Canterbury United are putting a hefty challenge together this season. Five wins in a row now and it’d be silly to write them off in two weeks’ time when they welcome the capital folkers and face Team Wellington. Tell you what, that’ll be one of the most massive games of the season. It might even have bigger ramifications than the semi-finals, you know.
What do we know about Fritz Schmid?One thing we know is that he’s the new All Whites manager, replacing Anthony Hudson after a three-month scouring of the globe for somebody that ticked all the boxes, from coaching licences to the ability to “enhance the brand and profile of NZ Football”.
Katie Rood is a Footy Ferns international, making her debut last year against USA, who does her club thing these days for Juventus - yes, that Juventus - over in Italy after dominating in Aotearoa for several years before that.
If Stotty has a favourite Queen song then it’s gotta be We Are The Champions if only for sheer repetition. That’s because once again, for the third time in a row and fourth time overall, Rebekah Stott is a champion of the Australian W-League.
We’ve now got a confirmed top four, with a bit of shuffling to do as to what order it all ends up in, which clears the path for Auckland City and Team Wellington to go play some OFC Champions League stuff.
Swish. Look at that strike, smooth off the left peg, just a hint of swing. It’s a thing of beauty.
Player contracts and the Wellington Phoenix have been an odd combination at times. Like how about when they gave Ryan Lowry the world’s softest two-year trigger extension?
There are three things that get the Flying Kiwis radar all perked up: goals, transfers and derby games. This one falls into the latter, as Ryan Thomas’ PECers took on Marco Rojas’ Heeries.
We can’t keep calling rain checks on the Welly Nix Resurgence. There are only so many false starts that can be passed off before we eventually start to run out of next last chances.
We’re into that weird part of the season where they split a round in order to fit in some Champions League qualifying and some rearrangements without losing out on that sweet, sweet publicity.
Since the Footy Ferns last played, Andreas Heraf and Gareth Turnbull have been confirmed as the new manager and assistant manager while a handful more players have stepped up into the professional ranks.
The MLS season doesn’t begin until the first week of March so there’s a full other month between then and now. But that’s fine because with several kiwis trying to earn spots on those MLS roster, preseason is the best glimpse we’ll get at where they stand
Sunday 4 February 2018, a memorable day in New Zealand footballing folklore. Pigs flew, hell froze over and Hamilton Wanderers won a game.
What a tease that was. Sign two players who should immediate aid the cause but then neither’s available to play a few days later when the Nix are away to the top team in the league, a team that hasn’t lost at home in close to two years.
She’s all happening at Phoenix headquarters. The ol’ mid-season player shakeup. Out go Watto and Ali A and in come Flappy Velaphi and The Python.
Not a lot of developing news here or anything, but before Smithy left Ipswich for Colorado he was given a few lovely send-offs by the club he’d served for a more than a decade.
See, you’ll never get anywhere with local lads. Just as we’ve always said. Picking players out of the youth team and actually playing them? Giving teenagers regular starts and expecting results? Bah, ridiculous idea.
The Wellington Phoenix had taken seven points from their last three games, having only taken seven from their previous 13, and following on from a 3-2 win in Newcastle that might have been their best win of the season, while Adelaide United were three games without a win...
If you were listing the obvious destinations for kiwi footballers leaving the humble shores of Aotearoa to make it in the professional ranks then England would be right up there. Sweden seems to be high on the list as well, the Netherlands are becoming a bit of a hub too
We can pretty much put the transfer talk to bed for a few months with Thommo. As already speculated in a few places, he was always much more likely to wait to move on until the end of the season but now he’s actually come out and said as much