Sarpreet Singh - SSV Jahn Regensburg (German 2. Liga)

The thing you’ve gotta know about the second tier of German football this season is that it’s hard case. One of the main reasons that Sarpreet Singh didn’t click with FC Nürnberg is that FCN is a hugely storied club with a heap of fans and when they got off to a rough start they weren’t in the business of indulging a loan player who didn’t quite fit the style they were playing. Or, at least, the style they were planning on reverting to in order to ease the pressure they were under.

And while the 2. Liga was had a couple similar situations last season, this time around it’s absolutely brimming with them. Schalke and Werder Bremen were both relegated (while FC Köln only avoided that fate thanks to a playoff win), joining other famous clubs such as FCN, Hamburger SV, Fortuna Düsseldorf, and Hannover 96 in tier two of Germany footy. Incredibly if you take Bayern Munich out of the equation then there are more historic league titles in the second division than in the Bundesliga itself this term and it’s not even close (42 titles to 26). There are European winners in that group. Werder Bremen of course won a Cup Winners’ Cup back in the Wynton Rufer days.

Werder are also the club that Sarpreet Singh made his Bayern debut against; this is the context he finds himself in for this crucial year of his career. But the loan club selection was much better this time because as we’ve been documenting ol’ mate Sarpy is being given every opportunity to impress at SSV Jahn. He was a prominent figure during their preseason efforts and then as the proper season got underway away against Darmstadt there he was playing left attacking midfield in a 4-2-2-2 just as if he picked the team himself.

And what, children, happens when you put Sarpreet Singh in a position to succeed?

This is what happens...

The goal came at a great time for SSV Jahn, who weren’t the smoothest to begin this game playing away from home against Darmstadt in front of a pretty big crowd. Pretty much all the post-game interviews started with how great it was to have the fans back but apparently it took Regensburg some time to adjust – including surviving a crack off the post. Then 21 minutes into the match Sarpreet Singh slipped in and scored on the end of a throw in, with the calmness under pressure to round the keeper and make it a guarantee, and the pendulum took a swing. 21 minutes into his debut for the club in fact, that’s the way to announce yourself. It’s already one more than he got in 11 second tier appearances for FCN.

That goal got SSV Jahn going and they threatened to expand the lead before the break with a few good chances, Andreas Albers going closest, before finally making good on that threat in the 61st minute through captain Benedikt Gimber. Thumping drive from outside the box. Singh playing a part in the build up as he maintained possession on the edge of the area and nudged it back. Jahn probably should have scored more than two but all goods. They were able to control the game from there and get the campaign off to a perfect start with a 2-0 win.

Gimber added afterwards that the season’s target is 40 points to avoid relegation so there’s your context amidst the most stacked 2. Liga ever. Singh had three shots with two on target, to go with 4 key passes and 84% pass completion according to the WhoScored stats... which had him as their Man of the Match (he was subbed off in the 90th minute btw). Outstanding yarns. Someone get Julian Nagelsmann on the phone.

Up Next: Home to Sandhausen on Saturday at 11.30pm (NZT)

Ryan Thomas – PSV Eindhoven (Dutch Eredivisie)

Champions League qualifiers, baby. PSV went straight into the second round but that still left them three successful ties from reaching the group stages (though a win in this one would at least guarantee them Europa League status). The second round draw was tough, pitting them against Turkish runners-up Galatasaray, but they were at home in the first leg with the chance to set things up for the next... oh would you look at that? PSV absolutely smoked them.

It was a brilliant start to the new season for the team from Eindhoven. Uruguay goalie Fernando Muslera has been a wonderful gloveman throughout his career, both for his nation and for Galatasaray who he’s played for nearly 400 times, but he had a shocker here. Muslera absolutely gifted Eran Zahavi a goal in the second minute of the game, ninety seconds played as the goalie was tackled in the six yard box and Zahavi was gonna gobble that up all day. 1-0 to PSV before half the crowd had even taken their seats.

PSV were looking fantastic. Yorbe Vertessen nearly doubled the lead straight after. Noni Madueke was sizzling on the right wing. Eventually it was 2-0 on 35 mins when a turnover in midfield led to Madueke setting up Zahavi for his second after a fluid transitional attack. A great header from Emre Kılınç a little before half-time pulled it back to 2-1 and for a while there this game was in the balance again... though not for very long because a gorgeous flick in behind from Zahavi set up Mario Gotze to make it 3-1 in the 51st.

Even still, away goals may no longer be a factor in UEFA competitions but if Galatasaray had buried one of their half-chances and gotten back on the plane with a 3-2 deficit then they’d have been in a decent place going into the second leg. Instead Zahavi completed a superb hat-trick with seven minutes remaining and then another Muslera howler gave Götze his second late on. A looping would-be-header that actually came off Götze’s shoulder and in trying to tip it over the bar Muslera instead just bobbled it over the line. A 5-1 win for PSV. It’d take an all-time shocker to blow this tie from here. Celtic or Midtjylland await in the next round – that one’s tied 1-1 after the first leg in Scotland.

That’s all great but there’s more because Ryan Thomas popped up off the bench for the last quarter of an hour, playing on the right wing in place of Madueke. Looked a bit rusty to be honest but that’s to be expected as he ramps up his return from injury and these will have been invaluable minutes for him. Plus of course he’s now that little bit closer to becoming the first NZer to play in the (men’s) Champions League group stages since Chris Killen in November 2007. He might even get a chance to start the second leg of this tie what with that big lead and all, you never know.

Up Next: Thursday at 6am, second leg away to Galatasaray (NZT)

Tommy Smith – Colchester United (English League Two)

Last week they made him captain, then for his first game with permanent armband status he got to take on Tottenham Hotspur who rolled out a starting team that included the likes of Son Heung-Min, Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Lucas Moura, and Steven Bergwijn... the latter who was formerly a teammate of Ryan Thomas’ at PSV. Solid opportunity to have a crack at some Premier League level players although there was always gonna be a rather significant talent gap between the two teams. Sure enough Son, Lucas, and Dele all scored goals in a 3-0 win. Smithy played 77 mins before he was replaced amidst a wholesale of substitutions... Hayden Mullins subbing off nine men at once. Cool experience all the same. Can’t embed the YouTube highlights coz Spurs are stingy like that but watch ‘em here.

Then to make it an even more memorable few weeks for Smithy (who signed a new contract and then was made captain), Colchester followed that friendly with a boring one against Gillingham, nothing to talk about there, but on Wednesday morning they’ve got another friendly lined up against Ipswich Town. Tommy Smith against his old club... and he won’t be the only one. Goalie Dean Gerken predated Smithy at Colchester Community Stadium while Frank Nouble joined on loan midway through last season and has since signed permanently with the U’s. Then Smithy’s old CB partner Luke Chambers joined to restore that combination and that’s only half of them because Freddie Sears, Alan Judge, and Cole Skuse have also popped up at Colchester recently. Plus it’s not quite the same thing but Colchester veteran and Tom Eastman did play ten times for Ipswich a decade ago after coming through the academy.

Smithy himself spent a spell on loan at Colchester coming up back in the day so there’s obviously a close link between the two clubs... but this is crazy. Agent Smithy hard at work. Ipswich’s best season in his time there was 2014-15 when they made the playoff semis (Smithy even scored in the 4-2 aggregate loss against Norwich). That season involved Gerken, Smith, Chambers, Skuse, and Sears while Nouble spent it out on loan at Coventry. Talk about getting the band back together. By the way that season also saw Chris Wood feature eight times on loan from Leicester, while current England international Tyrone Mings was also a key player. Fun times.

Up Next: League Two begins on Sunday 8 August with Carlisle vs Colchester at 2am (NZT)

Niko Kirwan – Calcio Padova (Italian Serie C)

New threads for Niko Kirwan. It’s a drop down a division from the Serie B stuff he’d been playing with Reggiana but that was gonna happen anyway after the club was relegated. In Kirwan’s first season with them they managed to get promoted through the intense and difficult playoff system in Italy but despite a decent start to the campaign they faltered badly in the second half and would only win one of their last 14 matches on the way to an 18th placed finish (out of 20 teams). Kirwan played in 27 of 38 league games, 17 of them starts.

That was the highest level that Kirwan has reached in his career to date and his quest to get back there now takes him to Calcio Padova where he’s signed a one year contract. Padova are a Serie C team so this’ll be NK’s fourth season in the Italian third tier (one with Reggiana, one with Reggina, one with AC Mestre).

Padova finished second in their divisional conference in 2020-21, only missing out on automatic promotion because of their head to head record against Group B champions Perugia... despite having the same number of points and a better goal difference. That meant they dropped into those aforementioned ruthless playoffs where 28 teams compete from across the nation and only one gets promoted. Padova skipped the first round thanks to where they finished, then they topped Renate by tiebreaker after a draw over two legs (the tiebreaker being that they were the higher seeded team). After that they pipped Avellino 2-1 over two legs... before losing on penalties in the final to Alessandria following 180 scoreless home and away minutes. Gutted. So this time around they’ve signed a guy who knows how to get promoted from Serie C through those very same playoffs, as you do.

Some translated highlights from that clip: “We had been talking about this agreement for days. Also last year Padova had looked at me, but at that moment I wanted to stay in Serie B at Reggiana. After Reggina and Reggiana now I arrive in Padua, another large club. I can play as either a right winger or left winger. I never started playing rugby, my father always told me to choose a sport and go for it without hesitation. My mother is Italian, from Treviso. I grew up in New Zealand then moved to Japan. I am a very good friend of Igor Radrezza, he told me that I would have a great time in Padua. I can't wait to train with the team and to bring enthusiasm. I spoke with Pavanel [freshly appointed manager Massimo Pavanel] and later there will be a chance to speak more deeply. In Mestre I arrived on trial, that year taught me a lot. It wasn't easy, but Mestre was my springboard. I am delighted to be here, there are new goals every year. There have been no meetings for two years but I was on the New Zealand national team and I hope to stay there.”

Up Next: First proper game is a Coppa Italia clash with the nemeses Alessandria on 9 August at 6.30am (NZT)

Nikko Boxall – SJK (Finnish Veikkausliiga)

There were only four minutes on the clock when SJK lined up a corner kick against AC Oulu. They took it short and chipped it deep with the angle... right onto the head of Nikko Boxall who looped it back past the goalie for the opening goal of the game. The first of several goals albeit the rest of them all came in the second half. SJK were nicely in control with that 1-0 lead but finishing was the same problem it’s been for most of the year and it remained a frustration into the second half, the door left open for Oulu to punish them every time that SJK failed to hit the target from an open sight of goal.

So they went back to the well. 59th minute of the game and it was another corner kick taken short but this time they reversed it to the byline and lobbed it in from there, to where the man with the armband rose high and powered in his second goal of the arvo. Boxall had never scored for SJK in 29 previous league appearances for the club and here he was with two in one game. Couple of dominant headers too. Get in there.

Then the game got funky. SJK thought they’d scored from yet another short corner routine but the low ball across the backline drew an offside flag as it was turned home. Then Oulu pegged one back via Usman Sale in the 72nd min, a slick counter attack doing the damage, before some head tennis after a Oulu corner kick (whipped directly in on the cross) saw Lucky Opara make it 2-2 in the 80th min. Big dramas... until substitute Daniel Håkans stroked in a winner for SJK from just outside the box a mere two minutes after the equaliser and SJK held on to win it 3-2 after that wild finish.

Quality day at the office for Nikko Boxall, who prior to kickoff had been honoured after playing his 100th Veikkausliiga game the previous week. 40 of them for VPS in 2015 and 2016, then 31 games for KuPS in 2017 before he went to Denmark with Viborg for three years. Now 30 apps and counting for SJK. He’s scored 6 goals in these 101 games.

Also there are heaps of random coincidences in the Flying Kiwis realm. It feels like every week there’s a yarn about how some dude used to play with one NZer and now they’re in the orbit of another NZer... here’s a fresh one because former Wellington Phoenix fella Brandon Wilson is joining SJK. How about that? The Aussie midfielder played 4 times for the Nix in between stints with Perth Glory. Now he’s a teammate of Nikko Boxall.

Up Next: The toughest game of the season, away to HJK on Sunday at 2am (NZT)

Bill Tuiloma – Portland Timbers (American Major League Soccer)

At a different stage of the season Minnesota United vs Portland Timbers would have been a Flying Kiwis headliner... but right now Bill Tuiloma’s back on the bench and Michael Boxall is recovering from an injury that his club have deviously used to keep him out of the Olympics and there wasn’t much of a New Zealand twist at all as Minnesota United bagged a 2-1 win.

Felipe Mora had scored in the 10th min for Portland, a lovely goal dashing in front of his marker to head in from a deep-ish position, however after that it was Minnesota running the show. For all their pressure they couldn’t find a breakthrough until Chase Gasper’s superb header in the 74th minute but then in the 85th Robin Lod got in to score a deserved winner. Bill Tuiloma was subbed on straight after the second goal which was a bit odd, you’d have thought the defensive sub would make more sense before you concede but whatever. 2-1 to Minnesota final score.

Up Next: 2pm on Saturday away to LA Galaxy (NZT)

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

The goals keep on coming and this time it’s Max Mata with his first of the season. Took until his tenth game which wasn’t how he’d have planned it but he’s been in and out of the team for the Monarchs so it hasn’t been an easy settling in period (he came on as a 65th minute sub here). The goal, when it came, was a pretty simple one diverting a teammate’s off target shot into the net from close range. Take ‘em how they come.

But while it may have been basic in execution it was pretty crucial in its importance as it got the Monarchs back on level terms against Las Vegas Lights in the 73rd min, 2-2 the score... allowing teammate Milan Iloski to later give RM the victory with a 96th minute penalty. Kyle Adams played the full game in defence - unlike Mata, who has had to be patient for his opportunities, Adams leads the Monarchs in minutes played this year. This 3-2 win was only the team’s third of the season so it’s not enough to get them off bottom of their Western Mountain Conference but it did bridge the gap.

Up Next: El Paso Locomotive vs Real Monarchs, Sunday at 1.30pm (NZT)

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

He’s done it again. Two goals in two games for James Musa... ain’t he s’posed to be a defender?

That ninth minute banger would be the only goal of the game, away to San Diego Loyal (no Hunter Ashworth in sight), but it was a comfortable 1-0 win... in as much as those are possible. SDL didn’t have a shot on target all game. Noah Billingsley was an injury time sub. Clean sheet and the goal for The Moose. Phoenix are already seven points clear at the top of their conference still with the best record in the USL Championship.

Up Next: Phoenix Rising vs RGV Toros, Sunday at 2.30pm (NZT)

Deklan Wynne - OKC Energy (American USL Championship)

The Free Deklan campaign has finally paid off! A debut for OKC Energy is one thing, always love seeing one of the Flying Kiwis crew popping up at a new team, but for Deklan Wynne this half-game appearance goes way deeper.

It was 2 June 2019 when he hurt his foot playing for Colorado Rapids and would miss the rest of the season with that injury. That was about a month after he’d lost his biggest fan in Anthony Hudson, who was sacked by the Rapids nine games into the season. Then came the coronavirus and a shortened and delayed 2020 calendar followed by Wynne being iced out of the Rapids squad. Only made the bench seven times and didn’t play at all that season. He moved to Phoenix Rising earlier this year but again found himself out of favour compared to others and was thus loaned out to OKC Energy. Now finally, finally, he’s made another professional appearance. 25 and a half months it had been for him between official games. This one ended 0-0 against San Jose II but who cares. The drought is over!

Up Next: Louisville vs OKC, Sunday at 11.30am (NZT)

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

Checking up on the lads who were in South Africa last season and there’s still no news about Dan Morgan signing elsewhere after he was released by Maritzburg, while Myer Bevan’s already back scoring goals for Auckland City after he left TS Galaxy. Andre De Jong is hanging in there though... despite an apparent burst of “fake news”. This from Kickoff.com regarding the rumours...

Earlier this week it was alleged that McCarthy, who lead Usuthu to CAF Champions League qualification lasts season was still in Scotland despite the club starting pre-season two weeks ago. New Zealand international forward Andre de Jong was another named bandied out to have failed to return, while Sphesihle Maduna was claimed to have been offloaded. KickOff.com understands visa complications during the Covid-19 pandemic halted their returns to pre-season while the club has since confirmed McCarthy took the squad for training this weekend.

ADJ hardly played at all for AmaZulu last term due to injuries and being out of favour and he was linked with an imminent release throughout the second half of things. However after not playing since the opening game of the season he was suddenly recalled to the bench for the second to last match and then started the final one with AmaZulu’s league position already sorted. Played pretty well too, unlucky not to grab a goal (read about it here).

De Jong still has a year remaining on his contract and after an incredible second placed finish by the club last time there’s continental footy to worry about now too which could mean more opportunities for the dudes at the other end of the squad. It’s also had their manager Benni McCarthy – once a teammate of Ryan Nelsen’s at Blackburn Rovers – linked with more lucrative PSL gigs which is probably why those rumours of him going AWOL had the legs that they did. Fingers crossed for the ADJ resurgence.

Up Next: Still a way away from the new campaign

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