Flying Kiwis – August 23
Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)
Fresh from a tough loss to Diego Costa and Chelsea in West Ham’s first game of the season, Winston’s lads returned home for their first league game in the new London Stadium. 56,000 fans there and everything, pretty decent that. And they were playing Bournemouth so that’s not the worst first PL game to host there either.
Unfortunately things weren’t the smoothest aside from that, with the injuries already piling up for the Hammers. As well as the stuff they were already dealing with, such as Andre Ayew and Aaron Cresswell’s knocks, they were also without Dimitri Payet and Andy Carroll for this one. Winston Reid started so that was cool enough, he was partnered again with James Collins, but you could almost make the argument that the unavailable fellas would beat the available ones if you split them into teams.
Then again, Winston is a handy player and with his help the Hammers got their first points on the board with a 1-0 victory. Really, it was a game of few chances but it swung towards WHU with 13 minutes remaining when Harry Arter picked up a second yellow – the first was for dissent, another one of those tweaks to the rules that are being clamped down on – and he was off for an early shower. West Ham gunned it for the last stretch of the game, looking for that winner and they eventually got it when Gokhan Tore whipped a lovely ball towards the far post and Michail Antonio headed it in. Although there was still time for a late push from the Cherries. Adrian had to be at full alert to save Josh King’s late shot and the follow up from Simon Francis was acrobatically cleared by Winnie Reid. Shot bro. Clean sheet preserved along with a 1-0 win.
Slaven Bilic: "It was difficult, we knew it would be. The guys did brilliantly. Bournemouth were better than us in the first 15 minutes of the second half but they didn't hurt us. We just deserved it. We were pushing and wanted it more. We're delighted to end the first game at this beautiful stadium with a win and a clean sheet."
Reidy came away with four interceptions, five clearances, one tackle, two blocked shots and an 81% passing success rate. Stats are fun. He also got a yellow in much the same circumstances as Arter’s first booking. Here’s Niall McVeigh for the Guardian’s minute by minute report:
“A magic moment from the otherwise anonymous Ibe, linking up with Wilson and Smith before dancing in along the byline, forcing Reid to concede a corner. Reid unleashes a volley at the assistant, and picks up an entirely unnecessary booking.”
ESPN Player Ratings: “Winston Reid, 6 -- Had more time on the ball than against Chelsea with his distribution improving due to this.”
Big praise from a former teammate:
While this is some quality defending right here. On ya feet, son.
Also, the Hammers drew their first leg of the Europa League qualifier against Astra Giurgiu 1-1 after Mark Noble’s penalty was cancelled out by Denis Alibec with only seven minutes left. But the important thing is that they got an away goal. Keep a clean sheet at London Stadium on Friday and they’ll be into the group stage. Winston was an unused sub in the first leg.
Hey and these are pretty cool from this Etsy user. Old fashioned penguin book covers redone as West Ham fan posters. There are a couple Winston ones to admire in there.
Up Next: Home to Astra Giurgiu at 6.45am on Friday and then away to Man City, 3am Monday (NZT)
Chris Wood – Leeds United (English Championship)
Ah Christopher you big beauty you. With the fans on his back after a couple of stuttering games, and with Leeds staring at a third straight loss to begin the Championship season… well, the lad delivered.
Mate, what a goal. A little bit over the top of it but no worries there. This goal was a big deal too because it saved the Whites from losing their first three league games for the first time since 1936. That covered up another mostly crap performance against what’s shaping as a decent Fulham side this season. Tom Cairney scored the goal that looked to be the winner, and a deserved one too with Fulham also hitting the post twice. But then in injury time up pops the big kiwi lad with the equaliser.
Funny that it was him too, as he was not having a good one out there. You can tell the annoyance too by his provocative celebration. Still, it’s a launching pad for the rest of the season.
Here’s YEP having a chat: “It was ironic too that Wood – so ineffective again – should come up with the most timely of finishes. The striker has struggled from the outset this season, isolated and unimpressive up front, but he took an improbable chance in the third minute of injury-time as Monk was staring down the barrel of a third Championship defeat. Wood, who moments earlier had put a close-range header over the crossbar, showed his own feelings by cupping an ear to the Kop, reacting to earlier criticism while Fulham counted the cost of a 93rd-minute concession. Elland Road responded with all the relief that Garry Monk must have been feeling.”
Leeds Vice-Captain Liam Cooper: “It was a great finish from Woody at the end. He deserved that. He’s an honest player and what’s been happening to him has been very harsh. But we’re in the limelight and we’re there to be shot at. Chris will tell you himself that he’s disappointed to have missed chances but we know he has that sort of finish in the bag. He does it every day in training. The goal was very important. He’s come in for a bit of stick but fair play to him. We see him bang goals in every day – overhead kicks and good finishes. We know what he’s capable of doing. As long as he’s getting chances he won’t be bothered because he knows he’ll stick them in. The goals will come.”
BIG CHRIS WOOD WITH THE OVERHEAD!
LUTV Live commentary of the goal:
Here’s what Gazza the Gaffer had to say:
Chris Wood on the fan jeering this season & his celebration: “It’s frustration. I just want to please them and do well for them. I go out on the pitch to do my best and give my all for them. That’s all I want to come across. It’s tough and of course you hear it all the time but it’s one of those things. You have to get on with it. I guess not everybody’s going to like you and that’s the case for any footballer. You’re not going to win over 40,000 fans but I’m still young and learning that side of it. I’ve never experienced it before.”
So with that moment in the tank, Leeds took on Sheffield Wednesday, another club fancying themselves for a playoff spot, and it was comfortably their best performance of the season. Woody almost set up Antonsson after a few minutes but the cross narrowly missed him.
After a positive start from Leeds, Weds started to create a few chances in the back end of the first half but unlike in recent games, the Leeds defence held firm without any silly mistakes. Fernando Forestieri helped them out with some average finishing but having shaded the first hour, Leeds were definitely worth it when they took the lead through Marcus Antonsson’s free header at the far post. A nicely worked goal, with Woody playing a small part in the build up. He’d get his shining moment closer to the end when he burst towards the near post to stab in Kemar Roofe’s cross. A lovely little goal and Woody was straight over celebrating with the fans.
Yorkshire Post: “While it was strike partner Marcus Antonsson who forged a breakthrough, the big Kiwi provided the gloss with a late second – with the celebratory reaction in front of the ecstatic sea of away followers contrasting sharply with his cupped-ear message to his detractors following his strike in midweek against Fulham. “
The City Talking: “Again, about Chris Wood: play to his god damn feet and he will score a ton of goals. And again, about Chris Wood: he celebrated in front of the Leeds fans, jumping on the advertising hoardings and swinging his arms in roaring ecstasy. The other players seemed slow to join him; perhaps they were waiting to see if he was about to produce a bike chain from somewhere and pile into the supporters, finishing what he started on Tuesday night. He was shouting a lot, but I’m willing to assume it was all nice things. It was a nice finish that deserved a nice reception, and maybe we can all play nicely together from now on.”
YEP Player Ratings: “Chris Wood - Needed to follow up Tuesday’s goal and celebration with another statement. Took his chance beautifully. 8/10”
And then to polish the week off, here’s a reminder of when Woody used to play for the defending Premier League champions:
Up Next: Nottingham Forest vs Leeds, 2.00am Sunday (NZT)
Tommy Smith – Ipswich Town (English Championship)
Neither Smithy nor Python Patterson featured for Town this week as they logged a couple of draws that set them up in midtable after four games. Patterson is with the U23 development team while Smithy chills on the bench. So there’s really no reason to talk about them this week… except for this quote from Mick McCarthy. It takes the bloody cake, this does.
Mad Mick: “I get sick to death. We play one bad half and we're all shit and we can't play. The manager doesn't care, get somebody who cares. I'm a boring c*nt, somebody called me that last week. I wish they would call me that to my face on my own, because his pint of lager, he would have been wearing it. I heard the comments and let me tell you if that's what they think about me and my team they are sadly mistaken. I'm not having that. It really does hurt me that. Up and down like a bloody fiddler's elbow. I'm all right one week but I'm not the next.”
Up and down like a fiddler’s elbow. You’ll be reading that one in the pages of The Niche Cache from now on, lemme tell you that.
Up Next: Ipswich vs Preston, 2.00am Sunday (NZT)
Bill Tuiloma – Olympique de Marseille (French Ligue 1)
Ooh, look at that. Tui with another start for the CFA team at OM, he got 90 minutes in too as they drew 1-1 with Martigues. Of fellas with immediate first team aspirations, Gaël Andonian (CB), Jérémie Porsan-Clemente (RM/FW) and Florian Escales (GK) all also featured. Actually, it was Porsan who grabbed the goal with a simple tap on the break. It looked like a 1-0 win was on the cards but in the 86th, Romain Thibault slammed one into an empty net. A cross had been partially cleared off the head of Tui but one of the strikers regathered it and walloped a shot off the post. With the keeper already committed one way, Thibault could hardly miss. Frustrating not to win that, but at least Billy T is getting good minutes.
Meanwhile the top team went and lost 2-1 away to Guingamp, leaving them with a draw and a loss to start the Ligue 1 season. The midfield was the usual Diarra/Diaby combo, with Zambo and Machach on the bench unused.
However there’s been some very interesting news coming out of France about Marseille, with Gerard Lopez confirmed to have formalised a takeover deal for the club, which is currently owned by Margarita Louis-Dreyfus who inherited it from her husband and has been trying to offload it for at least a year now. Lopez is the owner of Formula 1 team Lotus, so he’s at least a keen sportsman, and he also owns the team in his native Luxembourg where he played as a teenager, CS Fola Esch. What’s more here is that reports in France are saying that Marcelo Bielsa, the former OM manager who walked away after one game last season, is in line to return as boss. Bielsa was appointed as Lazio manager before this season but mysteriously resigned after two days, leaving Lazio threatening legal action. It was initially thought he would then be appointed Argentina manager, hence the quick gapping, but nope, that went to Edgardo Bauza.
If Bielsa does return, he’ll replace his former assistant Franck Passi – who could well remain as an assistant. In fact given how long these sales tend to take before they get to the public stage, he may have known this was going to be the case, as may Bielsa have when he skipped on Lazio. You never know. Anyway, Bielsa’s squad that he left even 12 months ago has copped some big changes but one fella that remains is a young kiwi midfielder who he gave a Ligue 1 debut to.
Up Next: For OM II, that’d be a homer vs Hyeres FC, 4.00am Sunday (NZT)
Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)
It wasn’t meant to be easy this week, hosting the defending champs PSV Eindhoven. And guess what? It wasn’t. The PECers went down 4-0 in a game they’d soon like to forget, leaving them with one point from their first three games and sitting second to last. Though, you know, it’s way too early to be looking at the table.
The good news is that Ryan Thomas played 90 minutes for the first time in a proper game since before he got injured, so that’s cool. He played through the middle as well, in the number ten role as the experts like to call it these days. Interesting to see him playing centrally this season after being mostly used as a winger to this point in his career.
He did alright there, having a couple of shots with one on target and his passing was largely on point. Playing higher up, he was able to pull off a few dribbles too but he’ll be disappointed with conceding three fouls. In the second half, Mokhtar came on and Zwolle switched to a 4-4-2 which saw Thommo play deeper. Those tactics looked to be more effective as they created a couple of chances, though they were already trailing to first half goals from Nicolas Isimat-Mirin and Jorrit Hendrix. Luuk de Jong and Steven Bergwijn capped it off for PSV with goals in the 86th and 89th minute. It definitely wasn’t as one sided as the score-line ended up, it was just a poor first half performance and then an inability to convert any half chances that cost them. Possession was 50/50.
Zwolle coach Ron Jans was complimentary about Thommo’s return to the side after his 67 minutes in the second game, a 3-0 loss to Sparta: “It was one of the positive points amidst the shadow. He is a key player for us.”
Up Next: Should be easier against fellow winless wonders Heerenveen, kicking off at 5.45 Sunday morning (NZT)
Jeremy Brockie & Michael Boxall – SuperSport United (South African Premier Soccer League)
Their test cricket pitches are a bit of a wobbly one but the footy fields are ready to go with the South African PSL kicking off this week. And despite many rumours to the contrary, the defending Nedbank Cup winners, SSU, have retained their top scorer Jeremy Brockie. They even inked the bloke on a new four year contract.
His deal was set to end after this season but now he’s on the books ‘til 2020. They reckon that Mamelodi Sundowns were pretty keen to snap him up if these negotiations had hit a snag.
What’s more is that they also had the club awards ceremony around the same time and the All White striker swept it. As well as the Golden Boot, he also earned the Chairman’s Award and the Player of the Year. Not a bad haul there, son.
The new season kicks off with SSU travelling to play Platinum Stars on Thursday morning. While they won the Cup last time around, their eight place finish in the league was a little disappointing and the aim is to creep further up this time around. Hopefully cut the distance between them and the runaway leaders, Sundowns, that Brockie told to bugger off with their transfer interest. SSU have made a few exciting signings, most of all being Reneilwe Letsholonyane, nicknamed Yeye, who is a former South African international and he’ll be Brockie’s new strike partner
Jeremy Brockie: “I think Yeye is a fantastic footballer, he is brilliant on the ball. He picks a pass from a pass from anywhere and I think that is going to help my game a lot this coming season.”
Which is handy because he’s set himself the lofty goal of… 20 goals this season. And that’s just in the league, something that hasn’t been done for four years.
Jeremy Brockie: “I've stated already that I was disappointed with the 11 league goals that I got last season. I was up and down at the start of the campaign,” says Brockie, who last week penned a new four-year deal with Matsatsantsa. So the 20-goal barrier hasn’t been broken for a while and that's a personal goal for me and if I can get that, it will lead to the success for the club as well. So I will try to get it.”
In other news, here’s a headline for ya: “Brockie proud to prove Kiwis don’t just play rugby”
Of course, Michael Boxall is there too at SuperSport but he doesn’t score as many goals so people don’t take so much notice. He’s just doing his job at the back there like a champ. Although the two kiwis did pair up to win the club’s FIFA tourney. Not sure if it counts if you’re playing as Bayern though…
Up Next: Platinum Stars vs SSU, 5.30am Thursday (NZT)
Jake Gleeson – Portland Timbers (American Major League Soccer)
The weirdest thing about the Timbers’ season is that they still haven’t won a game on the road all season. That hasn’t changed with a 3-1 loss to Seattle, which saw Clint Dempsey bag a double. Christian Roldan scored a third before Fanendo Adi pulled one back in injury time. Poor old Jake had to stand between the sticks for it.
The thing is, after an hour it was still scoreless but their fullback Vytas Andriuskevicius tripped Roldan in the box to concede and avoidable penalty and the Timbers never recovered. Jack McInerney had a chance to equalise but missed and then Steven Taylor’s sleepy marking allowed Dempsey to double the lead and it was cake from there.
The Timbers still hold the last playoff spot in their conference but if this away form isn’t gonna improve then they’d better make bank at home or risk losing it. Gleeson made three saves but it wasn’t a great one from him. Here are things from the game, yay:
The goals are all in here, but maybe mute the commentary:
Ah, but this is a good bit of fun. Spreading the gospel of cricket to the wild west of America.
Up Next: Rematch, but at home. Portland vs Seattle, 9.00am Monday (NZT)