From this week's Flying Kiwis, some more glowing assessments of Boxall from team mates and elsewhere.
Definitely overtaken Smith as Reid's CB partner for a full strength AWs team. That's if he isn't moved to RB.
Brent Kallman on the main man Boxy: “He’s a machine. I mean the guy never gets hurt … I was seeing him holding his leg there and for a second I was like ‘What? This isn’t supposed to happen. This can’t happen!’ But he’s just a guy that … he’s always gotten better. And that’s something that I’ve tried to do in my career, I feel like I’m still improving at, you know I just turned 30, and Boxy is the same way, but even more so. Ever since he’s got to the club, he has continually gotten better. Month after month after month … and it’s just showing off this year. He’s in great form, he’s super well-rounded. He gives the team a ton and his availability is massive. I mean, he’s available to play in this tight schedule, we play games midweek, weekend, midweek and he’s healthy to go … and not everyone can do that. It’s a special gift that he has, so he’s massive for the group.”
It ain’t only his teammates who love him either. The club have included Boxall as one of their two nominees for the MLS MVP award for 2020 (along with Kevin Molino – amongst 46 total nominees on the longlist). He’s not gonna win that one but perhaps there’s an outside chance he goes a bit further in the Defender of the Year stakes for which he’s also on the longlist. Winston Reid is on that DOY longlist too despite only playing part of the season. The voting for these awards is done by MLS players, clubs, and select media members and voting lasts for another week.
And the nominees are...\uD83E\uDD41\uD83E\uDD41\uD83E\uDD41