Chis Wood hurt his knee just before Christmas, colliding with Hugo Lloris as he strove for an equaliser in the first half of a 3-0 defeat to Tottenham. After trying and failing to run it off he was replaced by Ashley Barnes and wouldn’t play again for a couple months.
Stefan Marinovic made a rare mistake in goal this week but that doesn't even compare to the ruthless April Fool's Day prank he was on the end of at Whitecaps HQ... in which an interviewer deliberately called him Australian. Disgusting behaviour.
Auckland City versus Team Wellington, it was the predicted final and it was a predictable final too. A couple big game teams with quality defensive structures and a habit for taking control of the midfield.
It’s been a funky old season but we’ve ended up exactly where we figured we always would, with the two best teams going head to head in the grand final. Auckland City on the back of a fifth straight Premiership league title up against Team Wellington looking for a third straight championship victory.
A few hours after the All Whites game finished, Portland kicked off their game away to FC Dallas with a little controversy. They were coming off an awful 4-0 defeat in the Big Apple against New York Red Bulls and new gaffer Giovanni Savarese had swung the axe.
Auckland City were always favourites coming in against Eastern Suburbs, a team they’d already beaten twice this season.Twenty-four hours later we had what promised to be a much closer game. Team Wellington against Canterbury United, a pair of teams that played out a competitive 0-0 draw just a couple weeks ago.
Was that the start you were hoping for from Fritz Schmid? Probably not. But a game like this one, a neutral ground friendly against Canada, wasn’t really about the result and you already knew that by the relaxed attitude towards certain players staying at their clubs.
Here we are then. Three more games left in the season with a trophy and a title and another spot in the Oceania Champions League still to be handed out.
Leading your Flying Kiwis this week… it’s Elliot Collier. If you don’t know then you know now, Collier’s been on a rise so sharp these last few months you’d think he was shot into orbit by those Rocket Lab folks.
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...