnecessary idea but then escaping the country at the moment might not be the worst thing the Hammers could do. However…
WHUFC.com: “Nineteen players have made the trip to the United States, led by captain Mark Noble, while the likes of Pedro Obiang, Winston Reid, Sam Byram and Edmilson Fernandes have remained at Rush Green to continue their rehabilitation from knee and ankle injuries respectively.”
Up Next: Continuing rehabilitation… and probably for a fair while too
Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)
Can’t say they don’t treat their players right at PEC Zwolle, that’s for sure. Thommo even took the captain’s armband again as Zwolle hosted Feyenoord (regular skipper Bram van Polen was suspended). Problem was those opponents have some bloke playing for them called Robin van Persie and this promising up and comer grabbed a double within quarter of an hour. The first was just a nice move down the left which ended with RVP poking it past the keeper but the second began with an uncharacteristic Ryan Thomas giveaway in the midfield.
Zwolle steadied the ship for the rest of the half but then Diederick Boer made a mess of a shot from distance from Karim El Ahmadi and it was 3-0 after 50 minutes. Mustafa Saymak pulled one back almost immediately yet once Tonny Vilhena made it 4-1 in the 75th min she was pretty much all over. Nobody told Piotr Parzyszek though. He scored from the spot in the 85th min and then soon after made it 4-3 after Thommo lifted in a dangerous free kick from deep and after a little ping pong Parzyszek was there to score. No equaliser though, they ran out of time for that. Probably shouldn’t have conceded all them goals then. The crap form continues for the PECers who have won only twice from ten games in 2018.
Ryan Thomas: “We often don’t start well enough and then it takes too long before we alter the plan. We only do that when things have calmed down and by then the result is often gone. It needs to happen earlier. Especially against teams from the top six, seven, because they punish that. We talked a lot about it this week and we’re all on the same page again. Hopefully we can turn it around against Feyenoord. It is a perfect match for it.”
Up Next: Zwolle vs Sparta Rotterdam, 4.30am on Sunday 1 April (NZT)
C.J. Bott - USV Jena / Amber Hearn & Meikayla Moore – FC Köln (German Frauen-Bundesliga)
Bad news across the board here. Bott’s Jena had their game postponed. They were supposed to play league leaders Wolfsburg so that might have been a bullet dodged for the meantime but FC Köln still played, hosting Bayern Munich. After a couple games playing at right back before the international break Meikayla Moore dropped out of the XI against Bayern, although Amber Hearn still got her ninety mins in there up front. Moore made way for Anna Kirschbaum to return at centre-back which meant Lidija Kuliš shifted out to the right and Moore exited the XI. Might not have to wait too long to get back in there though because Kuliš was sent off in the first half.
You could say that ruined the game but they were already 2-0 down at that point. By half-time it was five and by full time they’d lost 8-0. So… yeah. What makes that result worse is that MSV Duisburg finally won another game, beating Werder Bremen 1-0 thanks to a 90th minute winner from Kathleen Radtke which drops USV Jena to bottom of the table and Köln to second last. Gonna take some effort to dodge relegation now for each of them.
Up Next: Both teams are away, Köln to SC Freiburg and Jena to FFC Frankfurt. Each taking place next Sunday morning (NZT)
Jeremy Brockie – Mamelodi Sundowns (South African Premier Soccer League)
The Brazilians did what they needed to do to ease on into the CAF Champions League group stages. A 2-0 win at home against Rayon Sports, Wayne Arendse and Sibusiso Vilakazi with the goals, one in each half. Jeremy Brockie did play but he was an 89th minute sub so didn’t really get a shot at opening his scoring tally. Earlier in the week he’d played 81 minutes as MS came from a goal down to advance into the Nedbank Cup quarters against EC Bees with a 2-1 win. Brockie set up Thapelo Morena’s 76th minute winner. Nothing complicated, it was a nice move from the team and Brockie put the final square ball across for Morena’s finish.
As far as results go it’s been perfect. Still competing in multiple competitions and building towards a few more winners’ medals for Brockie to stash on the mantelpiece. Only problem is that he still hasn’t scored for his new club. 54 goals in 119 appearances for SuperSport and none in his first eight for Mamelodi Sundowns. Goal.com had this explanation to offer…
“But while many have found it easy to criticise Brockie for his recent struggles, there are several factors which explain why, none more so than the Brazilians’ style of play. Most notably, at SuperSport Brockie was exposed to a more direct game plan where he was seen as the focal point and this has taken some adjusting as Brockie has now been forced to become more mobile and more involved in the game without necessarily having the ball at his feet.”
We’ve seen him score in floods and droughts before so there’s nothing crazy to worry about but a couple goals soon will take the pressure off and hopefully open those floodgates. He could start by adding to that rather awful All Whites record of his too. You got this, Jerry.
Sundowns assistant coach Manqoba Mngqithi: “He is not struggling that much in front of goals but at times we become too critical of a player when he is not scoring. The second goal by Thapelo Morena came from him‚ let’s give him a break. We know what he is capable of. We know that he is not a dribbler who will excite people but I can bet my money that he is going to score a lot of goals for us.”
Up Next: International break with the All Whites before hosting Chippa United back in the PSL on April 5, 5.30am (NZT)
Abby Erceg – North Carolina Courage (American National Women’s Soccer League)
A goal and a clean sheet in preseason and everything’s in order ahead of the opening set of fixtures in the NWSL next weekend. Erceg remains the premier Flying Kiwi in NWSL action and once again she’ll be joined by the same three comrades, all of whom have moved clubs in the offseason. Rebekah Stott was traded from Seattle Reign to Sky Blue, Rosie White was picked up by Chicago Red Stars after her Boston Breakers side folded and Katie Bowen’s FC Kansas City have been sold and are now the Utah Royals, though with a lot of the same players, Katie included.
Up Next: Grand Final rematch, NC Courage vs Portland Thorns on Sunday at 8.30am (NZT)
Stefan Marinovic, Myer Bevan – Vancouver Whitecaps (American Major League Soccer)
Eight minutes into the Whitecaps’ game away to Atlanta FC and in comes a swirling free kick from the home side. There’s a bit of a scramble and the ball falls for Franco Escobar about seven yards out. Stefan Marinovic makes himself big and manages to save the shot and eventually it’s cleared. Another strong bit of keeping from Stef. But then a whistle blows frantically with a couple ATL players down. There’s a video review. After four minutes of deliberation the call on the field is overturned and a penalty is given against Kendall Waston for a high elbow and the Whitecaps captain sees red. Josef Martínez scores from the spot, sending Marinovic the wrong way, and this game just took a massive shift.
It was a shift that they never recovered from. Playing with ten-men for 75 minutes away from home against a decent side was always going to be a task. Atlanta wasted a couple great ones to double the lead but eventually they made it all count when Aaron Maund turned a low cross into his own net in trying to hack it clear. About a minute later it was 3-0 when Martínez broke the offside trap and buried one past the kiwi keeper.
The Whitecaps decided then that they may as well just go all out and Yordy Reyna hit the post before Erik Hurtado made it 3-1 ten minutes later. But then Martínez completed his hatty for 4-1, a header at the far post, and not a happy day at the office for the Caps. No sign of Myer Bevan on the bench this week either but he did get called up for the All Whites so maybe he can impress the Canadian footy fans that way – by scoring against their national team.
No sign of Cory Brown in Fresno FC’s opening USL game, although he had played a few of their preseason games. Four other Whitecaps players are there on loan right now (Terran Campbell, Matthew Baldisimo, Sean Melvin, and Noah Verhoeven) but Brown doesn’t appear on their current roster. There was an article earlier this week confirming that he’d signed with the USL affiliate but it’s currently flexing the old ‘ACCESS DENIED’ on the page so you can guess from that there might be some hold up with his papers or something. Would imagine he’s playing for Fresno in a week or two once it’s all sorted.
Up Next: VW vs LA Galaxy on Sunday at 3.00pm (NZ)
Erin Nayler– Girondins Bordeaux (French Division 1 Féminine)
A 1-1 draw for Girondins against Guingamp, a couple pretty even teams there although Girondins coulda gone fourth with a win given Paris’ horrid form. The top three are way off in the distance. Nadjma Ali Nadjim scored another one to make it 1-0 soon after the start of the second half but then Marine Pervier levelled in the 67th minute. That was the way it ended, but having said that if it weren’t for Erin Nayler in goal then it might not have. A couple saves that’ll have her in contention for next week’s top saves video. It’s been a couple weeks since we had one of those to savour.
Up Next: Fourth place is on the line against Paris, away in the capital at 1.00am on Monday 2 April (NZT)
Adam Mitchell – Bolton Wanderers (English Championship)
Nice. Say, did you know we interviewed him too? Yeah, at the start of the year. Good chat.
Up Next: All Whites duty, possibly a debut
Tyler Boyd – CD Tondela (Portuguese Primeira Liga)
Boyd got 57 minutes before he was replaced by Juan Delgado with Tondela down 2-1 at home against Maritimo. Miguel Cardoso had given them the lead in the tenth minute thanks in large part to Tyler drifting infield, taking down the ball on his chest, and lobbing one on the volley over the defence. He probably won’t get the official assist since the defender basically won it, then lost it again under pressure from Cardoso, whose shot narrowly edged over the line before it was cleared a split-second too late. There was a brief moment wondering if it’d be allowed (for a couple reasons) but it stood and Tondela led 1-0.
Then they conceded a few minutes on either side of the break and went on to lose, bugger that. With the top four miles ahead of everyone else, there’s not much to play for over the rest of the season other than trying to finish as high as they can for pride but a couple more sneaky defeats and the relegation zone could creep up on them. Tondela are only six points ahead of CD Feirense, albeit with a few teams in between. There are six teams outside the drop zone but within six points of it.
Up Next: Away to Boavista on Sunday 1 April at 3.00am (NZT)
Tommy Smith, Kip Colvey & Deklan Wynne – Colorado Rapids (American Major League Soccer)
He’s getting good at this rallying the fans on twitter thing, old Tommy. No game for the Rapids this week (same with Portland Timbers, btw) but they did finally get a striker with Ivorian Yannick Boli jumping on board. They also celebrated Kip Colvey’s birthday. Anthony Hudson’s yet to win after three competitive fixtures so far so hopefully Kip’s coming close to fitness as the Rapids face Sporting KC at home next week. All three of their All Whites will be available too after they were left out of the squad to face Canada which must have surely torn at Anthony Hudson’s conscience given his position on players putting club over country back in the day. Surely…
Up Next: Colorado vs Sporting KC, Sunday at 2.00pm (NZT)
Kirsty Yallop – Klepp IL (Norwegian Toppserien)
Up Next: New season kicks off in a week with Klepp vs Arna-Bjørnar at 3.00am on Sunday (NZT)
Kyle Adams – Rio Grande Valley (American United Soccer League)
Another debut to mention here as Kyle Adams got in the full 90 in a 1-1 draw against Saint Louis FC to open the Toros 2018 USL campaign. Pablo Aguilar scored first with quarter of an hour left but Saint Louis got back on even terms a few minutes later. Adams signed with the Toros a couple months ago and spent some time with their MLS affiliate Houston Dynamo in their preseason. He was listed as right back on the team sheet but appears to have played as a central defender, which is where he’s more comfortable – and since the USL provide a surprising plethora of stats for what’s basically a development league, here are some…
And here’s the bloke from a few weeks back chatting about his aims for the season…
Up Next: Home to Reno at 4.00am on Thursday 29 March (NZT)
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