Has to be making a very strong case for an All Whites recall.
His club coach agrees with you.
NZ Football also put up the MOTM post on their Twitter. They don't always do that with Kiwis overseas, so the social media person may have got a heads up from Baze of a recall in the upcoming window.
Andre de Jong has scored four goals in eight games this season, starting every week for a club playing continental footy, his coach is here raving about his technical and link-up play... he should absolutely be in contention for the next All Whites camp #FlyingKiwishttps://t.co/1vKevE1rMi
I think it’s hard for a coach to decide how to use him in a 442 or a 433, because he doesn’t easily slip into the available positions.
For example last time he came in it was for a very specific plan, which almost worked, which was to crumb off Wood in a front 2. Wood dragged defenders and gave him knock downs.
He doesn’t lead the line on his own and he doesn’t stay wide like a conventional winger. Or at least if he comes in he scores which we want if we’re picking him. Which then possibly becomes a problem for the defensive shape, perhaps.
But of all our forwards, outside the big man, he’s playing and racking up goal contributions and this last one was a worldie. And we’re short on goal scorers. I think Kosta has had a good A league season, but probably still lacks a bit at international level. Though might be better than Mata or Waine currently.
Anyway pressures on.
Edit: that is a glowing recommendation from his coach! Him and Collier are both big guys who are technically good and like the ball at their feet. Something a bit different to what we have currently.
Who knows if he'd actually scored against the Socceroos at Suncorp in 2022 (when yes part of a front 2), after a Wood knock down, rather than shooting just wide of the post - he may have been in the AWs ever since.
Though to be fair it's only been the last odd 9 months at Stellenbosch, that he's been consistently very good. From the 2nd half of the last PSL season. He'd been there almost 12 months before that (arrived Feb 2023). Yes Stellies are performing well as a team, in a setup than obviously suits ADJ. No guarantee that would transfer straight into the AWs after only 3-4 trainings, and years away.
I think it’s hard for a coach to decide how to use him in a 442 or a 433, because he doesn’t easily slip into the available positions.
For example last time he came in it was for a very specific plan, which almost worked, which was to crumb off Wood in a front 2. Wood dragged defenders and gave him knock downs.
He doesn’t lead the line on his own and he doesn’t stay wide like a conventional winger. Or at least if he comes in he scores which we want if we’re picking him. Which then possibly becomes a problem for the defensive shape, perhaps.
But of all our forwards, outside the big man, he’s playing and racking up goal contributions and this last one was a worldie. And we’re short on goal scorers. I think Kosta has had a good A league season, but probably still lacks a bit at international level. Though might be better than Mata or Waine currently.
Anyway pressures on.
Edit: that is a glowing recommendation from his coach! Him and Collier are both big guys who are technically good and like the ball at their feet. Something a bit different to what we have currently.
Please not Collier. He needs to preform at a better level to even be in contention. Our options behind wood are...
Someone go tell Fred he's not really Andre's dad, it's some Korean bloke!
Ironically our real Korean with a Kiwi connection, Ho-Jae Lee would probably be 2nd only to Wood on that list. 9 goals in 27 K League games for Pohang Steelers. Pohang 5th in the K League with 2 games left, also in the Korea Cup final and AFC Champions League Elite.
Agree about Collier though. If you want to play for the AWs you can't be a bench player for a middling USL team. Dyer who is on a hot scoring run in Canada I'd have before EC. Neither made Piney's top 50 list. Greive did
I wonder if de Jong should be considered just as a striker. Would you have him or Just on current form? Another interesting question would be him or Sarpreet. On current form, not on potential.
I think he’s got to be considered as part of the front 5 or our attacking unit- strikers, midfielders and wingers- not just as a 9.
Yeh, sure Collier’s not in the picture. Just a similar build of attacking player to de Jong. And maybe Dyer’s recent run has come too late and probably the league is even weaker than the LoI.
I wonder if de Jong should be considered just as a striker. Would you have him or Just on current form? Another interesting question would be him or Sarpreet. On current form, not on potential.
I think he’s got to be considered as part of the front 5 or our attacking unit- strikers, midfielders and wingers- not just as a 9.
Yeh, sure Collier’s not in the picture. Just a similar build of attacking player to de Jong. And maybe Dyer’s recent run has come too late and probably the league is even weaker than the LoI.
Singh is one of our top 5 players. He needs to sort his club career out but he performs in a white shirt.
That is exactly how Bazeley is going to see it. There are many examples of national team coaches playing a player who is on the bench for his overseas team but delivers in their national teams. He could select Singh to give him a boost in the short-term knowing that in the long- run it will pay off.
Adj is not a no.9, his stats are just not there to lead the attack. At Stellenbosch he has the freedom to roam between the midfield and join the attack on occasion. His best position is just behind Wood. What has also helped Adj is that at Stellenbosch he plays with Jayden Adams( he is the player who back heeled the ball for Adj in the video). At 23 year old the Bafana Bafana midfielder leads the PSL in chance creations. Stellenbosch did everything to keep him while letting go (selling)of about half the team last year. He has been a major asset to Adj rise
Next the 8 Cup final in neutral Durban verus Orlando Pirates.
Pirates have started the PSL season with 3 wins from 3, and Stellies will be underdogs but they upset Sundowns in their 2 legged semi, which will give them confidence.
It is really such a shame how injuries have limited Thomas and Singh in the NZ national team - both are game changers with skills that most of our players just plain don't posess.
I wonder if his belter and that interview actually came after the players had been notified for the squad? With the consistency of players you think there might be regular contact and maybe part of the form came too late to affect this window.
Just playing devils advocate on Singh. I can’t remember a bad game he’s played for the AWs, but equally he hasn’t scored or assisted for a while either and he hasn’t been playing football.
Good write up on ADJ in this week's Niche Cache Flying Kiwis. Get the feeling he's one of those guys, who needs the right team setup and coach to shine. Definitely not a pure striker, or an out & out ten.
And not likely to ever get that chance with the AWs with better players like Singh, MacCowatt and likely Just, Rojas ahead of him. But got to be in the reckoning for a squad spot if he keeps up this form. Be interesting to see how he would go in the ALM. From memory he trialled at the Nix a few years back - when Rudan was the coach?? - after doing in the NSW NPL with APIA Leichhardt
In other news, Andre de Jong is continuing his remarkable start to the South African season...
It’s spectacular what he’s doing, having worked his way into being a first eleven player, starting basically every game as the second striker/number ten, and contributing goals to vindicate that status. The spectacular aspect comes from how rarely he’d gotten anywhere near this level of potency throughout his time in South Africa previously.
Injuries and a lack of opportunities have been huge contributing factors but he never scored a goal in 34 appearances across all competitions for AmaZulu (he did get a few assists, to be fair). At Royal AM he started well but then faded out of the picture - 3 goals in 13 games for that club. But for the Stellies he’s been awesome from day one (12 goals and 6 assists in 54 games, mostly as an attacking midfielder).
Last season it was all about his cup goals but this year he’s got goals for every occasion. This latest goal came in his club’s second PSL match of the term against Cape Town City in the local derby. The Stellies won 3-0 with ADJ’s long-range strike being the goal that got them going. It swerved and knuckled and ended up going in down the middle of the goal with the keeper completely bamboozled. Super hit. Add that onto the goal he scored in the MTN8 a few weeks back and the two he scored in CAF Confederation Cup preliminaries. Eight games into the season and he’d already got four goals and an assist, having scored in three different competitions.
And it also led to some extremely glowing words of praise from his manager...
"Andre for me is a very underrated footballer for many years!"⚡️⚡️ Barker on Stellies forward, Andre De Jong 💥 pic.twitter.com/YpqRgfRGc0
The amount of times that club coaches put up friction around their players being selected for national teams, it’s refreshing to see one openly trying to start a dialogue for ADJ. A dialogue which is 100% deserved upon current form. ADJ’s most recent All Whites cap was against Australia in September 2022 and there’s no doubt he’s a much-improved (and more confident) footballer since then. He didn’t make the cut for the October window but there’s another squad to come in November so we’ll see.
ADJ didn’t then get a goal on the weekend, sadly... but he did play another 84 decent minutes in a 1-1 draw away against Polokwane City. Not a lot of chances for either team, however the Stellies may still feel they should have won that. This result makes it a win, a draw, and a loss to begin the new season. Could be better but still pretty good considering they’ve been competing in a bunch of different competitions all at once. Case and point, their next game is the final of the MTN8 Knockout where they’ll seek to add only the second-ever major trophy to the club’s cabinet following on from their Carling Knockout victory last season (there’s also a second division title in there from a couple years earlier but that’s not the same).
Up Next: Time to try add another trophy to the haul as Stellies face Orlando Pirates in the MTN8 final on Sunday at 5am (NZT)
How good is this league? Comparable to the a league maybe? I remember brockie did well there.
Maybe not that good in Darren Bazeley's eyes. Saffa has posted on here in the past that the PSL is better quality, than we likely think it is. Players scouted by the MLS & the European clubs.
The South African national team (Bafana Bafana) who made the semis of the last AFCON (lost on pens to Nigeria), was an almost entirely made up of local PSL players. A small number of overseas based players. The team was built strongly around Mamelodi Sundowns who have been the dominant side in the PSL for years now. They have won the last 7 PSL titles, and 9 of the last 11.
Sundowns are also a force in the African club scene, and won the CAF Champions League won in 2016. They are regular semi or quarter finalists. The winner gets $USD4M, so it's a highly sought after title. Sundowns are one of the few sub Saharan clubs that challenges the big Moroccan, Tunisian, Algerian & Egyptian clubs.
But in a Sth African context Sundowns are a stacked side, buying up the best other talent from the PSL. And that old chestnut of sometimes maybe doing it to weaken their rivals, as much as make them a stronger outfit. Certainly that's basically what happened with Brockie, aka 'The Sniper' when he was on fire at SuperSport. Then taking the big Rand offer to move to Sundowns, he was a bit of a flop there, and his career just pettered out to him doing nothing there. Good for his bank balance though.
ADJ likely needs to get to Europe or Auckland FC to really push his AWs case. But then is always the risk any new team is not the right fit for him, and at 28 (next January) he sort of restarts his career all over again. In Barker & Stellenbosch he does seem to have the right coach and club, and maybe he's being paid well, with the club now in a CAF competition with bonuses etc for qualification??
Steve Barker I think is a pretty well respected coach, and is the nephew of former South African coach Clive Barker, who lead Bafana Bafana to their only AFCON title in 1996. Year after South Africa hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup, so for a couple of years, SA was on a sporting high.
How good is this league? Comparable to the a league maybe? I remember brockie did well there.
Boxall got a move to Minnasota. Got into the first eleven immediately and is now captain.
Bearing in mind he had MLS respect and contacts from his Toronto (?) stint. But before Andre the two players who’d played in the league were stand out All Whites.
I was kinda hinting that if he’s on form he might be a more confident attacker, wherever you play him, than some who’ve had injuries, a lack of game time and few goals. Or than guys in preseason.
Not a line taken by Baze yet. But also no Singh or McCowatt, so Just, Rogerson and Old must be considered the playmakers? The first two must be lucky to be there, tbh.
Yes Boxy had played in the MLS (with Vancouver) prior Minnesota. Others with links to NZ - Micah Lea'alafa, Emilano Tade and Dan Morgan have all also played in the PSL.
Yes Boxy had played in the MLS (with Vancouver) prior Minnesota. Others with links to NZ - Micah Lea'alafa, Emilano Tade and Dan Morgan have all also played in the PSL.
Former TW strikers Sam Mason-Smith and Joao Moreira have also played for Stellenbosch and Lamontville Golden Arrows respectively. However, Mason-Smith never played in the league itself, instead making a couple of appearances in the Nedbank Cup.
Sam Mason-Smith played fir Stellenbosch in the 1st Division before they got promoted to Premier League. He struggled to adapt because the style of play was very different Emilano Tade what a player. If he came to the PSL earlier in his career there is no doubt he could have made it to Europe.
In addition to Barbarouses and Rogerson, there are plenty of contenders who could make Bazeley pay attention if they first get on the field, then deliver, with Joey Champness, Liam Gillion, Max Mata and Jesse Randall all trying to become beneficiaries of Auckland's arrival, and Oskar van Hattum looking to grow at the Phoenix.
One player who has already done that, even if he didn't make the cut this time, is Andre de Jong, who has scored four goals across three competitions early in the new South African season with Stellenbosch. "He's definitely in the conversation," Bazeley said. "All Andre can do is keep doing his job."
Unlike most Sth African club football, a big big loud crowd. This the most prestigous Cup comp in SA?
Early on big man ADJ nods down a long throw, and his team mate with the spectacular bicycle kick to put Stellies 1-0 up.
Pirates goal to go up 2-1 post 90 mins seemed highly contentious. End to end action, just 8 mins highlights but to me the standard seemed high. These were 2 of the top 3-4 teams in the PSL.
The most prestigious Cup in SA? No. The MTN Top 8 Cup tournament is the traditional start to the South African season. Contested by the top 8 clubs who finished in the league the previous season. Design to give every team in the league table something to fight for till the very end of the season. Top teams fight for the league and Continental competitions. Teams in the middle of the table fight for Top8 qualification and the bottom ranked teams fight against relegation. Interesting the UEFA Conferations Cup was created for the same reason. Did they look at the PSL for inspiration? I'm sure of it. The most prestigious Cup competition in SA football is Nedbank Cup which is contested between all PSL and 1st Division clubs. Winner qualifies for Caf Confederations Cup.
Because the MTN Top8 Cup is contested in the beginning of the season, the quality is not the highest. So yes, it definitely gets better.
The 2nd goal was an absolute shocker from the ref who was doing so well up to this point. But Stellies has to be a lot more street smart. The defenders always have to be awake for such stuff
After 3/4 games in the League the PSL starts a new cup competition:) Money talks. Adj Stellenbosch (Cup holders) go up against his former club Amazulu.
FT score: 1 - 1 Adj played the full game and provides the assist.
ET 2 - 1 Adj goal
That's 5 goals and 2 assist in 12 games for the Kiwi. He actually scored a 3rd goal but the linemen waved offside. Terrible decision. VaR will arrive only next season in the PSL. His in his final year of his contract and Stellenbosch is going to be desperate to keep him. If he continues with these stats, never mind Bazeley, Europe will call.
Adj then gets robbed a 2nd time in one night.... MOTM given to his goal scoring colleague. $NZ9000 hole in his pocket
So yeah de Jong the assist for Stellenbosch's first, and then the 97th winning goal himself as Stellies win their league Cup tie against AmaZulu, 2-1 in ET.
More Andre de Jong goodness in South Africa
Here he is setting up one goal and then scoring an extra time winner (against one of his old clubs) as Stellenbosch began their Carling Knockout Cup defence with a victory 🤙#FlyingKiwispic.twitter.com/KvwrRHnyna
With this goal, ADJ has already scored in four separate competitions this season. Two goals in four Confederation Cup games. One goal in three PSL games. One goal and two assists in four MTN8 games. Now a goal and an assist in one Carling Knockout game. He’s in tremendous form. Last month his coach was banging on the drum for ADJ to get an All Whites recall. It didn’t happen then but there are games coming up in November and Steve Barker certainly has not stopped with that tune...
Steve Barker: “I think he is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated footballers in the country. Just like you say, simplicity at its best. He’s got a good first touch, controls the ball, and links plays for us from defence to attack. He’s a smart footballer, he’s aerially good for us and in scoring goals, he’s become a key player. I’m also hoping that he gets himself back into the New Zealand national team. I think he deserves it. He’s shown consistency in the last 18 months. He’s a valuable asset, I like him because he’s a smart footballer and tactically very disciplined. Hopefully that can continue.”
When does his contract expire? I honestly wouldn't mind him in a Nix shirt. From what I've seen of him in various highlights, he seems fairly handy with the ball, can play out wide but also as a proper CF. Sounds exactly like what we need....
Currently in his 3rd year of this contract. I believe it's his last year. He is not fast enough for the wing. At Stellenbosch he is a free roaming midfielder(primarily behind a striker). If he maintains this hot run, I strongly believe a European club will be in for him. At 27 it's his last chance to make a go of it. Think one of the Scandinavian leagues. Stellenbosch will not want to release him in January because Adj natural successor at the club was sold to an Austrain 2nd division club in the off season.