Thomas said he was staying in touch with New Zealand head coach Darren Bazeley.
“I have already spoken to him. He often texts me to ask how things are going, but I also told him that I do not need the national team at the moment, because my body cannot handle it yet.
“But if the next two months go as well as they have now, then we can see what is possible next season. I hope so, because I do miss it.
I noticed recently that Ryan's team mate Eliano Reijnders has been coming up against the Socceroos recently in AFC World Cup qualifying. He has committed to Indonesia, his mother's country. His older brother, Tijani Reijnders is a current Dutch international who plays for AC Milan but is also a Zwolle product, having briefly been a team mate of Ryan's when a teenager before leaving for Alkmaar. There are lots of Dutch with Indonesian ancestry due to Holland ruling Indonesia until the early 1950's. Only recently has the country felt relaxed enough about the colonial legacy to more actively recruit players of Dutch heritage for its national team. Plenty of leading Dutch players, including internationals, have had Indonesian ancestry: John Heitinga - Ajax Giovanni Van Bronkhorst - Feyenoord Roy Makaay - Feyenoord Michael Mols - Feyenoord Robin Van Persie - Arsenal Wilfred Bouma - Aston Villa Denny Landzaat - Wigan, AZ, Feyenoord Bobby Petta - Ipswich, Celtic, Adelaide United, Sydney FC Sonny Silooy - Ajax Simon Tahamata - Ajax, Feyenoord
Zwolle (14th) travel to Feyenoord (3rd, 59 pts). Feyenoord chasing PSV (2nd, 64 pts), for the 2nd UCL spot from the Eredivisie. Ajax (1st, 73 pts) basically have the title wrapped up.
Yipe gets the assist for the first goal in a 3-1 win. Encouragingly another full game. Balard 90 mins for Breda.
Result basically confirms Zwolle (14th) will be in the Eredivisie next season. Breda (15th) are highly likely safe, but since Garbett has been frozen out they have been slipping down the table.
Good enough for me to bring him back in to the NZ Squad. I don't think Winston did that once in his last 4 to 5 years as a pro.
agree 100%. Ideally (in my opinion only) I’d like to see him make himself available for selection, get selected for the June window but more as a “bringing him back into the team environment” not risk playing him so he goes back to zwolle fit and healthy continues doing what he’s doing there, basically being a work horse and hopefully gets signed for another season and then the next window he’s brought in and he’s fighting for starting spot.
Yes the question is when does Thomas think his body is ready for international football and the travel etc that comes with that. Quite different to the short bus trips once a fortnight in a small country like Holland
Ideally an observer role in Toronto after nearly 4 years away from the AWs. But imagine it will be the Norway and Poland games in Oct we first see him
Not much of an Assist, but it's on the scoreboard!
Yeh, after all these amazing passes from Bell, McCowatt, Payney and Sheridan too, I tuned in for the original technician of post 2010 football in NZ with an assist in the Erie Divise and…
it’s a nice enough ball down the line to a player who then goes 15-20 metres, jinks around with skill and so avoids 3 defenders and pops it in the corner!
Seems he is playing the 8 role at Zwolle. Topping their kms per game stats.
But for a fully fit AWs he'd be needed more, ahead of Bell/Rufer and Stamenic, you'd currently say.
He's playing in a better league than Bell and Rufer and getting regular mins and good stats. Could also say he's in a better league than Stam. So Really if he's fit, he should be the first choice in my mind out of that lot.
I was responding to AP's question of where on the pitch should he play for the AWs. Ahead ie in front of Stamenic and Bell/Rufer methinks.
But yes agree, he now likely goes straight into an AWs starting lineup. We all know he is a class act. He's the other NZ player I've ever heard spoken about (his first Zwolle coach back in the day), who "could one day play for Real Madrid".
All the recent reports are that he's getting back to near his previous best. It's just now hoping like christ he stays injury free, and getting him into the national team environment to learn the setup, team mates, coaching staff etc. November 2019 is an age ago.
Cross all those digits is nothing serious. This was a derby game, so maybe the tackles were flying in, and was just a precautionary thing to take him off at the break.
2 games to to finish the Eredivisie season. Zwolle safe from the drop as now is Breda. Shame, would have been funny to see them relegated after freezing Garbett out.
Edit - Zwolle play midweek in a few days. So hopefully will be an update on Thomas before that game
What a blessing to have Ryan Thomas out there starting consistent games again. He only played the first half of the 1-1 draw with Go Ahead Eagles this week but that was a tactical switch, no injury issues involved. Thomas has been assuring everyone that he feels physically better than he has in years and after eight consecutive starts, during which PEC Zwolle have only lost twice (both against teams at the top of the ladder) thus earning enough points to confirm their place in the Eredivisie for another season, there’s no reason to argue with him. Expect to see a new contract drafted up pronto now that he’s proven his worth once more.
Realistically RKC Waalwijk (GD -32, 22 pts) are doomed for the drop, with 1 game left. They won't overtake Willem II (GD -22, 25 pts). The GD gap is too large.
So Oskar will be looking for a new club. He should have plenty of suitors. 9 goals and he's played 26 of 33 games. A mostly injury free season!
PEC Zwolle and Ryan Thomas have agreed on a new contract. The 30-year-old midfielder and deputy captain of the club, has extended his expiring contract until the summer of 2027.
In the presence of his wife and daughters, the Zwolle native born in Te Puke, New Zealand signed a new commitment. Club and player had already expressed at an earlier stage that they would like to get through with each other. Thomas has already worn the shirt of PEC Zwolle 185 times, spread over two periods. This season the counter is at sixteen.
Ryan Thomas: ,,I'm doing well this season and I'm still having a great time at PEC Zwolle. At the age of 30, I am now one of the most experienced players and there is a certain responsibility that I would like to take on the team during the day. Next season I want to ask even more of myself and the team, so that we can also take the next step with PEC Zwolle.”
,,You can see that Ryan is invaluable for our selection and development of our players”, adds technical director Gerry Hamstra. ,,When Ryan was not yet competitively fit earlier this season, he was often part of the selection. And that was not for nothing. His leadership skills also came in very handy outside the field. In the meantime, we have also seen the Ryan Thomas on the field for a number of months, as we know and like to see him in Zwolle. Eager, comfortable on the ball and in everything a player who never gives up and takes the lead in the battle. We are happy that Ryan will also play in the blue and white for the next two years."
Congratulations to Zwolle and Thomas for avoiding relegation for the second Eredivisie season in a row, and especially Ryan for a great return this season after some seriously tough times. May the worst of his injuries continue to be behind him as he stays with Zwolle through to 2027, and may he be rewarded with an AWs return in June or the other upcoming international windows.
All I've read is that he has been topping the most distance covered game stats for Zwolle recently. Box to box type role? He also has high pass completion stats. Certainly proves that he's back to very near peak fitness
Thomas had started eight games in a row, several of them going the full distance, until a midweeker against Willem II. He was rested for that one in a rotated side with nothing on the line. Zwolle won 2-1. Then Thomas returned to the eleven to play 82 mins (with a yellow card) and help Zwolle beat Groningen 2-0 in the season finale thanks to goals from Younes Namli (44’) and Dylan Mbayo (68’).
With that, PEC Zwolle wrapped up their Eredivisie campaign in tenth place, their best finish since the 2017-18 season... which just so happens to have been the last year that Thomas spent with them prior to his PSV Eindhoven transfer. RT appeared in 17 games this year (9 starts) with two assists and four yellow cards. Zwolle took 13 points from the nine games that he started – giving the team a very helpful boost in production down the stretch. All is well.
Up Next: Might be a bit soon to ask about an All Whites return
He's started against Dundee Utd, come off the bench against Kaizer Chiefs, started against Dutch fourth tier club SV Tec, and started yesterday afternoon against Rayo Vallecano. https://www.sofascore.com/team/football/pec-zwolle/2971
Zwolle also had a game against FCV Dender, but the different sites I visited said it was abandoned, postponed, cancelled.
They have one more game against Portsmouth before the new Eredivisie season starts.
Best football news of the weekend to date. Was dreading yet another pre season injury setback. Touch wood he'll be good to go for the All Whites in October. So a long awaited recall after a near 6 year absence.