Abby Erceg has spent the last few days captaining North Carolina Courage against some of the best teams in the world but came up just short with a second-place finish in the Women’s International Champions Cup (ICC).

The tournament brought the Courage up against Manchester City, Olympique Lyonnais and Atlético de Madrid with the American champions looking to defend a title they won last year. They made it all the way to the final again but were then denied by Lyon, who were out for revenge after being beaten in last year’s final and delivered on that promise with a 1-0 triumph.

Erceg took up her usual role in the middle of the Courage defence and was called on to make a couple of vital blocks, one early on and another on the hour. But she could do nothing about the stunning match-winner, Dzsenifer Marozsán curling in an unstoppable strike from just outside the area.

The focus of Erceg and her team mates will now return to the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), in which the Courage will take on Rosie White’s Reign FC this weekend.

White has been in a rich vein of form with the Reign and was looking to continue that away at Sky Blue FC, for whom United States international Carli Lloyd lined up. Fellow superstar Megan Rapinoe did not feature for the Reign as she is still recovering from injury but the clash still drew a record-breaking crowd of nearly 10,000 – the largest in Sky Blue history.

White played the whole match in attacking midfield and was at the heart of several of her side’s better moments in a 1-1 draw.

Katie Bowen meanwhile helped the Utah Royals record a third successive win, playing right back for all 90 minutes of a 2-0 win over Orlando Pride.

Wood suffers first defeat

Chris Wood has suffered a first defeat of the English Premier League season after Burnley were edged out 2-1 by Arsenal in front of over 60,000 fans at the Emirates Stadium.

The All Whites striker started the match up front with partner Ashley Barnes and the pair proved a handful for the Arsenal defence, in which David Luiz was making his debut after a surprise shift from Chelsea. Wood and Barnes both created some awkward moments from set pieces and the latter equalised for Burnley before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang struck a winner in the second half.

The Clarets now have three points from their opening two matches and will be seeking their second win in travelling to Wolves this weekend.

Winston Reid is meanwhile still waiting for his first appearance and was not involved in the match day squad again as West Ham United picked up a point on the road with a 1-1 draw at Brighton and Hove Albion.

Outside the top flight, Nik Tzanev dropped out of the starting line-up for AFC Wimbledon after the return from injury of West Ham loanee Nathan Trott. Tzanev had started all three of the Dons’ matches so far but was an unused substitute as the hosts were held to a 1-1 draw by Accrington Stanley in League One.

In League Two, Clayton Lewis is yet to feature for Scunthorpe United this season and was not in the match day squad for a 2-2 draw with Crawley Town but former All White Steven Old continues to figure prominently for Morecambe.

The central defender helped keep a clean sheet in a scoreless draw with Cheltenham Town and tried to break the deadlock himself in an uninspiring first half but put his header wide from a corner.

He was on target earlier in the week in the Carabao Cup though, scoring twice with a pair of headers as Morecambe drew 2-2 with Mansfield before triumphing on penalties. Old kept his cool in the shoot-out to convert the Shrimps' final penalty before Mansfield missed their last spot kick to hand Morecambe a dramatic win.

Rojas finds the net

Marco Rojas made the most of his first 90-minute shift this season by finding the net in impressive fashion, his second goal of the campaign helping SønderjyskE to a 3-3 draw against Silkeborg in the Danish Superliga.

In a moment of trademark quality from the ‘Kiwi Messi’, Rojas pounced on a loose pass and jinked his way around a defender before rifling home an unstoppable shot into the bottom corner.

Elsewhere in Europe, Football Ferns forward Paige Satchell made her professional debut in the German top-flight, coming on as a late substitute for SC Sand in a 1-0 loss to defending champions Wolfsburg.

Over in Sweden, CJ Bott was also on the losing side, playing the entirety of a 2-1 defeat to Linköpings for Vittsjö.

Staying in Scandinavia, Betsy Hassett was on the verge of lifting some silverware for KR Reykjavík in Iceland. The Ferns midfielder and her team mates met Selfoss in a cup final and were not favoured to win but took a surprise lead early on, Hassett helping start the move by picking up a partially cleared corner and laying the ball off to a team mate.

Selfoss equalised shortly before half-time and there was no further score in the second half but Selfoss finally found a winner in extra time to break the hearts of KR, leaving Hassett to settle for a runners-up medal.

Percival misses out with Spurs

Ria Percival and her Tottenham Hotspur team mates have missed out on picking up a piece of silverware after losing a thrilling Ramon de Carranza Trophy final on penalties.

Spurs took on Athletic Bilbao in the final of the pre-season tournament in Spain and Percival played all 90 minutes of the 1-1 draw. The London outfit appeared to have done enough to claim the trophy as they headed into additional time with a one-goal lead but Athletic struck with one of the last kicks of the game to equalise and went on to win the shoot-out 5-4.

Tottenham’s FA Women’s Super League campaign is still nearly a month away from kick off but the second-tier Championship has already begun with a Kiwi making a winning start.

Football Ferns striker Katie Rood was at the heart of the action as Lewes went on the goal rampage to defeat Blackburn Rovers 5-1, hitting the bar with a first-half effort before setting up the third goal with a pull-back.

Lewes will now look to make it back-to-back wins with an away match at Charlton Athletic this weekend.

Singh on bench in opener

Sarpreet Singh is still biding his time for a competitive debut with Bayern Munich but appears to at least be in the plans of coach Niko Kovač after being included in the match day squad for the German giants’ Bundesliga opener.

The 20-year-old was an unused substitute as Bayern were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Hertha Berlin with Robert Lewandowski scoring twice for the defending champions.

Singh may now find first-team opportunities even harder to come by though as Bayern have just completed the signing of fellow midfielder Mickaël Cuisance, a French U-20 international who joins from Borussia Mönchengladbach, and Brazilian superstar Philippe Coutinho on loan from Barcelona.

The prodigiously talented Kiwi is more likely to feature for Bayern’s second string, who play in the third tier of Germany’s professional system.

Another New Zealander at Bayern Munich, Football Ferns captain Ali Riley, was also on the bench as the club opened its Frauen Bundesliga campaign with a 3-1 win against Freiburg.

Busy time for All Whites in MLS

It’s been a busy period for the Kiwi contingent in Major League Soccer (MLS) with a trio of All Whites playing two games in four days.

The first of those brought Michael Boxall up against fellow Kiwi Tommy Smith, who was making his return from injury but had nothing to celebrate from a team point of view as Boxall helped Minnesota to a 1-0 win over the Colorado Rapids.

Minnesota then took on Orlando City and salvaged a 1-1 draw after scoring a last-gasp equaliser, Boxall again lining up in the heart of defence as the Loons inched closer to a first-ever appearance in the play-offs.

Smith was also soon back on the field and likewise picked up a point as the Rapids gave up a two-goal lead to draw 2-2.

Bill Tuiloma meanwhile wasn’t included from the start for the Portland Timbers against Chicago Fire but came on shortly before half-time as an injury replacement. Portland were two goals up at the time and went on to win 3-2, Tuiloma doing enough to keep his place for the next match, which resulted in a 2-0 loss against Atlanta United.

Kirwan on move in Italy

Young All White Niko Kirwan is set for a change of scene in Italy after transferring from Reginna to fellow Serie C outfit Reggio Audace.

The 23-year-old is part of an overhaul of the Reginna squad with a host of other players also moving on but his release is somewhat of a surprise given that he featured more than any other player last season, lining up at right wing-back as the club narrowly missed out of promotion to the second tier.

His time at Reginna ended on a low note as he was sent off in what proved to be his final match.

“I want to thank the club, the fans and all the people who have been close to me this year,” he said. “I wish good luck to my teammates for the championship. A new challenge begins.”

Kirwan, the son of All Blacks legend John, is yet to make an appearance for his country but was included in the All Whites squad for a friendly against Canada in March of last year.

Young Kiwi signs for Villa

One of the biggest leagues in the world may feature another Kiwi in the coming years after young goalkeeper Jamie Searle signed a professional contract with newly-promoted English Premier League club Aston Villa.

It is a meteoric rise for Searle, who kept goal for his school team at St Peter’s Cambridge last year and has also played for Cambridge FC, Tauranga City and Melville United.

He took his first steps in senior football with Melville before earning the opportunity to trial for Aston Villa, which he made the most of with a string of impressive appearances for the club’s U-23 side in pre-season. The tall shot-stopper saved a pair of penalties in a 4-1 win at Tamworth and made several other saves that earned him man of the match.

While he is now on the right track to making his mark at Villa, he has a long road ahead of him to break into the first team as there is a lengthy list of senior goalkeepers at the club, all jostling for spots behind new signing Tom Heaton.

Article added: Friday 23 August 2019