Flying Kiwis – May 13
Chris Wood - Nottingham Forest (English Premier League)
Go tell the children, there will be no Europa League title for Chris Wood. His penalty had given Nottingham Forest a 1-0 advantage after the first leg at home but they barely even turned up for the second leg. Morgan Gibbs-White wasn’t fit enough to partake after getting his face sliced open in the Premier League game in between (two black eyes and a bunch of stitches on his forehead – he had a mask made and was on the bench in case of emergency but it didn’t come to that). Ola Aina, Callum Hudson-Odoi, and Ibrahim Sangare were also unavailable while Murillo only featured late off the bench having been injured as well. And because they’ve got such a bloated squad they weren’t able to turn to guys like Luca Netz or Taiwo Awoniyi since they weren’t in their UEL squad. Tough breaks ahead of the biggest game the club had played for decades.
There was one silver lining: Chris Wood got to walk the team out as captain. He passed the armband along to club captain Ryan Yates when he was subbed on at the break (because Woodsy is a champ like that) but the (c) on the teamsheet belonged to him...
The game sucked though. Forest were alright for the first ten minutes at a packed out Villa Park, lots of feistiness on display from both teams, but Aston Villa soon settled and it was all them the rest of the way. They tied things up on aggregate with an Ollie Watkins goal after 36 minutes and then took the lead from an Emi Buendia penalty after 58 minutes (VAR spotting a pretty obvious shirt tug from Nikola Milinkovic). Chris Wood spent most of the game as a peripheral figure while Villa bossed the midfield, occasionally getting up for contested aerials but that was about it. His one big chance came while it was 2-0, slipping in behind for a 1v1 where he tried to sent keeper Emiliano Martinez the wrong way with a near post finish but was thwarted by a brilliant leg save as the offside flag went up. Replays showed it would have been close upon review had he scored but that was irrelevant once he’d missed.
Wood was subbed soon after that in a last roll of the dice... which led to Aston Villa scoring twice more through John McGinn (77’, 80’). It was obvious throughout the game that Forest massively missed those injured players, especially Gibbs-White who is such a central figure for them. Brutal to have the dream slip away in that fashion although at least after a 4-0 loss they can’t have any doubts that the better team won. Aston Villa will play Freiburg in the grand final... but we’ll always have that Chris Wood penalty from the first leg.
No trophy for Nottingham Forest, no Champions League qualification either... but they are now safe from Premier League relegation. Wood came off the bench against his old mates at Newcastle United as Forest grabbed a late equaliser for a 1-1 draw. Newcastle had taken the lead soon after Wood’s introduction, deservedly so after having edged the chances to that point, but Elliot Anderson scored a well-taken goal after 87 minutes (also a former Newcastle player, in his case a homegrown player sold for financial fair play reasons). Combine that with West Ham’s 1-0 defeat against Arsenal and it means that NFFC cannot finish in the bottom three no matter how the last two weeks pan out. Mission accomplished on the domestic front. Despite how the Europa League stuff ended they’ll be feeling good about where they’re at heading into a full Premier League campaign under Vitor Pereira.
Leading up to the Villa game, there was naturally a lot of media focus on NFFC and that included some cameras at the training ground... where an easter egg was revealed: Tyler Bindon is training with Nottingham Forest now that his loan move at Sheffield United is over. He’s probably still technically on loan, those contracts tend to last until June, but there are no more games so he’s returned to his parent club. Actually, “returned” might not be the right word. He signed in January 2025 and was immediately loaned back to Reading. He then joined Sheffield Utd pretty much day one of preseason. It’s not clear that he’d ever had a full training session with them prior to this... and if he did it was at least three coaches ago.
The fact that Bindon slipped out of favour for SUFC in the final few weeks strongly suggested that their interest in a permanent transfer had been rebuffed, hence he fell out of focus once they shifted towards building for next season. That tells us that Forest still have a plan for Bindon (you’d hope so... but that wasn’t the case for Marko Stamenić after his year on loan in Greece so you never know). Whether that includes another loan next season or if he’s got a chance of sticking around with the Premier League team... that probably hasn’t been decided that yet. Therefore this is a great opportunity for him to get to know the lads, learn about the level that’ll be required of him, show the coaching staff what he’s capable of, and get a jump start on next preseason considering that he’s likely to be a late arrival due to the World Cup. Love this for TB... and love this from Nottingham Forest who suddenly seem a well-run organisation again since Vitor Pereira took charge.
Up Next: Manchester United vs Nottm Forest at 11.30pm on Sunday (NZT)
Abby Erceg - Deportivo Toluca (Mexican Liga MX)
This was a definitive good news-bad news scenario. Awesome to see Abby Erceg on the scoresheet (with a header of course), stepping up in a knockout situation like she’s done on the way to so many trophies in her time. But everything else was in shambles as Toluca were picked apart by a very good Club América team. They were already two goals down after 20 minutes when Erceg gave them a lifeline but they didn’t make use of it, going on to lose 7-1 in the home leg for an unassailable deficit at the halfway stage of the tie.
It was a shocking game from pretty much all aspects. Erceg was one of the better performers and even she still had some wobbly moments. Just in case there were any lingering flickers of hope, they then conceded five minutes into the second leg... though Faustine Robert did score a first-half hatty as Toluca only lost 4-3 in that match. 11-4 on aggregate. Can’t say the better team didn’t win, aye? Club América were the top seed after the regular season, to be fair, but between this and Chris Wood’s Europa League second leg and Jacqui Hand’s Swiss semi-final spot being taken away by an overturned result (for using an unregistered player and too many sub windows)... we’ve not had much luck with semi-finals this month. Damn.
Abby Erceg played all 360 minutes of their Clausura playoff campaign. Over a season and a half (two Clausuras and an Apertura) she has played 41 times for the club and scored five goals as Toluca went a little deeper into the playoffs each time. The question is whether the 36 year old will be back again next season, or if she’ll seek a different home, or if that may have been the last we’ll see of Aotearoa’s greatest (for now) female footballer ever. One thing’s for sure, the coach won’t be back. Philippe Lair had a bit of a meltdown after his team’s elimination, controversially telling the press conference that his squad was nowhere near good enough and it was a miracle that they’d made it to the semis (first time for eight years that Toluca have done so). There are claims that he’d had a difficult relationship with his players, particularly the Frenchwomen that he signed in the first place, due to tactical disagreements. Unsurprisingly, the club have thanked him for his efforts and let him leave.
Up Next: Next Liga MX season begins in July so stay patient
Elijah Just – Motherwell (Scottish Premiership)
There wasn’t a whole lot of Elijah Just magic on display but Motherwell did scrap out a 1-1 draw against leaders Hearts on Sunday morning NZT. It was a game that was dominated by penalty shouts declined at both ends and it was a result that has opened the door back up for Celtic who’ve moved within one point of Hearts with two rounds left after their own win over Rangers. That takes Rangers out of the title race entirely. Doubtful that anyone other than Celtic fans want to see Hearts slip up from here... fortunately, Motherwell’s next game is against Celtic so they can repeat the dosage against them.
Playing king-maker is about all that Motherwell have left to go for. Even with a Hibernian win over Falkirk this round, the Steelmen remain four points ahead of them and almost guaranteed to be finishing fourth. Even if the worst-case scenario sees them drop to fifth then they’ll probably still get Conference League qualifiers, all it’ll take is for Celtic to win the Scottish Cup final against second tier Dunfermline. It’s been a bit of an aimless last few weeks but a draw against Hearts shows that they’re trying their best to finish on a bright note. This time next week the season will be over and, for all we know, these could be the last two matches that this brilliant Motherwell team has together before the vultures come circling in the transfer window. And we all know one fella who’ll be high on those wishlists. Maybe not until after the World Cup though...
Elijah Just: “It is always nice when you're playing well and [transfer speculation] comes naturally. There's definitely been times in my career where I'm heading towards the summer window and I'm not sure what I'm going to be doing and no clubs are calling. So, yeah, I'm just trying to enjoy right now... At the moment I have no idea what sort of interest there is, I don't know anything, so I'm sure that if there's anything pressing then my agent will talk to me. But I've told him that I just want to focus on the season and of course the World Cup comes pretty much directly after so, more or less, it'll be parked until after the World Cup.”
In the meantime, here’s another accolade for the list...
Shortlisted for Scottish Football Writers Association’s Player of the Year award, one of four dudes alongside teammate Tawanda Maswanhise, and Hearts duo Claudio Braga and Lawrence Shankland. It’ll probably go to one of the Hearts lads but that’s one more nod for a bloke who has won Motherwell’s Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season as well as being picked in the PFA Team of the Season and shortlisted for PFA Player of the Year. It’s the same four dudes shortlisted for the SFWA Player of the Year as with the PFA Player of the Year – Claudia Braga won the latter and the former will be announced this weekend.
Up Next: Motherwell vs Celtic at 7am Thursday; Hibernian vs Motherwell at 11.30pm Saturday (NZT)
George Stanger - Kilmarnock (Scottish Premiership)
Give the man his own segment, can’t keep lumping him in with Eli Just’s stuff when George Stanger has helped guide Kilmarnock to Premiership survival. A 3-0 win over St Mirren on the weekend put them right there on the brink of safety and then that image above – including a double Stanger fist-pump – was the scene as of the final whistle when they won 3-1 vs Dundee this morning to confirm it with a game to spare. St Mirren won their own midweeker but the four-point gap is now unassailable.
The story for Kilmarnock has been about manager Neil McCann who took charge in January replacing Stuart Kettlewell, who had been the bloke to sign George Stanger but who had also been the bloke who went on a 10-game winless streak leading to his sacking. Between a couple interim games and McCann’s first two, that stretched out to 14 games without a win... at which point they’d only won 2/23 games. They’ve since won 7/14 to keep themselves in the Premiership. Shout out Mr McCann for bringing back the belief.
For George Stanger, the story is more complicated because he began the season playing regularly under Kettlewell (aside from a suspension after a dodgy red card in his first league game) but lost his spot during that skid and it wasn’t until a couple months into the McCann reign that he got it back – recalled for what turned out to be a 1-0 win against Hearts and he’s held it down ever since as Killie have found their best form. They did win a few games without him but the stats speak loudly for themselves...
Kilmarnock with George Stanger on the pitch:
1625 mins | 25 GF – 25 GA | 0 GD
Kilmarnock without George Stanger on the pitch:
1705 mins | 18 GF – 41 GA | -23 GD
George Stanger, pre-Dundee: “Yeah, no, it would obviously be a nice dream to be [in the NZ World Cup squad], but I think I've always said this answer anytime anyone's asked me: I am fully focused on on tomorrow. I've said it 100 times probably to you guys, I think, but playing well for Kilmarnock gives me the best opportunity for that and we've got a big job to do tomorrow night. We're not thinking about anything else, any results elsewhere. We're fully focused on on what we can control, which is we know if we go and win the game tomorrow night, that's us secured our safety. [The World Cup] would be amazing experience for me and to be part of that would be something really special, but I'll just need to kind of wait and see what happens over the next week or so.”
There was some chat mid-season about whether he might be sent out on loan and now here we are with Stanger finishing the year as a first eleven centre-back. It’ll be too late for him to crack that All Whites squad for the World Cup but he’ll get that international debut sooner rather than later. It’s his bad luck that he’s a specialist in a position where New Zealand has a lot of depth but at 25yo he’s still building towards his career peak and following a full season back in the Scottish Premiership, chock-full of learning experiences, he’s probably one of our most underrated professionals right now.
Up Next: Livingston vs Kilmarnock on Monday at 1am (NZT)
Max Crocombe - Millwall (English Championship)
Oh well, so it goes. Millwall missed out on automatic promotion by one point (and some goal difference) despite a five-game unbeaten run to end the Championship season. That meant playoff footy where they faced a Hull City side that had only just snuck into sixth place on the final day (thanks to Wrexham failing to win)... but a 0-0 draw away and then a 2-0 loss at home means that Millwall will not be playing Premier League later in the year. Couldn’t score a goal in two matches and then leaked a pair in the last half hour for elimination. Hull City advance to face Southampton in the final instead.
Nothing wrong with how Anthony Patterson played in goal, he had a strong couple of games and made some valuable saves, but you do feel for Max Crocombe having to watch from the bench for the last 16 games in a row after doing nothing wrong during his time as the starter. Gotta suck not being able to affect anything as the promotion dream slips away. Would it have been any different had he played? Probably not. Nor would promotion have meant much for him personally since they would have signed someone else ahead of him – a good example why he was smart to only sign a one-year contract with Millwall, allowing him to test the market now that he’s proven he can hack it as a Championship level starter. In fact, if Anthony Patterson isn’t available for another loan/permanent move then it could even be that they go back to Crocombe now that they’re stuck in this division for another season.
There actually aren’t very many kiwi men coming off contract this year, most of the main All Whites lads having made big transfers within the past two seasons and signed extensive contracts. Outside of the A-League, it’s really only Max Crocombe and Nik Tzanev among the established sorts... and even then Huddersfield Town have said that “discussions are still ongoing” with Tzanev over possibly extending his stay. That’d be an odd one since he was third-choice keeper there and the two guys ahead of him aren’t going anywhere (unless they’re expecting transfer bids). But good to see he’s wanted. Millwall should reveal their Released/Retained list in the coming days which will give us more clarity over Crocombe’s situation.
Of course, that doesn’t mean there won’t be transfers. Callum McCowatt is available from Silkeborg if the bid is high enough, their football director has already said so. Elijah Just has been getting the Celtic/Rangers clickbait treatment for months already. Jesse Randall has already signed with Dundee United. Finn Surman’s MLS performances have gotta be catching the eyes of a few top European scouts. And let’s not forget that Peterborough already declined a hefty bid for Matt Garbett in January and might be open to further offers in the coming weeks when they’ll have time to replace him and oh look he’s coincidentally just signed with a new agency, how interesting....
General Sports Worldwide (they always have such bland names, aye?) work in a few different areas but their football department is predominantly UK-based... which stacks up for Garbs who so clearly suits English football. These are the same folks that Marley Leuluai aligned with ahead of his recent loan move to Marine FC – Leuluai’s current Burnley U21s contract is coming to an end so it’s possible he could be on the move too. GSW also represents Wellington Phoenix duo Luke Brooke-Smith and Xuan Loke.
Up Next: Discussions with the club, discussions with the agent
Helena Errington – FH Hafnarfjörður (Icelandic Besta Deild)
Helena Errington’s progress this Besta Deilden...
Game 1: 12 minutes off the bench in a 1-1 draw vs Þór/KA
Game 2: Subbed on at half-time of a 2-1 loss vs Thróttur
Game 3: Started and played 66 mins in a 2-1 win vs Grindavík
Game 4: Started and played 62 mins in a 2-1 win vs Stjarnan
It hasn’t taken long for her to find her place in Iceland and her team has won both games that she’s started. Much happier times than she had at Sporting Jacksonville where she never even made a debut... and even at the Wellington Phoenix a couple years ago she only got five short-ish substitute appearances, following an extended training spell with Sporting CP in Portugal where she wasn’t eligible to sign for paperwork reasons. She has had some excellent times in the Aussie state leagues in between but the pro stuff has required a few false starts. Now here we are.
FH are using Errington as an attacking midfielder, an ideal position for her at this stage of her career. She’s been able to get a few shots off in these last two games, including a lefty snapshot in the latest one that only just missed the bottom corner. Breiðablik and IBV are out in front after four rounds having won 4/4 but seven points is good enough to have FH sitting third at this early stage.
Up Next: Away to Selfoss in the Icelanic Cup at 6am on Saturday (NZT)
Lara Colpi – FC Thun Berner-Oberland (Swiss Super League)
Two defeats in a row have put FC Thun in big danger during the relegation rounds, needing to win some games in a real hurry. This week they played the third of their six relegation games (they must finish top two of the four teams to stay up). It was against FC Sion... and panic had to be brewing when they conceded first.
Fortunately, the response was swift. Celine Schmid got them level before the break and then a red card for Sion five mins into the second half allowed Thun to strut their way to a 4-1 victory. Goals for Selina Ueltschi, Rilana Ueltschi, and Shenia Schmid did the business there – not sure if the two Schmids are related (they were born nine years apart) but the Uetlschi girls are twins. Lara Colpi played the full game in the midfield and hit an excellent pass over the top in the move for the third goal. This result gets Thun back within three points of top flight survival with three rounds to go (playing each team once more). The key is going to be whether they can beat Yverdon Sport in the next fixture, having blown a 2-0 lead to lose 4-2 in the previous meeting.
Up Next: Yverdon vs Thun at 12.30am on Monday (NZT)
Ben Old - AS Saint-Étienne (French Ligue 2)
It was the one thing that was missing from his left-back transformation. He’d gotten praise for his attitude, for his work-rate, for his 1v1 defensive contributions... but where were the goals and assists for this natural attacking player? Oh wait here’s one...
There we go, finally. It was a sharp one-two from inside his own half which put Lucas Stassin into space, a slick bit of interplay that absolutely counts as an assist. His first one since being converted to a fullback. It’s interesting because you look at his stats and it’s the attacking areas that are lagging behind despite his history as a winger/forward. Particularly his crossing and chances created. Some of his shooting has been alright, he’s unlucky not to have scored any goals since his transformation, but it’s still the case that the success of this experiment has come down to how well he’s scrapping away at the back, tracking runners and collecting loose balls. Get the attacking elements going and he’ll be quite the left-back.
ASSE had a triumphant return to form winning 5-0 against Amiens in the final round of the regular season. Following three straight defeats, St-Étienne had let things move beyond their control so they needed results elsewhere in order to rise back into the top two for automatic promotion. They did their bit and were left awaiting the final score from Bastia vs Le Mans in a concurrent kickoff... which somehow they’re still awaiting. Le Mans were 2-0 up in stoppages having done enough to secure second spot when the Bastia fans started throwing fireworks and lighting flares and the game was abandoned. Logic surely states that Le Mans will be awarded the points but just gotta wait and see how it goes.
Assuming that logic prevails, that means ASSE have wrapped up a third-placed finish and will have to win two playoff games to get to back into Ligue 1. The first of those will be next weekend against the winner of fourth vs fifth (Red Star vs Rodez) and then if they win that they’ll meet the third-to-last team from Ligue 1, whoever that may be. Still one more round in the top flight before they’ll sort that out, with Le Havre, Auxerre, and Nice all trying to avoid that prospect.
Up Next: TBD
Kate Taylor - Dijon FCO (French Première Ligue)
There ya go, a 1-0 win away against Marseille to conclude the season. Full game and a clean sheet for Kate Taylor. Dijon were already going to finish sixth regardless but always nice to finish with a win. Considering that Dijon hit the woodwork twice and also missed a penalty, they probably should’ve won by more – Taylor made the highlights with a blocked shot during the second half. She finishes her season having made another 17 Ligue 1 appearances, no goals or assists this time but only getting one yellow card in over 1200 minutes playing exclusively as a central defender or defensive midfielder is a decent achievement.
The question now becomes whether Taylor, who joined Dijon on a two-year contract and is therefore an impending free agent, will stick around. She’s grown into an essential presence for the Football Ferns, one of NZ’s very best current players, so she ought to have plenty of outside interest... and staying at Dijon may not even be an option. The ownership is broke and only want to focus on the men’s team yet they haven’t been able to sell the team after 18 months of trying. French football in general is struggling for cashflow after TV revenue dropped sharply. There’s a chance the team won’t exist next season. It’s a worry. Although as a free agent it’s probably somebody else’s worry now.
Kate Taylor: “For me personally, it was nice to finish the season on a high here but we don’t know what’s happened, everything’s up in the air and it’s not very sustainable to sit and hope. For myself and a lot of the other players within the team, and even the staff as well, trying to plan ahead and look for something else is definitely the most productive for us at the moment. Which is sad because I’ve had a good time here the last few years. Hopefully this is something we can learn as female footballers and people involved in female football to not let it happen again.”
Up Next: Chelsea, Barcelona, Lyonnais, Arsenal, Bayern Munich... take your pick
Katie Bowen - Inter Milan (Italian Serie A)
Bonkers game here. Juventus and Inter Milan slugging it out for a 3-3 draw. Inter already can’t finish anywhere other than second place and they kept up their good run with a decent result away against the team directly below them in the standings. All the goals were scored in a hectic first half.
Katie Bowen was back in the starting eleven after three games in a row featuring off the bench, elevated thanks to the red card suspension for Marija Milinkovic in the derby win last week vs AC Milan. Wasn’t a golden performance from Bowen as she did kinda concede a penalty along the way. One of her CB partners, Ivana Andres, also scored an own goal so far from a vintage day for the Inter defence. In Bowen’s case she was super unlucky, rushing out to block a shot that struck her on the hand at close range. It denied a shot on target so it had to be a penalty but it’s not like she knew anything about it. KB also got booked right at the very end for dragging down former Inter teammate Michela Cambiaghi to prevent her getting in behind the line – arguing unsuccessfully that she’d had her shirt tugged first.
Inter have one game left this season. Bowen is off-contract after that, having signed a one-year extension prior to this season. Their back three in this game were all between 31-34 years old (with Milinkovic unavailable) so it’ll be interesting to see how they approach next season. Inter will be back in Champions League qualifying though, that much is already confirmed.
Up Next: Inter vs Como at 4am on Sunday (NZT)
Michael Boxall – Minnesota United (American Major League Soccer)
Good ol’ Boxy. He got another ten minutes in a 2-2 draw against Austin, keeping them fifth in the West with only goal difference dragging them down from third. They’re in a great spot considering their captain’s only just come back from a couple months absent with injury. Cam Knowles has still never lost a game when Michael Boxall plays for him. You’d imagine he’s back in the starting eleven pretty soon but there’s no rush while the team is doing well.
Portland Timbers had a stunner too. They won 6-0 against Sporting KC in another one of those very occasional outings where they live up to their potential. They still haven’t won back to back games all season so that’s the next task for Finn Surman and company. By the way, Surman did his usual ninety minutes there, able to go despite being subbed at half-time of the loss vs Real Salk Lake a week earlier after picking up a knock in a tackle.
Up Next: Minnesota vs Colorado at 12.30pm on Thurs (NZT)
Owen Parker-Price - Örgryte IS (Swedish Allsvenskan)
The requirements of top flight footy seem to be catching up to Örgryte. After a draw vs Malmo and then a win against defending champs Mjallby to begin the season... they’ve only taken one point from their next five matches. The latest was a 2-0 loss against Sirius where Owen Parker-Price was subbed after an hour (while it was 1-0), the second game in a row where he’s been subbed around the hour mark in a loss. He’s been brilliant in the three games where they’ve won or drawn but when they lose he hasn’t been able to have anywhere near the same impact. Having said that, the 98 minutes that they’ve played without him this season have seen ÖIS be outscored 5-0 so you can’t blame him for that.
We can breeze through the other fellas in Scandinavia. Mergim Krasniqi is back for GAIS, rushed back in for the past two matches which immediately led to a pair of clean sheet victories (including a 4-0 win over Parker-Price’s team last week) – can’t argue with that, right? The king is still the king. At the start of the season we were hoping that Sims might put some pressure on Krasniqi in his absence but instead he lost the interim starting goalkeeper spot to previous third-choice Andreas Hermansen. It has been Sims on the bench for these two Krasniqi starts... alas, that’s only because Hermansen collected a concussion and wasn’t in contention. There hasn’t been a game yet where three GAIS keepers have been available.
Joe Bell has been absent for last two Viking games after picking up a pesky injury. He was still on the bench for the 3-0 win over Rosenborg, though only there in case of emergency, then skipped the 2-0 win over KFUM Oslo entirely after having to sit out training during the week. Doesn’t seem like anything serious and they’ve been able to win without him so no dramas. It’s not Scandi but Ryan Thomas also sat out PEC Zwolle’s latest game now that they’ve officially dodged the drop… nothing in that other than being overdue a good rest.
Callum McCowatt’s Silkeborg got thrashed 4-0 at home by FC Copenhagen. No additions to his goal tally there despite a full ninety. That’s a sudden tumbling end to Silkeborg’s good form... although still better than the 7-0 loss they suffered to them last time. SIF rebounded from that loss really well however they won’t have to do the same here because Fredericia lost so relegation has been avoided regardless of how the last game of the season goes next week. Elsewhere, Sønderjyske are fifth in the top half and can finishe anywhere between 4-6 heading into the last round... but Copenhagen falling into the bottom half (and also making the cup final) is probably going to prevent them from qualifying for Europe. Dalton Wilkins has missed the last three games with an injury anyway.
Up Next: Örgryte vs Göteborg on Tuesday at 5am (NZT)
Malia Steinmetz & Grace Wisnewski – FC Nordsjælland (Danish A-Liga)
FCN won 5-1 away against Kolding to remain in third place, further expending their goal difference advantage over Fortuna. Grace Wisnewski was back in the midfield. Malia Steinmetz replaced her after an hour, with those thirty minutes being the most she’s played in a game since her return. Call that a successful day all around. FCN have three more games to lock down that third spot for European qualification... and they’ve also got the small matter of the Danish Cup final coming up against league champs HB Køge (who they drew against recently). Silverware on the line, let’s do this.
The good vibes continued in the second level stuff where Ally Green’s FC København won 3-2 away against Aarhus to overtake them into the second promotion spot. Full game for Greeny at left-back. Really good game too, ripping into challenges and putting in some quality crosses. They were 2-0 up at one stage but conceded a couple quickies before a last minute winner from Julie Nowak potentially swung the course of their entire season. Massive.
Over in Sweden, Gabi Rennie played 80 mins in a 1-0 win for Eskilstuna United over Brommapojkarna. She’s working hard as she always does but hasn’t really had a Big Game since being promoted. It’ll come as she adjusts to the level. She’s played at least 70 mins in all four games and Eskilstuna have won three of them as a promoted side. It’s also an adjustment period for Milly Clegg although her Vittsjö side have lost 4/5 games. They were beaten 3-0 away to IK Uppsala this week but Clegg played half an hour, the most by far that she’s gotten. Her minutes have gone: 10, DNP, 4, 5, 30.
Up Next: Danish Cup final, FCN vs HBK at 1am on Sunday (NZT)
Alex Paulsen - Lechia Gdańsk (Polish Ekstraklasa)
Another defeat conceding multiple goals and Lechia Gdańsk have now tumbled down into the relegation zone. There are five teams above them within three points but they only have two matches to go to save things. At least this week there were no goals allowed where Paulsen was overtly at fault – could have done better with his angles for the second one but it was still a very sharp finish.
Problem is, he’s not saving much either. His team are on a five-game winless streak during which he’s made 9 saves and conceded 10 goals. A season save percentage of 61.4%, with 39 goals allowed from 31.52 xGOT, is hard to comprehend after what we saw in the previous two A-League seasons (80.9% SP & 12.94 Goals Prevented (!) with Wellington; then 73.0% SP & 2.07 GP with Auckland). Darren Bazeley’s World Cup number one decision will take into account far more than just immediate club form but it’s a choice between a keeper in great form who isn’t playing (Crocombe) and a keeper in average form who is playing (Paulsen). Luckily, they’re both class so there’s no wrong answer.
Up Next: Lechia vs Legia Warszawa at 3.30am Monday (NZT)
Niko Kirwan – Potenza Calcio (Italian Serie C)
Once again, Niko Kirwan finds himself in the Serie C playoffs. That bloated, convoluted, ruthless system where 28 teams across the three regional conferences of Italian third tier footy compete for one promotion place. Potenza only barely snuck in based on their league form... though they did win the Serie C League Cup which allowed them to skip through to the first round, avoiding the regional playoffs. There they’ve already played the away leg of their tie with Campobasso... and smoked them 3-0 to have one foot in the final eight already (which is where the three conference champs enter). Niko Kirwan, who transferred to Potenza from Trapani in February (Trapani went on to be relegated), played a very sturdy ninety minutes at right-back within the win.
Up Next: Potenza vs Campobasso at 7am on Thursday (NZT)
Myer Bevan - Boeung Ket (Cambodian Premier League)
Two more goals for Myer Bevan, leading his team to a win over the Cambodian champs Svay Rieng? Yeah let’s gooooo! Svay Rieng have taken their foot off the pedal since clinching the title, failing to win any of their last three, but that doesn’t take away from Bevan striking some fine form. A goal and an assist in the 2-0 win against Moses Dyer’s Phnom Penh Crown last week, now two goals in a 3-2 win over the champs this week. He’s got one more game to add to his count before the season concludes.
There is still a small mathematical chance that Boeung Ket could finish second depending on how results go. PPC should have locked that down weeks ago but they’ve fallen off a cliff. Crown are away to Svay Rieng in the last game, needing to win to stay second and get back into continental footy. Check back next week to see if they managed it. Or if Bevan’s Boeung Ket got there instead (as long as it’s not Angkor Tiger we’ll be satisfied).
Up Next: Boueng Ket vs Kompong Dewa at 11pm on Sunday (NZT)
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