Max Mata & Nando Pijnaker – Sligo Rovers (League of Ireland Premier Division)

Max Mata supplied the feed in Sligo Rovers’ latest, don’t you even worry about that. It was a 3-1 win over Shelbourne and he served up a goal and an assist and each of them were gorgeous instances of footballing activities. Helping his team come from an early goal down to claim three hearty points and hammering home his own fine form ahead of the upcoming Conference League playoff in the process.

Obligated to point out that Nando Pijnaker also took full part. He was the one change from the previous league match (Nando’s been in and out a bit lately due to the three I’s: illness, injury & international duty) while fellow compatriot Adam Thomas was on the bench for Shelbourne although he didn’t get a run in the end, which was a pity.

Shelbourne scored inside five mins. A deflected shot from Brian McManus wrong-footing the keeper and giving the visitors that almost-instant lead. But Rovers stuck with it and were winning the half-time. Excellent work between Max Mata and Will Fitzgerald/Aidan Keena respectively for two lovely flowing goals. Four goals and two assists at Sligo Rovers already for Mata. Fine mahi.

That was far from the end of the story though. Shelbourne made a few attacking subs in the second half and increasingly became more of a worry. By the last twenty-odd minutes they were running the show. There was a ball cleared off the line after hitting the post. A couple quality saves by Ed McGinty. Not to mention an equalising goal ruled out with five mins remaining for a foul in the lead-in.

But then Rovers won a penalty in stoppage time and Aidan Keena buried it for his second of the day and that’s all folks. 3-1 to Sligo Rovers. Just what they needed ahead of their latest bout of continental footy.

Up Next: Europa Conference League first qualifying round leg one away to Bala Town on Friday at 6am (NZT)

Logan Rogerson & Ollie Whyte - FC Haka (Finnish Veikkausliiga)

Another day, another dollar. Logan Rogerson showing that clean pair of heels and then chucking in a wee bit of a weave at the end to stump the keeper before sliding it past for a mint goal. This was his fifth of the season and his third in his past four matches. Plus he’s also had teammate Ollie Whyte dishing out assists lately. The dynamic duo in full force.

Both of them started this Suomen Cup quarterfinal against KuPS. A difficult draw against the team currently leading the Veikkausliiga (as well as being the defending champs of this competition) and the task got tougher ten minutes in when a reckless sliding challenge in the area conceded a penalty and KuPS had the early lead. However Logan Rogerson had already displayed a penchant for getting in behind the line whilst Ollie Whyte was whipping in set pieces so the pathway back was clear. Whyte came so close to tapping in an equaliser on the run on 24’ (after a Rogerson flicked header had started the move) but it was narrowly beyond him. No dramas because Rog delivered his goal in the 31st minute and scores were tied.

FCH continued to play some nice stuff throughout the first half. Yet fifty seconds into the second stanza they were back in a losing position. A shot from Gabriel dos Santos sneaking under the keeper, really should’ve been saved. Ah well. Seven mins later we almost got the Holy Grail of Flying Kiwis goals: assisted by an NZer, scored by an NZer. Whyte switching play out to Rogerson overlapping in space... but the shot from LR hit the post and OW’s follow up was blocked six yards out.

Whyte was replaced after 65 mins but Rogerson kept going. Kept going and did this...

Back level at 2-2. Lee Erwin with the finishing touch. Could there be a cupset on the cards?

There arguably should’ve been given how preventable the two conceded goals were. But nah ninety mins plus five more of stoppage time didn’t provide any more bangers and thus we were off to penalties. Where Erwin had his attempt saved down the middle for FCH first up (shooting second) to have Haka in big trouble. Rogerson took the third spottie with big pressure on his shoulders knowing that a miss at 3-1 and his team were on the brink. However he sent the keeper the wrong way to score, same as he did for the All Whites not so long ago.

‘Twas merely a stay of execution though as KuPS scored next to make it four from four, then Eero-Matti Auvinen had his attempt saved. 2-2 at the end of the game. 4-2 to KuPS on penalties. The Suomen Cup run ends in the final eight for FC Haka (interesting that three of four quarters went to penalties) but plenty to be proud of from that performance. Not the least of which being Logan Rogerson’s efforts.

Up Next: Sunday at 2am away to HIFK (NZT)

Ali Riley - Angel City FC (American National Women’s Soccer League)

Busy weekend for Ali Riley, whose extracurricular duties have gone through the roof since moving to Los Angeles and being named Angel City FC captain. The latest was the opportunity to throw out the first pitch at an LA Dodgers game, swapping jerseys with all-star pitcher Clayton Kershaw as part of the festivities. A bit of Los Angeles sporting camaraderie there. Love to see it.

There were some beach-going, muscle-building antics too for the return of her always fantastic Off The Ball show...

And believe it or not she also had some footballing duties to attend to. One day prior to the baseball cameo she’d led ACFC out as usual against Portland Thorns. Which seemed to confirm that whatever injury it was that ruled her out of recent Footy Ferns games was merely precautionary... until she didn’t come back out for the second half, instead being replaced by Hope Breslin. Dunno what the deal is there. Hopefully nothing too worrisome.

At that stage things were all goods. Angel City had taken the lead in just the second minute of the match thanks to Savannah McCaskill converting on the rebound after her initial penalty had been saved. It was a fast start for the Angels and one which led to a decent amount of pressure in response from their more favoured opponents. But ACFC held firm until the break, when Riley was withdrawn from matters.

Then they held firm for some more. Didn’t often looking like they had a second goal in them (quick note that their attacking woes since Christen Press was injured should be helped by their trading for Ali Riley’s former Orlando Pride teammate Sydney Leroux) but one goal would be enough if they could just maintain that clean sheet. Fast forward to the sixth minute of stoppage time when a deep cross was headed in by Yazmeen Ryan for Portland. Bugger. Victory snatched away right at the very death. 1-1 the final score.

Elsewhere we’re not gonna talk about the North Carolina Courage game this week. Abby Erceg missed the match against OL Reign with injury, having been listed as a doubt leading into the match, and yet again Katie Bowen couldn’t seem to buy an appearance as she continued her streak of unused sub stints. This one was coming straight after a busy international break, at least. OL Reign won it 2-0 thanks to goals from Jess Fishlock (52’) and Bethany Balcer (74’) to keep the Courage in that uncomfortable last spot on the ladder.

Up Next: Expansion derby against San Diego Wave on Sunday at 2.30pm (NZT)

Bill Tuiloma – Portland Timbers (American Major League Soccer)

Things happen when Bill Tuiloma is playing, that’s for sure. He’s an all action kinda player. Last week he added an assist to all the goals he’s been scoring... this week things went in less of a flourishing direction with a red card.

At home against the Houston Dynamo, Tuiloma was called upon early as a cheeky backheel across the six yard box almost led to an eighth minute Dynamo goal only for Tuiloma to come sliding across and help deflect it over the bar. Houston would also crunch one off the post from range midway through that half although the talk of those early stages was how the ref had already handed out a heap of yellow cards. Not letting much go on this particular afternoon. The fourth of those yellows went to a Dynamo defender after he bumped a dude in the back led to give Portland a penalty.

That penalty was scored by Santiago Moreno (34’) and then a mere two minutes later Yimmi Chara, who’d won the penalty, played a nice square ball in the area which Eryck Williamson dummied over the Moreno had a double stroking that bad boy home. Two goals in two minutes and the Timbers were in a great place.

They stayed in that place for a decent amount of time, Portland’s goalie coming up with a couple strong saves down low. Moreno was then denied a hatty by a good stop up the other end after some superb work from Chara again. But in the 65th minute Darwin Quintero struck a mean volley that dipped over the Portland goalie and into the net, finally getting his team back into the contest, and ten minutes later this happened...

Tuiloma’s first yellow had come earlier in the second half for a heavy challenge stepping across an attacker who was lining up a shot. He was late and the yellow was justified. That one came 54 mins in and was the seventh yellow of the day. Tui’s second card was much harsher (the tenth and final of the day). This time he closed in an inch too far on a Houston player just inside his own half and the bloke took a big tumble as he leaned back into Tuiloma on the turn. A free kick was justified. A second yellow was extremely rough.

Don’t panic because the Timbers held stout the rest of the way for a 2-1 win despite playing with ten (they made a triple sub including a couple defenders straight after the red which seemed to do the trick). A battling victory against a difficult team.

Tuiloma was then suspended for the following game away against Nashville... in which Portland fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 thanks to goals from Dairon Asprilla (64’ pen) and Jaro Niezgoda (69’). Four point week. Take that. Billy T should be back for the next one away to their Pacific Northwest rivals Seattle.

Up Next: Seattle Sounders vs Portland Timbers on Sunday at 8.30pm (NZT)

Michael Boxall – Minnesota United (American Major League Soccer)

It was a double gameweek for Boxy as well and unlike Bill Tuiloma he actually got to play in both of them. First was an away trip to face LA Galaxy in a match where the damage was done in the first half... although only just. In the ninth minute, Emanuel Reynoso sliced inside onto his left foot and curled in a blinder from distance. Top corner thanks to a tiny deflection off the head of a defender. 1-0 to Minny. They were then able to survive a bit of Chicharito poaching before Kevin Cabral followed through on the goalie on 24’ which led to him getting sent off. Bit rough, not sure if it was deliberate. So it goes.

LAG were down to ten and that was the impetus for Minnesota to strike again. First Franco Frangapane with a neat back stick conversion on 36’ and then Reynoso again dashing into the area for the cut back and a sharp finish on 43’ and bingo. 3-0 to Minnesota at the break.

Simply gotta close it out from there, right? Manage the game? Sure, except Will Trapp gave away a penalty which Marco Delgado converted on 60’ to make it 3-1. Suddenly it was getting frisky again. Boxy and the lads endured a heap more pressure but at least now time was ticking away. Frangapane should have killed it off on the counter attack with a 1v1 that was saved. Soon after he did put the ball over the line but he was offside following up from Reynoso’s shot that had been pushed onto the post.

The Galaxy then found a second goal... yet it was deep in stoppage time when Dejan Joveljic shovelled the ball in. Only about a minute left for them to pump the ball into the area a few times. Enough time for both teams to get red cards after a fight but not enough time for another goal. The Loons hanging on for a 3-2 win against a Galaxy team that ended with nine men. Phew. Michael Boxall with a first half yellow card.

A few days later they hosted Real Salt Lake... and they won 3-2 again. Good yarns. Again they were 3-0 up. Again Manny Reynoso was hugely influential as he scored a first half brace and then Luis Amarilla scored after the hour. Minnesota were in a fantastic position until conceding twice in five mins (Jefferson Savarino on 71’ and Anderson Julio on 76’)... again they held on late for the victory.

This was the second game in a row in which Boxy picked up an early yellow card but that was nothing to panic about. He’s up to seven for the season in only 16 games so he’s one away from another accumulation suspension. What he doesn’t have yet is a goal this year but he made a couple key clearances down the stretch to keep RSL from scoring another which was equally as important. Two wins in a row and suddenly they’re only goal difference away from the playoff spots.

Up Next: Saturday at 2.30pm away to Vancouver Whitecaps (NZT)

Katie Rood - Heart of Midlothian (Scottish Premier League)

‘Tis the season for transfers and here’s a doozy. Katie Rood will be joining Hearts in the Scottish SWPL next term, a league that’s very familiar to Flying Kiwis thanks to Olivia Chance’s exploits with Celtic and is about to get a whole lot more familiar.

Hearts aren’t going to be winning trophies like Celtic or Rangers or Glasgow City, who are clearly the top three teams in the nation. They were eighth out of ten teams last season with 20 points from 27 matches however they did push Chance and Celtic extremely close in the Scottish Cup semi-finals, talking them to extra time before eventually losing 2-0.

Roodie’s just polished off a successful season with Southampton in which they won a few trophies and got promoted to the WSL Championship (second tier) of England. But she wasn’t given a new deal as that one expired and thus was on the lookout for something fresh. Scotland it is. As for that bit about the “pre-contract”, that’s just a formality as this was announced before her Saints deal had officially run down. Any player is allowed to negotiate with clubs outside the country of their current once they get into the last six months of their contracts. Sweet as.

Up Next: New SWPL season begins in early August

Meikayla Moore – Glasgow City (Scottish Premier League)

And another one. Scotland is fast becoming a bit of a Flying Kiwis hub because we’ve just had Meikayla Moore sign with Glasgow City on top of that Katie Rood news. Remember what Alex Greive’s been up to in the Scottish Men’s Premiership too. Plus Olivia Chance with Celtic. Wee dram of that single malt and dip into the haggis, folks.

This is a pretty massive transfer as Glasgow City are the powerhouse club in Scottish women’s footy. The rise of Rangers and Celtic over the last couple years has threatened that, with Celtic winning both domestic cups last season and Rangers taking the league title – but prior to that Glasgow City had won an incredible fourteen consecutive SWPL titles. Between 2012-2015 they won four trebles in a row claiming every available trophy.

While they only finished second last time around, second is still good enough to make the Champions League qualifiers – something that club is extremely used to. Last season they won through the first qualifying round tourney but fell 3-2 to Servette Chenois of Switzerland in the subsequent tie to miss out on the group stage. But they’ll be at it again soon enough with Meikayla Moore in tow this time. Mouse will wear the #18 jersey. She joins after two seasons with Liverpool in the English second tier. Didn’t get a heap of game-time last term so hopefully that changes in Glasgow, particularly ahead of a World Cup year.

GC head coach Eileen Gleeson: “I’m delighted to welcome Meikayla to Glasgow City. Meikayla brings a wealth of experience at both club and national team level where she is a regular starter for a country ranked 22nd in the world. She is a humble, determined and intelligent player and adds more excellent quality to the exciting squad we are putting together for next season. To have three senior international centre backs at your club is an enviable position for any head coach and further increases our competition for places all over the pitch as we push our challenge for trophies next season. I have no doubt Meikayla will enhance our team and very much look forward to working with her.”

Only drama here is that it does split some loyalties as Meikayla Moore’s Glasgow City are likely to be in a title race against Olivia Chance’s Celtic. This is assuming that Chance is back at Celtic next season – you’d guess she would be after a successful first campaign though contract info is impossible to find. Doesn’t look like OC’s with the team on preseason camp but you wouldn’t expect her to be coming so soon after international duty. Katie Rood’s Hearts are more likely to be scrapping for the mid-table, best case scenario probably being fourth place as the best of the rest.

Three different SWPL clubs with kiwi representation. How good!?

Up Next: Counting down ‘til that first week of August

Matthew Garbett – Torino (Italian Serie A)

Matty Garbett has only been at Torino for a year but that hasn’t prevented them offering him a new long term deal already. Garbett impressed for the Primavera (U19) team last season with 3 goals and 2 assists from 30 appearances (mostly from midfield) and twice worked his way onto the bench for the Serie A squad late in the season. He’s also coming off a few big games for the All Whites and as has been well established he’s got a very busy agency behind him willing to circulate transfer rumours in a hurry.

Nonetheless there are a couple of curious details here. The main one is that when Garbett joined Torino last August it was reported that he’d signed a four-year deal until the 2024-25 campaign. Meaning that he appears to have signed an extension that’s actually one year shorter than what he was otherwise on, making it no form of extension at all. A contract contraction?

To be fair, the official club announcement didn’t specify a contract length at all and given he was immediately assigned to the U19 team the four year thing might’ve simply been fake news. You don’t really give four year deals to players in an age-capped team, do you? Could be that the extra years were a club option that’s now been triggered, could be it was misreported, could be that he’s simply signed on better terms for one year less. Regardless, any new contract is a fresh commitment so happy days as Garbs tries to earn that Serie A debut.

Torino are in a slippery place at the moment so that opportunity could come relatively quickly. Club captain and star striker Andrea Belotti is leaving on a free transfer after seven seasons and 113 goals in 251 games for the club. Not only is he a key player leaving but they won’t even get a transfer fee with which to reinvest in his replacement. They do at least seem set to cash in on Brazilian defender Gleison Bremer. That helps. They’ve already brought in a few cheap-ish additions already and are a team that tends to feature a number of loan players.

Maybe that helps Garbett sneak up the pecking order... although the most likely next step, given that he’s now too old for the Primavera team, would be a loan deal probably to a Serie B club. A common move for clubs before they loan a bloke out is to give them a new contract so as to reinforce those pathways. Does make you wonder. Sounds like he will get his chance to impress during preseason activities first though.

Up Next: Got some preseason games beginning the week after next

Andre De Jong – Royal AM (South African Premier Soccer League)

There you go, Andre De Jong is sticking around in South Africa after being released by AmaZulu. He’s signed on with Royal AM, the third placed team in last season’s PSL... which is actually a decent jump up from AmaZulu who were only seventh (albeit they were second the year prior).

As third placers, Royal AM have also qualified for the CAF Confederation Cup. That’s the second tier continental tournament in Africa (think Europa League) so there’s extra need for squad depth and De Jong should get to see the benefits of that. Nice work all around.

Incredibly, that third-placed finish was Royal AM’s first season in the top flight after promotion. They somehow boosted it all the way into the continental spots at the first time of asking. Technically they didn’t even get promoted... they missed out on that honour in the standings but their owner bought the top flight status of Bloemfontain Celtic as that club came into some hardships.

Super effort to achieve what they did... although coach John Maduka has since chosen to switch to Maritzburg United which has left them in an awkward spot. Hence they’d held off on announcing new signings until they could confirm a new coach, a process that also had a few delays, but now Khabo Zondo is on board as the gaffer and they’ve added four fresh signings at once. Including Andre Ernest De Jong.

Plenty to like about this move. It keeps ADJ in South Africa where he’s shown in glimpses that he’s got way more to offer than what he’s been able to give so far. It also sees him at a club where he’ll get both a clean slate and also still join a competitive team with continental fixtures on the cards in that always-difficult second season. The fit was never ideal at AmaZulu. This one should be much better.

Curious as to what’s in the box though...

Up Next: New season begins in August

Francis De Vries – IFK Värnamo (Swedish Allsvenskan)

Gotta breeze over this one as Värnamo were beaten 3-0 by Varbergs (in what they hopefully call the VAR Derby) and Francis De Vries didn’t play. The coach had said in his pre-game presser that he expected the full contingent of playe rs to be available but FDV wasn’t even in the squad so gonna assume a late injury or perhaps illness ruled him out as he has otherwise been a locked-on starter at left-back. Began the previous ten Allsvenskan games in a row after coming off the bench in week one so this was the first league game that he’s missed (he was rotated a bit more for the cup matches).

This was a tough loss against a team in a similar position on the table. They did have a few chances to make more of a game of it in the first half but nope... comfortably the most disappointing overall result that they’ve had since being promoted and it came when FDV was missing. Funny that.

Up Next: Home to GIF Sundsvall on Tuesday at 5am (NZT)

Marko Stamenic – FC København (Danish Superliga)

Not an excessive amount of Marko Stamenic in the highlights there but important to note that, as FCK picked a team much closer to their full strength team than the backups and reserves who started the first preseason fixture, Stamenic still came off the bench at half-time in this friendly against Dutch club Feyenoord.

Copenhagen won the game 7-0 with most of the damage done in the first half. It was 5-0 at HT. Should point out that Feyenoord themselves did not go with a full strength line-up which obviously skewed the result and the performance. But those aren’t the things that matter.

What matters is that Marko Stamenic continues to feature prominently in preseason perparations as the 20 year old tries to crack that first team. Got to play in his favoured central midfield position here too having been a central defender in the previous exhibition. Stammers was one of seven subs used by FCK at the break. Club captain and fellow midfielder Zeca is not expected to play any part in next weekend’s friendly against Club Brugge (Belgium) either so hopefully that means even more of a window for Marko to strut his stuff. The Superliga season begins in two weeks, a tad earlier than usual due to the travesty of a November World Cup.

Up Next: Sunday TBD against Club Brugge (NZT)

Marco Rojas – Unattached

That tweet was where it all started. A Chilean football journalist with the scoop that Marco Rojas, fresh from running down his Melbourne Victory contract, is apparently on the brink of signing with powerhouse Chile club Colo-Colo.

A New Zealander playing pro footy in South America is extremely rare... but of course Marco Rojas is of Chilean heritage himself. His father was born there. This is something he has hinted at wanting to do in the past and clearly this is the time in his career when things have aligned for it to happen. A cultural homecoming of the same category as Libby Cacace and Niko Kirwan playing in Italy.

It’s a strong team he’s preparing to join too. Colo-Colo are the current leaders of the Chilean Primera Division after 16 matches – breaking a three-way tie for first this past week despite only drawing, thanks to Ñublense and Unión Esnañola both having losses. Colo-Colo also just had an impressive 2-0 win over Internacional of Brazil in the Copa Sudamericana round of sixteen aka the Champions League of South America. That was the first leg at home so they’ll have to deliver a repeat performance on Wednesday in Brazil to get into the quarters but they’re in a quality position. Also into the third round of the Chilean Cup. Lots to play for. Lots of reason why they need a few more reinforcements.

Manager Daniel Morón has pretty much confirmed the Rojas agreement already. In his press conference prior to flying to Brazil for that Copa Sudamericana match he explained that Marco will arrive in Chile on July 10, undergo his medical the next day, and if all goes to plan then there’ll be a contract waiting for him to sign. This is effectively a done deal barring any hidden injuries.

Up Next: Don’t break a leg prior to the flight, pretty much

Kyle Adams & Nikko Boxall – San Diego Loyal (American USL Championship)

Equalising goal for Kyle in what ended up being a 3-2 win. Go on son. They played the last quarter of it with ten men and still found a winner with ten to play. That red card to defender Grant Stoneman should mean that Nikko Boxall gets a boost into the starters for the next game too. Mostly been stuck on the bench this season. San Diego are in third place of the Western Conference.

Up Next: LA Galaxy 2 on Sunday at 2pm (NZT)

Deklan Wynne - Detroit City (American USL Championship)

Also going good in the USL: Detroit City FC. They won 1-0 away to Las Vegas Lights this week with a 63rd minute goal for Connor Rutz... set up by Deklan Wynne. Fourth assist of the season for Dekkers, to go with one goal.

Up Next: Detroit City vs Hartford Athletic on Thursday at 11.30am (NZT)

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