Charlotte 13th, and 4 points off Finals playoff spot (teams 8th-9th) with 5 games left. Final 2 games are H&A against Messi's Inter Miami. Messi & Alba have missed the last 2 IM games.
Tuiloma on the pine. Edit - 3-0 win Charlotte, with BT an unused sub. He hasn't played for awhile. Charlotte may still ask him to miss the Socceroos game, as they have Inter Miami the day after, and their playoff hopes are knife edge.
A losing start to Herdman's coaching gig at Toronto.
Charlotte (13th in the East) 2 points off the playoff spots with 3 MLS games left. Those 3 games finish with a double header (H&A) against Messi's Inter Miami. The GOAT & Jordi Alba are both injured at the mo.
Unused sub in a 2-0 win. Charlotte finish the regular season H&A against Barcelona Pension Fund FC (aka Inter Miami).
Charlotte 1 point of the playoffs (with a game in hand), Miami's season is over. Messi made his injury return off the bench for Miami today. I'm sure Billy T is crossing his fingers he gets a chance to take the field against the GOAT. Would be the first ever Kiwi to do so??
Unused sub in a 2-0 win. Charlotte finish the regular season H&A against Barcelona Pension Fund FC (aka Inter Miami).
Charlotte 1 point of the playoffs (with a game in hand), Miami's season is over. Messi made his injury return off the bench for Miami today. I'm sure Billy T is crossing his fingers he gets a chance to take the field against the GOAT. Would be the first ever Kiwi to do so??
Charlotte (12th) travel to Inter Miami (14th), in a catchup fixture. Neither Tuiloma (in London) or the GOAT (in Lima with the World champs) will be playing.
Basically a must win game for Charlotte to make the playoffs. Miami's season is over. Same 2 teams meet at Charlotte on the weekend, in the last round. Sadly for Billy T, sounds like Messi will skip that match as well.
Finishes 2-2. Charlotte (12th) still chance a chance of a playoff spot (top 9 teams), as 1 point off 9th going into the last round.
They will host Inter Miami. Last round (Sunday morning NZT) all the Eastern Conference games kick off at the same time, then all the Western Conference games kick off together 3 hours later.
Big day tomorrow in the MLS. Last round regular season. All Eastern Conference games kick off at the same time. Same 3 hours later all Western Conference matches.
Tuiloma on the pine as Charlotte beat Inter Miami, 1-0 and sneak into 9th, enough for the MLS playoffs. They will travel to New York RB (8th in the East)
No GOAT for Miami. So he's still missing that career highlight of never sharing a football pitch with a Kiwi. Will have to wait until MLS 2024.
So Charlotte get thumped 5-2, and their MLS season is over. Tuiloma an unused sub.
Him & Boxy will have to stay fit for the AWs friendlies in Europe next month. They may do that in NZ, as the US winter closes in.
Both might be having a chat to the Foley Group (if it has staff in Auckland yet) over the summer. Reckon at least one of them will be a target for the new Auckland ALM team, even if they need to pay a transfer fee to either of their MLS clubs. Though I think Mikey Boxall is now off contract with Minny, who will have a new coach for the first time in their existence in 2024.
Tuiloma had 15 starts for Charlotte (34 game season), but the last one was on 16th July (3 months ago). No goals. He scored 6 in the MLS for Portland in 2022! He'll be 29 next March.
He wouldn't want to leave it too much longer. He'll be 36 next August, before Auckland team kicks a ball in the ALM.
Is his wife a Kiwi or an American? Where does he see himself living long term? There are alot of ex AWs who have made the US of A their home post football. But exciting new challenge I imagine pro football in his home town.
He wouldn't want to leave it too much longer. He'll be 36 next August, before Auckland team kicks a ball in the ALM.
Is his wife a Kiwi or an American? Where does he see himself living long term? There are alot of ex AWs who have made the US of A their home post football. But exciting new challenge I imagine pro football in his home town.
Wife kiwi. Aucklanders. I think 1 more year in states and 1 year in A-league. Bill will stick around and dig in i reckon. But will eventually end up in Auckland or Welly, more likely Auckland.
Assumptions only.
America pretty good life so retirement there would be an option. But most kiwis come home
Some good news for Billy T? Change of coach at Charlotte.
Good news for Bill Tuiloma, who was woefully misused as an attacking threat, then got moved form CB to RB, then got dropped entirely after an injury break
He hasn’t played a club game since July having been an unused sub in each of the last 6 games… hence his All Whites absence https://t.co/eOauEn7z6W
Oh & I'll stick this here. Writes a shark load of great football content Niche Cache. I'm a Patreon member. Feel free to show some support.
We need your help! The Niche Cache is struggling for funding and is running on fumes. Please consider joining the Patreon whanau or upgrading to a paid Substack subscription to keep us afloat.
From Flying Kiwis. Be interesting to see what this means for Billy T. Would be a great 1st captain for Auckland FC, if the Foley group could get him on a free.
....former Aston Villa boss Dean Smith just been hired as the new head coach at Charlotte FC where hopefully he’ll start picking Bill Tuiloma and let him take free kicks again.
Do we think he's a realistic target for Auckland? I don't keep track of him too much but I feel like he hasn't played nearly as much recently?
Was injured about mid season MLS last year, but when he came back, he barely played at all. Charlotte have a new coach, so I guess he has a window to prove himself. Would release him mid contract on a free? Maybe unlikely
