Flying Kiwis – January 4
Liberato Cacace – Sint-Truiden (Belgian Pro League)
A win, a precious win, for Libby Cacace and Sint-Truiden. In their final game of 2021 they ground out a 2-0 result at home to Eupen which snapped a streak of five consecutive defeats. Cacace once again got the start at left wing-back where he had a strong game defensively while offering solid support getting forward in attack, albeit mostly in the build-up stuff.
STVV were on the front foot immediately with their Japanese forwards seeking to combine swiftly. Yuma Suzuki and Taichi Hara (with a bit of RWB Daiki Hashioka at times) – one of those moves coming about after an intercept from Cacace on the left wing. Eventually that pressure saw a breakthrough. Came from a mistake at the back, not cutting out the through ball from Mory Konate, and that allowed Hara to run through and score in the 24th minute of the match.
Suzuki went close with a header that was saved ten mins later as STVV continued on their merry way. Although it was still 1-0 at the break, Eupen’s best chances had come from long range shots. Keeping them in the pocket. Eupen improved after the break and Konan N’Dri volleyed one into the side-netting on 58’ but there weren’t too many other dramas. In a game between two out-of-form clubs, playing with the lead was huge. STVV were able to control proceedings. Eventually Suzuki nodded in from a Christian Brüls free kick with ten to go and that was the clincher. Cacace was replaced with a couple of ticks remaining. 2-0 the final score. Finishing the year on a rare high.
And now presented without comment...
By the way, it turns out that goal was the last that Yuma Suzuki will score for Sint-Truiden. He’s the latest to graduate from the club’s transfer production line... although not quite the progression that might’ve been expected. He was linked with Schalke, Anderlecht, and Club Brugge in the summer but after 26 goals in 71 games the forward has instead chosen to head back to his homeland, signing for Kashima Antlers. Returning to the club he joined STVV from in the first place. Personal decision from the 25 year old, fair enough.
That news is mentioned here as a reminder that Sint-Truiden is a selling club and with a couple weeks before their next match this is the time that transfer business gets done. Liberato Cacace is a guy they invested a bit of cash in, he spent a period of time out of the starting team recently and has had rumours linking him away. Watch this space just in case.
Up Next: Sunday 16 January, 8.45am at Club Brugge (NZT)
Chris Wood - Burnley FC (English Premier League)
Three straight Burnley games were postponed after their various oppositions had covid cases in their squad. Games against Aston Villa, Everton, and Watford were all called off (a couple of them quite late) and this was after they had a snow-enforced cancellation against Spurs a few weeks earlier. At what’s usually the busiest time of the year, Burnley didn’t play at all between the 0-0 draw with West Ham on 13 December and their New Year’s Eve clash away to Manchester United.
Then by the time they lined up for Man Utd they were without a couple of their own dudes with covid which was hardly ideal. Most specifically goalie Nick Pope was out, Wayne Hennessey starting in his place, while PL veteran Aaron Lennon started off Chris Wood up front.
Wood had an opportunity in the fourth minute as he sent a diving header off target having beaten the offside trap. Not an easy one but he also probably should’ve done better than he did with it. About a minute later he was in the action again curling wide from just outside the area except this time he was flagged offside.
Then it all got a bit messy. Burnley showing off a few cobwebs after their two and a half weeks off. Scott McTominay blasted one in from the edge of the area on 8’ before Ben Mee was unluckily credited with an own goal for the tiniest of touches on a Jadon Sancho shot on 27’. It wasn’t quite prime Man United or anything but they created a few more chances than they had in other recent games and, after already missing a couple, old mate Cristiano Ronaldo tapped in a third on 35’ following up from a McTominay rocket that had been tipped onto the bar.
There was one other major Chris Wood incident soon before the third goal. He’d made a nice run down the channel to get onto a bouncing ball aimed towards the area only to get involved in some mutual shirt tugging with Harry Maguire. Two big buggers giving nothing away. Wood couldn’t get loose for the shot and his manager was furious about the shirt pull being ignored by the ref, giving the fourth official a proper serving.
In other news, Aaron Lennon scored a lovely goal before the half was out to make it 3-1... but then United controlled the game in the second half, taking the foot off the accelerator and settling for that 3-1 scoreline without seriously risking anything. Wood had another header on target second half but nothing to it. Ninety minutes for the big fella.
The hopes were a bit higher for the clash with Leeds a few days later, Chris Wood up against one of his former teams (whom he’d already scored against this season in their first meeting). Both teams entered on losing streaks. A definitively fluid team against a definitively structured team and neither of them with much confidence. Within the first couple minutes Burnley had shown their threat from set pieces as Wood was narrowly beaten to a free kick by Leeds keeper Illan Meslier and then Leeds immediately countered through the pace of Raphinha out wide. Which approach would win out?
Mostly Leeds. The Clarets did have a few useful spells of possession in the initial stages but had a tendency to move the ball too slowly or too obviously with Leeds players sneaking in and intercepting things which led to the kind of broken play that Burnley are naturally allergic to. But Burnley survived Stuart Dallas cutting in and shooting straight at Hennessey and they survived Raphinha nearly chipping one in from 40 metres out and they survived a couple others instances as well before Charlie Taylor sprinted past on the overlap (33’) and drove a low ball in towards Chris Wood who timed his run nice and late to get a foot on it... only for Meslier to make the point-blank save. Another day that’s swishing into the net.
Instead Leeds took a deserved lead four minutes later. They should have scored immediately after Wood’s saved attempt but Tyler Roberts couldn’t connect properly with a free header eight yards out. But all goods a charged-down pass out of the back from James Tarkowski allowed Jack Harrison to dash into the area, his first effort saved but he slipped the rebound in for 1-0. 37 minutes gone.
Wood had another chance before the half was out. Stoppage time, ball pulled back to him just inside the area, and his first time left-footed cracker flew narrowly over the bar. Another one where if his luck was in then he’d have buried it. Even still, didn’t miss by much... but those chances are the ones that people remember at the end of a poor result.
Not sure how Leeds weren’t up by more given how much trouble they were giving the Clarets’ back four but they weren’t and that meant that Maxwel Cornet was able to come off the bench and equalise in the 54th minute via an absolutely superb direct free kick. Yet another wonder goal for the man’s account already... on his return from injury which was also his last game before jetting off for the African Cup of Nations with the Ivory Coast. Damn.
Sadly, ‘twas a mere speedbump as Leeds resumed the carnage. Raphinha missed an open look from a tight angle on 72’. Should’ve scored that one. Wood had one more chance soon after trying to glance a right-edge cross from past the near post which he didn’t get enough purchase on. Then Stuart Dallas punted Leeds into the lead from twenty yards out on 77’, just beating his marker to the ball and catching Hennessey flat footed. Right at the end, Dan James’ pace was enough to get him around his man to score in stoppage time to make sure of it. Hennessey almost keeping it out but not quite... defs a case to be made that Nick Pope might have saved at least two (if not all three) of those goals. Burnley go down 3-1.
And thus Burnley lose some serious ground in the relegation battle. Things are not looking good for them. Chris Wood was jeered off the pitch when he was subbed off late as frustrations spilling over from some Clarets fans (could also have had something to do with being an ex-Leeds player – he didn’t leave in bad circumstances or anything but this was a feisty game which crossed at least one line of decency as Burnley fullback Matt Lowton was hit by a bottle thrown from the crowd).
We know what usually happens here... usually Burnley will go on a cheeky win streak to propel themselves to safety. But until that happens we have to consider what may happen if that doesn’t happen. If you catch the drift there. Luckily you can read all about that in TNC’s latest Substack email – sign up within for them good bonus yarns and all the links in rotation.
Up Next: FA Cup Third Round against Huddersfield Town on Sunday at 1.30am (NZT)
Nik Tzanev – AFC Wimbledon (English League One)
Not a lot of footy being played at the moment between season’s endings and winter breaks and covid postponements. AFC Wimbledon, like most clubs in England lately, have been on the wrong end of more than a couple of the latter. They were off for the same length of time as Burnley were and unlike the Clarets then had another postponement afterwards. But they did get a game in away to Oxford Town on December 30.
The good news was that Nik Tzanev was sharp as. Multiple quality saves in that first half in particular. The bad news was that the Dons looked plenty rusty after two and a half weeks off and were absolutely blitzed by the pace and tempo of their opponents. Oxford Town almost took an early lead but Gavin Whyte couldn’t get on the end of a ball to the back stick. However Mark Sykes eventually dove one in from a cutback in the 27th min and five mins before the break Whyte nudged in a second on the stretch after a good low ball.
Sam Long then scored a third on the hour mark and although the Dons were better the rest of the way it wasn’t enough to even hint at any kind of comeback. A 3-0 defeat which didn’t flatter their opponents at all. Wimbledon are only five points clear of the drop zone as things stand although they do have a couple games in hand on most teams around them.
Meanwhile here are some birthday highlights from a couple weeks back...
Up Next: FA Cup Third Round, Away to Boreham Wood on Sunday at 4am (NZT)
Tommy Smith – Colchester United (English League Two)
Tommy Smith: “We need to do better. We know that things have to change for us to avoid getting into that situation. None of us are happy or want to be in this situation. We know it's not good enough for the fans that have travelled to watch us and we know we need to turn it around quickly but we know we have the quality to do so. If you take your chances, that changes games. We could have gone ahead in games and that just changes the whole dynamic of the game and gives us more confidence. That's something we need to look at but we obviously need to look at the other end as well and stop giving easy chances away and stop conceding goals.”
Uh-oh, those are ominous words. Probably something to do with a 3-1 defeat away to Crawley Town (after three weeks off, an even longer covid postponement break than Wood/Tzanev had) which leaves them only four points off the foot of the League Two ladder. Three points clear of relegation as it stands. Only scored 17 goals in 21 matches... although they do have games in hand which will be very valuable if they can actually do something with them.
Ashley Nadesan headed in after quarter of an hour for Crawley Town. Smithy had cut out the initial attempted through ball (which might’ve been offside but can’t be taking those risks as a defender, gotta play at it) but Crawley kept the move going with a chip into the middle for Nadesan’s run. Colchester had created a few early things yet they hadn’t scored a league goal away from home since September so once they fell behind it was trouble. Crawley were also able to keep a free kick move alive winning second phase after second phase (then third and fourth) before Joel Lynch finally snuck in to poke home the goal. 37 mins gone.
And then ten mins into the second half Nadesan bagged his second of the arvo with another nice header. The U’s did finally get that elusive away goal when Freddie Sears finished off from close range however that wasn’t until the 79th minute and by then Crawley had seen Lynch scoop a sitter over the bar and Jack Powell smack the bar from a free kick. 3-1 the final score. Not at all what they were hoping for coming into the match.
Up Next: EFL Trophy Third Round, away to Sutton United on Wednesday at 8.45am (NZT)
Sarpreet Singh - SSV Jahn Regensburg (German 2. Liga)
Der Kicker: “Two players from Regensburg combined attacking class with technical quality and goal threat and earned the title “Outstanding”. Singh has five goals and seven assists, Best has three goals and four assists. Only Düsseldorf's Khaled Narey, who, in addition to his force and dynamism, shone with the same yield as Singh, managed to push himself between the Jahn's wing tongs.”
The man. Bit of extra recognition for the yakka. Here’s the full list of wingers...
Sarpreet Singh (Jahn Regensburg)
Khaled Narey (Fortuna Duesseldorf)
Jan-Niklas Beste (Jahn Regensburg)
Kai Proeger (Paderborn)
Tobias Mohr (Heidenheim)
Fabiarn Reese (Holstein Kiel)
Bakery Jatta (Hamburger SV)
Fin Bartels (Holstein Kiel)
Nicolas Kuehn (Erzgebirge Aue)
Mathias Honsak (SV Darmstadt)
Maximilian Beier (Hannover 96)
Up Next: Back at it on Monday 17 January away to SV Sandhausen at 1.30am (NZT)
George Stanger – University of Stirling FC (Scottish Lowland Football League)
Here’s one from the unexpected files. Doing a bit of research for the January Transfer Window and this popped up. Could it be...
Yeah sure enough. George Stanger, fresh from the Olympics in July, was released by Hamilton Academical in October. He’d played a few times for them in the early rounds of their Championship campaign – after they were relegated from the Premiership last season – but mostly as a makeshift emergency right back and once they were able to bring in a loanee to fill that role he quickly disappeared from sight. Then he was released (seemingly not against his will either, understandably). Hadn’t heard much from him since but there’s yer boy indeed...
Turns out he’s been playing there since a couple weeks after he left Hamilton so there you go. This would appear to be his fourth goal for the club already.
At which point we come to the level he now finds himself at... the Lowland Football League which is the fifth tier of Scottish footy. Quite a drop for a bloke who played a little bit of Premiership earlier in the year. Same division that Steven Old now plays in with East Kilbride, coincidentally, but Oldy’s at one end of his career and Stanger’s at the other. Worth mentioning that Stanger got his start with Stirling Albion so he’s back in familiar territory. We’ll find out down the line whether this is a brief stopover stint in his career or a sign of other priorities taking hold.
Up Next: Turns out Stirling Uni’s next game’s been called off for a water-logged pitch
Ryan Thomas – PSV Eindhoven (Dutch Eredivisie)
Telegraaf.nl: “Ryan Thomas and Eran Zahavi are not back at the Spanish training camp yet. Schmidt hopes to expect both players back at the end of January, although that is difficult to predict”
Sounds like it could be another month on the sidelines for Thomas as he recovers from minor knee surgery. PSV are currently in Spain for training during their winter break but they’re back in Eredivisie action in two weeks and Thommo doesn’t appear on track to be ready then. Hopefully not much longer. Can’t say it was particularly likely to happen anyway but this probably puts a dampener on any chances of him going away on loan during the January transfer window. Europa Conference League playoffs are in the back-half of February though so on track for those bad boys.
Up Next: Groningen vs PSV, Monday 17 January at 2.30am (NZT)
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