Ali Riley - Orlando Pride (American National Women’s Soccer League)

It’s still an undefeated start to the season for Ali Riley and the Orlando Pride but only just after a tricky game away against Washington Spirit. It was the home side who started much sharper, hitting the crossbar early on, but the Pride soon settled in with Alex Morgan pickpocketing a defender and going close in the 18th minute. A stunner of a save from Ashlyn Harris on 25 mins kept Orlando even, then more of the same as a Washington header into the side-netting late in the half meant it was all square at the break. Though the funkiest part of that last chance was Kelley O’Hara nutmegging Ali Riley down at the byline before the cross. Insane skills from her against her old college roommate... granted Riley had a fair point in claiming the ball may have gone out in the process.

Orlando were without an injured Sydney Leroux who had been one of their main goal suppliers so far. They were already a team that likes to play direct and which doesn’t create an abundance of chances so losing arguably their hardest working forward was a worry. And they went behind in the 64th min, O’Hara with the great cross and Ashley Hatch got there before the keeper to score with her head. But no need to panic coz the Pride hit back straight away. Great shot from Taylor Kornieck dashing forward. Harris would make another good stop down low late on and it ended 1-1. Washington with the majority of the big chances but Orlando’s defence has been a priority there for good reason.

The Mane Land: “The Pride’s defensive unit is a mixture of young players and veterans. Ali Riley and Ali Krieger on the right side of the back line are in their 30s and have a lot of experience defending at a high level. Phoebe McClernon and Courtney Petersen on the left side are both 23 years old and are in their first full professional seasons. It’s the first year that these four players have been on the same back line, which has created some inconsistency in performance over the first games of the regular season. While they’ve looked excellent in certain games, in others they’ve called upon the goalkeeper to keep them in contention.”

And now it’s time for another one of these beauts...

Up Next: Monday 21 June at 10am against Gotham FC (NZT)

Abby Erceg – North Carolina Courage (American National Women’s Soccer League)

Last week’s drastic return to blitzing attacking form might have been a sneaky outlier because the Courage chased that up with a trip to Chicago where they lost 1-0 to the Red Stars. A 30th minute goal for Rachel Hill after what was honestly a sustained first half hour of pressure from Chicago. Kealia Watt and Mallory Pugh had both gone close (Erceg with a crucial block on the latter), then it was Hill bundling the ball over the line after a corner kick was met with a looping header that was saved but not held by the NCC goalie.

The Courage stepped it up after that. Terrible start but they steadied the ship and it was much more even after that and Debinha and Lynn Williams almost combined for an equaliser. Then with about two minutes left Erceg had a header at the back post from a corner which was blocked out for what should have been a corner but was given as a goal kick. One of them days, you know? Chicago held on for the close win and NCC have only won one of their first four games. Honestly, it was in the midfield that the Courage were overrun. It all stemmed from that. The pressure that the defence was under early and the fact that the forwards didn’t really create much until the second half. Something to work on.

CBS Sports Player Ratings: “Abby Erceg, North Carolina Courage: The centre back had to cover a lot of ground against Chicago's attack, and led the team in total touches with 83 and in passes with 65. The team captain was also heavily involved in set piece play for the Courage as the team earned more corners in the second half. Rating: 7 ”

Up Next: NCC vs OL Reign, Sunday 20 June at 8am (NZT)

Katie Bowen – Kansas City (American National Women’s Soccer League)

Only one more FKs/NWSL champ to get to this week because Rosie White was an unused sub again for OL Reign. Four NZers having played in 2021 actually makes Aotearoa the fourth most represented nation this NWSL season. 171 players from the USA, obviously. Then 14 from Canada, 5 from Japan, and New Zealand comes in next - with way more minutes played than the five Japanese reps have have achieved to date. How about that?

Katie Bowen didn’t only play however, she also played in her preferred position of central midfield. She’s almost always used as a fullback these days but Michelle Maemone came back in at right back here against Houston Dash to allow Bowen to play in the next line with both Desiree Scott and Jordyn Listro missing. Both had been subbed off last week yet it wasn’t injuries that kept them out, it was international duty. They (as well as Victoria Pickett) were away with the Canadian national team so it was Midfielder Katie Bowen to the rescue.

It wasn’t much of a game. Definitely not in the first half. Second half it opened up a bit and Bowen got to pull some strings - there was a sneaky ball in behind with quarter of an hour left, faking a shot then threading the needle, which led to a blocked Rachel Corsie shot. But they conceded soon after that. Katie Naughton with the running header from a corner kick in the 79th minute. It would be the only goal of the game despite KC throwing caution to the wind late on. Bowen had one shot off target. She also took a few corner kicks. 1-0 to Houston Dash was how it ended.

Up Next: Monday 21 June, 8am, Portland vs KC (NZT)

Dan Morgan – Maritzburg United (South African Premier Soccer League)

Dan Morgan to Kickoff.com: “I will not be staying on with [Maritzburg United] next season and this is a decision that has come from the club. I have enjoyed playing my football here and the club has treated me well through the opportunity that I had while I was here. This is time to move on to a new challenge. It has been amazing being here and I have loved both the league and the country. I have adapted to both and hopefully there will be another chance for me to continue playing in this league and continue showing what I can do considering all the football I have played in the last two years at here at Maritzburg. This was a new experience for me because before this I had only played at home. I have been lucky enough to win a lot of things back home and in Oceania region which has presented me with a chance to twice be at the Club World Cup.”

Oh well there’s a bit of a bummer. Final week of his second season with Maritzburg and it’s announced that Morgz won’t be back for a third campaign. Not entirely shocking news because he does tend to be in and out of line-ups for the Team of Choice... but he still featured in 25 out of 30 PSL games this term. 16 of them as a starter. Never scored for the club but did pop up with a few assists from left back from time to time. All up that’s 45 PSL appearances for the 30 year old. Now we wait and see where he ends up because as he says there he’s more than keen to remain in South Africa if he can find another opportunity.

Morgan’s final appearance came in a 0-0 draw against AmaZulu which dropped Maritzburg down to 13th on the ladder, three points clear of the relegation playoff. Meanwhile AmaZulu who barely avoided relegation a year ago incredibly finished second and will partake in a little Champions League stuff next time around. They were already guaranteed second place before kickoff and that’s perhaps why something very curious happened in that match, something we’ll pick up in the following entry.

Up Next: Ask around, see which PSL clubs need a left back

Andre De Jong – AmaZulu FC (South African Premier Soccer League)

Andre De Jong started a game! It’s been a weird old experience for him in South Africa, he started alright in late-2019 but then he broke his foot on All Whites duty and honestly just hasn’t had much of a look in since. It’d been rumoured since the start of 2021 that he was going to be released as this suddenly overachieving squad culled some of its more extraneous talent... but ADJ is still hanging around all the same – in fact he’s outlasted Dan Morgan and Myer Bevan at their PSL clubs (Jeremy Brockie too, going back a lil further). And with a rotated cast in the final league game, nothing else to play for, he was given his first AmaZulu appearance since October and just the second of his season. He was also been named on the bench the previous game (unused sub), his first matchday squad feature for six months.

Dan Morgan, by the way, was on the bench for Martizburg seeing as he’s leaving the club and everything. He’d play the final seventeen minutes of the thing coming on for Daylon Claasen who’d already been booked. De Jong was replaced in the 69th minute so they didn’t quite overlap on the pitch... and by the time Morgz got out there both teams were pretty happy with a draw, the game kinda petering out. A point was all that Maritzburg needed to avoid the drop.

But before that there were some quality ADJ moments. He might even be a little pissed he didn’t emerge with a goal to his name. Twenty minute in he tried to get through on the keeper but the keeper got out quickly to shut him down and on 54 mins he showed some clever off-the-ball movement after a bit of skill out wide to work a crack at goal but although he struck it very well there was a killer save to deny him. A pity because he’d looked desperate to prove himself. Plenty of energy and determination and all that. Probably still gonna be released now that the season’s come to a close, at least that’s the impression in the local media... but good to see him give the scouts something to peek at.

Up Next: He and Dan Morgan can team up as a package deal if they want, maybe

Betsy Hassett - Stjarnan (Icelandic Úrvalsdeild Kvenna)

Hey look who scored the winning goal for Stjarnan this week. They went behind early, fought back nicely creating the better opportunities to score and back by a very strong performance by their goalie (both keepers had top games actually). Good solid win there. Fylkir are the bottom team so gotta get those points when they’re on offer. Aaaaand here are the goals...

Up Next: Tuesday 22 June, at home to IBV at 7.15am (NZT)

CJ Bott - Vålerenga (Norwegian Toppserien)

Last week was Botty’s first appearance of the new season, this week she got her first start... and gave away a penalty after half an hour. Tussling with Julie Klæboe, which is the non-controversial way to put it. But this is The Niche Cache and we don’t answer to anyone but ourselves so you get to read now that it was a shocking call and if that’s a penalty then every corner kick you’ve ever seen should lead to a penalty too. Nothing really in it and Bott was furious, pleading her case to any official in sight. Ingrid Kvernvolden snuck it under the keeper for the lead.

Not the ideal way for things to get going. However Bott did make up for that in the second half with an excellent through ball from right back. It was so good that she put two teammates clear into the area. First it looked like Janni Bøgild Thomsen was going to run onto it but then she backed off to allow Celin Bizet Ildhusøy to angle in from the wing instead. CBI got chopped down. An hour gone. Dejana Stefanovic made it 1-1 from the spot. Five minutes after that Stefanovic scored another after a free kick sent into the box wasn’t cleared. VIF nearly capped an impressive second half with a third as Synne Jensen hit the crossbar but that didn’t matter in the end. 2-1 was the final score, a quality comeback win away from home to keep the defending champs perfect after three rounds. Bott was subbed off in the 77th minute.

Up Next: A week off, then VIF vs Arna-Bjørnar at 11pm on Saturday 19 June (NZT)

Vic Esson – Avaldsnes IL (Norwegian Toppserien)

Another stink one. Avaldsnes were competing for the Champions League places up until late in the season last time but that’s unlikely to be the case in 2021 as they’ve now started with three defeats in a row. At home against LSK Kvinner they conceded inside ten minutes. In fairness it was a remarkable header from Sophie Roman Haug, absolutely no stopping that. Nor was there anything Vic Esson could do in the 57th minute when Camilla Linberg finished off a quick counter after Avaldsnes gave the ball away playing out from the back to make it 2-0 to LSK.

Anna Langås Jøsendal pulled one back in the 78th min with nicely worked goal to make it 2-1 and spark a little hope of a comeback but with six mins left they conceded again from another giveaway at the back and wow dude if you thought that Haug’s first goal was good them jeepers that second one was a worlie, no exaggerations at all. A goalkeeping error gave Jøsendal another one pretty much immediately after the kickoff, 85 minutes played, but they never found an equaliser. 3-2 defeat. LSK are one of the better teams and have won all three of their games – the one relief is that they’ve already gotten games against the last two champions out of the way.

Up Next: Rosenborg vs Avaldsnes, 2am on Monday 21 June (NZT)

Greg Draper – The New Saints (Welsh Premier League)

It’s not often that TNS fail to win the Welsh league title... so to fall short in two consecutive seasons was a bit of a blow to the senses. And the club has responded in the way that clubs used to winning stuff usually do: with a good old fashioned cleanout. Which, sad to report, has meant the end of Greg Draper’s long tenure as a New Saint.

Greg Draper has been an undercover slayer within the Flying Kiwis ranks for a long time. The 31-year-old one-cap All White has been shattering records since joining the club a decade ago (after a spell at Basingstoke Town got him started in Britain). He’s the club’s record goal scorer with 165 strikes to his name and has been scoring then at a rate that would make Lionel Messi blush. That’s come to an end now as GD was one of eight players released at the end of their current contracts... though he won’t be leaving the club entirely. Instead he’ll be moving into the coaching side of things. They’ve created a new role for him as an: Elite Football Coach and Football Ambassador.

Chief Operating Officer, Ian Williams: “The club would like to place on record its thanks to Jamie Mullan, Simon Spender and Greg Draper for their invaluable contribution made towards the success of the club over the past 10 seasons. I personally wish Jamie the very best as he continues his football journey, and welcome back Simon and Greg who will both be taking on full-time coaching roles at the club.”

Thus ends a playing tenure that saw Draper win eight consecutive Welsh Premier League title, five Welsh Cups, four Welsh League Cups, and a couple of WPL golden boots as well. Plenty of Champions League qualifiers too. It’s been real.

Up Next: Already sorta discussed that one, mate

Jamie Searle – Swansea City (English Championship)

Swansea fell well short in the Championship play-off final last week. Winston Reid with the cameo as Brentford got it done. That’s a bummer for the Swans’ first team but the club goes much deeper than that so we’re not talking about those jokers here... nope, we’re with the U23 team where kiwi keeper Jamie Searle has been showing his chops off. Enough so that he’s been offered the chance to return next time, sweet as.

Up Next: Keep on doing what you’re doing, lad

Chris Wood - Burnley FC (English Premier League)

After the brilliant last couple of months the season that Chris Wood had, he was always going to draw some attention on the rumour mill. Sure enough here we are with chat about not one not two but three rival Premier League clubs all interested in his services. This from Football Insiders...

“West Ham and Everton have joined Aston Villa in the race for Burnley striker Chris Wood, Football Insider can exclusively reveal. This site revealed on Wednesday that the Midlands big spenders are keeping tabs on the New Zealand international. A recruitment source has told Football Insider that West Ham and Everton are also keen on the 29-year-old ahead of the summer transfer window.”

They’re even talking about a transfer fee which would rise as high as £40m. But it’s important to remember that transfer rumours can serve multiple purposes and as good as Wood played down the stretch there, there’s no team he could move to for that sort of money where he’d be a more important player than he is at Burnley. That’s not always the priority – playing at a higher level, experiencing European competition, money, etc.

But with Sean Dyche supposedly about to sign a new contract as Burnley manager and with Burnley’s new ownership entering their first offseason at the helm it feels most likely that this is all a bit of clever wrangling as Chris Wood – as predicted in this season review – leverages a new contract with the Clarets replete with a cheeky pay-rise... which would be no less than he deserves after that campaign.

Sean Dyche on Chris Wood: “His all-round form...I thought he was excellent against Liverpool, his hold up play is improving all the time, his physicality is improving - he can be a real handful as well as being a talented player. I’ve been very impressed with him over the season for sure.”

Up Next: Work on that signature for when the time comes...

Hannah Wilkinson – MSV Duisburg (German Bundesliga)

A 3-1 loss to finish a disappointing season. Always likely to lose to third-placed Hoffenheim, that’s exactly what happened. Full game for Hannah Wilkinson after her double last game earned the team their first and only win of the campaign but yeah it ended the way that most of them have gone. The Hoffs scored twice in the first twenty minutes and were comfortable enough to make all five of their substitutions at half-time, yikes.

Nina Lange did score midway through the second half to pull one back for Duisburg at least, with Wilkie playing a role in the build up laying the ball off to Geldona Morina on halfway with a nice touch before Morina swept in a lovely ball through for Lange to run onto and score. Hoffenheim had already added a third and hit the crossbar again by then. 3-1 was the final score. Catch some highlights here.

Thus Duisburg finish last on 7 points from 22 games. 1 win and 4 draws and 17 defeats. Goal difference of -46. Wilkinson was only around for the second half of the term having joined in January, she played 10 games for the Zebras (8 of them starts) scoring 3 goals. Obviously Duisburg now get relegated although Wilkinson had only signed until the end of the season so she’s got her options open ahead of the Olympics.

Up Next: Tokyo 2020 in 2021

James Musa, Deklan Wynne & Noah Billingsley – Phoenix Rising (American USL Championship)

On another day this could have been an incredible Flying Kiwis game as Phoenix Rising took on San Diego Loyal. Instead it was merely an incredible game. Hunter Ashworth wasn’t in the squad for SDL while the Rising were without an injured Noah Billingsley. But there was a sighting of the eternally absent Deklan Wynne on the bench (even if he didn’t get to play).

It’s now been two years since Wynne last played a proper club game – when he broke his foot for Colorado Rapids in June 2019. That injury only kept him out for a fraction of that time but he fell out of favour in Colorado and hadn’t been included yet this year down in the USL. Turns out it’s not even an injury thing – they just wanted more versatile options on the bench. Which, like, don’t tell Anthony Hudson. Huddo used Wynne all across the backline while he was the Rapids coach. He certainly didn’t see him as an inflexible left back. But getting back onto that bench this week means he’ll hopefully get to break his appearance drought soon.

Phoenix Rising coach Rick Schantz, a couple weeks ago: “For Deklan, he’s a specialist. Right now, Ryan Flood is playing very well, and I can’t take anything away from Ryan. His learning curve has been so steep and I’m very proud of him. I told Deklan he’s just got to fight for it and compete.”

But we did still have James Musa. Central defender for Phoenix, doing what he does... although he should have done what he does better in the 19th minute when a defensive header against Miguel Berry didn’t quite make it to safety and he wasn’t able to hack it away on the bounce afterwards either as Berry held him off and then dashed into the area to score. Whoops. Though he did manage to close down a fella later in the half to deflect a shot onto the crossbar – not sure if that was off Musa or the other defender in range.

It’s out of character for the Rising not to be creating chances and sure enough it was shot after shot after shot... but they weren’t having much luck. Almost literally everything was being blocked or hit off target. Even when they finally ripped off a clean hit in the 66th min it came back off the post. Then to make matters worse, instead of that being their catalyst, they conceded again five minutes later. Excellent effort from Jack Blake. Phoenix down 2-0 with less than twenty to play and staring down a second defeat of the season... until they scored twice in injury time to snatch a draw. Santi Moar lashed one in just as the clock ticked past 90 mins, Joey Calistri then did the same in the 97th minute of the match. Set piece not quite cleared and he bashed it in low. Hell of a contest, that one. Phoenix with 32 total shots... and only three on target. Two of those being injury time goals.

Up Next: Phoenix Rising vs Tacoma Defiance, Sunday at 2.30pm (NZT)

Kyle Adams & Max Mata - Real Monarchs (American USL Championship)

One more game and it featured Adams and Mata both amongst the starters for the Monarchs as they lost 1-0 to New Mexico United. Conceded the winner in the 82nd minute. Probably a fair result but they’ll be furious to have conceded late from a set piece they way they did – a free kick swing into the area which didn’t actually touch anyone on the way inside the far post. Adams had a shot at it but couldn’t make contact, a little caught up trying to cover his man and he was not too chuffed at how that turned out. Elsewise it was a game of limited chances, Max Mata not being able to register a shot in his 70-odd minutes out there before he was subbed. One offside as he moved around trying to spark things but nothing fell for him. New Mexico are a good team but this was a bit of a stink result, obviously.

Up Next: Real Monarchs vs Sacramento Republic, Thursday at 2pm (NZT)

Michael Woud – Almere City (Dutch Eerste Divisie)

And Woudy’s new manager at Almere City is... Gertjan Verbeek! Former Adelaide United manager in the A-League, until covid came and he went back home. Funny coincidence. Almere fell short of promotion in the playoffs despite being in contention for an automatic raise for most of the season – finishing with an interim gaffer after sacking Ole Tobiasen during a dull spell. Verbeek’s had a mixed career but he did win the KNVB Cup with AZ back in 2013 and so his reputation is definitely above second tier footy. Good get for AC.

Up Next: Figuring out how to get promoted next time

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