Flying Kiwis – November 27
Joe Bell – Viking FK (Norwegian Eliteserien)
Joe Bell’s international break came and went without damage, in fact he was even rested for New Zealand’s game against Ecuador to keep him fresh. Now the business of winning the Norwegian Eliteserien could resume. Two games to go, two wins required (assuming Bodø/Glimt don’t drop any points... which they almost did, only beating KFUM Oslo with a 90+4th minute goal). Sixth-placed Fredrikstad were their opponents on Monday morning NZT.
Viking came out seeking to knock the ball around and settle the crowd. They did that... but they also needed goals from some place and that wasn’t quite so easy. Fredrikstad have the second best defensive record in the competition and not only did they spend a good chunk of the first half frustrating the Vikes, they probably also had the two best chances. Both were shots from outside the area, both were tipped away by VFK goalie Arild Østbø – the second of those being touched onto the crossbar deep in stoppage time (Viking then immediately countered with a move that ended with Bell having a shot blocked). Still scoreless at the break.
Luckily one of VFK’s great strengths has been the way they build into games, overcoming a bunch of slow starts along the way. Into the second half, they went close with a Martin Owe Roseth header pushed around the post. Then Edvin Austbø smacked one on target which was saved again. Sondre Flem Bjørshol went as close as any of them powering a header which looked destined for the bottom corner until the best save of the trio. Those were Viking’s three closest calls thus far, all inside the first ten of the second spell, and then Zlatko Tripic also clipped the crossbar with a free kick for good measure. Momentum was building. Pressure was mounting. And then finally, massively, to the cathartic relief of the away section, Viking took the lead after 71 minutes when Henrik Falchener nodded in from a Zlatko Tripic cross.
It only got more frantic from there because now with a lead to protect the mindset changed, as it did for Fredrikstad who went all out on the attack. Viking’s central defenders (Bjørshol and Falchener, who’d already shown off their aerial prowess at the other end) won countless headers while the forwards did their bit to ease the pressure with counter attacks and time-wasting. Zlatko Tripic ran out of legs by the end and was subbed – meaning that Joe Bell (who completed 57/59 passes in this match) took the captain’s armband for the last three minutes plus eight of stoppages. Lots of nervous energy, especially around a few free kicks for the home side. But when the final whistle sounded, it sounded for a Viking FK victory. They’re now just one win away from glory, three points from ending a 34-year championship drought.
That game is against Vålerenga on Monday morning NZT. Same team that Viking lost against in the opening round of the season, beaten 3-1 by the promoted club in a result that seemed to portend a sloppy campaign. Funny how wrong first impressions can be. Viking went undefeated in their next 14 league matches and have only lost twice since. They’re currently on a six-game winning streak to stay one point ahead in first, undefeated in 12. Only Henrik Falchener, a 22yo defender that they picked up from the second tier before the season, has played more minutes than Joe Bell and that gap is about to close because along with Falchener’s winning goal in this game he also got a yellow card and that means he’ll be suspended for the last match. It’ll be the only game he’s missed. Joe Bell has only missed one and that was also because of suspension.
Up Next: Viking vs Vålerenga at 5am on Monday (NZT)
Katie Bowen - Inter Milan (Italian Serie A)
The good news is that Katie Bowen has worked her way back into being a regular starter for Inter Milan. She had a spell there where she was in and out and often getting subbed when she did start... but more recently she’s played ninety minutes in each of Inter’s past four matches. The bad news is that the team’s form has not improved. Their poor domestic results have continued with defeats against Roma and Napoli alongside draws against Sassuolo and Parma over the past month... and their European quest is now over after they fell 1-0 over two legs against BK Hacken (Sweden) in the Europa Cup round of sixteen.
It was nice while it lasted. Inter fell into the Europa Cup after failing to progress in Champions League qualifying but then cruised past Hibernian and Vllaznia Shkoder to make it to the inaugural Europa Cup proper draw. Once there, Internazionale conceded a fourth minute own goal in the away leg and then for the life of themselves just could not find a response over the next 176 minutes. Bowen full games in both legs. Pushed forward up that right edge quite a bit in the home left, seeking to whip in some crosses, but BKH kept repelling them and it ended goalless to eliminate the Italian side.
That result also extended Inter’s winless steak to six games across all competitions... so it was a pretty big relief when they were able to win 2-0 against Lazio just prior to the FIFA window (where Katie Bowen was strangely left out of the NZ squad to face Australia). Both goals were scored by Tessa Wullaert (55’ & 61’). Lazio missed a late penalty – an astoundingly good save from Cecilía Rán Rúnarsdóttir...
Damn did Inter need that result. That was their first Serie A win since thrashing promoted Ternana in the opening matchweek. They’ve only taken nine points from seven games, although every team has lost at least once already so they’re actually not that far behind - only four points off second which is where they finished last season. Plenty of time to turn this around now that they can focus fully on Serie A.
Up Next: Week off, put the feet up
Grace Wisnewski – FC Nordsjælland (Danish A-Liga)
The Europa Cup quest lives on into the quarter finals for FC Nordsjælland though. FCN had no such issues getting past NS Mura of Slovenia, winning 1-0 in the home leg before smoking them 4-0 away to keep the journey going. Wisnewski hasn’t played more than an hour in any of her five games since returning from close to a month out with the injury that caused her to withdraw from the Football Ferns tour of North America. Those five games were played in the space of 15 days thanks to these midweek UEFA games so that was fair enough. But she got significant minutes in all of them. Wiz played around half an hour off the bench in each of those Europa Cup ties. She also played 45 minutes in this one...
That was a 3-1 win against Kolding back in the A-Liga. All the goals were scored in the first half and Wisnewski was introduced at the break, helping ensure they banked those three points. FCN haven’t been quite as sloppy as Inter Milan this year but this was only their fifth win from 14 matches. Gotta get on a run from here if they want to be back in Europe next year... either that or win the Europa Cup.
But that’ll all have to wait until next year because after the international window (in which Wisnewski will hopefully and deservedly and belatedly add to her three caps), there’s just the Danish Cup quarterfinals before the winter break puts a pause on everything until February. By which time, Malia Steinmetz should also be back in action. She’s just gone past an exact year since her ACL tear so she must be getting close already... not that there’s any need to rush her back now when she can take that whole winter break, which usually involves a training camp and a few friendlies, to get up to speed in her own time.
Grace Wisnewski: “I love the coaches, the staff and the team and I think the way that they play football is very much kind of my style. I'm just loving it [in Denmark]. For now I think it's the best place for me to be and develop as a person and as a player. I did my ACL and coming back from that was a bit challenging and then I was playing in America, which was challenging. But I'm very happy playing in Denmark right now and with the way I'm performing on the field, so hopefully I can implement that here.”
As for the Europa Cup, that’s also gotta wait until February. Nordsjælland have a really tricky tie against Eintracht Frankfurt who are currently fourth in the German league. If they make it through that then BK Häcken (Sweden) or Breiðablik (Iceland) will await in the semis. On the other side of the bracket, it’s Sparta Prague (Czechia) vs Austria Wien (Austria) and Sporting CP (Portugal) vs Hammarby (Sweden). All ties are two-legged.
Up Next: Osterbro vs Nordsjælland in the Danish Cup quarters at 2am on 7 December (NZT)
Michael Boxall – Minnesota United (American Major League Soccer)
Commiserations to us all, for there will be no kiwi MLS champions this year. It’s been a decade since Jake Gleeson won with the Portland Timbers (albeit as an unused sub in the final). It’s actually been 21 years since Ryan Nelsen became the most recent NZer to get minutes in the grand final of Major League Soccer. And we can forget about that for another twelve months after the last remaining kiwi, Michael Boxall with Minnesota United, was eliminated in the conference semi-finals.
The Loons were away against top-seeded San Diego FC (who’d knocked out Finn Surman’s Portland Timbers in the first round) and that was always destined to be a tough one even if they did beat them away during the regular season. But in a tense, physical, gruelling match of football in which Minnesota only had 34% of possession but also limited the free-scoring top seeds to just a single shot on target... San Diego scored from that single shot on target for a 1-0 result. Anders Dreyer after 71 minutes.
That’s knockout footy for you. It’s all about big moments and San Diego capitalised on theirs. The Loons can’t have too many complaints given how they didn’t win any of their four playoff games – advancing thanks to two penalty shootouts in the first round best of three series vs Seattle. So ends Michael Boxall’s finest season, in which he earned his first MLS All Star selection and even got some buzz for the Defender of the Year award. He’ll be back again next time – the Loons have already picked up the option in his contract.
Boxy post-game: “I think we defended how we've defended all season long. We made it very difficult for them limited their chances. But then again we we just struggled to get anything going with the ball until very late in the game and just we just weren't weren't quite good enough in those patches. They took their their chance pretty well and we weren't able to finish finish a couple half chances, probably better chances than they were able to muster, but yeah, just just not quite good enough for us.”
Up Next: The World Cup in North America is doing wonky things to the MLS calendar next year so preseason begins again in just 40 days, Boxy will be straight back into it before you know it
Owen Parker-Price - Örgryte IS (Swedish Superettan)
Coming back from All Whites duty meant that Owen Parker-Price was only used as a substitute for the home leg of Örgryte’s promotion playoff. They gave him 13 minutes off the bench, snapping a run of eight consecutive starts... therefore he missed all the fun stuff because by the time OPP joined the action against IFK Norrköping his team was already 3-0 ahead. Goals from Daniel Paulsen (10’) and Noah Christofferson (43’, 66’) put them in a brilliant position, even despite being reduced to ten men early in the second half. Parker-Price only had to come on and helps close things out. He did that adequately... and now ÖIS have a three goal lead to take into the away match.
This was an incredible turn-up because not so long ago it seemed like Örgryte were on course for automatic promotion only for them to fail to win any of their last five games including defeats against the two teams that overtook them. Nothing about that suggested they could win a playoff against an Allsvenskan side but they did it anyway. And they won it comfortably enough that it’s going to take some kinda effort from Norrköping to overturn things. Crazier things have happened but, bottom line, OPP began the year playing for a club that just got relegated from the third tier (guts to Torslanda who still have their heavy kiwi connections, aside from Parker-Price)... now he’s ninety minutes away from getting to the top flight. Francis de Vries once went from third tier to top tier in Sweden with IFK Värnamo courtesy of consecutive promotions but OPP is hoping to make both steps in the space of a few months.
Up Next: Norrköping vs Örgryte on Sunday at 3am (NZT)
Jacqui Hand, Olivia Chance & Liz Anton – Kolbotn (Norwegian Toppserien)
Alas, the inevitable has happened and Kolbotn have been relegated. They gave it as good a go as they could with a Jacqui Hand inspired win last week providing some hope. They got the result that they needed from the other matches with Røa losing 1-0 to Vålerenga... but were beaten 4-2 by Rosenborg in their own match. Needed to win to advance to a relegation playoff. Instead the club finishes last and drops automatically to the second tier.
They started okay against Rosenborg but concessions on 25’ and 34’ broke their spirits. Rosenborg then piled on heaps of pressure before finally getting a third on 74’. Camilla Linberg pulled one back pretty quickly but Kolbotn conceded again just as fast. A red card for Rosenborg and a goal for Lea Ellingsen brought it closer but if anything the 4-2 loss kinda flattered Kolbotn.
And with that comes a very unwanted statistic: Jacqui Hand has now been relegated in three consecutive seasons with three different clubs. It happened in the English second tier with Lewes and Sheffield United. Now it’s happened in the Norwegian top flight with Kolbotn. Again though, not her fault. Hand did as much as anyone to keep them up (plus she was only there for half the season), scoring four goals with two assists in 12 matches. She ranked second in the entire league for successful dribbles per game (3.58) and was the third most fouled player (1.5 fouls won/90).
Liv Chance played 26 games with two assists (no goals but she did hit the woodwork twice). Liz Anton played 25 with one assist, as well as being the Toppserien leader for blocked shots per game (1.48) and third for total clearances. Plus she captained the team for the last couple months. Both Chance and Anton were right up there among the team’s top minutes earners. But, yeah, as much fun as it’s been having three kiwi players at the same club all starting each and every week... they didn’t win very many games and now they’re all on the lookout for new jobs following relegation.
Liz Anton’s already got one. Literally the very next weekend after the Rosenborg defeat she was lining up again for her previous club Canberra United in a 3-0 win against Perth Glory. Didn’t even wait until after the international break. She had a really strong game too, showing the benefits of already being match-fit. Considering that she left Canberra before the last A-League season was over, joined Kolbotn already two games into theirs (debuting only three weeks after her last game for Canberra), and now has rejoined Canberra directly from Norway with no pause whatsoever... Liz Anton might be one of the hardest working footballers on the planet. She’s played 45 games of club football since November 2024 and started every single one of them. Add in the five Football Ferns starts she’s made during that time and we’re up to an even 50 matches. No injuries, no rests.
Up Next: A-League for Anton... TBD for the other two
Rebecca Lake - Vancouver Rise (Canadian Northern Super League)
Now that’s a familiar feeling for Bex Lake... winning a championship. She won five NZ National League’s in the space of seven years with Canterbury United. Won a whole bunch of regional trophies with Coastal Spirit around the same time. Won the NZ Futsal SuperLeague title. Now she’s won the inaugural Canadian NSL championship with Vancouver Rise.
Lake only joined the Rise about three months ago, following a return to fitness with Cashmere Technical after a long-term foot injury suffered while at the Wellington Phoenix. The Nix ran out of room to re-sign her so she went to Canada instead and initially played off the bench but by the time the playoffs rolled around she was a first choice player, starting the last seven games in a row including all three playoffs. In fact, the only minutes she missed during the playoff run were when she got subbed with twenty to go in the semi-final second leg as her team chased a goal to level up the tie. They got it with five mins remaining and then won a penalty shootout to advance against Ottawa Rapid.
In the final they faced AFC Toronto and were 1-0 down at half-time having been thoroughly outplayed up until a weather delay after 38 minutes (due to lightning in the area – kickoff had also been delayed for the same reason). During that bad spell, Lake almost scored an own goal when she deflected a cross onto the post. But Vancouver rallied in the second spell. They equalised after 53 mins with a low corner kick aimed at Lake near post going in as an own goal off the keeper, clearly unsighted by Lake’s presence (she was onside and there was no contact so nothing wrong with it, just good clever set piece work). Holly Ward then burst up the left and scored the winner after 67 mins. Toronto paid the price for not scoring a second when they were on top and now Rebecca Lake’s got another winners’ medal for the collection.
This came just one week after Monty Patterson was part of the Ottawa Rapids side that won the Canadian Men’s Premier League. Jay Herdman won the Men’s CPL last year too – there’s been a New Zealander lifting each of the last three Canadian championships across men’s and women’s pro footy. Little bit harsh that Lake missed selection for the current Football Ferns squad considering that the other three NZers who played in the NPL this year all made the cut despite none of their teams even qualifying for the playoffs, let alone winning the whole thing (Meikayla Moore, Ally Green, and Milly Clegg). Admittedly, there’s a long queue for centre-back appearances in the Ferns at the moment. But Lake was an injury replacement for the last tour so she’s not too far away from adding an international debut if she can keep on winning stuff.
Up Next: They never announced a contract length when she joined Vancouver which means it was probably only a one-year deal, so RL gets to decide if she’s happy there or wants to try somewhere else
Elijah Just – Motherwell (Scottish Premiership)
Like a few of the All Whites, Eli Just was rested for the weekend’s game coming back from playing in the USA against Colombia and Ecuador. The same was true of George Stanger at Kilmarnock which was a damn shame because those two happened to be playing against each other. Just still got half an hour off the bench, coming on to help Motherwell add a third goal in a 3-1 victory. Stanger wasn’t risked given that defensive additions weren’t really what they needed while his team was already losing.
That was a bummer of a result for Killie who dropped to tenth place after what was their sixth consecutive defeat. They’ve conceded at least three goals in each of the last three. Not good tidings there... however Motherwell are in the complete opposite form. That win made it four in a row undefeated and they’ve since added a fifth with a 2-0 midweek win against Hibernian in which yeah you’d better believe that Elijah Just was in amongst the action...
Just was outstanding in this game. Played as the number ten and kept drifting from side to side to work the combinations with his wingers. Lots of little passes, always with an eye towards trying to score goals. He took four shots in this game and two of them were on target. One of those struck and arm to earn a penalty, scored by Tawanda Maswanhise after 19 minutes, and the other was a goal scored by Just after 22 minutes (from a move that he’d largely sparked himself by running into space and then cutting a ball back into the middle).
Hibs then picked up a red card after 34 minutes for a last-man professional foul by Grant Hanley. Initially they let it slide because of an offside flag but with the use of VAR (as they also utilised for Just’s penalty) it was proven that Maswanhise was onside and therefore the foul stood and Hanley got marched. Motherwell then dominated the rest of the game though never actually added a third goal. Didn’t need to, they were in complete control. Just was subbed after an hour having done his job and then some.
Eli Just now has three goals and three assists in 10 Scottish Premiership games (722 minutes played). He’s one of only six players across the entire division with at least three of each and he’s played fewer minutes than all the others. One of the others is his teammate Emmanuel Longelo while Tawanda Maswanhise is now the league’s leading goal-scorer with eight. Motherwell as a team (and Elijah Just as an individual) got plenty of praise from day one of the season for their silky style of play but beginning their Premiership run with five consecutive draws tempered the hype somewhat. Now they’ve won four of their last five and those promises are being fulfilled.
Up Next: Motherwell vs Hearts at 4am on Sunday (NZT)
Callum McCowatt - Silkeborg IF (Danish Superliga)
Nothing really happened with it but good to see Callum McCowatt back on the pitch for Silkeborg. He didn’t start the game after missing the international break due to an injury that saw him subbed off at half-time of the 1-1 draw with Odense (in which he scored the goal), however he’s since recovered and returned for the last half hour as Silkeborg were beaten 2-0 at home by league leaders AGF. That’s another pesky result for SIF but at least McCowatt is fit and available to hopefully help them finish the year with some positivity. They have two matches left before the winter break kicks in.
McCowatt was one of six staring calibre players withdrawn from that recent All Whites tour. Ryan Thomas was another but, like McCowatt, his injury was only minor and he was back in business for PEC Zwolle even before the FIFA window swung around. He just needed the rest - we’ll come around to him shortly. The other four are all still on the injury list though. Tim Payne falls outside the Flying Kiwis jurisdiction but you already know he’s gonna miss a few more weeks for the Wellington Phoenix. That leaves Chris Wood, Liberato Cacace, and Alex Paulsen.
Chris Wood has an issue with his knee that he was dealing with during the October international window where he was only used sparingly by Darren Bazeley. He then played 15 minutes off the bench for Nottingham Forest in Ange Postecoglou’s last game in charge, a 3-0 loss to Chelsea, but once that debacle was over and Sean Dyche took charge it was decided to let him rest and recover fully. He’s still resting. Didn’t partake in the 3-0 win against Liverpool at Anfield over the weekend... although the gaffer reckons he shouldn’t be too far away.
Sean Dyche: “Chris Wood is getting re-scanned but it is good news so far. Being re-scanned is just part of the process, there is nothing untoward about it — it is just a check-up. It is just a settling period, it is nothing too serious, it is a grumbling knee. It is serious enough to stop him from loading it; from loading in daily training. But it is settling down. Part of the recovery is to have it rescanned to see where it is at. He is feeling good in himself, which is always a good sign. We are managing to keep his fitness levels up in the gym. It has just taken a bit of a period for the injury to calm down. We hope we are towards the end of that period.”
Libby Cacace has been dealing with muscle injuries off and on since he joined Wrexham (the only times he’s ever really been injured in his entire professional career to this point – bound to be frustrating for him). He wasn’t part of the travelling squad for the 0-0 draw with Ipswich Town, left behind along with one or two others in order to “do some work with the physio”, nor the 2-0 home win over Bristol City more recently. But he’s making progress and this was never expected to be a long term knock. None of these issues have been – he’s had three separate stints out, never missing more than five league games at a time. He also hasn’t yet made three Championship starts in a row. Thankfully, Wrexham have found a bit of joy lately with a run of seven league games undefeated so that’s eased any pressure to rush him back.
Alex Paulsen was the one whose injury caused the most worry. Bournemouth dragged him back from loan club Lechia Gdańsk to have a check on a troublesome knee... fortunately scans were encouraging and he’s since returned to Poland to resume his loan. If it was a serious injury they probably would have had him do his rehab in England but we’ve avoided that drama. It might be another couple weeks before AP is available to play again though. This from his coach...
John Carver: “Alex had been playing with a knee injury for some time. We did the test. Since he is a Bournemouth player, we sent a scan of them to this club. On Thursday evening, they booked him a plane to return to England so we didn't have much time to prepare to play with another goalkeeper. However, it turned out that maybe it wouldn't be as serious an injury as we thought. Perhaps he will come back to us after the international break.”
That’s what has happened. They’re speculating 2-6 weeks of recovery... although not sure if the 2-6 week count is from now or from when the injury happened because if it’s the latter then he’s already at three. Lechia have had a win and a draw without him – much better than they were doing before he signed.
Up Next: Silkeborg vs Randers at 2am on Monday (NZT)
Max Crocombe - Millwall (English Championship)
Max Crocombe’s first six starts for Millwall came with Steven Benda out injured. The first three of those were all wins, leading to a majority of fans deciding that he needed to continue as the number one after Benda returned. The next three games, all prior into the international break, provided two draws and a loss with Crocs looking a fair bit less assured in those ones and at least opening the door for a conversation. But after playing twice for the All Whites during the FIFA window, Max Crocombe returned to a Millwall squad with Benda back fit and available and yet it was Crocombe who retained his place. Sweet as.
He might still have been under pressure after a 3-1 loss to Portsmouth... but fortunately the whole team was much sharper this morning as they won 1-0 against embattled Sheffield Wednesday. They should have scored more than they did, it took until the 71st minute for Femi Azeez to put the Lions ahead, however with Crocombe nestling upon a clean sheet that lone goal was enough. First clean sheet for a month for Crocs and a win that snapped a four-game skid for Millwall. With 28 points from 17 matches, the Lions are up to fourth place, only two points from second. Albeit there’s also only five points separating second from twelfth at the moment.
All the injuries meant there weren’t a lot of kiwi blokes playing football in England over the weekend. Nor in the midweek that followed. Wrexham had a draw and a win with clean sheets in both but Libby Cacace’s not quite ready to go again. In fact, they’ve now kept four cleanies in a row. Nice to see they’ve finally figured out how to do that without Cacace showing them the way. Wrexham are still a better team with him in the side... but they’re moving up the ladder now. Good stuff.
Marko Stamenic made his return to football following the passing of his father while away with the All Whites. He’s since picked back up with Swansea where he played an hour of a 3-0 loss to Bristol City and then half an hour off the bench in a 2-1 loss to Derby. Remember that the Swans sacked Alan Sheehan while Stamenic was out of action. Vitor Matos has been hired in his place, attending the Bristol City game in the crowd and then getting into the dugout for the first time for the Derby match. Swansea City began the season thinking a playoff push was possible but they were never able to grind out the results they should have gotten and now things have gotten kinda ugly. We’ll have to see how Stamenic fits in under Matos. It’s far too early to make any judgements given that his benching for that match was probably just due to his lessened match fitness and some load management after the internationals.
Tyler Bindon’s been hit by a change in formation with Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder reverting to two CBs instead of three which means that one of the others has dropped to the bench and Bindon is no longer next man up. He was amongst the substitutes as the Blades won 3-0 against rivals Sheffield Wednesday. He was not in the squad as they won 3-0 against Portsmouth. Still hasn’t played since Wilder (re)took charge. Looking more and more likely that the rumour about him (along with a few other temp players) having his loan terminated in January could be on the money.
Down in League One, Peterborough United’s 3-0 win against Stockport came to early for Matt Garbett to be involved. Friday night football straight out of an international break, that’s some nasty scheduling. The Posh did at least manage to get their match against Mansfield Town postponed while he was away though. Garbs then played half an hour off the bench in a 1-0 loss to Stevenage. Chucked on, got a yellow, couldn’t quite spark a comeback. However he did lift the standard (and the tempo) when he joined the match in midfield and went close to a goal with a shot from distance that got saved.
Up Next: Millwall vs Southampton at 4am on Sunday (NZT)
Katie Kitching - Sunderland (English Super League 2)
There wasn’t a Flying Kiwis yarn last week so we’ve got two weeks of stuff to catch up on for anyone who wasn’t in the last All Whites squad. You didn’t miss much in WSL2 though. Durham drew 1-1 away with Southampton with Hannah Blake and Mickey Foster both starting. Blake was subbed with ten to go. Ipswich Town played Crystal Palace where Grace Neville got ninety on the right edge of defence for Ipswich, albeit not her best performance (bit wasteful with the ball) while Indi Riley was mercifully given ten minutes off the bench for Palace at right wing-back. Palace won that game 2-1... scoring the winner right after IPR was subbed on. And Sunderland lost 3-1 in the big derby against Newcastle United. Katie Kitching played 75 mins as the second striker and probably should have had an assist or two for her efforts (she’s been credited with four key passes) but those chances all went astray. The four clubs with New Zealand players are all still stuck in the bottom half of the table.
Happily, the news is much brighter from the weekend just gone when we shifted into the final matchweek of the EFL Cup group stage. Grace Neville got another ninety, this time against her old club, as Ipswich Town lost 2-0 to London City Lionesses. Certainly not a terrible scoreline against a WSL club... although nowhere near as good as Crystal Palace winning 3-0 away to Leicester City. Best thing about this was that Indi Riley getting given a start at right-back where she turned in a statement performance including assisting the third goal when she ran onto a loose ball in the area and cut it back first touch to Annabel Blanchard to do the rest.
Palace picked up a red card with half an hour to go (Ruesha Littlejohn put a Leicester player in a headlock and body slammed her, pretty obvious red lol) but still managed to deny their higher-division opponents. Good thing they did because even one concession would have been damaging. Thanks to London City only winning by two against Grace Neville’s Ipswich, this result means that Crystal Palace have leapt above both them and Leicester City on goal difference to finish top of the group and advance to the knockouts. They’re the only WSL2 club to make it to the last eight. And while Indi Riley’s only been graced with 106 minutes in the Championship so far... she’s played 90-odd minutes in both of Palace’s WSL Cup victories (and wasn’t involved when they lost to LCL). Take a hint, will ya coach?
That brings us back to Katie Kitching whose Sunderland team hosted Durham with Blake and Foster. All three Footy Ferns were in the starting sides. Both were already eliminated from knockout contention but this was a local-ish derby between two clubs with very similar league records so still a bit at stake. Kitching played up front again and missed a huge chance with an early header off target from close range. She also smashed an opportunistic long shot a wee bit high. Later on she’d miss the target from six yards, slicing across the face of goal on the end of a square pass that you’d expect her to bury every single time. Very sloppy first half from Kitch... so she started the second spell by turning provider instead.
Durham would equalise via a direct free kick from basically on the byline (taken by Beth Hepple, not Mickey Foster sadly), by which time Blake had already been substituted and Kitching would follow shortly after. It ended 1-1 therefore the game went to penalties where Mickey Foster scored hers... before Mariana Speckmaier was one of two players to miss for Durham as Sunderland claimed the bonus point. Not that it mattered.
Up Next: Footy Ferns duty for Kitch, IPR, and Foz (but not Blake or Neville this time around)
Kate Taylor - Dijon FCO (French Première Ligue)
Curious development here with Dijon using Kate Taylor as a defensive midfielder for only the second time ever. She’s otherwise almost exclusively played as a centre-back, whether in a three or a four, yet away against Le Havre they chucked her at the base of midfield similar to how she was used in her last season with the Wellington Phoenix. And alo with the Football Ferns for much of 2024 (including the Olympics). KT has since nailed down the middle centre-back spot for the Ferns so we’ll see if this switch sticks and, if it does, whether that has any impact of Michael Mayne’s plans (if he decides to put KT in midfield again then he could always, you know, just select Katie Bowen and/or Rebekah Stott to play CB instead... seems like a useful plan, in fact maybe he should do that anyway!).
Dijon won 1-0 courtesy of a first half penalty scored by Lea Declerq (28’). Not their most convincing performance but then nothing has been very convincing from them so far this season. They’ve been dropping points against clubs they never would have last term. This was a valuable win regardless of it happened... and Taylor had a pretty great game there in that midfield. Lots of touches. Completed 77% of her passes. Did a fair bit of defensive work. Even mustered three shots (one on target). There’s this one cross in the highlights embedded above that was outrageously good. Always helps to have a bit of variety to your game. Dijon are back up to sixth on the ladder, unbeaten in their past four matches.
Up Next: After the international break it’s Dijon vs Lyon at 5am on Dec 7 (NZT)
Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)
It would have been cool to have Ryan Thomas with the All Whites last week but he was legitimately injured, needing a rest in order to clear things up. The impression given by him and his coach was that he could have played for NZ (he returned to feature for Zwolle just prior to the FIFA window, after all – granted with the use of an injection to get him through it). But that would have meant playing through the knock at the detriment of his club side. There’s only a two week winter break in the Netherlands so it’d be another month before he got a chance to rest up if he turned down this opportunity. All perfectly understandable. And to be fair he did put his break to good use by visiting sick children at a local hospital so, you know, let’s keep things in perspective.
Having had that chance to hit the refresh and get himself back to full fitness, Thomas braved the snow to captain Zwolle in a ninety minute effort away against FC Groningen. Really tough conditions on a frosty pitch with snow piling up, causing multiple stoppages in order to get the shovels out. The players did their bit before kickoff...
Thomas conceded a free kick for a sliding challenge inside the first minute and Groningen smacked it off the post. Very sluggish start by Zwolle. But then the first snow break arrived after eight minutes and once they got the pitch cleared, Zwolle came back out and scored almost immediately. Groningen would bury a very good equaliser later in the half but Zwolle were back ahead after 59 minutes. Alas, they squandered that lead too. Anselmo Garcia McNulty was set off with twenty to go for a shoulder charge and a second yellow. The snow was back falling heavily by then and with 79 mins on the clock they’d have to hit the pause button again. This time it was Groningen that piled on the pressure after the match resumed – the hosts would hit the post after 86 mins and then leave with a 2-2 draw following a 90th minute equaliser. Zwolle couldn’t quite hold on. A draw with ten men in those conditions away from home against a team above them on the ladder is still good business though.
Ryan Thomas: “It's really sad to concede another goal so late but, ultimately, we are happy with a point. In such circumstances, it's hard to keep defending and head those balls away. Those balls slide off your head and foot so it remains difficult to ram them away. We managed it every time, until that one moment.”
Up Next: PEC Zwolle vs Heerenveen at 8am on Saturday (NZT)
Kyle Adams - Louisville City (American USL Championship)
They put him in the Team of the Year, then they awarded him Defender of the Year. Guessing that Kyle Adams would trade those personal honours for a deeper run in the USL Championship playoffs – instead of his team finishing way out in front with the best regular season record only to get bounced in the first round – but this is some hefty recognition for one of the undersung kiwi pros.
Kyle Adams: “It’s an honour to win this, but it doesn’t happen without the players around me. From the guys next to me, Damian Las behind us, and the midfielders and strikers in front, we really put an emphasis on improving as a group defensively this year, and I think we all felt we achieved that. I’m proud to have been part of it.”
LouCity Head Coach Danny Cruz: “Kyle led the back line this season with his voice and his quality. We challenged him at the end of 2024 to push himself to be one of the best centre-backs in the league in 2025. He rose to that challenge. It is a big achievement that is only earned when you win a lot of games and have a collective group around you. He should be very proud of the regular season that he had and look to come back even stronger in 2026.”
Up Next: Coming back even stronger in 2026
Bill Tuiloma – Charlotte FC (American Major League Soccer)
Charlotte FC did have a club option on Bill Tuiloma’s contract but mercifully they’ve opted to decline it. Would have been pretty rude if they hadn’t considering how they’ve made a habit of keeping him on the fringes over the previous two and a half years – Tuiloma has been an unused substitute on more than 50 occasions in that time. Initially, he did get a good run of starts at centre-back after his trade from Portland... but Charlotte must not have done their scouting properly because they opted against using him as the set piece menace that he’d been for Portland and for some reason expected a completely refined defensive option instead. The whole point is that Tuiloma’s going to make some mistakes but he’ll override them by giving you legendary levels of attacking boost for a CB at MLS level. But nope they marginalised his best attribute and maximised his weaknesses and pretty soon he got dropped. Then the unused sub odyssey began.
This season was the weirdest of them all. He spent the first twenty matches on the bench, fully available but never chucked onto the pitch, yet when they rotated him in for a pair of early round US Open Cup games they made him captain. A few injuries then saw him finally given a crack with the first team in July and he straight away scored while playing centre-back, leading to a small run of starts as a right-sided defender. But having gone from nothing to starting six MLS games in a row and 2/3 Leagues Cup games... he promptly popped a hamstring and only made two more sub appearances over the final three months of the season. Unused sub in each of their three playoff games. Charlotte won all five matches that Tuiloma started at right-back but that didn’t seem to matter to them. Now he’s finally free.
Oddly, so was Ronan Wynne at Atlanta United. The kiwi defender had been picked up in the MLS SuperDraft following a very strong college career with the University of Denver and went straight into featuring for the MLS side during preseason, playing both fullback and centre-back. Once that was done they signed him to the club’s MLS Next Pro team where he played every single game (usually as a CB in a back three). Seemed like he was making good, steady developments. But nope, they’ve chosen to release him after just one year. Pretty rough. Part of the issue with doing a full college stint before trying to go pro is that Wynne is already 24 years old and perhaps that’s counted against him (we know how much Americans love prescriptive statistics). If they don’t see a future for him in the MLS squad then it’s best for him to move on sooner rather than later.
On the plus side, Tyler Boyd has another year under contract with Nashville SC having now made his comeback from that long-term knee injury. Finn Surman has a couple more years on his deal with Portland and the general manager there reckons he’s already preparing to offer improved terms in the hope that they can keep him around a little longer – everyone’s already just assuming that Surman is destined for bigger things down the line. No need to rush though.
Meanwhile over the border old mate Oskar van Hattum has also become a free agent. He signed with Valour FC midway through the year, after injuries and selections meant he never really got going at Sligo Rovers in Ireland. But the injuries were even worse at Valour where he only made one appearance across the eight games he was there... and that was as an 89th minute substitute. He played one minute and that will be the only minute he plays for them because the club has just folded.
Up Next: Lots of phone calls to lots of agents
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