Anthony Hudson’s Colorado Rapids were eliminated from playoff contention two weeks ago when they lost 3-0 at home to Atlanta United. Six games still to play at that point but they had no mathematical chance of making the knockout stuff.
If Abby Erceg is a household name in Aotearoa then it’s because of her role as a catalyst in exposing the inequality in New Zealand Football’s treatment of our women’s national team. If Abby Erceg is a household name in Aotearoa then it’s not because of her club career and that’s a shame.
No, your eyes do not deceive you. For the second time in three seasons Abby Erceg has lifted the NWSL championship trophy, as captain no less. A 3-0 win over Portland Thorns did the trick.
The Phoenix have never been ones to do things quickly. It took ages to appoint a new manager after Darije Kalezic parted ways with the club - even if you ignore the caretaker spell then it was still ages.
These are odd times for Flying Kiwis with Ryan Thomas and Winston Reid both out injured. Tyler Boyd is on the way up but he had a week off this time, Abby Erceg always holds down the fort but her game was postponed. Ali Riley’s injured.
New Zealand Football’s trying a little harder these days with the women’s side of things. Giving the Kate Sheppard Cup a name was a good move, as was the decision to expand the National Women’s League into a two-round competition.
On comes Rosie White and she scores with her first touch of the ball, smashing it past the keeper after the deft assist from Aussie Sam Kerr, dropping it right at her feet. Bit of a trans-tasman connection over the in the dirty states, also Rosie’s first goal for Chicago after joining from the disbanded Boston Breakers in the offseason.
Shout out to Kiwi Cup Final Day, the harmonious occasion when grassroots kiwi footy gets the spotlight it deserves. Gotta love it.
Heraf had to go, there’s no doubt about it. He had to go because it reflected an unacceptable lack of transparency and accountability to have him acting both as Tech Director and a national team coach – which is Andy Martin’s fault most of all and also why he had to go too, good riddance.
Burnley needed goals if they were going to qualify for the Europa League group stages. Lots of goals, at least two of them, after losing 3-1 away to Olympiacos in the first leg.
This club has dealt us some real trash in the last twelve months and that’s before even bringing up the all or nothing gamble that was Darije Kalezic, a gamble that shredded their last bit of on-field credibility and led us to this point now where Mark Rudan is having to rebuild almost from scratch.
Chris Wood always scores in the Europa League, it’s one of the things that he does. After putting one away against Olympiacos on Thursday night in Greece, he now has a second goal in three starts (plus one appearance off the bench).
It’s not always easy to figure out what’s going on in the world of football and the Wellington Phoenix can be as perplexing as they come. Right now there’s a new manager overseeing what’ll be basically a new squad in the hope of winning enough games to earn a new licence.
All this talk about Jose Mourinho. Jose didn’t get the transfers he wanted, Jose’s fallen out with Paul Pogba, Jose says it’ll be a difficult season, Jose’s lost the dressing room, Jose’s picking on his players again…
Medical all sorted, first training sessions with the new teammates completed, and Ryan Thomas was ready to face the media as an official member of PSV Eindhoven. He signs on a four year contract and will wear the number 30 jersey, same as he did with PEC Zwolle.
It was never going to be an easy task, these OFC games always have their challenges. Particularly at this age when you don’t have so much experience tackling this very unique and particular battle.
The most refreshing thing about Mark Rudan so far has been his words. At a pivotal time in the Wellington Phoenix’s existence he showed up with steady confidence and an air of defiance.
Just when everything seemed to be running smoothly, they go and move the goalposts again. But we Premier League fans in Aotearoa are pretty used to that by now.
It’s been a year since Stefan Marinovic made his debut for the Whitecaps. Few would’ve guessed how quickly his rise would come a few months earlier… but then few who were familiar with him would have ruled it out either.
Look, we’re good enough to compete at this level. No doubt about that, just look at the result against France. With that comes increased expectations and while it would’ve been enough to create a few cheeky chances and battle hard in the past, this squad was good enough to be taking those chances.