Deklan Wynne (OKC Energy) – Deklan Wynne’s OKC Energy are right on the edge of the playoff hunt and have been able to grind away results since he joined on loan from Phoenix. Wynne wasn’t getting games for the Rising, worse even than Billingsley’s situation: Wynne wasn’t even making the bench. He’d gone more than two years without a professional appearance due to a broken foot first and then falling out of favour both at the Colorado Rapids and Phoenix Rising (pando didn’t help either)... but things have been lovely at OKC.
A run of games at left back has led to some excellent performances. He’s got four assists in nine games, eight of them starts. The most recent of those assists, this past weekend in a 1-1 draw with Birmingham Legion, was a ten metre pass up the line before the dude went on a crazy run to score an incredible goal but okay we’ll take it.
Subbed off at 61 mins (score 1-0) in a 2-0 win over Indy Eleven (7th Eastern Central Conference).
OKC Energy 4th (last playoff spot) in same Conference.
On face of it, Wynne somewhat unlucky to miss out to Dalton Wilkins as LB backup in AWs to Cacace. Wilikns either injured or currently not considered good enough by his club for Danish 3rd tier football. Of course Wilkins is very well known to Hay.
The USL does play through the October FIFA window. Musa would have to be the most unlucky of the USL contingent re a non AWs callup.
Subbed on at 64 mins as OKC Energy (5th Eastern Central Conference) draw 1-1 at Austin Bold (4th Western Mountain), in USL. Score 0-0 when Wynne came on.
Unfortunately OKC conceded at 92 mins (pen) to be denied an important win. They are 5th in their Conference, 2 points off the playoff spots (top 4). Though they have played 2 games more than the teams immediately above them. They have 4 regular season matches to go.
You'd really hope Wynne would be a regular starter at this USL level. International footballer plus ex MLS, and all that. Early days I guess as he looks to restart his career, after almost 2 years not playing.
Subbed off at HT with OKC Energy (5th Eastern Central) down 4-0 to El Paso Locomotive (1st Western Mountain). One of 2 subs at HT. Score unchanged by FT.
OKC Energy 7 points off playoff spots, and now likely not in contention.
Oklahoma derby as OKC Energy (37 pts & 5th Eastern Central Conference) finish their USL season with a 2-0 loss at Tulsa (47pts & 4th).
Top 4 teams make USL playoffs, so season over for OKC.
Wynne subbed on at 69 mins (score 1-0). He made 14 match day squads over the season at OKC, with 11 starts, no goals. Also 1 bench appearance at Phoenix Rising before being loaned out. https://us.soccerway.com/players/deklan-wynne/322283/
Be interesting whether Rising keep him on, or he goes elsewhere (presumably in the USL). But his career seems to have fallen away, since signed by Hudson at Rapids, and being the starting LB against Peru back in 2017. Wonder what the guy on the other flank Kip Colvey is up to.
Good morning Deklan Wynne & welcome to Detroit! He signed with @PHXRisingFC in 2021 & was loaned out to @EnergyFC, where he made 14 appearances w/ 4 assists. The 🇿🇦 native grew up in 🇳🇿, making 15 appearances with New Zealand’s national team!
Mods can you please update Wynne's club Detroit City FC | USA
Edit - Detroit win 1-0. Full game Wynne
Had a reasonable game, got up and down the left quite well. The game was Detroit’s first home match in USL Championship after getting ‘promoted’ from NISA and had a pretty full crowd for it, in a cool little stadium (8000 capacity). You’d hope Hay was watching, because despite Cacace being daylight ahead, the backup left-back is probably fairly open.
Thought Wilkins went pretty good against PNG. Really seems Hay doesn’t rate the USL (probably rightly so) - so don’t fancy the chances of Wynne, Adams, Musa etc for future callups
Thought Wilkins went pretty good against PNG. Really seems Hay doesn’t rate the USL (probably rightly so) - so don’t rate the chances of Wynne, Adams, Musa etc for future callups
Probably true, but Nikko Boxall was a stand out vs PNG also in USL Championship, and Collier has been picked recently too. I can’t imagine that the bottom of the Danish third tier stacks up that highly against the US second tier though, and Wynne also has 40 MLS appearances and 15 AW caps.
Depth in position is relevant too, at centre back there’s Reid, Tuiloma, Boxall, Pijnaker, Smith, Boxall, all above guys like Musa/Adams/Stanger. Left-back below Cacace is less clear cut with guys like Sutton, McGarry, Wilkins, De Vries and Wynne all being solid options that you could argue a good case for and all would do well against OFC teams.
If De Vries establishes himself in Allsvenskan this year then it’s probably his spot to lose, but if Wilkins is still getting call ups whilst being in a relegation fight to avoid the Danish 4th tier, then you’d have to question it
He played the full 90 as a left wingback in a 3-4-3. Detroit were well worth their point, if not all three, they were possibly edged in the first half, but had all the play in the second. 63% possession and 14 shots to 9, with 4 on target to Memphis’ 2. Wynne had one shot from range that was well hit but straight to the keeper’s gloves.
Detroit seem to get a pretty cool little atmosphere, the capacity is 8000, so it looks full, and they have the smoke cannons go off when they score. They’ve probably exceeded their expectations tbf, they were expected to have a bit of rough introduction into USLC after ‘promotion’, so 4 games, 5 points and only 3 conceded is a decent start.
Their third of four straight home games, though their next home game is in the US Open Cup against another Michigan side who were in NISA alongside Detroit last season. That match is midweek, their next league match is on the weekend away to Atlanta II, one of the last three remaining ‘II’ sides in USLC, though they’ll go to MLS Next Pro next season.
