This week's Flying Kiwis.
"Chuck another two years on this contract too. Michael Boxall extending with Minnesota United and very much feeling the love. Boxy’s emerged as probably the team’s most reliable defender and you could see how much he meant to the team by the sneaky way the coach tried to keep him out of the Olympic squad (though ultimately he didn’t recover from injury until after the tournament so it didn’t matter in the larger scheme of things).
Since signing with the then-expansion team in 2017, nobody has played more games for the Loons than Michael Boxall. He marked his 100th app earlier in the year. By the time he completes this new contract he may even be within range of Simon Elliott’s NZ record of 247 MLS appearances (220 in the regular season). And shout out to his daughter for allowing it to happen...
Michael Boxall: “Very happy to commit the next couple of years here — I’ve really enjoyed my time here. I’m delighted that [my daughter] Maxwell has given me permission to stay here for a couple more years. Already the family makes so many sacrifices with my schedule and moving countries once or twice before, so now that the little ones are in school, with a good circle of friends, I want to affect them as little as possible. Happy to be setting deeper roots here for a couple more years.”
MNUFC Head Coach Adrian Heath: “Fully deserved, really pleased for Michael. I was asked about Boxy the other week for an article and they asked me what is the best about him – consummate professional, great teammate, consistent, know what you’re getting and if every manager had plenty of Boxys in their club, they would be very, very happy. Delighted that he’s got a contract that he fully deserves. He’s earned his reward of a new deal.”