The final round of the Premiership regular season was a farewell tour for some and a matter of convenience for others. Auckland City wasted no time in taking care of the Wellington Phoenix reserves to clinch top spot on the ladder and automatic qualification to next year’s Oceania Champions League.
If you didn’t think the All Whites were coming into fresh new times before Fritz Schmid named his first squad then you sure knew afterwards. 24 players have been named for the training camp in Spain and only 10 were in the squad that played Peru.
The Woodsman is the reigning King of the Flying Kiwis, there’s no denying it. Back from his latest injury he came off the bench last week and scored the winner against Everton. And then he went one better.
Absolute hype right here, Round 17 of the Aoteroa Men’s Rotating-Sponsor Football Premiership featuring the top four teams all in action against each other, potentially previewing the semi-finals – although we’ll find that out for sure next week.
After Darije Kalezic did that thing last week where he decided he didn’t wanna coach the team anymore, the Wellington Phoenix did another thing this week and decided that there’s no reason he oughta see out the rest of the season then.
The Football Ferns didn’t beat Scotland. They played them a couple times in Spain across the last few days and they lost both games 2-0.
Yeah, we missed you Woody. Flying Kiwis hasn’t quite been the same without the big fella scoring goals for fun. Back at close to full fitness now, having burned some more minutes in another closed-season friendly in the midweek, he was named on the bench again as Burnley took on Everton.
What kind of a week only has one competition game? This kind of week, of course. NZ Premmy doing its best. All goods, next week we’re back at our usual rhythm
Some bits of news creep up on you with unfolding inevitability while others catch you suddenly and unaware. This particular bit of news… it’s almost hard to say which one of those categories it fits in.
Smithy was an expected starter, they didn’t sign him to sit in the reserves. Deklan Wynne not so much and certainly not so much playing as the left-sided centre-back in a back three. However Wynne had gotten the start in their last preseason game so there was some hint at this.
Every time the Nix have the chance to make a statement win, as was the case on Friday night when a win over Central Coast would have taken them off the bottom of the table for the first time since November...
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.