Flying Kiwis – Paying Respects To Career Year Bill Tuiloma
When the Costa Rican scouts do their due diligence on the All Whites squad ahead of the intercontinental playoff, you can guarantee that the Premier League experience of Chris Wood and Winston Reid is going to leap off the page. No doubt they’ll make a strong note, double-underlined, about the comparative youth of the kiwi squad compared to their own veteran tendencies. They might even dig a little deeper and recognise a golden generation of Aotearoa male footballers emerging similar to their own Class of 2014. Joe Bell, Libby Cacace, Marko Stamenic, Nando Pijnaker, Alex Greive, Eli Just, Sarpreet Singh (although he’s injured), etc. All them dudes.
They’d also better do a bit of work on a fella called Bill Poni Tuiloma who just so happens to be in the form of his life right now and who could well prove to be a crucial player in that decisive World Cup qualifier.
It would be easy to ignore him. He hasn’t been a first choice player in this team for a few years, he’s been around for a couple of failed World Cup qualifying campaigns, and he hasn’t played at the highest level in Europe. Okay, technically he is the only NZ fella to have played in the French Ligue 1 after a couple bench appearances for Olympic Marseille back in the day. Given his debut by coach Marcelo Bielsa, funnily enough. But the majority of his work has come in the USA with the Portland Timbers where he’s only fleetingly been a first choice starter. A good solid player who is always a part of any All Whites squad when available... but not the kind of guy you adapt your game plan for.
Except that’s now an outdated vision of Billy T. If you’ve been paying attention to what he’s been doing lately then you’ll know that not only is he making a very strong case to be a starter in that playoff but he could even prove to be New Zealand’s secret weapon. And not for his defensive work either. He’s a useful enough defender, strong and physical, good in the challenge, decent enough distributor. No worries there. However it’s his attacking output that’s swung the needle for Bill Tuiloma who, heading into this international break, is the leading goal scorer for his Portland Timbers team.
We’re talking about five goals in 14 MLS games. Two clear of the next best Timbers player (which, to be fair, reflects as badly on their wider attacking group as it does positively on Tuiloma). He also scored one in preseason which doesn’t technically count but it’s still good for illustrating the point. Not only that but you may also recall he scored three times for the All Whites during the recent OFC qualifiers. That’s eight goals in his previous 16 matches for club and country and the bloke is doing this as a central defender, folks. Heroic areas.
The weird thing here is that in four previous MLS seasons, Bill Tuiloma had scored exactly one goal each time. Some of those goals were absolute stunners, such as this one and this one, but he was basically saving up all his shot pennies for one big purchase per year. Nor was he doing this for the national team either as despite having debuted for the All Whites way back in 2013 he didn’t score his first goal until last October with a deflected free kick against Curaçao in what was his 27th cap. Since then he’s scored three more... so 0 goals in 26 games, followed by 4 goals in 5 games.
He did score three times in 11 games for the Portland Timbers reserve team in 2017 after first arriving at the club so there was at least some inclination of what he was capable of. But not like this.
So how come the bloke is suddenly outscoring Chris Wood over the course of the calendar year (true story, at least to this date)? Actually, it might not be that complicated. Look back over those goals and there’s one connecting factor for literally every single one of those bangers: set pieces. Either his own direct free kicks or, especially, headers on the end of other people’s set piece crosses. His emergence as a free kick shooter has been a relatively sudden thing that has built up over the last two years. Maybe he put in a heap of practice by himself over the pandemic lockdowns, who knows. But he’s long been a menace in the air against a cross.
This guy is a great header of the ball. He’s rarely the tallest man in any given penalty area but he’s almost always the bravest, hurling himself at the ball head-first without hesitation, which combined with his physical strength and especially his insane leaping ability makes him a menace in those situations. The kind of bloke that you specifically target. Like, for real, look back at those goals and see the wild ways in which he’s able to get his head on the ball.
That’s been the case for him going back at least a couple years with Portland but the problem was that he wasn’t a regular starter. He’s mostly been the first backup defender on the bench, initially as a utility guy but then developing into more of a specialist as time’s gone by. Last season they basically had three CBs on rotation through the regular season so he was able to make 19 starts... then the playoffs came along and he was an unused sub the whole way. In 2019, injuries elsewhere allowed him to log 22 starts which was a bit of a breakthrough for him but he only made 18 combined starts in the 2018 and 2020 seasons that bookended it.
But goals breed confidence and Bill Tuiloma is in such sparkling form that he’s started all but three games for the Timbers so far this year. Plus he started both the semi and the final of the Oceania WCQs. He’s getting more opportunity to flex his wares, hence the goals have flowed. Ironically his set piece prowess is even pushing him back into more of that utility role again as Portland have deployed him as both a defensive midfielder and a fullback in recent times just to make sure he’s on the pitch when they’re chasing goals.
Hell, he even jumped in goal for about a minute’s worth of a charity game recently…
Bill Tuiloma has attempted 26 shots this MLS season for those five goals. This isn’t some random thing where he’s fluked his way into the right position a few times. He’s consistently getting himself into shooting areas despite largely playing as a centre-back. There’s nothing unsustainable about that. Nine of those 26 shots have been on target. Five of those have been scored.
He’s actually outperforming his xG by +2.3 goals which is one of the ten best marks in the league as it stands. That either means he’s very lucky or it means he’s highly skilled. There might be a little of the former, there always is in football, but there’s definitely a lot more of the latter based on the man’s heading technique.
Four of these five goals have come via headers. All three of those recent All Whites goals have been headers... more specifically headers from corners. Two from Joe Bell, one from Francis De Vries. Meanwhile the Portland ones have come via a header from a free kick, a direct free kick (plus another in preseason), another header from a free kick, a header from a corner, and a header from a short corner. See the pattern?
Sometimes football is a really simple game. In this case, Bill Tuiloma has something that he’s extremely good at and his club are fully aware of it. By extension his national team has hopped on the same train and both teams happen to have several quality dead ball specialists within their midst... and that’s what’s going down. Nobody in Major League Soccer has scored more headers than Bill Tuiloma this year. The fact that he can also score goals like that free kick against LA Galaxy, well, mate, that’s just another string to his bow.
These FB-Ref comparisons aren’t always the most trustworthy judge of a player but they do give a nice stylistic overview of one (click to enlarge)...
Compared to other MLS centre-backs over the last 12 months, Bill Tuiloma is way up near the top of the pops in goals, shots, xG, and touches in the attacking penalty area. Not a guy who sets up too many chances nor is he a particularly effective passer... though he is around league average for progressive passes and carries.
Then defensively you can see he doesn’t rush out or jump into challenges but he reads the game pretty well with those interceptions and defensive clearances and no surprises he gets his body in the way with those blocks considering how he attacks the ball going forward.
Back in his OM days in France, Tuiloma was seen as a defensive midfielder which is often where he played for the All Whites too (with a few fullback stints thrown in for good measure). Midfield was a slightly awkward home for him because although he had the defensive knack down pat and his technique’s always been nice... he didn’t necessarily have the mobility or the passing range to crack it at the higher levels. It was only when he moved to America that he became a priority centre-back and that had its drawbacks too. Ideally he’d be a little taller and more dynamic (although his leaping proves he’s a much better athlete than people realise).
Hence Portland saw him as a utility defender at first and for quite a while Bill Tuiloma was one of those jack of all trades, master of none players. A regular national team squad member but one who had increasingly found himself as a depth option as other dudes came along. So he went out and mastered the trade of scoring headed goals (and got very good at another one: free kicks) and ain’t it funny how quickly things can change?
Tuiloma was only starting for Portland to begin the year because his buddy Larrys Mabiala was out injured but by the time Mabiala returned Tuiloma had asserted his spot with some strong defensive displays and a rare reliable attacking outlet for a team severely lacking in those these days. Suddenly the Timbers can hardly afford to drop him and he’s also made an extremely compelling case to start for the All Whites in their biggest game of football for more than a decade. You love to see it.
The last time the All Whites qualified for a World Cup, the decisive goal to get them there was a header from a corner. If set pieces are gonna be the difference against Costa Rica – which they very well might be in a game as tense and valuable as that – then it sure helps to have a certified Set Piece Menace in your side.
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