Jeremy Brockie & Michael Boxall – SuperSport United (South African Premier Soccer League)

Read that: Nedbank Cup Winners SuperSport United. Yeah, mate. Because not only did Matsatsantsa claim the trophy for the fourth time in their history but a couple of kiwi lads – since flown out for international duty – found themselves upon the scorecard in the process.

Pretty entertaining game. Dove Wome almost had SSU 1-0 up straight after the kickoff with a long range drive but Orlando Pirates took the lead 12 mins in as Luvuyo Memela poked home a rebounded shot with some help from teammate Sibusiso Khumalo. Ah, but a mere two minutes later Mike Boxall got himself down the right flank and pulled a lovely cross back for Jeremy Brockie, friend and compatriot, and Brox could hardly miss. Brockie set up the go-ahead goal on the half hour as his shot was only parried to Bradley Grobler and just before the half ended it was 3-1 thanks to Boxall’s leaping header, the loose ball looping kindly for him.

The Pirates came back into it with a much better second half that included a 53rd minute own goal in their favour but despite their best efforts, SSU held on for a wonderful victory – which even included young reserve keeper Boalefa Pule having to come off the bench for his debut, making a few massive saves as he did so.

Hey and on top of that, his goal here means that Brocks finishes the season with 18 goals in all competitions to lead the top goal-scorers chart in South Africa. 11 in the league, 1 in the MTN8, 2 in the Telkom Knockout Cup and 4 in the Nedbank Cup. According to the dude himself it was his first cup final in his pro career – and his first trophy too. This little thing was a nice bonus as well:

Kickoff.com Player Ratings:

“Michael Boxall 8

Except for failing to clear Myeni’s cross which resulted in an own-goal, Boxall was a key player in SuperSport’s victory. In the first half he dealt with attacks from Memela and Matlaba and in the 14th minute he did well to cross for Brockie’s headed goal. With four minutes before half-time Boxall made a great run from the back after a route-one kick by Williams. Phala played a through-pass for Morton whose rebounded shot ended with Boxall scoring with a header.”

“Jeremy Brockie 8

A brilliant performance from the New Zealander – in the 14th minute he scored a close-range header from Boxall’s cross and for SuperSport’s third goal it was his well-taken shot which was saved by Mhlongo with Grobler finishing off on the rebound.”

Both now fly to Papua New Guinea for national team duty, Boxall was in the squad from the start and will probably be a valuable starter at the back while Brockie was called up after a couple of injuries, making his deserved return to the All Whites after being overlook for a few selections.

Brockie on Thursday: “I missed out on the last couple of games and to be back [in the All Whites] is an honour and a privilege. It is something that I'm looking forward to and hopefully I can end the season on a high here”

Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)

Shout outs to Winnie, the season may be over but the promotional obligations never end in the Premier League, here he is ramping up interest in the Hammers’ tour to America in the pre-season:

When you win Moment of the Season on the club’s official account, those are the thing you’ve gotta do:

Yeah so no word on the injury front, since he was supposed to visit a specialist and see whassup with all the recurring muscle knocks last season but that might be a good thing that we’ve heard nothing. Either way, nice to see he’s got an eye on the lads in PNG:

Jake Gleeson – Portland Timbers (American MLS)

A couple of games for this fella, still getting it done between the sticks for Portland as their number one – at least for now. The good news is that they even won one of those games. Pretty solid stuff in fact, they beat Vancouver 4-2 with one of their best games of the season.

Top-scorer Fanendo Adi was out hurt but the Timbers rallied to a 2-0 half-time lead all the same. Gleeson was beaten after the break by a deflection but after fighting through a tough period of defence, a second penalty of the night for the Timbers had them up 3-1 before Darlington Nagbe, soon to star for the USA national team, whipped in a free kick for 4-1. Liam Ridgewell gave up a spottie late on that Gleeson couldn’t keep out, diving the wrong way, but a 4-2 win was fairly monumental for the defending champs off to a struggling start to the season. Toronto actually had a player sent off after the final whistle for a late tackle from behind as the game came to a halt. When people talk about late tackles, that’s as late as it gets. Watch the highlights right to the end, utter madness.

Backing that up with a win woulda been nice but apparently a 1-1 away draw with the Chicago Fire was a good point. Gleeson didn’t have that much to do in the Whitecaps game but here he was back to his best. A quality save from a piledriving shot in the 17th minute started it for him, he also played a part in the goal as it was his long kick that was poorly dealt with to allow Diego Valeri on for the opener after 18 mins. Unfortunately it took only two minutes for the scores to be back level, Jakey beaten at the near post as David Accam found too much space six yards out on the end of a low cross. Not a whole lot happened after that other than another “huge stop” by Gleeson to turn a low shot wide after 64 and the Timbers were able to hold on despite missing a few more players, this time not for injuries but for international duty – Nagbe with USA and Jermaine Taylor with Jamaica.  

Jake Gleeson: "Obviously, we wanted three (points) but we'll take the point and move forward."

Ooh and here’s some kinda curious pondering on the state of goalkeeping in the MLS this season. Of relevance here is that there’s plenty on the differences between Gleeson and the regular #1 Adam Kwarasey (who is expected back by early July):

“Despite having an incredibly small and quiet fan base, Portland has switched from one international to another, going from Adam Kwarasey to Jake Gleeson. The decision may seem obvious to the dozens of fans but Kwarasey was brought on, in part, to be a big force in the box. Portland is one of the most crossed on teams in MLS and Kwarasey was supposed to be a large answer to that. Admittedly he is strong in the air and while I wouldn't say he’s the best in the league with crosses, it makes sense why Portland liked him. However, when your goalkeeper can only duck under a free kick (video) and mistakes start to pile up, the backup is in a tough spot. While he’s 6’4”, Jake Gleeson doesn't bring the physical presence in the air that Kwarasey does. So now the coaches are weighing two sides of the scale. One on end, Gleeson isn't as good as Kwarasey at certain levels while the other side’s argument is pretty much summed up as “He couldn't do any worse.” When the backup is better than the starter, clearly it’s an easy decision to make. But when you’re dealing with a much different goalkeeper - one that wasn't really in the plans at this time - whose highest level of consistent play is USL, it’s tough to rewrite the game plan.”

Marco Rojas – FC Thun (Swiss Super League)

After his rubbish time in Stuttgart, being injured and sent out on loan, Rojas’ two spells at FC Thun may not have gone exactly perfectly but they’ve been exactly what he needed. Maybe a few more starts, a few more goals would have made more of an impact, however the dude was in the first squad the entire time, he rarely got injured and he was always ready to contribute. His time in Switzerland may or may not be over now but he’s shown that he can kick it at this level.

His final game of this loan spell – and maybe they come back for him a third time, though it seems unlikely – was a disappointing one though. A 3-0 loss at home to Young Boys in which Rojas was a 61st minute sub with the score already at 2-0. He was unused on the bench three days earlier in a 0-0 draw at Grasshopper Club Zurich. All up Thun finished sixth in the Super League, winning just one of their final ten games. Having begun the season in Europa League qualifying, this one didn’t quite go to plan.

Rojas played 22 times in total, seven of those off the bench, with two goals. He’ll be with the All Whites squad in Papua New Guinea for the next while and it’ll be pretty interesting to see what happens next with him. He has one more year on his Stuttgart contract and while a year ago it seemed he had zero chance of cracking it there, they’ve since been relegated and who knows what that’ll mean (aside from the obvious). Rojas was one of four players noted to be ending their spells with Thun with the conclusion of the season on the club website last week:

“Der vom VfB Stuttgart ausgeliehene neuseeländisch-chilenische Mittelfeld Akteur Marco Rojas wird im Sommer nach Deutschland zurückkehren. Sein Vertrag mit dem VfB Stuttgart läuft noch bis 2017.”

Which in effect translates to: “The Stuttgart loanee and New Zealand-Chilean midfielder Marco Rojas will return to Germany in the summer. His contract with VfB Stuttgart lasts until 2017”.

Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)

Some bad news here, it’s now possible that Thommo will miss the start of next season after having to undergo another knee surgery. Having come back from the surgeons in February, he finally got back in action a month ago but didn’t last the first half and now he’s gonna need the same surgery except on his other knee. Zwolle technical director Gerard Nijkamp says he’s hoping for a fit and 100% RT by mid-August.

Tyler Boyd - Vitória S.C. (Portuguese Primeira Liga)

Since this edition marks the end of the club season for all but the lads in America and Scandinavia, this’ll likely be the last Flying Kiwis for a little bit. Mate, the All Whites are playing games, there are priorities there. But this seems like as good a time as any to remind everyone that Tyler Boyd is out there doing his this in Portugal, playing twice for the Vitoria first team earlier this season and featuring regularly for the second team. Seriously, he played 39 times (25 of them starts) for their Segunda Liga team and score five goals, including a double in a 4-2 win away at Sporting CP II three weeks back. Vitoria II finished 13th in that division, with 60 points from 46 games. Here’s to a massive second season in Portugal and, hey, if you dig finely tuned abdominal muscles then his Instagram is worth a follow…