Flying Kiwis – September 18
Chris Wood – Burnley (English Premier League)
These are odd times for Flying Kiwis with Ryan Thomas and Winston Reid both out injured. Tyler Boyd is on the way up but he had a week off this time, Abby Erceg always holds down the fort but her game was postponed. Ali Riley’s injured. So there’s a big reliance on Chris Wood at the moment but nobody told Sean Dyche because The Woodsman was named on the bench as Burnley went down 1-0 away to Wolves on Monday morning.
Ashley Barnes and Sam Vokes were picked together up front to bring a bit of… exactly the same… but the Clarets aren’t playing near their capabilities currently and Burnley barely ever looked like scoring. Their build up play isn’t great and they rely way too much on deep crosses into the area, which Woody at least brings a threat with, and when that’s not clicking they seem out of ideas. It certainly doesn’t help when they were getting zipped through at the other end at the same time. Burnley are a well-organised defensive unit however you give up thirty shots against any team and you’re not gonna hold on to a clean sheet.
Burnley did well to last until the hour when Raul Jiminez finally put one away and it was no less than Wolves deserved by then. Chris Wood was introduced second off the bench to try and alter things with twenty minutes to go but he had nothing to work with. He only touched the ball eight times with no shots and the best thing to say is that he had a 100% passing success rate. Four defeats in a row for Burnley and with West Ham beating Everton they’re now bottom of the table. About time to get out of the rut, don’t you reckon?
On a lighter note, Woody gets voted the Celeb King of the squad by Nick Pope for his number nine celebration. Looks sorta like a half Dele Alli Challenge, you’ll recognise it. Popey gives it a demonstration.
Up Next: Burnley vs Bournemouth, Saturday at 3pm (NZT)
Abby Erceg – North Carolina Courage vs Rosie White – Chicago Red Stars (American National Women’s Soccer League)
Right so about that... we’ve now gotta wait until Wednesday afternoon at 1pm because you may have heard there’s a bit of a hurricane hitting the United States at the moment and not even the NWSL, where financial dramas and ill-fitting pitches are commonplace, are going to force anyone to play through that. The game’s been postponed two days, meaning a short turnaround before next week’s final for whoever wins. No such trouble for Portland Thorns, who came from behind to beat Seattle Reign 2-1 in the other semi thanks in large part to an outrageous performance from their keeper Arianna Franch.
So no news on the title hunt but Abby Erceg did get nominated for Defender of the Year by the NWSL. Bit unlucky not to make the five person shortlist for MVP too, to be honest. So you might as well go vote for her by following the link in the tweet, aye.
Backline Soccer: “It’s always hard to know what to do with individual North Carolina players. Given how stacked the whole team is, it’s going to be easier for every specific player to shine. So I’m open to persuasion here. But Erceg was absolutely immense this year, doing plenty to maximize the value of their system: ranging into space to close down plays before they became dangerous, holding off one-on-one challenges, and winning tons of aerial challenges. Just a rock solid year from top to bottom.”
Up Next: NC Courage vs Chicago RS, Wednesday at 1pm (NZT)
Michael Boxall – Minnesota United (American Major League Soccer)
The Loons had a game midweek which Boxall was suspended for with yellow card accumulation. Bit of an annoying game which they led 1-0 at half-time but conceded twice away to DC United to lose 2-1. Pretty even game that just didn’t go their way. Without Boxall, 22 year old Wyatt Omsberg stepped up for his third start of his career. Brett Kallman also got another game with captain Francisco Calvo suspended as well.
All that led into their game away against Real Salt Lake and safe to say there were some interesting selections put forward…
They obviously thought they needed all the defence they could get, what with real Salt Lake having scored six past their last two opponents (including that classic 6-0 over Colorado a few weeks back). And they wasted no time in bagging the first here either, Damir Kreilach whacking one in low from distance. Curiously the four centrebacks were arranged with Boxall on the right (flashback to the ol’ Nix days) and Calvo on the left, despite them usually being the starting central pair. It was Omsberg who stood off and allowed Kreilach the room to advance and shoot.
But the Loons did settle into their work eventually. They withstood a few jabs and then they more or less neutralised their in-form opponents. Then in the second half when they really started to unleash their wingers into space behind the defence they were suddenly looking good for a few goals. It wasn’t until the 84th minute that Miguel Ibarra broke the offside trap and delicately chipped the keeper to level. Boxall playing a part in the move getting well forward from right back, winning the ball back for Quintero after the Colombian had initially been tackled. That might have left it late however they still nearly won it. They should have won it. But Ibarra’s winning goal was disallowed after a lengthy VAR examination which seemed harsh to say the least, but so it goes in the MLS. Minnesota United are now seven games and nearly two months without a win.
Up Next: Minny vs Portland, Sunday at 12pm (NZT)
Ollie Whyte – Rio Ave (Portuguese Primeira Liga)
Doesn’t matter what month of the year it is, signing season never ends. Ollie Whyte is the latest to join the folks after announcing that he’s off to Rio Ave in Portugal. Heck of a jump from the Wellington Phoenix academy player, who scored a hatty in a 14-0 win over Tonga at the recent Oceania U19 championship.
Not the first player to join a Primeira Liga team from the Welly Nix, of course. Tyler Boyd (whose team didn’t have a game this week, since they’re already out of the Portuguese league cup) blazed that trail. Rio Ave are of a similar standard to Vitória SC, sitting one spot above them on the ladder after four games, but bear in mind that it took a couple years for Boyd to really establish himself in that competition. Probably gonna see Ollie Whyte doing his thing in the reserves for most of this season and there’s nothing wrong with that. Huge move for the lad.
Up Next: Santa Clara vs Rio Ave, Sunday at 3.30am (NZT)
Katie Rood – Bristol City (English Super League)
The Women’s Super League in England is going from strength to strength these days but that doesn’t mean there still isn’t a hierarchy and Manchester City and Chelsea remains the two teams to beat. Chelsea are defending league and FA Cup champs, City were league runners up and lost to Arsenal in the final of the WSL Cup. So weeks don’t come much tougher than this one for a team like Bristol City who play City twice with Chelsea in between.
The latter two of them follow in the coming days but first was the WSL group stage clash with Manchester City. And, well, the game went about as anticipated. City dominated possession but against a determined Bristol City team they struggled to make it count, going into the sheds at 0-0. Katie Rood got her second start for BCFC here following on from a substitute appearance last week in her league debut. Certainly not a game where there were going to be too many shooting opportunities but one heck of an experience, up against icons like oh say England captain Steph Houghton, for example. Giving them a good test too.
But the deadlock didn’t last much longer. Claire Emslie’s deflected shot from the edge of the area finally broke the defences early in the second half and Roodie was replaced as part of a double sub in the 56th minute, with the score at 1-0. City then doubled it through Nadia Nadim from the penalty spot and Caroline Weir scored a super third to end it. 3-0 to Manchester City, who top the group and Bristol City basically have to win their final two games if they’re going to progress from here.
Bristol City now have a short turnaround before they take on Ali Riley’s Chelsea on Thursday morning in their second league game. Then it’s Man City again on Monday morning, also in the league. Not gonna be easy, that. Chelsea by the way are coming off a 4-0 win over Crystal Palace in their latest WSL Cup game just a few days after thumping SFK 2000 5-0 away in the Champions League. No sign of Ali Riley yet as she recovers from injury but she must be close now.
Up Next: Bristol City vs Chelsea, 6am on Thursday (NZT)
Ria Percival – West Ham United (English Super League)
All the way down to London now because making a first start for her new club was Ria Percival. West Ham had the bye in the first weekend of WSL action so two late cameos in WSL Cup games were the sum of Ria’s work to date, but after a three week break (bye and international break linking up) she was named to start at home against London rivals Millwall and Ria, playing from left back, made an almost immediate impact when she swung in a sixth minute cross that led to Esmee De Graaf’s opening goal.
Brianna Visalli made it 2-0 soon after and then in just the 12th minute Rosie Kmita was able to add a third after a little scrambling. West Ham continued to boss this thing but with a big lead they didn’t need to take too many risks. Still, they did eventually add a fourth as De Graaf got a second with five minutes to play. Another one swinging in from that left hand flank. Ria was a handful all game with her accurate crossing.
Up Next: WHU vs Reading at 6.45am on Thursday (NZT)
Stefan Marinovic – Vancouver Whitecaps (American Major League Soccer)
The Caps weren’t bad against Seattle here. They weren’t bad at all, especially not with the Cascadia Cup on the line along with a heated playoff battle. But they weren’t quite good enough. 21 shots in total, most of them from Nico Mezquida and Kei Kamara, and only five of them were on target and only one of them made it into the back of the net.
Mezquida missed an incredible chance just ten minutes in and they were made to pay for that profligacy when Raul Ruidiaz snuck in at the near post to poke the ball home past a stranded Stefan Marinovic. Stef was able to keep Ruidiaz out soon after with a fine save at the near post but then a horrible back pass was picked off by that same dude and he whipped out the stepover to go around Marinovic and score. Not much you can do about that.
However, Kamara made it 2-1 in first half injury time to give his side a boost. They continued to push for goals in the second half, Kamara hitting the post with one effort, but that finishing simply wasn’t good enough. A 2-1 defeat here puts their playoff hopes in some jeopardy with a difficult remaining schedule.
Vancouver currently sit seventh in the West. One place out of the playoffs but four points behind Portland and now Seattle (who have a game in hand). Minnesota and Colorado are out of the picture already, same for Chicago in the East although Elliot Collier’s with their USL affiliate anyway, so the 2018 MLS Flying Kiwis Playoff Representative sake has a lot riding on Bill Tuiloma and Stefan Marinovic sneaking in while it looks suspiciously like only one of them is going to be able to. Just gotta wait and see how it plays out.
Hey, here’s Big Stef at a dog show.
Up Next: Monday 11am against FC Dallas (NZT)
Emma Rolston & Meikayla Moore – MSV Duisburg (German Frauen-Bundesliga)
Ah, righto, so… good news or bad news first? The good news is that Meikayla Moore was named to start and Emma Rolston picked on the bench for MSV’s first game of the new Bundesliga season. Moore settling straight in there at the back while Rolston would need to work her way in but she did score a couple goals off the bench in the cup last week. Also looks like they gave her the number 10, which is always a positive sign.
The bad news is that Duisburg lost 4-0 at home to SGS Essen. It’s expected to be a difficult campaign but this was a rough start. It was only 1-0 with an hour played but then two goals in five minutes ended the contest, Essen adding a fourth with a minute left. A full game for Moore but Rolston didn’t make it out there as Duisburg only used the one sub. MSV missed a sitter while it was still 1-1, the second goal was a deflection from outside the box, MSV missed another sitter at 3-0 and yeah. Also the third goal was Meikayla Moore’s fault, misjudging a bouncing long ball. Click here for the highlights.
Up Next: Away to Bayern at 11pm on Sunday (NZT)
Clayton Lewis – Scunthorpe United (English League One)
It’s been a curious start for Scunthorpe. A 3-2 win away to AFC Wimbledon this week, Josh Morris scoring a double, goes pretty good but it was only their second win of the league season. Two wins, four draws and two defeats from their opening eight. And what’s most annoying about that is that Clayton Lewis sighting above is about all there’s been to go by for him. The dude’s fit, he just hasn’t been getting games. having only played 69 minutes last season it was hoped that he’d kick on with a full preseason under his belt, however the new gaffer doesn’t seem to rate him much and the closest he’s gotten to playing this season was a place on the bench for a penalty shootout victory over Wolves U21s in the EFL Trophy, Clayton an unused sub.
Scunthorpe manager Stuart McCall has finally explained the snubbing and it’s more or less as expected. Other players are rated higher, gotta wait his chance down the end of the line.
“He is training well, I’ve got to say that. But you’ve got to look at how many first team games he has had here. I look at the lads in the forward areas and the wide areas we have actually got lots of players there. We have got a lot of options at the moment but Clayton will travel with us tomorrow. He’s another one in training who is very bright but I haven’t seen enough of him to go and start him ahead of people that have been already been starting. Hopefully he will go on to be a good player but at the moment there are people ahead of him in the queue”.
So make of that what you will. A loan out wouldn’t go astray.
Up Next: Scunthorpe vs Shrewsbury, Sunday at 2am (NZT)
Ryan Thomas – PSV Eindhoven (Dutch Eredivisie)
Unfortunately playing time in the Eredivisie’s been scarce for all the kiwis. Marco Rojas hasn’t gotten off the bench for four games for Heerenveen, playing just 25 minutes all season. The latest SCH games was an absolute belter with Heery losing 5-3 to Heracles but, yeah, Marco was on the bench yet again and didn’t get the call as Heery tried and failed to cling on to a draw after their third equaliser of the day.
Throwing it sideways to Willem II, Michael Woud was on the bench this week as they came from 2-0 down with just five minutes to play against Excelsior to draw 2-2. Fran Sol and Kristofer Ingi Kristinsson with the dramatic goals. No James McGarry in the squad though. Jimmy McG had gotten a game with the reserves before the international break but this absence was down to “some problems with his ankle”, according to the coach. Ruled out of contention well before the team was named. Hopefully nothing too serious.
Up Next: More of all that
Hannah Wilkinson & CJ Bott – Vittsjö GIK (Swedish Damallsvenskan)
Wilko was back on the bench for the visit to Göteborg, although CJ Bott did get another full game, and twenty minutes into the game the lineup changes didn’t look the sharpest as Göteborg led this thing 2-0. Vittsjö had been on a super run of form but a couple close defeats in a row had halted that while their opponents came into this on a three-game winning streak, scoring nine goals in the process. So about the worst start imaginable for Vittsjö.
They did hang about though. An own goal got them back in it just before the hour and then Hannah Wilkinson was thrown on in the 66th minute to try and capitalise. Guess what? They did. Took until the very last moment, some absolute scenes, but in the fifth minute of injury time Sofie Junge-Pederson slipped one into the net to earn a dramatic 2-2 draw. After the start of that one, gotta take that with open arms.
Up Next: Home to Limhamn Bunkeflo at 11pm on Sunday (NZT)
Erin Nayler – Girondins Bordeaux (French Division 1 Féminine)
Another week, another clean sheet for Erin Nayler. FCGB had a brilliant results first up when they beat Montpellier 1-0 and they followed that up this week with a more expected but still fulfilling 2-0 win over strugglers Rodez. Vanessa Gilles scored first and then Vivi Asseyi made it two in the 32nd minute. A few sharp saves in there from Nayler and there’s your second straight win to start the season. Yet to concede a goal too. Beauty.
Up Next: Home to Fleury 91 at 12.30am on Sunday (NZT)
Tommy Smith – Colorado Rapids (American Major League Soccer)
The good news for the Rapids is that they only have six more games this season because it hasn’t been a fun one. Their latest was at home against high flying Atlanta FC and the result was pretty much a foregone conclusion days before kickoff. And once the game did start, it went exactly to script. Tommy Smith was the only kiwi to take part and he and his buddies just had no answer for Paraguayan playmaker Miguel Almiron, who scored twice and assisted another goal all in the first half as ‘Lanta cruised to a 3-0 victory.
Colorado did muster a bunch of shots, a whole lot more than ATL actually, but only three of their 18 efforts were on target and the visitors barely had to get out of second gear, especially after their quick start. Their rapid start, so to speak. That’s four scoreless defeats in a row for Anthony Hudson’s side now.
Up Next: Sunday at 11.30am away to Columbus (NZT)
The USL Crew
James Musa (Phoenix Rising) – Sam as always, The Moose was an influential force in holding midfield as Phoenix kept yet another clean sheet on the way to a 1-0 win away to Seattle Sounders 2.
Cory Brown & Myer Bevan (Fresno FC) – Brown was an unused sub but Bevan got the full game as Fresno fell to a late winner at home to Orange County.
Kyle Adams (Rio Grande Valley) – Ninety good minutes as CB in a 1-1 draw away to Colorado Springs.
Kiwi USL Statties – 2018 Season So Far
James Musa – 23 GM | 1860 MIN | 6 YC
Kyle Adams – 21 GM | 1816 MIN
Cory Brown – 12 GM | 890 MIN | 1 YC
Bill Tuiloma – 6 GM | 540 MIN | 1 GOAL | 2 YV
Kip Colvey - 3 GM | 270 MIN | 1 YC
Elliot Collier – 5 GM | 210 MIN
Myer Bevan – 3 GM | 124 MIN
Monty Patterson – 2 GM | 38 MIN | 1 GOAL
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