Aotearoa Domestic Football Roundup – June 3
Men’s Northern League
It was a long weekend and it was a very busy weekend. We had cup games all over the country and somehow the Northern League managed to squeeze in a full round of fixtures on top of that. Now imagine being Auckland City Football Club who had to do both of those things and then also catch a plane to America as they begin their preparations for the Club World Cup (they face Bayern Munich in game one at 4am on Monday 16 June NZT).
You may recall an instance earlier in the season when Auckland City played two separate games in two different competitions in two distinct countries on the same day. They’ve got such a deep squad that they were able to do that while competing in the Oceania Champions League and clearly that gave them some ideas because they did something similar this week. On Friday night at 7pm they played away against West Coast Rangers. They won that game 5-2 with David Yoo (13’), Adam Bell (23’), and Mario Ilich (26’) goals ensuring they were in control from the outset. Allan Pearce got a couple back for WCR (38’, 53’) to strike a little fear back into ACFC... until Tong Zhou (73’) and Myer Bevan (90’) finished things off. Adam Bell was sent off near the end.
Then, at 2pm on Saturday, Auckland City were away to Onehunga Mangere in the Chatham Cup. Two games in less than 24 hours. No dramas against the lower-tiered opponent here as ACFC continued their recent splurge of goals. Jerson Lagos scored early (3’) and although their opponents – including 42yo ex-ACFC fave Takuya Iwata – hung around for a while... eventually Lagos (50’), Matt Ellis (69’), and Ryan De Vries (87’) sealed a 4-0 win to send City safely into the next round.
But they can worry about that another time, before that there’s the small matter of Bayern Munich, Benfica, and Boca Juniors to ponder. Coach Paul Posa won’t be with them for the initial two weeks of that tour as he remains behind in NZ for unspecified personal reasons. The rest of the coaching staff will rally around in his absence – remember Posa is there as a one-year temporary position while Albert Riera is away on sabbatical (Riera randomly popped up as coach of Galaxy FC in Vanuatu last week). There’s a bonus transfer window that’s been implemented to help out clubs like ACFC for the Club World Cup but it doesn’t sound like they’ll be bothering with that. They’ve got enough players as it is.
ACFC vs WCR: Conor Tracey, Adam Bell, Adam Mitchell, Christian Gray, Nathan Lobo, Mario Ilich, Gerard Garriga, Paris Domfeh, David Yoo, Haris Zeb, Myer Bevan (Subs Used: Alfie Rogers, Tong Zhou, Jerson Lagos, Angus Kilkolly)
ACFC vs OS: Nathan Garrow, Regont Murati, Dylan Connolly, Nikko Boxall, Alfie Rogers, Jackson Manuel, Jordan Vale, Dylan Manickum, Matt Ellis, Jerson Lagos, Ryan De Vries (Subs Used: Angus Kilkolly, Mike Den Heijer, Joe Lee, Jeremy Foo)
That’s 27 different players across two games, with only three guys doubling up. Nobody started both games. The squad travelled to America on Monday, with pre-tournament friendlies to be played against Philadelphia Union (USA) on 5 June and Al Ain (UAE) on 9 June. The tournament regulations say that each team must submit a final squad list of “a minimum of 26 players and a maximum of 35 players” so they could’ve brought everybody they used this week and a couple more if they really want to. As it happens, they settled for a 27-man group that’s got everybody there except for Paris Domfeh who missed out because they had to have a third keeper (Uruguayan veteran Sebastian Ciganda got that gig ahead of 18yo Areya Prasad, who more commonly features on teamsheets).
Moving on to the rest of the Northern League stuff, Bay Olympic vs Auckland United took place on Thursday night, with AUFC scrapping out a 2-0 victory. Emiliano Tade scored from the penalty spot after 17 minutes but things got slippery once Shaan Sharma was give a straight red after half an hour. Bay Olympic also picked up five yellow cards of their own so it must have been a feisty one. Eventually, a Nic Milicich own goal (55’) allowed United to take it to the finish line.
There were four games on Friday night, including the Auckland City one. The others included an unsurprising 2-0 win for Western Springs against Manurewa. Goals from Reid Drake (27’) and Rayan Tayeb (53’). At least Daniel Normann didn’t score – the Norwegian midfielder who initially signed with Rewa but then transferred to Springs about a month ago. There was also a 3-0 win for Tauranga City against Auckland FC Reserves. Colby Brennan got two of the goals (25’, 64’) while Morgan Wellsbury got the other (90’). Those two are the usual suspects for TCAFC – Wellsbury remains top of the Golden Boot charts with 10 goals while Brennan has drawn level with Emiliano Tade in second place with 9 each.
But the other Friday Nighter was a real turn-up as leaders Birkenhead United lost for just the second time this year, beaten 1-0 at home by East Coast Bays. Billy Jones scored the only goal after 66 minutes. That ECB crew have one of the better defensive records going around (16 goals conceded in 12 matches) and that’s proven tough yakka for everyone. ECB have had draws with Western Springs, Auckland United, and Auckland City as well as beating Tauranga City. Can’t be underestimating them.
Finally, Eastern Suburbs vs Fencibles was a Saturday outing thanks to their Chatham Cup games being on King’s Birthday Monday. Fencies struck first as Darius Palma gave them a 21st minute lead... but Noah Billingsley equalised just before they could take that into half-time and then Hector Echague (52’) and Noah Karunaratne (75’) helped Eastern Suburbs stride onwards to a 3-1 victory. Fencibles remain two points adrift in the relegation zone. Eastern Suburbs remain in fourth place... one point ahead of Tauranga City and Auckland United. It seems that National League qualification is going to be hotly contested, plus Birko’s loss means there’s only five points between first place and sixth.
Other League Fixtures
Only one game this week in the NRFL Premiership, due to the Kate Sheppard Cup. That was Auckland United against Eastern Suburbs on Friday night. After two weeks of waiting (there was a bye and then a postponement), Adam Thurston finally got to make his debut as the new Lilywhites coach... and he did so against the defending champs who won 2-0 courtesy of goals from Zoe Benson (18’) and Alaina Granger (81’). Don’t get a lot of Granger goals, that’ll be a memorable one for the defender, but Benson’s quickly becoming one of AUFC’s most dependable creative forces since making the switch this year from... you guessed it: Eastern Suburbs.
The Women’s Central League also only had one fixture and there was nothing down south with the cups taking all of the focus. The WCL match was the Wellington Phoenix U18s versus Moturoa. It’s the Nix Reserves/U20s who play in the Kate Sheppard Cup so the U18s were free to do their own thing, while Moturoa didn’t enter this year. The Phoenix U18s had Moturoa product Harriett Muller playing in goal for them. They also had sharp-shooter Katie Pugh captaining the side but for once she didn’t score any goals. Instead it was Bridie Christie (34’), Maisy McDonald (60’), and Isabella Temple (84’) who set up a 3-0 victory. Means that the Nix U18s move back within two points of leaders Wellington United. They’ve still only conceded once in eight matches. Pugh is their leading scorer with 12 goals but McDonald is now clear second with four. Kori-Lee Rangihuna-Vlietstra made her season debut off the bench for the Nix.
Chatham Cup
Now for some Chatham Cup second rounders. 64 teams remained at the beginning of the week and now only 32 teams are still in contention for the silverware. Universities of Canterbury were the only first tier club knocked out in round one, while there were still four clubs left from beyond the top three tiers (Waikato Unicol, Whakatane Town, Waiheke United, and Rangers AFC). That’s a lot of games, so we won’t go into full detail... but let’s begin in the Northern region where half the fixtures took place.
There were only two games between rival Northern League clubs. One was Tauranga City vs Bay Olympic, with Tauranga progressing after a 5-1 victory. BOFC scored first (Derek Tieku after 24 mins) and two of TCAFC’s goals were scored in second half stoppage time so it maybe wasn’t as hefty a margin as it seems. Liam Molloy scored two for TC. The other NL duel was between East Coast Bays and Western Springs... with Daniel Normann scoring a last-minute winner for Springs in a 2-1 result (after Guy-Frank Essome-Penda had levelled it with ten to go... Caspar McGavin had earlier scored after 44 mins).
There was another Northern League team eliminated too: Auckland FC Reserves. They hosted Melville, who’ve been tracking very well in the Championship since getting relegated (all three Hamilton clubs – Hamilton Wanderers and Cambridge being the others – are pushing for promotion), and it was Melville who scored first via an Everton O’Leary own goal. Jake Woolford made it 1-1 shortly after half-time with his first goal for the club, though it stayed 1-1 all the way through extra time despite Jama Boss being sent off late in the second half for Melville. AFC weren’t able to capitalise and Melville won 6-5 on penalties. Should note that AFC were without their eligible first-team scholars so it was very much a rotated side (like the Phoenix, they’ve got a bunch away with the NZ U20s right now). Conor Sykes made his first start. Luka Vicelich got only his second appearance off the bench. Ryan Revill his third. Ryan McKay played for the first time in two months. Good minutes for those guys but there’ll be no cup run.
Auckland United won 5-0 away to Taupo AFC. Plenty of rotation there too, with Ishveer Singh scoring a brace before Matias Nunez came off the bench and did the same thing. Shaan Anand also scored. Nunez was part of the NZ U16s squad that played the FIFA Youth Series recently. He’s 15, Anand is 16, Singh is 18. Bloody hell. Bruce Izumi also featured off the bench so clearly he’s made the switch from Western Suburbs. United also gave first team debuts to Joel Paterson, Jedd White, and Evan Kuzmenko. Fencibles needed extra time to beat Takapuna 2-1. Ethan Holder got that 110th minute winner. Already mentioned Auckland City’s 4-0 win over Onehunga Mangere.
There was a hat-trick for Eber Ramirez as Eastern Suburbs won 5-0 against Bucklands Beach. Birkenhead United were away to Central and a rotated side (including a Silvio Rodic sighting in goal) were held scoreless in the first half but ended up winning 4-1. Relief for Manurewa as they scored a couple early ones for a 2-0 victory away to Otumoetai. 17-year-old Keen Mandizvizda was listed as captain for Rewa, who’ve only won 1/13 in league action. Also there were hatties for both Allan Pearce and Ignacio Machuca as West Coast Rangers won 12-0 against Whakatane Town. Both the men’s and women’s teams at Whakatane made it this far in the cup but incredibly their women lost by even more than the men, as you’ll soon see.
Outside the top flight, Waiheke United continued their run by beating North Shore United 1-0. Waiheke Utd soared up the divisions all the way to Northern League a few years back but have had a few relegations since then. Lots of South American names on that teamsheet so things are healing. Hibiscus Coast won 5-0 against Waikato Unicol. Trent Mayes got a double in amongst. Manukau United won 2-1 against Northern United with a couple of familiar National League names on the scoreboard: Tino Contratti and Daniel Bunch. Cambridge took it all the way to round four as underdogs last year. They could still do that again after winning 5-0 versus Ngaruawahia United. Hamilton Wanderers were 1-0 and 2-1 down against Northern Rovers but ended up winning 3-2 thanks to an 81st min goal from Henry Thompson (after Torhan Kurnaz had equalised on 75’). And how about Northland FC getting the 2-0 win against Ellerslie on the road? Ahmad Mohammadi (20’) and Fumiya Ito (38’) with the goals.
After all that, we move into the Central region where cup holders Wellington Olympic had a tricky tie against Petone but they came through with a 3-0 win. Two goals for Hamish Watson (18’, 56’) and one for Isa Prins (41’). Former Petone keeper Oscar Boyce debuted in goal for Olympic here. Apparently this made it 14 wins in a row for the Greeks against Petone in the Chatham Cup... a streak that dates to Petone’s only Chatham Cup win against them way back in 1978. Maybe next year, aye lads?
Western Suburbs scored after only four minutes away to Upper Hutt City (Jack Parker with the goal) but UHC’s Ethan Barbier equalised right at the end to force extra time. However, Wests still won 2-1 after a 100th min own goal went in their favour (when you lead for 106/120 minutes you probably feel vindicated in advancing). Miramar Rangers were way too slick for Wellington Marist, claiming that one 8-0 with Sam Gates getting three of them. North Wellington lost 7-0 against Island Bay with old mate Tomas Alvarado bagging a five-for. It was 4-0 after 30 minutes, it was still 4-0 after 79 minutes, then it was 7-0 after 90 minutes. Waterside Karori beat Palmerston North Marist 4-0 with Theo McIntosh getting a pair.
There was better news for another Palmy club as Palmerston North United won 2-0 against Victoria University thanks to two goals from Benjamin Mori. Also, Stop Out bet Seatoun 6-0 with Jared Cunniff getting two. And last but not least was Napier City Rovers against the Wellington Phoenix Reserves. Last week featured a whole bunch of NZ U20s in the Nix Reserves before they flew out for Chile. But now they’ve flown out to Chile so Lachlan Candy was the only bloke in the side who’s played A-League. Still, this is a deep Nix Reserves squad with plenty of experience and Luke Flowerdew gave them a 17th minute lead. Only for Jordan Annear (24’, 42’) and Sam Lack (69’) to flip it back around as Napier City won 3-1.
To the South now, and Ferrymead Bays got the round going with a 4-1 win against Selwyn United. Wānaka were too strong for Green Island, winning 3-0 with Alex Plimmer getting triples. Similar story as Northern AFC dominated Queens Park down south, winning 5-1 with Rory Hibbert scoring four of them. Clearly Christchurch United are keen to win another one of these Chatham Cup thingies because they picked a daunting team to face Nomads and won 4-0 (the list of goal scorers alone tells you that tale: Josh Tollervey, Joel Stevens, Shogo Osawa, and Josh Rogerson). Nor did Dunedin City Royals have any issues dispatching Mosgiel 5-1 as Brady Jacobs supplied a double.
The Otago University blokes edged out Northern Hearts 2-1, scoring both their goals inside of twenty minutes and only conceding right at the death. Ben Polak got a hatty for Nelson Suburbs in a 4-0 win against Rangers AFC of Blenheim. Rangers finished the game with nine men after two very late red cards. And in the tastiest of these southern ties, Coastal Spirit hosted Cashmere Technical only to have Jake Hale sent off after just eight minutes. Kaleb De Groot-Green still scored to give Coastal first blood... but the drama continued as they conceded two penalties, both converted by Lyle Matthysen, with Matthysen also adding a couple more from open play. 4-1 to Cashmere Tech with Matthysen scoring the lot.
Kate Sheppard Cup
The KSC has one fewer round than the CC so that means the ladies are already into the final 32 teams. Still regionalised but lots more notable games. Like, for example, a top tier clash between Fencibles and West Coast Rangers on Friday night. WCR won that 4-1 with Emily Lyon’s double (8’, 88’) bookending strikes from Minji Yun (39’) and Ivy Calonne (82’), with Hayley Miller pulling one back for Fencies on 83’. There went one top flight club in the Northern region. Good ol’ Tauranga Moana will have been chuffed with a cup round because they won 5-1 against Onehunga Sports. They did concede first (Olivia Matsas after 3 mins) but Briana Osborne (15’, 28’), Jasmine Griffiths (31’), and Grace Duncan (51’, 64’) were sharp in response. They’re having a rough time in the league but at least the cup brought them some goals.
Not as many goals as what Western Springs supplied away against Whakatane Town. This was always going to be a one-sided game but jeepers check this out...
Seventeen nil. Had to write it out in words so it makes more sense. The Swans brought a pretty strong squad and it got ugly quickly, with Kitty Jacob and Dara Mulrooney each scoring four and Nanami Omasa getting three. Cool one for Mulrooney who used to play for Central Football back in the day (she’s around 20yo now), not quite a homecoming for the Gisborne native but it’s closer than she usually gets. And, yes, that means Whakatane Town men lost 12-0 and the women lost 17-0 so it was an aggregate cup weekend of 29-0 against them. Those were the biggest scorelines in either round.
Ellerslie won 1-0 vs East Coast Bays thanks to Anita Trudgen’s goal shortly after half-time. Then there were also two ties between teams below the top level. Lakes FC won 1-0 against Onehunga Mangere with Emily Downs scoring the winner after 44 mins. Lakes FC is from Rotorua, a combination club between Eastlake and Otonga Road from about five years ago. Franklin United won 1-0 against Birkenhead United courtesy of an own goal after an hour. Both of those teams are competing for promotion from the NRFL Championship (Britney Cunningham-Lee has scored 16 goals in 8 games), though right now it’s Melville who are leading that division.
Auckland United had that Friday night game before playing again on Monday arvo. Two games in four days having only recently gotten back from the Oceania Champions League. Perhaps that contributed a little tiredness to their outing against Hibiscus Coast. It was AUFC who scored first when Alexis Cook struck in the ninth minute but Aneka Mittendorff responded on 26’ and that was the way it stayed all the way through the ninety minutes. This was the only game this round to go to extra time. Big effort from the Coasties... although the extra thirty proved a step too far. Talisha Green scored on 93’, then Cook (115’) and Zoe Benson (118’) polished off what was eventually a 4-1 win for the trophy holders.
Eastern Suburbs had no worries with the double gameweek. They hosted second tier Cambridge United and delivered the goods with a 5-0 win. The Lilywhites picked a really young team with Amelia Hitchcock (16yo), Zoe Brazier (17yo), Esme Reid (16yo), and Shion Hwang (19yo) all in the eleven. Pretty sure Lexie Sheed isn’t much older than them either. But they bossed it. Victoria Neuefeind scored twice (18’, 74’), Lexie Sheed scored twice (25’, 34’), and 17yo Putri Ardana also got one off the bench (63’). Another exciting development: Tayla O’Brien was subbed on in the second half to mark her first team return after a long injury absence.
To the Central region now, where Wellington United had to be patient but didn’t otherwise have any dramas getting past Te Kotahitanga FC with a 5-0 victory. Natalie Olson scored three more goals (6’, 57’, 75’), that makes it three consecutive hat-tricks for her. She’s scored 20 goals in 10 games this year across the two major competitions. Unreal mahi. The other two goals came via Hannah Pilley (48’, 84’). Waterside Karori also won 5-0, beating Upper Hutt City away. Renee Bacon (39’, 55’), own goal (42’), Sophie Bradley (68’), and Isabella Ismail-Sanders (77’) did the damage. Miramar Rangers made it to the next round with a 1-0 win against Victoria University, with Trinity Mairs scoring after 74 mins.
And you remember those Wellington Phoenix U20s? They were away against Palmerston North Marist where they found themselves trailing 1-0 after Isabella Yarwood’s seventh minute goal... but from there it all got out of hand. The Nix had Brooke Neary, Ella McMillan, and Ela Jerez all playing having gotten minutes for the A-League team last season – for Jerez and McMillan this was their first reserves games of the year, though Neary did play last week. And, yeah, goals ensued. Lily Brazendale scored a hatty (12’, 72’, 83’). Emily Humphrey (13’, 37’) and Isla Cleall-Harding (28’, 34’) got doubles. Ella McMillan also scored (56’). From 1-0 down after 10 minutes, to 2-1 up after 13 minutes, to 5-1 up after 38 minutes, to 8-1 at full-time. The Nix Reserves made it to the semis of the KSC last year and they’ve started well again this time.
Down South, the big game was between Cashmere Technical and Coastal Spirit (same as it was in the Chatham Cup). The two most recent South Island League champs were drawn against each other early in the cup and they delivered a great game. Anya Stephan scored for CT after 14 mins. Margi Dias levelled up after 27’ before Britney-Lee Nicholson put Coastal into a 41st minute lead. Stephan quickly bagged her second (43’) to make it 2-2 and then she won the day on 82’ by completing her hat-trick for 3-2. That’s a great win for a Tech team that’s been a little bit inconsistent this year.
Elsewhere, Nelson Suburbs won 2-0 against Halswell. Goals from Jacinta Borer (6’) and Sola Tsuruta (64’). Dunedin City Royals were too good for Roslyn Wakari, winning 5-1 via three for Kylie Jones (11’, 43’, 77’) and two from Raegan Ptter (24’, 28’). Morgan MacCormick got RWAFC’s goal after 65 mins to make it 4-1 at the time. Also, Otago University were happily back to winning ways as they swept Northern AFC aside by a 5-0 scoreline. Aynsley Martin (19’, 56’), Leila Hasia-Haugen (68’, 72’), and Georgia Nixon (86’) with the goals. Only 1-0 up at half-time so it certainly wasn’t a rollover.
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