Is Woud better than our academy keepers? We’ve produced some good uns of late. I’m not opposed to the idea, but honestly think the standard of keeping in the A league is quite good and wonder if he’s ever had a run of form required for top 4. Bearing in mind Crocombe didn’t hold down his place at Victory and has done quite well in League One. I guess big Steff as well lost a starting spot.
Still a young kiwi keeper duel has some appeal, but I suspect we’ll miss Oli.
Is Woud better than our academy keepers? We’ve produced some good uns of late. I’m not opposed to the idea, but honestly think the standard of keeping in the A league is quite good and wonder if he’s ever had a run of form required for top 4. Bearing in mind Crocombe didn’t hold down his place at Victory and has done quite well in League One. I guess big Steff as well lost a starting spot.
Still a young kiwi keeper duel has some appeal, but I suspect we’ll miss Oli.
Crocombe is in League Two fwiw (same as Tzanev). Grimsby Town also had that quarter final FA cup run too!
Woud must have a bit of Japanese skirt, that's my only thinking as to why he went and sticking it out. Seemed such an odd move at the point in his career.
Kyoto end up losing on pen (2-2 end of ET). So not a great result out of Japan's main Cup comp at home, to a 3rd tier team.
Woud replaced 5 mins after conceding the 2nd goal, and replaced by the normal 2nd choice Japanese keeper. Maybe one of our Japanese based members can find out, whether was it an injury subsitution or not.
Kyoto actually host Fitzgerald's Niigata this weekend in J1. But at most only 1 Kiwi is likely to be involved.
So Woud does get a start. But then is subbed off (62 mins) with Kyoto 1-2 down!
Lets really hope for his sake it's an injury, otherwise pretty undignified for a keeper to be hauled off.
Currently 2-2.
wow....... at best he's injured at worst the coach blames him for shipping goals.
Replies on the tweet for his subbing off suggest a thigh injury possibly, some sort of injury anyway. Pretty rotten luck to get injured in the one time he gets a run, hopefully nothing bad.
So far Woud has sat on the bench in one J-League game and one Japanese Cup game. 23 fixtures in total and he’d only made the bench in two of them, not playing in either. Three others keepers have played ahead of him. Thus this match against a team two divisions below was the first time he’d played at all since last October.
Unfortunately they were losing after only six minutes as they gave away a penalty on the break and Woud dove the wrong way. A flicked header from a free kick tied things up on 32’ which is how it remained into the half. Then things really got tricky.
Woud did well to close down an attacker after Kataller Toyama had beaten the high line, turning the 1v1 into a corner kick – although he copped a knock in the process. That corner was diverted onto the crossbar for another close shave but then a foul in the aftermath meant a second penalty kick for the underdogs. No sweat there because this time, mate, Michael Woud saved it…
Sweet, love that. Top work. Problem was they conceded anyway on 57’ as a chip in behind the defence was lifted over Woud on the volley for 2-1. Then MW was subbed off. He’d just saved a penalty so it wasn’t like he got hooked, seemed to be an injury that he was battling through. Maybe from that earlier collision or maybe something else. But bottom line is he only lasted 62 minutes before having to be replaced by Gakuji Ota (who is the usual backup keeper).
Some kinda luck, that. First game for more than seven months and he goes off hurt. And there won’t be another Emperor’s Cup game either because although they did score in injury time to force extras, Kyoto Sanga ended up losing 10-9 on penalties. Had Woud been there, coulda been a different story. Ota saved 1/11 in the shootout. Woud saved 1/2 in normal time. Guts.
Kyoto Sanga did bounce back with a 3-1 win over Albirex Niigata but Woud was nowhere to be seen and neither was Michael Fitzgerald for Niigata, who has missed the last two games presumably also injured.
Up Next: A Michael Woud transfer would be nice tbh
Maybe Woud has a future in Japan yet. Makes the bench in this J League game. 2nd time he has made the bench in a J1 game this season, the last being in February (2nd game of the season).
0-0 at HT. Something must have happened as Yokohama have had one of their bench shown a red card.
A curious thing has happened lately... Michael Woud has begun popping up on the bench for Kyoto Sanga in J-League games. It’s still the case that his only appearance has come in the Emperor’s Cup, in which he saved a penalty but then went off injured before his team was knocked out in a shootout. He wasn’t heard of for the following fortnight... but since then he’s appeared on the bench in four straight games.
All four of those matches have involved Gakuji Ota as the starting keeper. He’s normally been the second stringer with Tomoya Wakahara the main man between the sticks. But he strained the PCL in his right knee last month so he’s going to be missing for at least a few more weeks. It’s basically that simple... although Woud’s backup stint does at least suggest he’s nudged back ahead of January signing Warner Hahn – a Dutch keeper who’s addition didn’t make much sense at the time and now looks even weirder.
