From this week's Flying Kiwis.
"Andre De Jong started a game! It’s been a weird old experience for him in South Africa, he started alright in late-2019 but then he broke his foot on All Whites duty and honestly just hasn’t had much of a look in since. It’d been rumoured since the start of 2021 that he was going to be released as this suddenly overachieving squad culled some of its more extraneous talent... but ADJ is still hanging around all the same – in fact he’s outlasted Dan Morgan and Myer Bevan at their PSL clubs (Jeremy Brockie too, going back a lil further).
And with a rotated cast in the final league game, nothing else to play for, he was given his first AmaZulu appearance since October and just the second of his season. He was also been named on the bench the previous game (unused sub), his first matchday squad feature for six months.
Dan Morgan, by the way, was on the bench for Martizburg seeing as he’s leaving the club and everything. He’d play the final seventeen minutes of the thing coming on for Daylon Claasen who’d already been booked. De Jong was replaced in the 69th minute so they didn’t quite overlap on the pitch... and by the time Morgz got out there both teams were pretty happy with a draw, the game kinda petering out. A point was all that Maritzburg needed to avoid the drop.
But before that there were some quality ADJ moments. He might even be a little pissed he didn’t emerge with a goal to his name. Twenty minute in he tried to get through on the keeper but the keeper got out quickly to shut him down and on 54 mins he showed some clever off-the-ball movement after a bit of skill out wide to work a crack at goal but although he struck it very well there was a killer save to deny him. A pity because he’d looked desperate to prove himself. Plenty of energy and determination and all that. Probably still gonna be released now that the season’s come to a close, at least that’s the impression in the local media... but good to see him give the scouts something to peek at.
Up Next: He and Dan Morgan can team up as a package deal if they want, maybe"