Most people who’ve been following the Wellington Phoenix throughout this season, especially those who’ve watched the three previous meetings with Melbourne Victory this season, would have probably have predicted this nil-all draw ahead of time
It will be the Wellington Phoenix against the Melbourne Victory for a place in the 2024 A-League Men’s Grand Final. Sunday night at 6pm NZT is the first leg over in Melbourne.
Wherever he goes, Marko Stamenic wins trophies. A league and cup double with FC København last season and now Crvena zvezda are in the process of trying to do the same
And so ends the finest regular season in the history of Wellington Phoenix football. Records fell across the board as Giancarlo Italiano and his cohorts defied the odds to forge a squad of title-contenders
You know who is truly one of the most consistent of all the Flying Kiwis? Week in week out delivering 7/10 or better performances, never anything less, whilst captaining his team as its all-time leading appearance maker?
It’s not so easy to compete on an uneven playing field. The Welly Nix Wahine’s lack of imports during their first two seasons (seasons in which they finished dead last both times) was a self-imposed issue, but it did leave them with a pretty significant limitation.
One year ago, Macey Fraser was a bit of a forgotten player in the kiwi footballing landscape. Now she’s the A-League’s record transfer fee on her way to the Utah Royals in the NWSL.
For the third consecutive game, the Wellington Phoenix were involved in some frantic stoppage time antics. Against Central Coast they conceded a 90+1st minute winner. Against Melbourne Victory they scored a 90+5th minute winner. Then against Newcastle Jets…
The best transfers are the ones that appear like a lightning bolt from the ether and significantly change the entire scene. Macey Fraser moving from the Wellington Phoenix to the Utah Royals for an A-League Women’s record transfer fee is absolutely one of those
Many Football Ferns were handled with care by their clubs after returning from the international window. But not CJ Bott. She had an FA Cup semi-final to play and 180 minutes for the national team plus a couple of long-haul flights weren’t going to keep her out of that one.
There was wind, there was rain, and there was the Wellington Phoenix. There were defensive blocks, there were more defensive blocks, there was a begrudging acceptance that a draw was probably a fair result on the basis of the game... and then there was Finn Surman
The Wellington Phoenix Wahine have been a team of constant progress and development since they joined the A-League, though perhaps it’s been slower progress and development than hoped for
What did we need to see from the Football Ferns in these games? Goals, victories, and a confident/ruthless attitude against a weaker opponent. Did we see those things? Yeah, we did... in the first game
It was Cacace who instigated the move with that one-two. He then stuck with it after the defender had seemed to get goalside of him. Never gave up on the lost cause and then crept around the edge to keep the ball in play at the byline.
In potentially the biggest regular season game that the Wellington Phoenix have ever played, they were dealt gut punch as Mikael Doka cut inside and buried a stoppage time winner for Central Coast Mariners. A brilliant goal, to be fair, though that didn’t make it any less brutal of a loss
Once again, it was Christopher Wood for Nottingham Forest. A niggly injury combined with Forest’s precarious Premier League position meant he had to miss the All Whites games, but…
After that pesky loss against Egypt on Saturday morning NZT, the All Whites knew they’d have a much more achievable mission ahead of them against Tunisia four days later.
Leat had already deputised for DVD on several occasions, whilst also playing all of the cup games that she was available for. Last week we covered her performance in the 2-1 win against Everton in the WSL. Prior to that she’d played in the 4-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Conti Cup semi-final
There’s something increasingly familiar about an All Whites game in which the lads play some really silky football, passing smoothly through the midfield, battling hard at the back, bringing all of the energy, only to still lose anyway
The famous line is the attack wins games but defence wins championships. The Wellington Phoenix blokes must be out there trying to win a championship because they just so happen to have the best defence in the A-League Men’s