Flying Kiwis – July 20
Tommy Smith – Colchester United (English League Two)
Oh captain my captain. Tommy Smith has been announced as the man to lead Colchester United out full time by new manager Hayden Mullins (who had joined the club as interim manager down the stretch last time and has since been made the permanent boss). Harry Pell was the previous club captain at the U’s but Pell only played a little over half the league games last season so Smithy had already worn the armband several times. Now with Pell having transferred to Accrington Stanley the spot was open and here we are.
Smith is in his second season with the club, having signed a new contract about a month ago. He has hardly missed a game since he arrived at the club and has been a leader since day one... not only within the squad but also apparently in the transfer dealings too as his old defensive partner from Ipswich, Luke Chambers, has conspicuously found his way to the U’s as well this season. Also goalkeeper Dean Gerken predates Smithy at Colchester, he played many a game behind those two for Ipswich once upon a time. Getting the band back together, it seems.
Tommy Smith: “The Gaffer insinuated over the close season that he was going to trust me with the role and it's an absolute privilege to be handed the armband full time. I did it on a few occasions last season when Pelle, (Harry Pell), was out, but as I said, it's a real privilege to be the club's captain for real. With the group we have, looking after things on and off the pitch is going to be easier because the dressing room runs itself with the experience and leadership in there. We have a number of experienced players that I can lean on for help and who have been captains at other clubs so that will also make it an easier job for me. Every successful squad needs a group of leaders, not just one leader and we've certainly got that in different positions throughout the team and that only bodes well for us.”
Up Next: Preseason game against Tottenham on Thursday at 6.45am, that should be fun (NZT)
Ryan De Vries – Sligo Rovers (League of Ireland Premier Division)
The first leg wasn’t ideal. A 1-0 deficit after a game in which Sligo Rovers had finished with ten men was not the way to get amongst the first ever UEFA Europa Conference League. But they’d had their chances away to Iceland’s FH. The second leg was at home and there was every belief that they’d be able to overturn the deficit and come away with an aggregate victory that’d see them up against Norwegian side Rosenborg in the next round of qualifying (and earn the club a very useful payday in the process).
Unfortunately things didn’t eventuate in accordance with those beliefs. FH Hafnarfjördur rolled up happy to slow the game down at every opportunity, wasting time on goal kicks and everything. Their intentions were clear so it was a matter of whether the Bit O’Red could bag a goal or two in response. Romeo Parkes had a couple sights which he wasn’t able to make the most of. The corner kick tally was mounting. Then just before the half they conceded a needless free kick down near their own corner, the ball was whipped in and not cleared, and Steven Lennon, the scorer in the first leg, slammed in what the commentary called a sucker punch of a goal. No kidding. A half that Sligo had dominated and yet at the end of it their deficit had been doubled.
Then because Sligo were still stunned from that first concession they went and leaked another one a couple minutes into the second half. Regan Donelon got beat for positioning and dragged at an attacker in the box... penalty kick. Lennon dispatched that one too for his third goal of the tie and that was always likely to be a bridge too far for the Irish team. De Vries was replaced with half an hour to go. His replacement, Johnny Kenny, would score a penalty in the 84th minute but that was only a consolation. So if you’re ever in a pub quiz specific enough to ask who the first New Zealander was to play in the UEFA Conference League... you know the answer. But also know he didn’t have a heap of fun with it. Sligo Rovers were arguably the better team on paper but were somehow beaten by a comfortable 3-1 aggragate margin.
Then they lost 1-0 to Waterford in their following League of Ireland game. RDV was an unused sub for that one. No doubt the club has had better weeks.
Up Next: FAI Cup next weekend, at home to Cork City TBD (NZT)
Joel Stevens & Francis De Vries – IFK Värnamo (Swedish Superettan)
Ooh yes, there it is. It’s taken a while for Stevens to get on the board for 2021 but when it eventually did he really made it one to remember. That’s a sweet highlight right there... doing it for the cameras against rivals Östers IF.
A scrappy sort of game had been busted open when Christian Moses gave the Varnies the lead early in the second half. His shot was partially blocked but still went in off the crossbar, however there was plenty of drama about it as one of the Östersund dudes had run into the ref which had prevented him from challenging for the ball. The ref waved play on. The Östers coach got a yellow card for arguing.
Östers applied the pressure after that but weren’t able to find a way past Francis De Vries and the lads at the back (FDV playing as a fullback again). Stevens hadn’t started this one so he was brought on with twenty to play. Can’t argue with popping back to the bench given his lack of goals so far this season... but he was on one here. Struck a free kick narrowly over the top. Then scored that beauty of a solo goal.
IFKVarnamo.se: “As many times before, the coaching staff in IFK made smart tactical changes. Joel Stevens was a real injection when he came on, in a situation when Öster pressed and IFK countered. In the last regular minute of the match the goal drought would finally end for Joel. He was responsible for this year's - if not the century’s – finest goal at Finnvedsvallen. He picked up the ball in his own half of the field, rushed past an Österspe, and advanced into the penalty area pursued by two defenders. He avoided both and finally rounded Mathias Nilsson in the goal, who threw himself in vain, before rolling the ball into the net from a fairly narrow angle.”
Great win there for Värnamo, 2-0 was the score. Full game for FDV plus twenty mins with a goal for Stevens. That snapped a mini-slump for the team and lifted them back up to fourth on the ladder with a game in hand on the teams ahead of them. The top two spots get automatic promotion to the top flight in Sweden, third place gets a promotion/relegation playoff. Värnamo are going great guns, that recent slump aside, considering they only just got promoted themselves.
Meanwhile Falkenberg, after getting relegated from the top last campaign, are only off bottom on goal difference. Obviously Matt Garbett’s away with the Olympic team right now so fingers crossed the situation is better when he gets back.
Up Next: Home against Vasalund at 3am on Monday (NZT)
Ryan Thomas – PSV Eindhoven (Dutch Eredivisie)
One last preseason game to get out of the way and Ryan Thomas levelled up on his comeback once again, playing most of the second half this time in a 1-0 win over PAOK of Greece. He was one of nine HT changes and then was replaced in the 82nd minute to give one of the academy guys a run (a 19 year old Dutch fullback named Shurandy Sambo).
Noni Madueke scored the only goal in the first half however Thomas did go close to doubling that lead with a 64th minute header. Put it past the post with the rain falling pretty hard by then. He looked sharp playing across the attacking midfield areas in a 4-2-3-1 formation... which is different to how they usually set up last season and that’s probably a good thing for Thomas, bringing that central attacking playmaker back into the mix. He’s played anywhere he’s been asked to at PSV, even at right back briefly during an injury crisis that time, but obviously a formation with five midfielders is gonna supply him with the most tickets.
If it feels like preseason has ended a little early for PSV, that’s because it has. Other European teams are only now getting started but PSV have been on a different schedule because there’s some rather important business coming up over the next ten days or so: Champions League qualifiers against Galatasaray (Turkey) starting at home on Thursday morning NZT (with the away leg a week later). Both teams having gotten here thanks to second placed finishes in their respective leagues last term.
It’s definitely a tricky draw for the Dutch side, although it won’t be the end of their European quest even if they do lose. Victory across two legs will see them advance to face either Celtic (Scotland) or Midtjylland (Denmark) in the third qualifying round with the final playoff round to follow that for a place in the Champions League group stage. Alternatively if they lose to Galatasaray then they drop into Europa League qualifying where they’ll face St. Johnstone (Scotland), while a win here and then defeat in the third round of UCL qualifiers would drop them into the Europa League group stage (which is where they ended up last season).
PSV haven’t made the UCL group stages since 2018-19 when they were given an absolute bitch of a pool with Spurs, Barcelona, and Inter. Needless to say they didn’t win a game, though that was before Ryan Thomas’ time. We’re still a few steps away from this of course but the last New Zealander to play in the Champions League proper was Chris Killen in November 2007 for Celtic so we’re overdue.
Up Next: PSV vs Galatasaray, UCL second round qualifying first leg, Thursday at 7am (NZT)
Bill Tuiloma – Portland Timbers (American Major League Soccer)
Billy had been getting a great run of games as a starting centre-back for the Timbers lately but the team is back closer to full fitness now and a 4-1 blowout loss to Austin FC before their week off seems to have instigated some changes. For the game against FC Dallas it was Dario Zuparic and Larrys Mabiala starting in the middle of a back four. Back to the preferred duo that began the season and thus ending a seven-game streak of starts for Tuiloma.
But the most important thing is that they won. Portland were at home in front of the biggest crowd they’d been allowed since the pandemic and in a very tight, very close contest they were able to sneak it thanks to an 84th minute goal from Jeremy Ebobisse. Picked up the ball on the run with only one defender in his way, then managed to work a bit of space as he broke into the area and sent the crowd wild. Tuiloma was subbed on with two minutes plus stoppage time remaining, acting as The Closer to help preserve that clean sheet. Mission accomplished. 1-0 was the final score.
Elsewhere in the MLS, Elliot Collier was an unused sub for Chicago Fire but that might not have been the worst one to sit out as the Fire had Johan Kappelhof sent off inside quarter of an hour and ended up losing 5-1 away to Nashville, yikes.
Up Next: Thursday at 2.30pm against LAFC (NZT)
Sarpreet Singh - SSV Jahn Regensburg (German 2. Liga)
A couple more preseason games, SSV’s final two preseason games in fact before the 2. Liga kicks off this upcoming weekend. Both were 1-0 wins (not that the results really matter). They beat Liberec with Singh starting as one of the dual 10s in a 4-2-2-2 formation, playing 74 minutes before he was replaced, and then they beat Türkgücü München a couple days later where Singh wasn’t involved. Neither were most of the team’s first choice players – there were 11 changes between these two friendlies and only two from Singh’s crew even featured as subs. Freshening up the starters before game one.
Which is all positive news. Singh had to skip out on the Olympics to prioritise his club career at a pivotal time for him. Out on loan, last year of his Bayern deal, desperate not to have another bad experience like the last time he took up a temporary deal. Thankfully Singh seems to have been welcomed at SSV Jahn, going straight in to start in the first friendly he was there for and extending his minutes in each of his three practice matches. 45 minutes then 55 minutes then 74 minutes. They’re playing him in a role that suits his skills too... putting him in a position that gives him the best chance to succeed. Now we get to see what he can produce when the real stuff begins.
More from Singh’s Kicker interview, regarding the Olympics: “A difficult decision. The Olympic chance may only come once in a lifetime. But the loan deal would not have been possible otherwise, I would have missed preparation and the start of the season. That would have made no sense. Maybe at some point I can play as one of the three older players allowed.”
Up Next: Darmstadt vs SSV Jahn, Saturday at 11.30pm (NZT)
Nikko Boxall – SJK (Finnish Veikkausliiga)
Sixth minute of the game. It’s Ilves vs SJK, two teams coming into this match level on points. SJK’s goalie sends a long ball straight down the middle from inside his own box. It bounces about sixty metres up the park and skids on with the closest defender misjudging the angle of the kick and the Ilves keeper caught deep, failing to sweep up behind his defence. English striker Jake Jervis runs onto it and the former Birmingham academy forward slides it home with his first touch to give SJK the lead. Sneaky tale about Jake Jervis... back in his Birmingham days he made one Europa League qualifying appearance coming on as an 89th minute sub against Nacional of Portugal. Birmingham won 3-0. The man he replaced? Some guy called Christopher Wood, who had scored the third goal a few minutes earlier.
It was a mystery how neither team managed to score again after that early Jarvis strike but low scoring games have been the go for SJK lately to be fair. They hit the post multiple times and had a couple other close calls along the way and deserved the points but it ain’t like Ilves went down without a threat. For example, there would’ve been some nervous gasps in the 84th min when Nikko Boxall made a very uncharacteristic mistake, slipping over in possession to allow a bloke to knick the ball off him and run unobstructed into the box... but the keeper made a good low stop to push it wide. In the end it was a solid 1-0 win that now has SJK settled in the top half of the table.
Up Next: Sunday at 2am against Oulu (NZT)
James Musa – Phoenix Rising (American USL Championship)
The Moose getting things started with a cheeky headed goal against LA Galaxy II. Up there attacking the set piece and in the right place as the ball was diverted into his path. Who had James Musa getting the first Flying Kiwis goal of the 2021 USL season? Probably not too many although he was a better bet than it seems at initial glance.
That’s because most of the NZ dudes there are defenders and Musa is one of the few playing regularly. Max Mata is the lone forward from the contingent but his opportunities have been sparse for a struggling Real Monarchs team. No goals yet in 381 minutes for him – he was an 86th min sub in a 1-0 loss to Austin Bold most recently. Teammate Kyle Adams got the full game there and he’s the other bloke playing regularly in the USL at the mo’ but playing CB for a team that’s only won one of their last eight games isn’t a situation that offers too many goal scoring moments.
Hunter Ashworth has only featured twice for San Diego so far and it’s been two months since the latest of those, not a peep out there as to why so gotta assume an injury. Deklan Wynne has yet to feature for OKC Energy since joining on loan (after being iced out at Phoenix, not preferred as starting left back and then dropped off the bench in favour of more versatile options). And Noah Billingsley is yet to get a sustained run for Phoenix either... though he did get 19 minutes off the bench in this game. His first appearance for a month – NB’s had a couple knocks since Minnesota United sent him there for experience.
So yes, James Musa is leading the way. His goal against the Galaxy 2 side was eventually overshadowed by the performance of Solomon Asante who scored himself eight minutes later and would bag three assists to go with that strike. Musa’s goal was the only one he didn’t play a direct role in... and even then he still won the initial corner kick. Asante had also hit the crossbar from a free kick at 0-0 too, hell of a day for that bloke. 5-0 was the final score in case you hadn’t done the maths. Phoenix are already well out atop their conference standings with the best record in the USL Championship through 12 games played.
Up Next: Away to San Diego Loyal on Sunday at 2.30pm (NZT)
Moses Dyer – Valour FC (Canadian Premier League)
Valour FC’s sixth game of the season... and it ended like most of their other ones with a win to nil. They did lose 2-1 to York United at the start of the month but other than that it’s been flawless for VFC. Granted it did take them some time to get past Atlético Ottawa (lol, what a name). Only five minutes remained when they won a penalty for a handball and up stepped Moses Dyer, who had earlier come off the bench, and the man made no mistake. That goal clinched a 1-0 win. Dyer’s third banger of the campaign – all three from the penalty spot.
They then got revenge on York Utd a few days later. Dyer was back in the starting line-up (gonna assume he was rotated because of the double gameweek) and he played 73 mins before being replaced with a three goal lead and the points already in the bag. Sweet little assist for the third just before he went off too. Carrying the ball up over halfway after dropping in to collect it, then threading through for Austin Ricci to score his second of the match. Final score was 3-0 and Valour are well clear at the top of the ladder already with six wins from seven games (and only two goals conceded).
Up Next: Wanderers vs Valour, Sunday at 6am (NZT)
Rebekah Stott – Unattached
State league stuff in Australia is not within the usual realms of Flying Kiwis but how could we not include Rebekah Stott’s return to the footy field? After spending the last few months undergoing cancer treatment, and all the stress and fear and anxiety that entails, Stotty was able to bag an eight minute cameo for Bulleen Lions in the Victoria NPL – who are coached by Caitlin Friend, a former teammate of Stott’s and, in her own words, her best friend. Bit of a different scenario to her previous competitive game which was in the week before Christmas for Brighton against Reading in the WSL in England. Eight long months ago.
Needless to say this was a massive milestone on the journey back to the top... and kinda beautiful that it happened in the same week, just a few days before, Tall Blacks basketballer Alex Pledger made his own return for the Southland Sharks in the NZ NBL. Pledger had also had to step away from his sport earlier in the year after a cancer diagnosis. Two shocking bits of kiwi sporting news which arrived within a short space of time of each other and now those timelines are aligning in a far more positive way in their recoveries.
From Stott’s blog: “Emotions quickly turned into pure adrenaline. I told myself I wouldn’t go too hard but the moment you step foot on the field you lose all control. See ball, get ball. My brain was working faster than my legs and I got tumbled over a couple of times but I had the time of my life. It was incredible to be back out there, to be back in my happy place. It’s given me the drive and determination to keep working hard, to keep fighting and to return to the highest level sooner rather than later.”
Up Next: Get those fitness levels back up and keep the milestones coming
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