At the start of the month New Zealand Football announced some changes to what’s currently known as the ISPS Handa Premiership which could accurately be described as: extensive. Drastic is another word that springs to mind.
One change to the Southern team that lost to Auckland last week with Amy Hislop replacing Emily Morison up front. That meant another start for Blair Currie in goal (who has been going back and forth with Tessa Nicol for the gloves).
There was a bit of a wait between playoff games for both Minnesota and Sporting KC – a wait that was made even longer when the match was delayed another 24 hours after an NFL game was postponed, clearing a timeslot for the broadcasters – but here it finally was.
Bringing us to the televised game which was Team Wellington against Auckland City at David Farrington Park, one of the last times we’ll ever see these two great rivals going head to head.
Northern’s win over Auckland in week four put the cat amongst the pigeons in this competition. Feathers flying everywhere because every team had dropped points thanks to that result. Keeps things wide open going into the last three rounds.
Can’t argue with the way Viking are going these days. Joe Bell had dropped to the bench for the win away at Sarpsborg 08 but he still got a solid half an hour out there and then six days later he was back in the starting line-up.
A ball in behind held up on the trampoline bounce of the turf and Joao Moreira was onto it like a beast to its prey. Searle slid in to try and stop him and the penalty was awarded. Up stepped Hamish Watson and his mullet and he sent Draper the wrong way to make it 2-1
No doubt that the big game this week was when Northern Lights hosted Auckland at North Harbour Stadium (well, the outside of North Harbour Stadium). Northern found a bit of form last week with a strong performance to beat a dogged Southern side 3-0 but Auckland have been in hot form from day one.
MLS playoff madness on Monday, there were three consecutive games with New Zealanders potentially involved and it began with Winston Reid and Sporting Kansas City.
Preseason results usually mean absolutely nothing but maybe on this occasion they meant a small portion of something after all because Hamilton Wanderers actually beat Auckland City 2-1 a few weeks back…
So a bittersweet week of remembrance then. Thinking wistfully of the past whilst also mourning the present, all of which giving you absolutely no idea of what the future is supposed to be.
Let us begin this undertaking on the banks of the mighty Waikato River, why not? WaiBOP hosting Canterbury Pride in their first home game of the year, the Cantabs venturing outside the South Island for the first time this year... pleasant tidings all around.
All anyone was talking about as Tottenham kicked off away at Bristol City this weekend was the starting debut of American superstar Alex Morgan... completely taking for granted the presence of New Zealand's most capped ever footballer in Ria Percival but okay, we’ll live with it.
Apparently global pandemics don’t really work to anyone’s preferred schedule, so after last season was abandoned early and this season was delayed it had been one day shy of eight months in between Premiership fixtures.
We made it. Here we are and a new Premiership season is about to begin. This very weekend in fact. How about that?
Twenty players signed including all the youthers they need. Eleven of those twenty are New Zealanders. They have two imports on lock with room for three more which would take them to the maximum squad size of 23... let’s roll through each spot and see what the depth looks like.
If the first week turned out to be a little wonky, the second week of the ISPS Handa Women’s Premiership for 2020 seemed to offer a whole lot more steadiness. Three matchups which all, on paper, felt pretty even.
They call it Decision Day in the MLS, the final day of the regular season when those final playoff positions are settled once and for all, paving the way for the knockouts to follow.
Hey check it out, National League footy’s begun. The Women’s Premiership swinging around the bend with goals a-plenty and even a cheeky upset result.
He’s the only kiwi bloke playing in the competition proper of either major European competition this season. No pressure or anything, even having one fella is pretty rare.