Flying Kiwis – July 17
Abby Erceg – North Carolina Courage (American National Women’s Soccer League)
Oh look, two more games, two more clean sheets and two more wins for Abby and the Courage. First off they pushed past Washington Spirit with a goal in each half, Debora first and then Jess McDonald, for a 2-0 win. Possession was relatively even but the Courage did way more with the ball and were good value for a midweek victory.
New signing Heather O’Reilly got the start at left back as part of a couple rotational changes but this was a routine, professional win if ever there was one. Coming out and controlling the game, taking a couple of chances in the process. Not actually a game where Erceg had a whole lot to do, if we’re honest.
All goods because she made up for that a few days later as the team travelled to play Sky Blue. There was still no Rebekah Stott for the home side, she hasn’t played for a month with injury but she did make those first tentative steps back for this one as she was named on the bench, an unused sub in the end. Probably for the best given what happened fifteen minutes in…
Boom, yes. Get in. Cross comes over from Kristen Hamilton and Abby Erceg could hardly miss from there, only a couple yards out. A second goal of the season for Abby and it would’ve been enough on its own to take care of the competition’s bottom team but just for safety Lynn Williams went on ahead and scored a second half hatty.
A 4-0 win for the Courage, who remain undefeated on the road. Absolutely running away with this thing. 16 points clear of second place right now. They’ve already clinched a playoff spot with six games still to go.
Up Next: Saturday at 2pm away to Utah Royals (NZT)
James McGarry & Michael Woud – Willem II (Dutch Eredivisie)
After injuries and bad timing cost him a chance of impressing at the Wellington Phoenix, it had long been rumoured that McGarry had something planned in Europe. And here it is. He’s signed with Dutch top division club Willen II on a two year contract with a club option to extend this deal for two further years. The ability to get an Irish passport obviously helped things there too.
McGarry’s signed as a left back which is the position he first came to the attention of the wider kiwi public in with the All Whites youth grades. However he’d mostly played as a centre-forward for the WeeNix in the Premiership which shows he’s a versatile type, young James. The 20 year old has been training with his new club since last weekend and passed the medical all breezy.
James McGarry: “I’m excited to get started. The atmosphere at the club feels good, there is a good culture and everyone gets along well. The conversations with the coaches were positive and their understanding of the game suits me.”
It sounds like he should go straight into first team contention, with 18 year old Aussie defender Dylan Ryan the only other genuine left back at the club right now. Great opportunity for 20 year old McGarry then. Willem II are coming off a season in which they finished 13th, seven points clear of the relegation playoffs (and only seven points behind where PEC Zwolle ended up). They’re a club that has won the Eredivisie before, albeit not since the 1950s, and have re-established themselves in the top flight over the last three years following a couple relegations earlier in the decade. Previously they’d spent a couple decades in the highest division.
Technical Director Joris Mathijsen: “We are very pleased with the arrival of James. He is a talented boy with a good mentality. There are some quality players emerging from Australia and New Zealand. We are pleased that he chose us to progress his career in Europe.”
So we’re probably talking a similar situation to what Ryan Thomas rocked up to with Zwolle, which sounds like a damn fine way to step up into European footy. Hey and he’s not the only one either because within days he was joined by goalie Michael Woud, who got himself the hell away from the mess at Sunderland with a full transfer to Willem II.
SAFC.com: “Sunderland AFC confirms that Academy goalkeeper Michael Woud has joined Dutch club Willem II. At whatever level a player represents Sunderland AFC, it is of paramount importance that they are committed to our club. Once Michael expressed a wish to move on, terms were agreed between Sunderland AFC and Willem II to facilitate his move. Sunderland AFC wishes Michael the best of luck for his future career.”
Woud, who has Dutch heritage, has signed for two years having spent the last three in the Sunderland academy system, progressing as high as the Under-23s but leaving before he could get close to a go with the first team. Willem II again have the option to extend this contract for a further two years. The path to first team footy is a bit tougher for Woudy with German Timon Wellenreuther and Dutchman Mattijs Branderhorst already there as established keepers so we’re talking about a third-string situation initially. Sunderland supposedly picked up an ‘undisclosed fee’ for the lad, since he was still under contract with the Black Cats.
Technical Director Joris Mathijsen: “With Woud we have a talented keeper in house. Michael also has Dutch roots. In the immediate term, Woud will compete with our current keepers.”
Woudy got his first game for the club in a friendly against Belgian club Gent, a 1-1 draw. He started and played the whole thing, while McGarry was a half-time sub and played the whole second half. McGarry had already featured once before in a midweek friendly against third division side VV Dongen which Willem II won 9-0. Again he played the full second half there.
Up Next: The Eredivise starts on August 11 (NZT)
Michael Boxall – Minnesota United (American Major League Soccer)
Yeah get gone. Not got any chance in that duel, boy.
Minnesota’s home game against Real Salt Lake was an interesting stalemate going into half-time, with both teams struggling for fluency and Minnesota coughing up possession way too much to make anything happen on the scoreboard. Just hopeful cross after hopeful cross which wasn’t going to do much while striker Christian Ramirez is nursing a streak of what’s now 397 minutes without a goal.
Yet the excellence of Darwin Quintero, the Colombian import, sparked a complete change of fortunes after the break, with Quintero having a hand in not one but three goals in a twenty minute surge. He even scored the second for himself – another incredible chipped finish. This dude only deals in the sublime, apparently. All was headed for a comfortable home win against a playoff opponent then… so why was the gaffer so pissed off after the game?
Dunno, probably down to the two soft goals they conceded to make this one way sweatier than it needed to be. The Loons held on for a 3-2 win but it wasn’t pretty. It should have been but it wasn’t. At least they won.
Michael Boxall: “In the first half, we struggled a little bit because they were coming at us and pressing quite high, so it took us a little bit to adjust there. But in the second half, you see Ibson and Darwin go into space. Once they beat one player, then everything opens up for us. Miguel was absolutely relentless tonight. He was quality. I know [Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick] Rimando is a little bit shorter, but surely he watched the Toronto game.”
Zone Coverage Player Ratings: “CB Michael Boxall, 6 — Had minimal involvement in any of the goals allowed.”
Up Next: Thursday at midday, at home to New England Revolution (NZT)
Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)
Manuel Pellegrini had his first game in charge of the Hammers this week, following on from a hefty bunch of incoming transfers. Issa Diop, a 21 year old French defender, and Paraguayan Fabian Balbuena are the main challengers to Reidy’s position, while the club has also signed keeper Lukas Fabianski, winger Andriy Yarmolenko, fullback Ryan Fredericks and midfielder Jack Wilshere. Oh and chuck playmaker Felipe Anderson in there too now. Busy, busy, busy.
But don’t expect much from Winnie any time soon. He’s had a setback with that injured knee and is booked in for surgery to polish it all up. He and Andy Carroll, who has predictably also been booked for surgery, have left the team’s preseason camp in Switzerland to return to London. Neither is expected to feature for three months, which means missing the first half dozen games of the season at the very least.
Head of Medical Richard Collinge: “Winston has been suffering some swelling around the knee, following the injury that he sustained at Swansea last season, and he too is in need of explorative surgery to clean up the area. We have decided that this is the best course of action to ensure that both players have a chance of returning to full fitness as soon as possible.”
Manuel Pellegrini: “We are obviously very sad to hear that Andy and Winston have suffered setbacks. This is a big blow for them and us, but we hope to see them back in action as soon as possible. It does mean that we have lost two senior players in key areas, though, and we’ll continue to work hard with the owners to make further additions to strengthen the playing squad, beyond the five new signings already confirmed.”
Up Next: Not much, aye
Elliot Collier – Chicago Fire (American Major League Soccer)
A third straight loss while conceding another three goals and it’s clear that the Fire defence needs a fair bit of work. They’re averaging close to two goals against them per game and of the 23 teams in the current MLS only Orlando City have conceded more in 2018. The playoffs are still a possibility but they’re slipping away with this current run of results.
On the positive, they did at least welcome back Elliot Collier to the starting XI this week. Collier played the entire ninety minutes away to FC Dallas. Bloke’s appeared in 16 games this season but this was only the fourth time that he’s played the whole thing, start to final whistle.
Dallas scored midway through the first half through Carlos Arboleda and then stuck with that narrow lead until Drew Conner drew a second yellow card with twenty to play and had himself an early shower. Dallas added two more goals for a comfortable win, the third from the penalty spot, before Brandt Bronico scored a consolation with four minutes left. Not much to write home about, Collier didn’t even have a shot.
This came after Collier was introduced early on in a midweek defeat against Philadelphia Union, replacing the injured Kevin Ellis in the 13th minute.
Funky old game too. The Fire came from behind three times with Bastian Schweinsteiger heading in from a corner to make it 3-3 right at the end of injury time… but not quite at the end because Philly kicked off and scored again to win 4-3. Unbelievable finish and Chicago have had more than their fair share of those in 2018. Maybe they’ll do better against lower league Louisville in the cup instead.
Up Next: Chicago Fire vs Louisville City, US Open Cup, 12.30pm on Thursday (NZT)
Katie Bowen – Utah Royals (American National Women’s Soccer League)
Very frustrating week for the Royals, who played twice and lost twice, only by a single goal each time. Katie Bowen the converted right back got all 180 minutes in but her team was unable to find a way through the Seattle Reign defence and ended up losing 1-0 to a 54th min Megan Rapinoe goal before then taking an early lead against Orlando Pride through Amy Rodriguez only to concede in first half stoppage time and then again seven minutes after the resumption for a 2-1 loss.
That pair of results do the team’s playoff chances some serious damage, unfortunately. Seven points back with seven games remaining and their next one is against Abby Erceg’s impenetrable North Carolina Courage.
Up Next: Utah vs NCC, 2pm on Saturday (NZT)
Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)
De Stentor Transfer Updates: RYAN THOMAS (23 years old, midfielder)
Contracted until summer 2019 / 123 games & 8 goals
Perhaps the best player at PEC Zwolle. Will leave before his contract is over, to ensure that the club receives a transfer fee. That's the plan. But Thomas is not a player who will sign a contract with a club for financial reasons. The new team must have a plan for him. That might only be at a top 3 club from our country, read PSV or Feyenoord.
Zwolle’s been up to stuff lately. Younes Namli is still expected to leave, as is Thommo, so they’ve brought in reinforcements in the form of Vito van Crooij and Clint Leemans. Both the two newbies played in the latest friendly against Excelsior, a 5-0 win, though Thomas was nowhere to be seen. No real surprises there. He did play in their previous two friendlies though, winning a penalty in one of them.
Tech Director Gerard Nijkamp: “The list is well known, we have made a special agreement with Thomas, similarly Namli has been circling for a while and Ehizibue has been tempted too but it's difficult to predict. It also depends on how high the transfer fees will be. We have already taken an acceptable risk with Clint and Vito.”
Up Next: Watch this space…
Rosie White – Chicago Red Stars (American National Women’s Soccer League)
Five minutes remaining, the game is tied at 0-0. It’s the Chicago Red Stars against the Seattle Reign. Something’s gotta change if there’s to be a result in this one… on comes Rosie White.
Rosie didn’t actually get the winner. She might have when Sam Kerr skipped down the left and whipped one in which found its way to White at the far post but she couldn’t get it under control. Similar a few seconds later when fellow sub Michele Vasconcelos’ cross didn’t quite pick out Rosie’s run in behind. But then from the resulting goal kick a Yuki Nagasato header sent Kerr through and she’s just way too good not to take that opportunity. 1-0 to Chicago, for the win.
Up Next: A week off before playing Sky Blue on Sunday 29 July, 12pm (NZT)
Chris Wood – Burnley (English Premier League)
Up Next: First game of the Premier League season is away to Southampton on August 13 (NZT)
Stefan Marinovic – Vancouver Whitecaps (American Major League Soccer)
Big Stef had the chance to go up against Wayne Rooney as the England legend was named on the bench for new club DC United this week. But Big Stef was also named on the bench again, still making his way back to full fitness. It’d be surprising if Brian Rowe has done enough to compete with Marinovic’s early season form (and especially his late 2017 form) so it’s a matter of time, you’d assume, ‘til he’s back in there. But now we wait one more week.
Don’t ask about how they did without him. Rooney came off the bench and set up a goal while DC United won 3-1. A bit dumb, there.
Up Next: Montreal Impact vs VW, 11.30am on Thursday in the Canadian Championship (NZT)
Jake Gleeson & Bill Tuiloma – Portland Timbers (American Major League Soccer)
0-0 draw between LAFC and Portland. The two teams play again next up in the US Open Cup semis. There were probably a bunch of great and entertaining things that happened in that game but Bill Tuiloma and Jake Gleeson were each unused subs again so those things are for another website roundup.
The timing meant we didn’t even get a Tuiloma/Timbers 2 cameo either. The T2 side won 2-1 against Swope Park Rangers to maintain their impressive form under manager Cameron Knowles. That’s Cameron Knowles who hails from Aotearoa, born in Auckland, who has been nominated for the USL Coach of the Month for June. Keep it up, brother.
USL.com: “Taking over the club with the worst record in the league in 2017, Knowles has instilled a greater sense of belief within T2’s squad that has allowed its young players to flourish so far this season. The club has almost tripled its win total from a season ago in the first half of the season and is in with a chance at its first trip to the USL Cup Playoffs in its history as a result.”
Up Next: LAFC vs Portland, Thursday at 3pm in the Cup (NZT)
Nik Tzanev – AFC Wimbledon (English League One)
Sweet as. It ain’t news that he’s staying in Wimbledon but always fun to see it confirmed. Both the other keepers from last season have also been kept around which means that the 21 year old kiwi will remain the third choice for now, though he’s clearly making fans.
Neal Ardley, Wimbledon Manager: “You always want three keepers. Since he came in, Nik has done really well and he is one who we think has got a real chance in the future. In an ideal world we would try to get him out on loan, but to do that we probably need to bring in another young keeper as someone that can progress through the Under-23s set-up. We are looking at that and we are trying. We are delighted that Nik has put pen to paper and, fingers-crossed, these keepers could be the future in a few years.”
Up Next: Fleetwood vs AFC Wimbledon, August 5 at 2am (NZT)
Tommy Smith, Kip Colvey & Deklan Wynne – Colorado Rapids (American Major League Soccer)
Now the first thing to do here is to drop Kip Colvey off the Rapids list since he’s only managed to play sporadically this season, which has led to the club sending him off on loan for more footy. He joins the Colorado Switchbacks in the USL (adding another to that USL kiwi contingent). Colvey’s played 208 minutes in three MLS games for Colorado Rapids and can be recalled at any time during the loan. Seems a good call to get him some matches.
In the meantime Colvey made a quick debut for the Switchbacks, getting a second half yellow in a 1-0 defeat against Sacramento Republic, shout out to coach Simon Elliott on the win. Colvey only got two training sessions in with his new team before he made his debut but no dramas as far as he’s concerned.
Kip Colvey: “It can be tough at times depending on the situation but I think here … they’ve been pretty welcoming and I got to train on Thursday and Friday with the team, so you get those two days and I think that was enough to … kind of get an idea of how the team wants to play.”
As for the Rapids there was bad news for Deklan Wynne who finally missed his first start of the season. Took months longer than anyone predicted but here we are. Even with defender Danny Wilson playing in the midfield, a fit again Kortne Ford took his place at the back and Axel Sjoberg also joined the back three, a tenth start for the Swede. Wynne was an unused sub thus leaving Tommy Smith as the only ever-present Rapid under Anthony Hudson.
At least this week also provided an enjoyable interview with AFTN as the Vancouver Whitecaps site chased up their former player for an update. Check that one out below and enjoy the very glowing comments from Uncle Huddo about the All Whites left-back.
Anthony Hudson: “This is what people probably don’t know about Deklan. He’s a left back or a left wing back and he’s played all season with us as a right sided centre back. I think every game he’s grown. He’s grown physically. Vancouver tried to put Davies on him and different things on that side and I think he stood up to the challenge incredibly well. He’s a young player who has grown immensely. I have no worries about Dek. Dek’s going to be a fantastic footballer for us.”
Right and there was a game to get to as well. Umm… so it was a 0-0 draw. Not much happened. Tommy Smith was booked in the first half and then forget about it. Good point for the Rapids though.
Up Next: Real Salt Lake vs Colorado Rapids, 2pm on Sunday (NZT)
Tyler Boyd – Vitória de Guimarães (Portuguese Primeira Liga)
When Boyd left CD Tondela after a year on loan last season it was said that he’d be back with his parent club for the upcoming preseason, finally with the chance to win a regular place in the first team as a reward for what he did with CDT. And sure enough they’ve played three friendly games in the last little while and he’s gotten minutes in all of them.
Numero uno and the bloke played the first 45 minutes in a 3-1 win over Penafiel, with the manager making a complete change of the lineup at the half and then five more changes for the final thirty minutes. Next up the team won 1-0 over UD Oliveirense and Boyd didn’t start this one but he was one of the 17 subs to get a run as the full squad got a workout again. Then for their third game he was back amongst the starters and played 45 minutes against Tondela of all clubs, his old buddies, with Vitória claiming a 1-0 victory.
Up Next: First game of the league season is on August 13 away to Benfica (NZT)
James Musa – Phoenix Rising (American United Soccer League)
The media vote did not come through for Moose’s Player of the Month campaign. Gonna have to make it happen in July instead but you know what they say, just to be nominated is enough.
The July run isn’t going so well after the Rising came off a bit of a break with a 4-0 defeat against Fresno. 15 days off was a few too many for them. Christian Chaney scored25 minutes in and then three goals in ten minutes between the 64th and 73rd killed this thing off. Both sides had red cards although only Phoenix had to play the whole second half down to ten men. Shocking tackle from Musa’s midfield partner Kevon Lambert making things very hard on his team late in the first half. Cory Brown didn’t play for Fresno, he’s still out.
We’ll end on a happy note though, here’s The Moose hanging out on the radio.
Up Next: Home to Seattle Sounders 2 on Saturday at 3pm (NZT)
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