You wouldn’t believe it but the All Whites have confirmed another game for later in the year. Three days after they take on Ireland in Dublin in November they’ll meet Lithuania in Vilnius, making full use of the FIFA window in the process.
Signing season is always a wonderful time of the year and as we cruise on through the month of July it means that all them European teams are looking to stock up. Sarpreet Singh is going to be the golden signing of this year but don’t sleep on this sneaky nugget as Ria Percival has made the switch from West Ham across town to Tottenham in the English Super League.
For a club with an entire country of players to take a peek at and with an obviously limited financial muscle, not to mention a club that’s always asked to justify its own existence, the business of developing players is a necessary investment. Like, not just some romantic ideal… it’s an absolute necessity in order to be a competitive team in a foreign league.
It’s a long World Cup when you don’t make it out of the group stages – Abby Erceg is already back training with the North Carolina Courage and would have played on the weekend had it not been for a minor niggle and this was before the World Cup semi-finals had even happened.
It’s officially been confirmed. Sarpreet Singh will be signing with the Bayern Munich reserves on a three year deal with the hope that he’ll emerge into the first team picture towards the end of that contract, and will be doing so at a transfer fee of something in the range of $750k to $1m NZD.
What are we supposed to think when a manager skips out on a national team that doesn’t even play in the first place? Nothing, to be honest. It was already an empty void so it can’t get any emptier.
Unless you live under an online rock then you’ve probably heard this one already but let’s break this one down because… wow. Sarpreet Singh, Wellington Phoenix creative midfielder, is currently in Germany ahead of a prospective move to Bayern Munich. Yes, that Bayern Munich.
Of the 23 players who played on senior contracts under Mark Rudan, how many are under contract for next season? Just seven. An absolutely ridiculous amount of player turnover and at this point, with only one player left who’s played more than 52 times for the club, and frankly those dreams of continuity have been absolutely drenched at this point.
In the end it wasn’t to be. With numbers forward, pressing for a desperate winner into the final minute of stoppage time, the Ferns got caught on the break by Cameroon and a bit of Ajara Nchout magic allowed her to cut inside and curl one inside the far post with eleven seconds remaining in the game and put Cameroon through into the next round with a 2-1 victory.
So here we are then. On game and ninety minutes with basically the entire World Cup campaign on the line. The Ferns had two objectives coming into this tournament: to win their first World Cup game and the make the knockouts stages for the first time ever.
These remain rather slim times for the Flying Kiwis crew but a few hearty souls are holding things down amidst all the World Cups and off-seasons. It was US Open Cup week in the States and that meant a unique opportunity for our Kiwi x MLS & Kiwi x USL crew to compete on a level playing field.
It won’t take too long to sum that game up, it started with Canada in control and it ended with Canada in control and in between they scored twice while the kiwis barely even threatened.
It’s never easy saying goodbye, but last year’s Wellington Phoenix squad seem to be getting pretty good at it. When Mark Rudan took over the Nix he barely had half a squad to work with and now he’s left the Nix and his successor, our beloved Uffie Talay… barely has half a squad to work with.
Heartbreaking. To get so close to a famous result and to concede at the end… it’s devastating, it’s shattering, it’s deflating. After ninety-plus minutes of resolute defence and an absolutely spot on tactical approach from Tom Sermanni the Ferns were on the brink of a valuable point against the Netherlands but couldn’t quite close it out, Jill Roord popping up with the stoppage time winner.
Where to start? Where to start? The only proper game we’ve got feels like as good a place as any, with the Rapids and the Loons going head to head in an MLS x Flying Kiwis Derby.
With all the intense effort and attitude that it takes even just to get yourself in contention to be picked for a World Cup, the last thing you wanna see is a player having their dream shattered three days out from the start of the tournament thanks to injury.
The post-Roy Krishna era of the Wellington Phoenix has begun with one of the more impressive kiwi signings this team has ever made. Stefan Marinovic has joined the Welly Nix on a two year contract, directly replacing Filip Kurto as the number one with the gloves and with that a regular All Whites starter has returned to the motherland.
And completing the clan with the last three groups. Do the research. Enjoy the World Cup.
Dishing up the goods ahead of what’s only gonna be the biggest, most competitive FIFA Women’s World Cup in history.
The Football Ferns had a brilliant win over England on the weekend but just in case anyone was getting carried away they went and chased that with a 1-0 defeat against Wales. It was a comedown game in many ways.