Los Ticos
Cricket World Cup things, an U20 footy squad, early Costa Rica scouting, Plunket Shield notes & some Kiwi-NRL chat
Podcast
TNC Variety Show 57
The Niche Cast: Diggity Depth
Reading Menu
The All Whites World Cup Qualifying Quest Is Underway With A 1-0 Win Over Papua New Guinea (Football)
All Whites WCQ Quest: A 4-0 Win Over Fiji In Which Chris Wood Did The Inevitable (Football)
All Whites WCQ Quest: 7-1 vs New Caledonia, Moving Up The Gears (Football)
All Whites WCQ Quest: Battered But Victorious, 1-0 vs Tahiti (Football)
All Whites WCQ Quest: A 5-0 Win vs Solomon Islands, Now Just One Step Away... (Football)
Football Ferns vs The ‘Tildas: Squad Yarns (Football)
Flying Kiwis – March 29 (Football)
Diary Of An Aotearoa Warriors Fan: 'Home' Game vs Brisbane In Brisbane (NRL)
Scotty’s Word
Women’s World Cup…
Australia’s spot in the World Cup final was all but a certainty, meanwhile England lost their first three games to then enter the final via a five-game winning streak. Two different paths to the final and as they rolled through their Ashes campaign a couple months ago; different paths leading back around to each other.
Australia and England feel like the best teams. England’s first three losses were all teams that would make the semi-finals and the draw presents an interesting comparison between England and South Africa. England played the best teams first, South Africa played the weaker teams first. England were then better equipped for the knockout contest last night and the more time I’ve spent vibin’ with England, the more I like them.
Part of this is via the No Balls podcast featuring England bowler Kate Cross and former player, now broadcaster Alex Hartley. England seemed fragile in their opening losses, stuck with the grind, ramping up to their best mahi. Despite whatever happened in the Ashes, England’s team consists of the best players in the world and their talent is as slick as Australia. Australia have that commanding Aussie sports vibe that us kiwis know so well and that’s the hurdle England must overcome.
Good to hear Frances Mackay and Katey Martin on commentary now too. Both have featured since their playing duties were wrapped up and even though the ICC broadcast is intentionally tight or tame, Martin still makes one chuckle. Having two current Aotearoa players step into commentary for an ICC World Cup is a pretty cool wrinkle.
I had a go at whipping up a young women’s All Stars outfit (sans wicket-keeper)…
My World Cup All Stars team looks like this…
Alyssa Healy, Rachael Haynes, Meg Lanning, Smriti Mandhana, Nat Sciver, Sophie Devine, Marizanne Kapp, Ash Gardner, Amy Jones (wk), Sophie Ecclestone, Shabnim Ismail.
Plunket Shield Notes…
Northern vs Wellington has finished early as a draw due to flu things in Northern’s squad. Auckland defeated Wellington. Lots of runs were scored in both games and I’ll break the runs, plus Plunket Shield context in upcoming yarns. Some low key nuggets…
Since snaring big wickets in Mumbai magic, Ajaz Patel has taken 3w in nine games of cricket. I’ve been tapped into this for a while but six of the games were Super Smash, plus one Ford Trophy game and Patel isn’t a white ball wizard. Solid in all formats for sure, but no alarm bells are required for Patel’s SS and FT bowling. Now we have Patel in back to back Plunket Shield games and he’s got 1w (4inns).
All up in Plunket Shield this summer Patel has 5w @ 55.20avg/2.96rpo in 93ov. As someone who has thrown up the late summer spin idea, I can confirm that spin is a major factor right now. This is evident in Plunket Shield…
Joe Walker: 18w @ 19.27avg/2.21rpo.
Will Somerville: 17w @ 17.17avg/2.07rpo.
Not every spinner is dominating, yet the best are. Patel is Aotearoa’s best red-baller but Somerville has bounced back from a meh tour to India and Walker has been fantastic in all formats. All three are also finger spinners.
South Africa women have great seamers, but their spin duo of Chloe Tryon and Sune Luus both averaged over 100 with the ball in this World Cup. Australia and England both have great seamers, but their spinners are their best bowlers. Jess Jonassen, Ash Gardner and Alana King have the most wickets for Australia (9+) and all three are spinners. Sophie Ecclestone and Charlie Dean have the most wickets for England (11+) and are both spinners.
Spin is a major factor in Plunket Shield and the Women’s World Cup, as we venture into April.
Simon Keene bowls seam for Auckland continues to snare bags of wickets. Keene now has 23w in three games (89.1ov), averaging 8.82 and taking a 5-for in each of his first three First-Class games ever. Here are his PS tallies: 2w, 5w, 2w, 6w, 6w, 2w.
Keene’s three games have featured different opponents too in Otago, Canterbury and Wellington. As of Friday morning, Keene features in a young crop of seamers with the most PS wickets this summer…
Brett Randell (26yrs): 31w @ 14.83avg/2.53rpo.
Nathan Smith (23yrs): 24w @ 21.29avg/2.59rpo.
Simone Keene (20yrs): 23w @ 8.82avg/2.27rpo.
Ray Toole (24yrs): 23w @ 25.95avg/3.02rpo.
Kiwi-NRL check in with Wests Tigers…
Aussie media loves to hate the Tigers. They aren’t very good at footy right now and easy prey for a style of coverage that is uniquely Australian. This remains a fascinating Kiwi-NRL matter because of Michael Maguire’s standing as Aotearoa Kiwis coach. This has led to many Kiwi-NRL lads joining Maguire at Tigers and so it would be a bummer for this to keep crumbling from that perspective, while a scorned Maguire could be highly useful for Aotearoa Kiwis at the World later this year.
I can twist Tigers wins or losses either way for Maguire and Kiwis footy. A scorned Maguire would love to lead Aotearoa to World Cup glory, while a winning Maguire will add immense confidence to the group. Kiwis under Maguire have been low key impressive, but they haven’t played since late 2019.
I’ve also been pondering a post-Warriors glow up. Sean O’Sullivan left Warriors to join Panthers and has been glowing to start the season, in alignment with a far more significant glow up for Isaiah Papali’i. Sam Lisone’s found consistency at Titans. Look around and you’ll find other post-Warriors glow up contenders.
You’ll also find those who don’t glow up.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck missed NPC footy, now missing Super Rugby footy via two injuries (lol?). Ken Maumalo is one of five co-captains at Tigers and there’s nothing glow up about that. David Fusitu’a has played three games of Super League for Leeds, suffering a concussion and now having a ‘minor’ knee surgery … and Leeds had their coach resign a week ago.
Tuivasa-Sheck, Maumalo and Fusitu’a were the Warriors starting back three for round one last season. All three have plenty of scope to glow up but they have all faced immense niggle since departing Warriors.
This Christoph El Truento wave is super funky…
Wildcard’s Notebook
An U20 Women’s Footy Squad
The Football Ferns are playing a pair of games against Australia starting next week, which will be the 14th and 15th times that the upcoming World Cup co-hosts have played since 2010... compare that to the two mere times that the All Whites and Socceroos have played in that time. The most recent being in 2011. Bit of a weird contrast.
That Ferns squad is pretty strong. Not sure if they’ll beat the Aussies but they should put up a decent scrap and continue their growth under Jitka Klimková. One of the major yarns from that team-naming was the recall of Grace Jale, the only Wellington Phoenix inaugural squadie to have played for the national team prior to that season. Still the only one, in fact, though Lily Alfeld is also in this squad and awaiting a senior debut. Great reward for Jale after her goal scoring prowess especially in the second half of the ALW campaign.
But where were the rest of them? Nobody else from that squad was deserving of a national team nudge? That’s a line you hear a bit due to the prominence and proximity of the SheNix but this Ferns team is not short of pro players. Only a couple of that Nix team had played pro before and none of them for any substantial time. They’re not replacing anyone in the depth pool. They’re expanding it. Those who were already getting selected for the Fernies are still there so to pick, say, Alyssa Whinham you’d have to drop somebody else. It doesn’t happen automatically and that’s fine. That’s how this is supposed to work. Competition for places is the whole idea.
As it turns out, those various Nixers are busy anyway because there’s also gonna be a pair of U20 internationals against Australia at the same time. Bloody awesome. The last U17 and U20 cycle got abandoned because of the pandemic so this is a revival of the youth programme. The U20s have already qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Costa Rica (a country that seems to be popping up a lot lately in kiwi footy chat) which will take place in August. Here’s the squad for the Australian games...
The age bracket for the World Cup is players born after 1 January 2002. That’s one year after the bronze-medallist U17s from 2018 so we’re talking about the wave after that although there are a couple players young enough to still partake. Sadly, that U17 team missed their U20 cycle. The most successful team that Aotearoa has ever sent to a FIFA tournament didn’t get the chance to try and back it up at the next age. But Macey Fraser and Marisa van der Meer the fortunate ones there who get another chance. They’ll be two of the star players in this group.
Seven players from the Wellington Phoenix have been selected which is almost everybody who was eligible. Grace Wisnewski is the only one missing (she was also part of the U17 Bronzers) but given the anxiety issues that she dealt with over the Nix season it’s fair enough to let her skip this one. Everyone else who could have been picked has been picked including dual-national Brianna Edwards as goalie. Plus Hannah Jones has been picked in the Australian squad (no Cushla Rue, Jordan Jasnos, or Isabel Gonez though). Puts that Wahinix squad into some more context when you see 8/20 players being picked for U20 internationals... plus two more in a full international squad. Also Tui Dugan and Macey Fraser were present at the club’s announcement but each chose other pathways instead, in a different timeline they might have been in that squad as well.
By the way, who coaches the NZ U20 Women? Gemma Lewis. There ya go. Even more continuity... which should give this team a solid existing core to build out from.
Elsewhere there are also several players from last year’s FFDP programme: Aniela Jensen, Ava Pritchard, Charlotte Wilford-Carroll, Jana Niedermayr, Kate Duncan, Marisa van der Meer, and Rene Wasi. MVDM of course just spent a season with Melbourne City so she’s got ALW experience same as all them Nixers... including finals experience which none of those others can claim.
Three players are in from USA universities including attacking midfielder Aniela Jensen who was part of the Football Ferns squad that played Canada last October (though didn’t get capped). Rene Wasi has also been at uni and was pictured training with the Ferns while they were in town for the SheBelieves Cup but is listed here as unattached.
There are two players mentioned as being part of the Wellington Phoenix Academy. Macey Fraser has been there since before they had an A-League team but didn’t join that squad as she was hoping for an overseas gig. Fraser is a massive talent in the midfield, hugely skilful. Olivia Ingham is the other, a speedy forward who played every game for Capital in the South Central Series. Jemma Catherwood was also an important player for that Capital team and she’s here fresh off winning the Kate Sheppard Cup for Wellington United... against Rylee Godbold’s Hamilton Wanderers.
Jana Niedermayr and Charlotte Wilford-Carroll are in as Eastern Suburbs players. Niedermayr is from the Central region (went to school in New Plymouth) but moved north for FFDP and is now playing for Subs. Really impressive central defender. Similarly, CWC is a superb midfielder from Wellington who is also playing for that Auckland club after joining the FFDP. So it goes. It’s a bit annoying how the big cities dominate things, vacuuming up all the talent (Auckland, Wellington & Christchurch) but if that’s what produces the best players then okay, fair enough. Niedermayr isn’t the only Central alumni in this team. Aniela Jensen and Charlotte Lancaster also played in the same 2020 National League squad.
Edwards, Sheaff, and Godbold are the goalkeepers. Should mention that Kate Duncan is not Katie Duncan, the retired 124-cap Footy Ferns legend. Same name but different people. She’s one of a handful in this squad whom I’ve hardly seen play, thanks largely to Auckland clubs not being able to be a part of the South Central Series (hence why it was South Central). Really hope these games end up being streamed somewhere (they usually do tbh) so I can amend that.
Early Costa Rica Scouting Notes
It’s the All Whites vs Costa Rica for a place in the 2022 FIFA World Cup. That game will take place on 13/14 June, timing still TBD, and it’ll be a single-legged match held in neutral Qatar. Extra time and penalties included if necessary. That’s for one of what will be the final two spots to be decided for the event taking place in November. Australia will play UAE a week prior to our intercontinental with the winner advancing to face Peru in the same window for the other remaining spot.
I watched quite a bit of that Costa Rica vs USA game yesterday. Los Ticos needed to win 6-0 to have a chance of qualifying automatically but clearly they’d already accepted their playoff fate. You know how Danny Hay rested Libby Cacace and Winston Reid (and subbed off Alex Greive early in the second half) to avoid them getting yellow card suspensions for that playoff? Costa Rica had the same drama only worse. With nine players on yellow cards, coach Luis Fernando Suárez rested all but one...
So I’ll have to dig deeper into the archives to find more representative examples of their style of play. Against USA it was a 4-4-2 shape with a flat midfield and defence, though you’d often get a midfielder shooting out in the press. Wingers stayed wide and did plenty of tracking back. They’re a physical team, technically good but not particularly expansive. Great defensively. Perhaps limited firepower in attack.
Lots of notable names... most of them are in their mid-30s but that might count in their favour against a young All Whites team in a must-win game. To be fair they do have plenty of young guys in the squad, the rotated team against USA had an average age of 23, but it’s those veteran names who run the show. Keylor Navas, Joel Campbell, Celso Borges, Bryan Ruiz, Bryan Oviedo, Francisco Calvo... Campbell and Calvo are 29 and the rest are in their thirties. Ruiz is 36 and Navas is 35.
Tell you what’s a huge All Whites advantage: the neutral venue. Costa Rica had a massive and passionate crowd for that USA game even in a match that might as well have been a dead rubber (USA have NEVER won in Costa Rica). An intimidating atmosphere that would have been on par with what the All Whites dealt with in Peru four and a half years ago. We got away with this one for sure. Especially as we just went through a whole qualifying tournament in Qatar.
Should mention that Los Ticos are on a mean buzz these days. Didn’t start the qualifying campaign that well but surged into fantastic form midway through, winning six of their last seven games and drawing the other. Across those seven games they conceded only twice. Only scored nine times on the flipside but yeah this is a formidable team. Luckily their coach is saying similar things about us...
Costa Rica coach Suarez on New Zealand: “They are a very tough rival, complicated, a very good team. Tall and powerful. They play well and we’ll have to prepare very well to qualify for the World Cup.”