Flying Kiwis – February 19
Ryan Thomas – PSV Eindhoven (Dutch Eredivisie)
Happy days, right? But those ain’t pics from last week’s game, nope Ryan Thomas has been at it again for PSV. Starting in that number ten role once more he supplied his second goal for the club a week after scoring his first and helped the team to another important win as they seek to turn their season around.
Thomas’ goal came in the 70th minute to make it 2-0 against ADO Den Haag – a team that’s managed, incredibly, by none other than Alan Pardew. PSV had earlier taken the lead in the 17th minute as Sam Lammers converted from the penalty spot following a VAR spotted handball, kinda innocuous but a handball it was, and were having good success at pegging ADO back in their own half and thus had the freedom to commit big numbers forwards... but that also cramped the room they had to work with and limited the effectiveness of Ryan Thomas who is all about those clever movements. Still, he almost set one up for Cody Gakpo with a clever return pass in the box but the fella’s shot was saved.
ADO only really looked like scoring in a little burst late in the first half, reminding PSV of the for that second goal. Lammers had a couple close calls and Ricardo Rodriguez drew a save after Thomas had laid one off to him... but then Thommo made that sweet late run into the box, angling between a couple defenders, and then heading in from Lammers’ cross. Celebrations ensued. Ryan Thomas was subbed off for the last ten minutes and Gakpo would soon add a third for the 3-0 win.
So if you’re counting at home, Thommo has now played eight games in the Eredivisie with PSV and are undefeated when Thommo plays more than the 22 minutes he did in the AZ game that he got sent off in. Six games during which they’ve taken 14 points with a goal difference of +12... the same goal difference that PSV has from their other 17 league games combined. That’s 2.33 points per game when Ryan Thomas has a prominent role and 1.65 points per game when he doesn’t. Preeeetty significant. PSV rise up to fourth on the ladder with this win.
And Ryan Thomas was a bit of a media darling after all that. He might not have been the most involved throughout the entire game but he was always moving, always looking for ways to help his team, and he literally did not misplace a single pass in his 80 minutes on the pitch. Playing as a secondary striker and he had perfect pass accuracy. That’s insane.
PSV.nl recapping the media reaction: “With a number of new eye-catchers, PSV is trying to find its way up again in the Eredivisie table. The first steps have been climbed convincingly for the time being, but the PSV players are of the opinion that two swallows are not making a summer yet,” writes the ED. “We can be very happy with this victory, if you look at where we come from,” Lammers said after the game in The Hague.
Thomas was not only praised by the ED for his performance. Voetbal International also saw that the "shadow striker" played an important role. Thomas managed to score again, just like the previous game against Willem II, but the New Zealander was also important in possession of the ball. “All the passes he sent reached their destination. Thomas was logically the purest player on the field. No coincidence, because against Willem II he had already been the PSV player with the most new passes”.
FOX Sports analyst Mario Been is also enthusiastic about Thomas' game. “Apart from the fact that he had 100% pass accuracy, he was also constantly in the 16-metre area. It is a walking wonder that provides depth. An experiment that has been successful for the time being.”
Ryan Thomas: “I really like it. I’m playing further forward than I’m used to but it is going very well. The partnership with Sam [Lammers] is also going well and for me it is great that I’ve been able to score goals again. The manager knows that I also do a lot of work in this position without the ball. I can close a lot of holes, always put pressure. Confidence is clearly growing. Another three goals, again zero, finally a victory. The past few weeks have been a search. At one point we were so deep that we didn't even look like PSV anymore. We then went back to basics, the basics that led us all to this beautiful club. Making dirty metres, working hard and winning, ugly or beautiful. The rest then comes naturally, you are now starting to see that more and more.”
Up Next: Vitesse vs PSV, Monday at 2.30am (NZT)
Rebekah Stott – Melbourne City (Australian W-League)
There’s no stopping Melbourne City, damn. They cruised to a 3-0 win over Annalie Longo and the Melbourne Victory in the big derby game. Rebekah Stott almost got us started in the first minute as she lobbed one forwards from right central defence which was almost cut out by a defender, though still ended with Emily Van Egmond getting a shot away but straight at the goalie. City basically kept on at that same level the rest of the way with EVE curling in the opener after 20 minutes from the edge of the penalty area, a similar distance out to her super strike for the Aussie national team last week.
Ten minutes later their speedy Scottish striker Claire Emslie made it 2-0 after following up on her own shot, then she’d do the same five minutes after the second half kick off and this game was only ever going one way. Kyah Simon tapped in from close range post haste and only a nice Casey Dumont save late on denied Emslie a hat-trick and City a record derby win. City had 11 shots on target compared to just one for the Victory. Ninety minutes out there for Stotty and ninety minutes for Annalie Longo as well in the Victory midfield but only one of them got to enjoy herself.
Despite the loss, the Victory still hang onto fourth spot while City are now six points clear at the top after ten games. Funny thing is, Stott had said in the media earlier in the week what a massive game this was and how the team needed to be more lethal in front of goal. And, well, they were. That’s leadership for you, friend.
Rebekah Stott: “This is one of the best squads I have been in, not just here but around the world. We are so consistent, and I don't think we have fully reached our potential yet. We probably need to score more goals, have more convincing wins, we can be a lot more lethal than we are at the moment.”
Unfortunately no team of the week honours for Stotty this time though... but she did get included in this pre-emptive team of the season thing a couple weeks back in between games. No arguments here whatsoever. She’s been remarkable.
W-League: “Rebekah Stott (Melbourne City) - City possess the meanest defence in the Westfield W-League and Stott is a main reason why they are so tough to break down. The Kiwi international has been in the Westfield W-League Team of the Week five times from just eight games, boasting a passing accuracy of almost 86%, making 16 clearances and 20 interceptions, while she also has a goal and assist to her name. Outstanding stuff!”
Ooh and for you nostalgic folks, here’s one from the vault...
Up Next: Western Sydney vs Melbourne City, Thursday at 9.30pm (NZT)
Chris Wood - Burnley FC (English Premier League)
Burnley, getting back at it after a week off, could hardly have had a better start to their game away to Southampton. Despite (or perhaps thanks to) blustering conditions that had the rain at times falling horizontally (so, not really falling at all then) they surged into the lead in just the second minute as Ashley Westwood, believe it or not, curled one straight in from a corner kick. What a champ.
Despite that the Clarets did sorta look like a team that had taken the lead via a massive fluke and they were quickly put on the back foot by Southampton who then levelled up in the 18th minute thanks to the seriously in form Danny Ings. Back on level pegging and that’s about when something awful happened.
Chris Wood was leading Burnley on a counter attack by carrying the ball into the Saints half and looking to feed the run of Dwight McNeil past him when he pulled up sharply, clutching at the back of his leg. Play carried on but amounted to nothing and Woody hit the deck leading to an extended physio’s break before he limped off to be replaced by the almost forgotten man Matej Vydra. 20 minutes gone and The Woodsman’s day was over. A hamstring tweak causing the trouble.
Burnley would go on to win the game thanks to a wonderful strike from Vydra in the second half. That fella hadn’t scored a goal for 511 days but what a way to break the drought. A 2-1 win for Burnley has them sitting pretty in 11th place, only behind Arsenal on goal difference and sneakily just seven points off fourth place yet 10 points clear of the drop zone. Good thing for that buffer too because with Ashley Barnes already out for a while yet and Chris Wood now injured that’s a big concern for them. No word yet on the severity of the knock yet but clearly they weren’t gonna risk it, getting him out of the game quick stat after it happened. Fingers crossed that precaution did the trick.
Sean Dyche: “He got off quick. He felt it and went off quick. Not one where you are sprinting and it really goes. I will have to wait and see. He said he went down quick to get the physio on. We got him off quick and hopefully it won't be too serious but it will be in the next few days.”
Up Next: Burnley vs Bournemouth, Sunday at 4am (NZT)
Ria Percival – Tottenham Hotspur (English Super League)
FA Cup footy, folks. Spurs were away to Coventry United on a chilly Monday night in England, a game that they were favoured to win as the team in the higher division of the two... and a game that they did win. Comfortably. Ria Percival nearly scored the opener herself with a strong header from Ashley Neville’s cross but no dramas it didn’t take much longer before Siri Worm looped one into the net in the 19th minute and within ten minutes of that one Rianna Dean had both won and then scored a penalty to make it 2-0. Spurs in cruise control. Another Deano penalty just before the break made it 3-0 and then it was just a matter of closing it out in the second half.
Neville scored a fourth but it was disallowed for offside. Then both she and Percival were subbed off in the 62nd minute, Spurs using up their last two subs presumably to protect players after the Super League game a few days earlier. Lucia Marte Leon scored another in the 78th minute and then Rianna Dean completed her hatty right at the end there. 5-0 was the final score and Spurs stroll on into the quarterfinals. Remember Ria Percival played in an FA Cup final with West Ham last season, she’s got plenty of form in this competition. In the next round they’ll face either Arsenal or, in the case of a very dramatic upset, Katie Rood’s Lewes in the quarters. That match takes place next week.
As for that Super League game a few days earlier, Percival played ninety minutes there against Everton, getting a yellow card in the process. It all looked pretty messy when Everton were 2-0 up after an hour but Spurs fought back brilliantly with goals from Angela Addison and Emma Mitchell to salvage a 2-2 draw despite Rosella Ayane getting sent off.
It wasn’t an uneven game. Spurs had just as many chances to score in the first half as Everton (including Dean hitting the post after a through ball from Percival) but they were their own worst enemies in the lead in to Chloe Kelly’s goal, failing to clear the ball when they had the chance and being punished for it with a sharp finish. Then in the 58th min it was 2-0 in similar circumstances as the Spurs keeper Rebecca Spencer hit her clearance straight at an attacker and Inessa Kaagman ended up scoring. But ten minutes after that blunder, Spurs were back in it. Ria Percival had started the move with a pass out wide from midfield and she carried on her run to end up with the ball on the right wing. In came the cross and Addison’s header did the rest. Assist for Percy, putting just enough dip on the cross to avoid the defence. Beautifully done.
Then things got weird. Ayane was looking for space in the attacking third when she was pushed over, no free kick. Percival stepped in to try and win the loose ball but couldn’t do so under pressure before Ayane stepped back into the mix and won the ball but was chopped down at the same time. She did get the call this time from the ref but she must have said something or lashed out because up popped a straight red card. But then from the resulting free kick Emma Mitchell absolutely crushed her shot into the ol’ postage stamp for a magical equaliser. Spurs hanging on with 10 women for a 2-2 draw.
Up Next: Brighton vs Spurs, 3am on Monday in the WSL (NZT)
Olivia Chance – Bristol City (English Super League)
Ah but the news wasn’t so good here. The Robins played Manchester City in the league on Friday morning NZT and were trailing inside two minutes thanks to Gemma Bonner. Not really how you want to start against one of the top teams in the country, particularly when you’re battling relegation yourselves.
To be fair they did really well to limit it to just a single goal the rest of the way with Sophie Baggaley in goal having a bit of a blinder... however BCFC never looked like scoring an equaliser which allowed Man City to coast to a 1-0 victory. Positive signs for the defence and for Olivia Chance in midfield considering they conceded double figures to Arsenal earlier in the season but they were never really expecting to get anything from this game. The success or failure of their relegation fight will come down to other games... as it is they’re still tied with Liverpool at the bottom on 6 points after the Reds were beaten 3-2 at home by Arsenal the following day.
But then the less said about their FA Cup fifth round clash with Everton the better. It was still a strong team that they rolled out there but they were smashed 5-0, already down by three goals at the break. Another ninety minutes for Olivia Chance which at this point is no surprise, she’s clearly established herself as first choice in this team in her first season at the club, though this game was one best quickly forgotten. At least they can focus solely on the league stuff now.
Up Next: Birmingham vs BCFC, Monday at 3am (NZT)
Sarpreet Singh - Bayern Munich II (German Liga 3)
Nothing to worry about here. Sarpreet Singh was back in the starting XI for BM2 for the first time in 2020 and they absolutely cruised to a 6-1 win over Hallescher. No goals for Singh here. He actually gave away the ball under pressure in the midfield which led to the equaliser although his defence messing up their offside trap didn’t help those matters. In fact it was an untypically quiet day for Singh who didn’t play a major part in any of the goals, subbed off on the hour mark with the score at 3-1... although with the Champions League and DFB Cup meaning midweek games for the top team over the next two weeks perhaps that’s a clue as to something else... or maybe they just wanted to use the opportunity to share the minutes around, who knows.
Meanwhile even on a quiet week we can’t keep Sarpreet down because folks all over the show keep talking about him. Wynton Rufer did a sit down chat with ex-Bayern boss Niko Kovacs recently which had Niko spilling the beans about how immediately Singh made a positive impression on him and some of the senior players at Bayern training, while the new president of Bayern Munich had this to say when asked about the club’s academy...
Herbert Hainer: “Our aim is to bring through players from our own ranks, and we now have four players permanently with the first team: Zirkzee, Dajaku, Batista-Meier and Singh. All four will become Bundesliga players, I back myself to predict that. Some of them can also make it at Bayern.”
Currently only David Alaba and Thomas Muller are repping the academy in the Bayern Munich squad but Josh Zirkzee has already scored a couple goals for the team and Dajaku and Singh have both had Bundesliga debuts already. Love to see that bit about being “permanently with the first team” too. That’s the way to do it.
Also, this...
Up Next: Tuesday 25th Feb at 7am, Bayern 2 away to Chemnitzer (NZT)
Meikayla Moore – MSV Duisburg (German Bundesliga)
Huge news right here. Meikayla Moore has been out with that achilles injury since just before the World Cup, having suffered it in the week of the opening game. Ever since then it’s been recovery and rehabilitation but with the German leagues back underway now after their winter break she was there, as planned, to walk out in the starting lineup for MSV Duisburg in their first game of the year. Brilliant.
As she says, it didn’t go as hoped for. Duisburg were down 2-0 at home against SGS Essen within ten minutes and would go on to lose it 4-0. Both those first two goals coming from corners on the left side of their defence and the third from a free kick delivered in from a similar area so pretty obvious where they need to practice this week. Nothing about that which massively boosts their relegation battle... although FC Köln lost 5-0 and the two are even on points for that final drop zone spot so in a way they improved their stakes ever so slightly. Moore played at right fullback and lasted the entire ninety minutes.
Elsewhere in the Bundesliga, Ali Riley isn’t around any more but Paige Satchell did get 17 minutes off the bench for SC Sand in a 2-0 defeat against SC Freiburg. No sign of Nicole Stratford for USV Jena though, she’s left the club after five appearances, departing for what are labelled as “private reasons” and returning back to Aotearoa. Here’s the statement from the club:
“Defender Nicole Stratford leaves FF UPS Jena with immediate effect for private reasons. The contract between the player and the club was cancelled. The New Zealander moves back to her homeland. “Of course it is a shame that Nicole is no longer available to us. Her reasons for this are understandable, we stand behind her,” said Jena's coach Christopher Heck. The New Zealand international (2 caps) and World Cup participant of 2019, who celebrates her 31st birthday on February 1, switched from the Glenfield Rovers to the Saale in summer 2019. For the FF UPS, she played four games in the FLYERALARM women's Bundesliga and one game in the DFB Cup. FF UPS Jena wishes Nicole Stratford all the best for the future!”
Up Next: Freiburg vs Duisburg, Monday at 2am (NZT)
Elliot Collier – Chicago Fire (American Major League Soccer)
Here’s a thing that happened...
Here’s another thing that happened...
And here’s a third thing that happened...
That’s three games and three goals for EC, all preseason action of course but still. Having had to win over a new coaching staff to earn a new contract with the club he’s doing what he needs to do to show he’s too good to go out on loan to the USL again. In fact the fella’s been talking with the locals about that whole journey...
Elliot Collier: “That was always the goal. Go to Memphis for the year, and then come back here. The new coaching staff comes in and I get told, yeah, you’re invited to preseason, but you have to prove yourself to the new coaches. I think even if I had a contract coming into this year, I would’ve had to prove myself to the new coaches anyway. Not having that contract makes you push a little harder. You don’t waste any moments out of the field. Signing the contract was amazing, and going out and scoring, you can’t beat that.”
That profile on Hot Time in Old Town (dot com), which also gets into his international debut, his experiences out on loan, and the losing a close friend and former teammate in the Christchurch terror attack, also includes a note that according to an anonymous source, Collier didn’t just impress the new coach there (Raphael Wicky) but he “blew him away”. And that was before he started scoring all these preseason goals so it’s only getting better for him.
Up Next: More preseason games, more preseason goals
Winston Reid - Sporting Kansas City (American Major League Soccer)
Already done that one...
Although by the sounds of this IG effort, it sure seems like Winston’s done with West Ham after all so yeah maybe store that one away while you read the older piece on the Winnie x SKC thing. When players say they’re looking for new challenges that doesn’t usually include returning to their old club for preseason. Pretty sure WHU are ready to move on from him anyway so it would have been an uphill battle... could still happen though, you never know.
Up Next: MLS season begins in two weeks
Moses Dyer – Valour FC (Canadian Premier League)
If you were wondering what Moses Dyer’s been up to then now you know. Anthony Hudson’s old favourite player (a bit unfair to Moses to say that, tbh) has landed in the CPL. That’s the top domestic league in Canada and it’s in its second year of existence and is way more complicated than it needs to be with ‘spring’ and ‘fall’ seasons before a two legged grand final. Probably a step below USL in America to be fair but also a competition that could rise in standard very quickly as it expands. Valour ended second to last in 2019 and are based in Winnipeg.
Moses Dyer: “I was looking for something different. I’m always open to going anywhere and everywhere. I watched the games and highlights on YouTube and I’ve checked out the stadiums and the teams as much as I can online. I also have a lot of friends playing in America in the MLS or USL and I’ve talked to them… they all know something about the CPL. They’ve all heard about it. Plus, what I really like is Rob (Gale, Valour FC GM and head coach) said he wants to develop me as an individual as well as a team player. I know it’s only the second year for the league , but I’ve done enough research and know enough people that know about it. They all say positive things, that it’s growing and it’s a good time to be in the CPL. The level of professionalism at Valour and in Canada looks very high and so that excites me. It looks amazing.”
So that’s cool. Moses Dyer had been playing for Florø in the lower leagues in Norway prior to this, playing a handful of times in 2018 as the team was relegated from the second tier to the third tier, and then being much more of a regular last year in that third tier where he scored six times in 19 games. He also has 11 caps for the All Whites, most recently as a substitute when they beat India 2-1 in Mumbai under Fritz Schmid... with Dyer scoring the winner. Here’s what that Rob dude had to say (and it’s plenty)...
Rob Gale, VFC head coach and general manager: “We watched hours and hours of footage of him before we reached out at the possibility. What we liked is he gets on the ball… We thought with Marco (Bustos) going (to Pacific FC) we needed a dribbler, someone who runs at opponents directly. You see that a lot with him. He likes to dribble, which gets defenders to commit and opens up those passing channels or space in behind. When they come running in he doesn’t back down from a challenge, either. All those attributes are positive in his positional profile and where we see him fitting in with the team. What I like is he’s got that positional versatility to play the wing, but he’s also played centre forward before. Key to how we’ll play are players like Brett (Levis), Fraser (Aird), Moses being interchangeable so you can change up the look. It’s all of those guys, including Dylan Carreiro. We feel he could be right back there with the Kiwi national team and if he can get regular minutes with us and get back to the level he showed when he dominated the New Zealand league a few years ago then I think it will be a real positive. That’s certainly an ambition for him and for ourselves.”
Funny thing about dominating the kiwi league there, Valour FC and the NZ Premiership have had a close relationship recently. It’s the club where Stephen Hoyle went after leaving Canterbury United last year and while there he did an outstanding job of salesmanship with two other players from that team then showing up in the Prem this season: Calum Ferguson with the Cantabs and Dylan Sacramento with Hawke’s Bay. Sacramento in particular was excellent at that level though he soon left for an opportunity in Ireland so none of those dudes will still be there when Moses gets into it. But it’s a sneaky little connection all the same.
Up Next: New season doesn’t start for a couple months
Nobody’s serving up the details like Flying Kiwis so if you appreciate it, Patreon is the place to go to show it
Also whack an ad whenever you read a good one, you know the drill, sweet as