Flying Kiwis – September 17
Hannah Blake – Durham FC (English Championship)
All goals are good goals but some goals just hit on a whole different level, leaving you to wonder how exactly the net managed to stay hooked on when faced with the force of a ballistic missile. We’re talking about goals such as this one...
That there is Hannah Blake’s first goal for Durham coming a mere 12 minutes into her second game for her new club. Blake wasn’t in the Football Ferns squad for the Olympics (and hasn’t been capped at all since October 2022) so she got a full preseason in with Durham and it’s showing. She’s being used as a number ten, getting lots of touches through the middle, working hard out of possession, showing off both her dribbling and passing... and obviously her shooting too. And it’s working beautifully.
Durham went on to win this match 3-0 against Portsmouth to make it two wins out of two to start the season – Blake’s Adelaide United team in the last A-League finished a distant last with only four wins from 22 matches, so she’s already halfway to matching that after one fortnight. This was a closer game than it sounds, played at a high tempo with chances both ways. It’s just that Durham took more of theirs. Blake’s goal was huge in setting the tone and Lily Crosthwaite tapped in late in the first half before Beth Hepple finished it off in the eleventh minute of stoppage time directly from a corner kick. Pompey had slightly more possession. They also had more shots. It didn’t matter. Durham turned them over, with Hannah Blake playing 79 minutes.
Also in the WSL Championship, Olivia Page, fresh from the U20 World Cup, went straight onto the bench for Sheffield United in their 1-0 loss against Charlton. Didn’t get on the park though. Still awaiting that league debut for the Blades but she appeared in several cup games last year as well as being a common sight for their academy side. Shouldn’t be much longer to wait now.
It was also positive news for Grace Neville. She’d been a substitute in London City Lionesses’ first match of the season but she started and got an hour at right wing-back in their second game: a 2-1 win against Blackburn Rovers. LCL have continued to use that Michelle Kang money on big signings with Spanish World Cup winner Maria Perez and 157-cap Swedish forward Sofia Jakobsson joining prior to the transfer window shutting (Perez is out indefinitely with a knee injury). On the one hand, it’s nice to see such investment in women’s football. On the other hand, this really isn’t any different to big money takeovers at men’s clubs trying to buy success. But at least Grace Neville’s along for the ride. LCL have a win and a draw so far.
Can’t say it’s been good for Katie Kitching and Sunderland. Kitch has started both games but it’s been tough sledding as they’ve lost 5-0 to Birmingham and now 3-0 to Southampton. It was scoreless with twenty minutes to go in the Southampton game and then they just crumbled (immediately after subbing Kitching off). Two defeats, eight goals conceded, none scored. This was a team that was on the fringes of the title race last season but they’re a long way from that right now.
Oh and the WSL begins next week. Will Anna Leat be the starting keeper for Aston Villa? How will Indiah-Paige Riley go on debut for Crystal Palace? What’s CJ Bott’s role going to look like as she enters her third season with Leicester City? These questions and more to be answered next week... for now just keep on reading.
Up Next: Charlton vs Durham on Sunday at 11pm (NZT)
Gabi Rennie - Åland United (Finnish Kansallinen Liiga)
Standard Gabi Rennie things at this point. She’s still adding new wrinkles, such as this goal being a powerful header from a corner, but one way or another she simply keeps scoring goals. Six goals and five assists is her official tally in the Kansallinen (she also scored a couple goals in the cup). That’s from 15 games. It’s been a fantastic first season in the professional ranks and it ain’t over yet.
Åland United are sort of victims of their own success here because they’ve qualified for the top four playoffs but they’ve done so from a distant fourth position which means their last six games could be pretty brutal. However, they probably should have beaten KuPS in the first of those six. They were under some pressure to begin with but then Rennie scored after 26 minutes to flip things around. It was flipped right back when KuPS established a 2-1 lead after 66 mins but AU retaliated with a couple of rapid goals from Anni Hakasalo and they were up 3-2. Alas, KuPS equalised in stoppage time for a 3-3 draw. Rennie was involved in a couple of other chances throughout the game and her intense workrate continues to impress. Ninety minutes for her. Surely a few more goals left to come in these last five matches.
Up Next: HPS vs AU at 11pm on Saturday 28 September (NZT)
Alex Greive - Bohemian FC (League of Ireland Premier Division)
Bohemians might be on the fringes of a relegation battle but their cup form has been excellent. And while Alex Greive has been struggling for minutes lately, he did score in the previous round. So it was that Bohs found themselves with a very winnable tie against UCD in the quarters and they very much won it... with Alex Greive popping up off the bench to make sure of matters...
Bohs were up 1-0 at the break thanks to the in-form Ross Tierney, who is one of the main blokes keeping Greive on the outer. His 34th minute goal broke the deadlock however it was still a match in the balance until Tierney’s second goal after 55 mins... followed soon after by a red card for UCD. From there it was Bohs on the charge. Greive scored and 88th minute goal and then set up another with the last act of the match for the 4-0 win. Despite not having won the cup since 2008, this Bohemians side have made two of the past three finals. They’re now one win away from making it three outta four.
This wasn’t just a late cameo either – AG replaced Tierney after 68 minutes with the latter limping off injured (adding to fellow striker Filip Piszczek who’s already missing with an ankle injury). A goal, an assist, and two injured teammates in his position? Never wanna see athlete get hurt but perhaps this could the start of something for AG. At the very least, he had a day to remember against University of Central Dublin.
In other news, Norman Garbett wasn’t in the squad for Dundalk’s 2-1 loss to Waterford. He’d played 15 minutes last week so dunno what’s going on there, could be another injury niggle. At least Una Foyle kept a clean sheet for Cork City in a 0-0 draw against Wexford in the women’s comp. Much better than the midweek 5-2 loss to Galway United in which she conceded twice inside of three minutes (both superb finishes into the bottom corner that she had no chance with, just to be clear).
Up Next: Bohs vs Drogheda at 6.45am on Saturday (NZT)
Chris Wood - Nottingham Forest (English Premier League)
The Woodsman has never scored against Liverpool. That’s still the case after his Nottingham Forest team played the Reds at Anfield over the weekend. 12 Premier League matches against them and zero goals... the only other team that compares to is Chelsea whom he’s also played 12 times without scoring (though does have one assist). There is no other EPL club that Woodsy has played against more than twice without finding the back of the net... but that’s alright because it’s a team game and Chris Wood played his part in an excellent 1-0 victory for Nottm Forest to continue their unbeaten start to the campaign.
Liverpool started in a hurry, quickly taking control of the ball and creating a few chances to show for it – most notably Luis Diaz smacking the post after 16 mins. Chris Wood’s first notable involvement was getting flagged offside, otherwise it was all defensive mahi. A couple of nice hold-up spots kept him active but mostly Forest were just happy to still be at nil-all when the half-time oranges were served.
The longer it stayed 0-0, the more confident NFFC became. Wood was still struggling for service (a few times there’d be a passing lane which a teammate hesitated to use, though in fairness Virgil van Dijk did keep him occupied for most of the afternoon) but the defence was looking superb. Nuno Espirito Santo threw on Callum Hudson-Odoi after 54 minutes and Anthony Elanga after 60 minutes. That gave Wood the usual wing presence outside him... though Wood had nothing to do with it when Elanga threaded a switch across to CHO who sliced infield to score a wonderful counter-attacking goal on 72’. That was the moment they’d been waiting for and they took it.
Wood would stick around for another ten minutes before being replaced by Jota Silva, with Morgan Gibbs-Whites and Alex Moreno also subbed at the same time. Forest shut the gate, set the padlock, and threw away the key. 1-0 final score. First win for the club at Anfield since 1969. Wood only had 14 touches which is some All Whites levels of Not Feeding The Big Man but he won’t be too fussed after a lovely victory, just as he wasn’t too fussed after only getting 17 touches in New Zealand’s 1-1 draw with USA. Jack White wasn’t very impressed though...
Up Next: Brighton vs Forest at 1am on Monday (NZT)
Ben Old - AS Saint-Étienne (French Ligue 1)
It’s taken a month to realise but it turns out ASSE have a traditional team song for victories. Problem was they didn’t even score a goal in their first three matches, let alone win a game. But after a slightly surprising 1-0 win against Lille they finally got it going for the first time since being promoted back to Ligue 1. Ben Old already knows all the words. He’s been doing his homework, good to see.
Straight after the international break, Old only played as a substitute in this match. It was his first time out of the starting eleven (excluding the previous match which he missed through injury). Nonetheless, he was the first man used off the bench as ASSE battled to preserve the narrow lead that Mathieu Cafaro had given them after only six minutes. Lille had a whopping 72% of possession and heaps of chances, including hitting the post late in the first half and a couple of crucial saves from ASSE’s Gautier Larsonneur, therefore Old hardly touched the ball in his time out there. It was all about holding onto the points... and he did make a couple of sweet defensive acts as Saint-Étienne did exactly that.
First win of the new campaign. Catch some highlights. Montpellier and Angers are the only clubs left without a victory after four rounds. If Saint-Étienne hadn’t scored then they’d have been the only team in Europe’s big fives leagues without a goal yet this season. Bochum and St Pauli (both Germany) were the other two teams in that category prior to this past weekend and they each also found the net, albeit both in defeats. Bochum was one of the clubs rumoured with Libby Cacace during the offseason.
Speaking of Libby, he was an unused sub as Empoli drew 0-0 with Juventus in Serie A. Giuseppe Pezzella recovered from whatever knock it was that he suffered prior to the international break to do a full ninety, making this the first game that Cacace hasn’t played some part of this season. Remember he’s on an expiring contract. They didn’t sell him and they haven’t extended him (and there’s not much cause for him to sign a new deal when he could be starting somewhere else). Granted, it’s never the worst thing to have a rest after doing 180 minutes in a different continent for his national team in the previous week.
Up Next: Nice vs ASSE at 6.45am on Saturday (NZT)
Malia Steinmetz – FC Nordsjælland (Danish Kvindeliga)
After easing back into the Nordsjælland side during Champions League qualifiers, Steinmetz has taken another step forward by getting half a game in a 4-1 win against B93. Subbed on at the break. FCN were already 2-0 up at that stage thanks to a quickfire brace from Alma Aagaard, then Emilía Kiær Ásgeirsdóttir would make it 3-0 after 54’ when she was left open for a ball down the middle. B93 pulled one back when the FCN keeper was slow to react to a cross/shot that snuck inside her near post but no dramas because Flora Højer scored late to ensure the reds got the last laugh. Steinmetz had a comfortable time of it in defensive midfield.
Nordsjælland have won five games out of five with a +11 goal difference. They’re already seven points clear of third-place, although Fortuna Hjørring are hanging close with four wins and a draw so far. And guess what? Those two teams meet each other this weekend... after a quick detour via the Danish Cup second round. Should see Steinmetz continue to have her minutes ramped up in those games.
Whether or not Ally Green is getting the same ramp-up process after the Olympics is unclear because Steinmetz has turned back up for Nordsjælland but Green is nowhere to be seen for AGF. Hasn’t even made a matchday squad in their first five fixtures – the latest being a 4-1 loss to HB Køge. There’s been no word of a transfer or anything so it seems they’re just giving her more time to get up to speed after the Paris Games. Ava Collins didn’t got to the Olympics so she’s had no issues settling into the Kolding side. She lasted 75 minutes in a very commendable 0-0 draw with Brøndby, in which she got a yellow card for dragging an opponent back to stop a counter attack. Collins has started all five games for KIF.
Up Next: Solrød vs FCN in the Danish Cup at 3am on Thursday; FCN vs Fortuna in the Kvindeliga at 11pm on Sunday (NZT)
Maggie Jenkins - Gaziantep ALG Spor (Turkish Süper Ligi)
Apparently setting up a last-minute equaliser on debut wasn’t exciting enough, so Maggie Jenkins had to do it again in game two... only this time she waited until the literal last moments of the match away against Besiktas. Staying onside and hunting down a lob into the area. The keeper spilled it. Jenkins nudged the ball back to Fuseina Mumini who buried it and there ya go, 2-2 was the final score. The final whistle went immediately after the goal... causing some confusion amongst the players wondering if it had been disallowed for a foul by Jenkins on the keeper. It had not. The Besiktas staff rushed the officials asking for explanations and it all got rather hectic for a few minutes there. But the goal – and the result - stood.
Consecutive game-saving assists for Jenkins to get her pro career up and running. It’s been grand so far. She was even pictured in the matchday graphics on all of ALG Spor’s accounts for this fixture... though that turned strange when she didn’t actually get picked in the starting line-up despite her face accompanying the image. But she showed up in the second half with a crucial contribution and that’s the bit that counts.
Up Next: Home against Fatih Vatan Spor at 11pm on Sunday (NZT)
Joe Bell – Viking FK (Norwegian Eliteserien)
Bellinho was a little below his usual levels as Viking faced KFUM Oslo in their latest match. Probably some tired legs after an excellent performance for the All Whites against the USA, that’d be understandable. But needless to say he was straight back into the starting eleven for his club as soon as he arrived and, even on a day where his passing accuracy dipped to 80% (his season average is 86%) and he committed four fouls and earned a yellow card (moving him into the club’s top-15 all-time for yellows)... he still managed to help his team to a clean sheet victory.
Viking won 1-0 thanks to a comical 38th minute own goal from Haitam Aleesami whose backpass managed to dissect his central defender and goalkeeper to wind up in the net. Lost his bearings for a second against the press and calamity ensued. Viking were very wasteful in this game but they got away with it thanks to a strong defensive display. Bell must have been tired because he was subbed after 83 mins – just the second time in 21 Eliteserien games this year that he’s not finished the ninety.
Despite not being near their best, VFK claimed three more valuable points to remain in second place. Leaders Bodø/Glimt won again and are fast moving out of sight but Brann, Rosenborg, and Frederikstad all dropped points to reinforce Viking’s hopes for continental qualification. They have eight more games left and the next one is a biggie against sixth-placed Frederikstad. Win that and they’d move nine points ahead of their sixth-placed opponents. Only problem there is that Joe Bell won’t be playing since that yellow card moved him into accumulation suspension territory.
Up Next: Frederikstad vs Viking on Monday at 5.15am (NZT)
Andre De Jong – Stellenbosch (South African Premier Soccer League)
Not much to say here other than that it was another sturdy outing for Stellenbosch as early goals from Thabo Moloisane (7’) and Lehlohonolo Mojela (12’) gave them a 2-0 win over Vita Club of Congo in the first leg of their CAF Confederation Cup second preliminary round tie. Andre De Jong played 78 minutes. Didn’t have much going on in attack for him personally but he did his job within the team’s overall display. They potentially should have won by more. Still, they’ll be strong favourites heading into the away leg to follow... although they will have to balance that with the start of the new PSL season.
Up Next: Stellies vs Golden Arrows on Thursday at 5.30 domestically; Vita Club vs Stellies on Monday at 2am continentally (NZT)
Vic Esson - Rangers FC (Scottish Premier League)
It is with great sadness that it must be reported that Vic Esson has conceded a goal. She conceded a whole heap of them against Arsenal in the Champions League qualifiers but that was different... she’d kept three clean sheets from three SWPL appearances otherwise, in fact she hadn’t even had to make a save in any of those games. Backup Jenna Fife has also kept two clean sheets... so when Spartans snuck one past Esson in the 14th minute of the match it not only put Spartans ahead but it meant that Rangers’ five-game clean sheet streak was over. First concession of the domestic season.
Worse still, it was an awful goal to allow. There had already been a couple of mini mix-ups from the defence in front of her when the ball was passed back to VE, who went to lump it away to safety only to smash it straight into the on-rushing Erin Rennie and see it rebound into the net. Not the first time that Esson has done that for Rangers either. Her play with her feet can be a little Max Crocombe-esque in that it doesn’t always match up to the quality of her shot-stopping.
Fortunately, that was the only drama she faced. Not only did Rangers draw level within a single minute, they were leading within three. They went on to win 6-1 with Camille Lafaix and Katie Wilkinson both scoring doubles. Esson still hasn’t made a save because the only other shot attempted by Spartans in this game was off target. Rangers kept 78% of possession. Another comprehensive win as they remain perfect after six matches. It should be a little tougher against a rugged Hearts team next week though.
Up Next: Hearts away at 3.10am on Monday (NZT)
Nik Tzanev – Northampton Town (English League One)
Look who made his first league appearance for his new club, aye? An injury to regular starter Lee Burge with twenty minutes remaining in a 2-1 loss against Wycombe Wanderers led to Tzanev getting the summons. He’d previously made one appearance in the EFL Cup since joining Northampton, now he’s gotten that league debut. Unfortunately they lost despite taking a fourth-minute lead from the penalty spot, with the winning goal coming partly from a mix-up between Burge and one of his defenders. The manager was cagey when asked afterwards how badly hurt Burge was so we’ll have to wait and see... but know that Burge only played 20/46 games last season due to three separate injury breaks. This isn’t uncommon and that’s probably a reason why they wanted a guy like Tzanev in the squad as cover.
However, Matt Dibley-Dias isn’t doing much there at all. He had some illness when he first arrived before starting in a win over Exeter City... but those 57 minutes are all he’s played in League One so far. That was also Northampton Town’s only win after five games so there may be something in that (although the goals were scored after he was replaced). Not sure if he’s injured or just not being picked. Either way it’s a bummer consdering he went on loan specifically to get senior games under his belt.
In other League One news, Ben Waine got about a dozen minutes off the bench for Mansfield Town in a 2-1 win against Cambridge. His second appearance on loan with a goal-scoring international break in between them. Burton Albion drew 2-2 with Rotherham with Max Crocombe making saves and generally commanding his area. Interesting to see him sending the ball long more often as the season has progressed, which we’ll consider a victory for Crocs and his superior shot-stopping. The demand on short build-up passing at Burton has eroded further with each passing week. Burton have drawn 4/5 games making them one of only two teams in the division without a win... but they’ve only lost once.
Also big ups to Tyler Bindon who made his 50th appearance for Reading, albeit in a 1-0 loss against Leyton Orient. Bindon had gone off with a head knock prior to the international break, ruling him out of the All Whites squad, but the recovery time did him good. He played well. Bunch of clearances. Good distribution. His team lost but so it goes... Reading have seven points from five matches so they’re doing okay overall.
45 of those Bindon games have come in League One. 2 in the League Cup. 2 in the EFL Trophy. 1 in the FA Cup. He’s scored two goals with one assist and earned four yellow cards in his first fifty matches. Last season nobody born in 2005 or later played more minutes in League One than Tyler Bindon and this season he’s on track to repeat that feat.
Up Next: Huddersfield vs Northampton Town at 2am on Sunday (NZT)
Abby Erceg – Racing Louisville (American National Women’s Soccer League)
Wise words there from one who knows... and if you’re wondering about the dog then there’s a story behind that. The pup is called Edmund and he’s up for adoption through the Kentucky Humane Society who were doing a cross promotion with Racing Louisville.
No word on whether Edmund has found a home yet but Racing Louisville might want to keep him around as a lucky charm after they beat Angel City 2-1 in a crucial match for playoff implications. They conceded first when Meg Howard followed up on a save from a Claire Emslie effort. Counter-attacking from an intercept off an Erceg pass around halfway. Not ideal after she made an error leading to a goal last week. Very uncharacteristic. But no dramas because a great header from Bethany Balcer tied it up on 26’ and then Janine Beckie scored a great goal on 68’ for Lou to take the win. A couple of their trade-deadline acquisitions doing what they were brought in to do.
Racing Lou: “Veteran defender Abby Erceg moved into third in the NWSL record books in career minutes played, surpassing Gotham’s McCall Zerboni as she also climbed past 16,000 minutes. The centre back has started every game and played every minute for Racing since joining the club via trade ahead of the 2023 season. She has two goals and two assists in 40 league games with Racing, including an assist on Taylor Flint’s goal against Seattle. She’d set a new career high in goal involvement with at least one more goal or assist in the final seven matches.”
No sign of Milly Clegg on the bench so soon after the U20 World Cup. A couple others from that team might have gone straight back into club games but Clegg’s at a higher level and the coast isn’t so clear for her at Louisville this season given some of the veteran forwards that they’ve brought in. 2024 is more about behind the scenes development... across the entire league there have only been 17 teenagers to play NWSL footy this year so Clegg’s way ahead of schedule and the Olympic Games and U20 World Cup has still allowed her to get her games in. We’ll be patient but fingers-crossed there’s a debut before the year is done. This win was long overdue after RL had only taken four points from their previous eight matches. They’re still three points out of the top eight but now there’s a bit of momentum.
Moving further across the United States, Macey Fraser’s still out with that ankle injury at Utah Royals and we know that Ali Riley won’t play again in 2024. In the MLS, Michael Boxall had a big win with Minnesota United going to St Louis and dropping them 3-1. Also had to come from a goal behind in that one, conceding after only four minutes when Boxy won a brilliant (and risky) lunging tackle in the area only for it to hit a teammate and then fall for another forward to score. But they rallied back to win, further enhancing their ninth-place status (with hope they can still creep higher up and avoid a play-in game). One of the goals was a penalty won when a Boxy header struck the arm of a St Louis player.
Don’t ask about anyone else. Finn Surman was an unused sub for Portland Timbers still soaking things up. Phil Neville must not have been watching him dominate the USA national team last week. Slightly surprising (and probably encouraging) that Surman hasn’t been seen in a reserve team game yet. The opposite is true of Bill Tuiloma who was part of that 1-1 draw against the USMNT but can’t even make the bench for Charlotte FC. He played ninety minutes for MLS Next Pro affiliate Crown Legacy instead. That’s his fourth reserves appearance, which is one more than he’s made for the MLS team this year.
Up Next: Racing Louisville vs North Carolina Courage at 11.30am on Sunday (NZT)
Kiara Bercelli - Sampdoria (Italian Serie A)
The first half-season that Kiara Bercelli spent with Sampdoria, she played for their U19s team. The following season she went out on loan with Chievo. For the 2024-25 campaign we had to wait and see because it began while Bercelli was away with at the U20 World Cup (where she started all three games for NZ and had two disallowed goals). That meant she missed the team’s 5-0 defeat to Katie Bowen’s Inter Milan in week one... but a poor showing from the Aotearoa side meant she was back in time for game two where she took her place on the extended bench. Didn’t make an appearance but this does suggest she’ll be hanging around the first team, thus a Serie A debut shouldn’t be too far away.
Up Next: Tough one away to Fiorentina at 4am on Monday (NZT)
Katie Bowen - Inter Milan (Italian Serie A)
Meanwhile, Katie Bowen did something she’s only done once before for Inter Milan: she played off the bench. 22 of her 23 games last season were starts, as had been the first of this season. But against Napoli away, Inter switched from a back three to a back four and since the club has stocked up on new players this term that meant Bowen was squeezed out with Ivana Andres partnering Marija Milinković instead. Internazionale went on to win 4-1 despite having been a goal down at the halfway stage... in fact, they scored four times in the last 21 minutes for that win.
Bowen subbed on with about five minutes to go, part of a triple change aimed at locking down the result after they’d scored the third (she replaced a striker). KB’s long ball forward to Elisa Polli led to the fourth goal on 88’ when Polli’s shot was parried by the keeper and into a defender leading to an OG. No assist for that though it turns out Bowen did get credited with one in the previous game... for a throw-in to a teammate in the corner who then dribbled backwards, cut inside, and curled one into the bottom corner from range. Hey, an assist is an assist.
It looked like they finished in a back three against Napoli, shifting things with Bowen’s arrival. Hopefully this bench gig was just a one-off. Inter are looking great though: two wins from two with +8 goal difference already. Juventus and Fiorentina are the only other clubs with perfect records. Next week it’s derby time.
Up Next: Internazionale vs AC Milan at 1.45am on Monday (NZT)
Jay Herdman - Cavalry FC (Canadian Premier League)
There’s an intruiging development. With four games remaining in the MLS Next Pro season, Vancouver Whitecaps II have loaned Jay Herdman across to the CPL. There he joins a team which had six games left, positioned to make a run at the playoffs and maybe even for the championship. Not sure how to compare the two levels (American academy team versus Canadian semi-pro team) but this will mean consequential senior football for the next month or two.
The Whitecaps perspective is the trickier one. In the past, they’ve used the ol’ CPL loan deal as a prelude to releasing blokes. Herdman has had three short-term MLS stints this year – including making an MLS debut – but so have several other academy lads along the way. There’s a limit of four of those call-ups per year before you have to sign that player to a permanent contract, hence why Herdman’s been allowed to chill at the Olympics and with the reserves since the most recent of those call-ups back in April. And, to his credit, he’s been awesome for those reserves. Six goals and three assists in 20 matches. It’s been a breakthrough campaign for him.
However, at the same time as Herdman was loaned out, Jeevan Badwal and Nicolas Fleuriau Chateau were both given multi-year Whitecaps deals from out of that same VW2 team. This was right before rosters were frozen in both leagues so it was kind of a now-or-never situation (at least for this year). Can’t say that Badwal (an attack-minded midfield) and Chateau (a striker) are totally different positional options than Herdman because they’re not. Maybe they were simply chosen instead of him? Maybe there wasn’t room at this time for JH but they still wanted to get him some senior experience ahead of next year? Thing is, his contract with VW2 expires at the end of the season so w can’t discount tha he might have played his last game for the club he joined as a 13-year-old. This all remains to be seen. In the meantime he’s got a sweet gig at the team that Myer Bevan used to play for.
CFC head coach and general manager Tommy Wheedon Jr: “Jay is an important signing for us, who will provide another attacking option for the run-in. He’s a player that we’ve been tracking since we played against Whitecaps in pre-season and he has very good quality, with terrific energy and the ability to contribute to goals. With the recent injury to Maël Henry, Jay’s positional profile and age helps us with on-field options and minutes that count towards the league’s required 2,000 U-21 domestic minutes during the regular season.”
Herdman has already made his debut for Cavalry, subbed on in the dying moments of a 2-2 draw against Atletico Ottawa. Not a bad result against a higher-placed team. This means Cavalry are on 35 points after 23 matches. They have a nine-point advantage on fifth-place and are only six points behind first. Five more rounds remain. Third would put them straight into the quarters. Top two and they’d go into the major semi-final. Fourth or fifth and there’ll be a play-in game to see who faces that third-placed team. In other words, playoff seeding is going to be pretty important.
Up Next: York City vs Cavalry at midday on Saturday (NZT)
Moses Dyer - Pacific FC (Canadian Premier League)
Meanwhile in another corner of the CPL...
That’s his second game in a row with a goal and this one happened to come against the same Vancouver FC side that he’s being loaned out from. A team he’d scored four times for during this same season. Joke was on them because Dyer’s PFC side won 3-0, with Dyer also getting a yellow card in amongst. Pacific are in sixth right now but have a game in hand so they’ll be angling for that play-in spot. Vancouver FC are the team in their way as things stand so if Dyer keeps scoring goals and Pacific nudge VFC out of the post-season then he might not be welcomed back.
Up Next: Thursday at 10am, Wanderers vs Pacific (NZT)
Elliot Collier – Indy Eleven (American USL Championship)
EC can do it too, don’t worry. He doesn’t start many games for Indy Eleven (only 2/21 USL appearances this year) but that hasn’t stopped him chipping in with five goals. The latest was in a 3-1 win over El Paso Locomotive. No James Musa in this match but that’s okay because Collier had things covered (in his 16-minute stint).
Elsewhere, Riley Bidois was a stoppage time introduction for Loudon United in a 4-2 win over Birmingham Legion... that’s RB’s first game since a hamstring injury ended his Olympic chances a couple months ago. Also, Kyle Adams captained Louisville City to a 1-0 win over Tulsa. They remain well clear at the top of the Eastern Conference with the best record in the competition. Playoffs aren’t too far away and they should be favourites (the other two clubs with kiwis are further down in the mix but should both still qualify for the post-season).
Up Next: Away to North Carolina at 11.30am on Sat (NZT)
James Bulkeley – Gulf United (UAE First Division)
See the tall blonde-ish bloke at the back? That’s NZ U20s defender James Bulkeley. The towering centre-back (who has a pretty good long ball at his disposal too) grew up in Australia but seems to have become disillusioned with a lack of opportunities there so he made the curious move to join Fleetwood United over in the UAE – which is a sort of foreign academy team/sister club for English side Fleetwood Town. That side were playing second tier but they earned promotion last season.
It seems that Bulkeley wasn’t brought back by Fleetwood so after the Oceania U19s Championships he went on a three-week trial with Auckland FC where he was on the bench for several preseason friendlies but doesn’t seem to have played at all. Since then he’s turned up at Gulf United, returning to that second tier UAE stuff.
Bulkeley logged a full game in a 1-1 draw away to Al Thaid in the opening fixture of the new campaign. This is the same club that Steven Taylor coached to back-to-back promotions after leaving the Wellington Phoenix, although he left them a couple of years ago. There’s a Roar article here from July that mentioned Gulf United as a potential next destination as it (rather vindictively) details how JB slipped through the cracks in Australia.
Up Next: UAE President’s Cup preliminaries against Dubai United at 1.30am on Sunday (NZT)
Daisy Cleverley - Unattached
And finally, a retirement. She doesn’t explicitly use that word here but it’s pretty clear that 39-cap international Daisy Cleverley is stepping away from the footy for other life ventures. Only 27 years old but she packed plenty into that career including several major tournaments, a long college career for California Golden Bears and Georgetown Hoyas (including post-grad studies – so she’s well versed beyond sports), and a couple of years with HB Køge in Denmark where she scored four goals in 35 league appearances and won the championship in 2022/23. Fun fact: her only two international goals were scored on debut against Tonga as a 17yo.
Up Next: Fine fortunes with whatever she chooses to do
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