Let’s be honest here, the Aussie game was the Football Ferns’ best chance to win a game at these Olympic Games. Let’s also be honest and admit that we knew full well that this was a terrible draw for the ladies and that this was how it was always likely to go.
Oh captain my captain. Tommy Smith has been announced as the man to lead Colchester United out full time by new manager Hayden Mullins (who had joined the club as interim manager down the stretch last time and has since been made the permanent boss).
We are, currently, one week away from the beginning of the Tokyo 2020 (2021 Redux) Olympic Games and all that event entails. The two kiwi football squads are basically ready to go, most of them having been training together in Japan since early in the month.
Now we’re talking. Ryan Thomas is working his way back from ankle surgery that ended his last season, so when preseason started he was one of a couple fellas not at full participation levels as they eased him back up in.
There would have already been a SheNix team last season if it weren’t for some poorly timed shenanigans. The Wellington Phoenix were all set to make an announcement about it.
As disappointing as it was from an OlyWhites perspective that Sarpreet Singh opted out of Olympic consideration, being as there really isn’t another player in that group who can do what he does, it’s pretty hard to disagree with his decision.
But just two minutes later Veton Berisha tied it back up again, clever run on the end of a quick bit of thinking from Bell to chip a free kick in early before the defence was ready. Berisha took care of the rest – chalk up another Joe Bell assist. En. To. Tre.
A pair of games this week and the Courage weren’t holding back. Racing Louisville were up first in the midweek round and Abby Erceg was involved in yet another back four
The time has come, the squads have been revealed. The 36 footballers (plus eight travelling reserves) who will represent Aotearoa at the 2021 Tokyo 2020 Olympics have been made public.
Billy T had been getting a sweet run of games while Larrys Mabiala was out injured. A three week break offered plenty of recovery time for the Frenchman which would have accelerated the call as to whether Tui’s good form was enough to keep him in the starting team…
It’s nice for once not having to need to rebuild almost the entire team from scratch going into an offseason. It’s nice to know that when preseason begins there’ll be at least thirteen players on the roster already.
Can always trust Nikko Boxall to get amongst it, although the week in which he gets prime real estate in Flying Kiwis didn’t initially look like a great showcase for him (it got better though).
After two straight seasons with finals appearances, and two straight seasons with disappointing exits from said finals appearances, the target was pretty clear for the Wellington Phoenix this time around: make the finals again and actually win a game.
It’s still an undefeated start to the season for Ali Riley and the Orlando Pride but only just after a tricky game away against Washington Spirit. It was the home side who started much sharper, hitting the crossbar early on…
Coming into the new season, Chris Wood set himself a target of 20 goals. He did not achieve it. In fact for two-thirds of the term it didn’t even look like he was gonna get close.
If the Phoenix miss out of the finals, that missed penalty by Ulises Davila is going to echo painfully in many minds... but we all know that the real problem was their form in the early portions of the season. It just took them too long to settle into things.
Many moons ago, digging deep into the past to the year 2012, West Ham found their path back into the Premier League thanks to a 2-1 playoff final win over Blackpool. He’s currently on loan at Brentford and oh would you look at that Brentford just won promotion to the Premier League through the playoff final.
Last week the Zebras were confirmed as relegated with two games to spare, having not won a single league game all season. Not quite how they were hoping it’d go down... but they still had those two games to get through and Hannah Wilkinson wasn’t letting that moment slip.
The Wellington Phoenix have four games left in their season, three of them to be played within an eight-day stretch starting on Saturday arvo, and they probably need to win at least three (if not all) of them to crack that pesky top six.
Derby Day football, the threat of relegation looming large, second to last game of the season, a kiwi midfielder with a point to prove after a difficult few months... the ingredients were all there for a Sarpreet Singh special