Nikko Boxall (brother of Michael) now at SVN 1929 Zweibrucken, in the German Regionalliga Sudwest (4th Tier). His first game for them should be 28th Feb, their first game following the winter break.
Nikko Boxall (Unattached FC)
Interesting move... 4th tier of German football.
I wonder the motives were for that... is he giving a pro career a real go and thinks to do this he has to start at the bottom or is he using more as a base to travel from and maybe get paid a little?
Nikko played the full 90 in a 1-0 away loss to Waldhof Mannheim.
Having been promoted last season, his team are struggling, sitting 2nd from bottom. Hopefully Nikko can improve their defence and help them stay up, however their main problem seems to be scoring goals - they've only scored 15 from 21 games.
Another full 90 in another 0-1 loss, this time to 3rd placed FC Saarbrucken. His arrival seems to have helped them stop conceding as many, but they're still struggling to score.
Full 90 in a big 5-0 loss to top of the table Kickers Offenbach.
Zweibrucken have lost eight on the trot in the Sudwest Regionaliga and inclusive of a regional cup tie (a 1-0 loss to Oberliga club TuS Mechtersheim) have lost their past nine matches, scoring only once, in the first match of their losing sequence, some 802 minutes ago.
Oh dear...
Since Nikko joined, Zweibrucken have lost 8 games in a row, conceding 20 goals and scoring 1, which came in their latest game, a 2-1 loss to fellow strugglers TuS Koblenz, their first goal since 8th Nov last year! As far as I can tell, Boxall has played 90mins in each of these games. An overall 11 league games lost in a row since their last victory on 1st November 2014, and scoring only 2 goals in all those matches.
Unsurprisingly they are now firmly bottom of the league and with only 6 games remaining there's very little chance they'll avoid relegation.
Last 3 games they have lost 5-0, 4-0 and 5-0.
With 2 games left they are bottom of the league and can't avoid relegation. Will be interesting to see where Nikko goes from here...
I wonder if his brother could set up a trial for him in South Africa, in the 3rd division or maybe for the Super Sport reserves...
I don't see the point in staying in such a weak team, maybe it would be better for him to just return to NZ
Excited to have signed in Finland for Vps! Ready for this next challenge in the #Veikkausliiga https://t.co/u9Je8eo5dZ
— Nikko Boxall (@BoxallN) August 13, 2015
Good luck to him! Nice to see another kiwi progressing in the European leagues.
one of James' old clubs iirc
one of James' old clubs iirc
He was at Tampere and KuPS, and now Ekenas IF.
Played a couple of games now for new club VPS.
Full 90 in a 3-1 debut loss to SJK, and played another full 90 in a 3-1 victory over FC Lahti.
VPS currently taking up the bottom of the Veikkausliiga - 4 points adrift of 11th place with a game in hand. 10 games left in the season to avoid the drop. He'll definitely be keen on doing all he can after a rough introduction with Zweibrucken in the German Regionalliga.
Full 90 in a 3-0 away win over HIFK, which lifts them off the bottom of the table on goal difference, and out of the automatic relegation spot. With most of their remaining games against teams close to them on the table there's a good chance they'll finish well clear of the relegation spots. Since Nikko joined, the team is in good form, having won 3 and drawn one out of their last 5 games.
Just going to put this out there.
This guy would be a better selection for the AW's than some of our more recent 'selections'....No?
Also playing later on tonight against fellow relegation contenders Jaro.
Just going to put this out there.
This guy would be a better selection for the AW's than some of our more recent 'selections'....No?
Also playing later on tonight against fellow relegation contenders Jaro.
Yeah he would be but it seems Hudson is adverse to playing professional footballers or players actually playing at a (half) decent level.
Another win for VPS overnight, and another full 90 for Boxall in a 2-1 victory over Jaro.
That result takes VPS above the relegation playoff spot at Jaro's expense.
Played the full 90 in a 2-1 loss to HJK.
This puts them back into the relegation play-off spot 2 points from safety with a game in hand on the team above.
what position is he?
Full 90 in today's 3-1 win at FC Ilves. Playing as a DM... (Shirt 27)
That result lifts VPS to 10th, 1 point clear of the relegation playoff spot with 2 games left. Next game on Monday for them is the cruncher, against the team directly below, KTP. Win that and VPS are safe.
Another full 90 for Nikko, in a 1-1 draw with KTP. That results leaves VPS(10th) still 1 point clear of KTP(11th) who occupy the relegation playoff spot, with 1 game left in the season. FF Jaro (12th) can't get any higher than 11th and have no influence on where VPS finish.
VPS are away to IFK Mariehamn(6th), whilst KTP are away to FC Ilves(9th). It's probably fair to say Boxall's team has the harder assignment, although KTP must win to have any chance of moving up a place as VPS has a superior goal difference. A draw would keep KTP in 11th and avoid the automatic relegation spot.
Despite losing 2-0 away to Kris Bright's former club Mariehamn, VPS avoid the relegation play-off position, finishing in 10th place on the 12 team table.
Full 90 minutes for Nikko.
http://fr.soccerway.com/matches/2015/10/25/finland...
Final table:
http://fr.soccerway.com/national/finland/veikkausl...
Despite finishing third-to-bottom, VPS had the second highest goalscorer in the league (one off first place on 16 goals), J. Mäkelä, the former Finland international and Sydney FC and Hearts striker.
Good to see he's avoided relegation for a second straight season with his second club side.
From memory VPS were dead last when he arrived at the club (about 20 matches or thereabouts into the season) and it's fair to say that in the 12 games he was involved in - 5 Wins, 2 Draws, 5 Losses, from where they were - VPS actually had a decent turn around in form.
Looking forward to a good solid European career from this fella.
Just as an aside, I checked up on Boxall's former German club SVN Zweibrucken in the Rheinland-Pfalzsaar Oberliga to see how they were going this season.
Let's just say you don't have to look at the table in any great depth to see that they are absolute sharke!
Haven't had much to report on for Nikko recently, but he has played all 5 League Cup matches for Vaasan Palloseura (VPS) in order to warm up for the new Veikkausliiga season in just over a month.
Hoping this guy at least comes up on the AW's radar in future, seems he's getting more game time and is always appearing on the teamsheet despite being relatively inexperienced in first team football.
Also his former club SVN Zweibrucken seems to have gone into liquidation, hardly surprising given their season thus far, and the club having announced they would stop paying players in October/November last year.
19 games, 1 Win, 0 Draws, 18 Losses.
Scored 7, Conceded 74.....
Veikkausliiga season, has started with Boxall junior starting both games VPS have played to date (win & loss).
On Hudson's radar for PNG?
Hudson must have been raped and pillaged by a Viking in a previous life he refuses to rate or pick players from those leagues. Not even good enough to warrant a pin in his wall chart.
Does anyone know the standards of the Finnish & Norwegian leagues?
I have feeling they are no better then Aussie State leagues and while the Danish and Swedish top flight is decent, I get the feeling that the lower divisions are not much better then England's National League (Conference) based on the footage I've seen and what I've seen with my own eyes of that division this season as well as Leagues 1 & 2.
This is quite possibly the opinion that Hudson has too.
Does anyone know the standards of the Finnish & Norwegian leagues?
I have feeling they are no better then Aussie State leagues and while the Danish and Swedish top flight is decent, I get the feeling that the lower divisions are not much better then England's National League (Conference) based on the footage I've seen and what I've seen with my own eyes of that division this season as well as Leagues 1 & 2.
This is quite possibly the opinion that Hudson has too.
Must admit that the game video that Widdlebutt, put up of Boxall's VPS team playing back in October 2015 - is 9 minutes of very tough viewing. Seemingly not a great standard.
Finish league lags behind Sweden, Denmark, Norway imo. However it is still fully professional which makes a bit of a difference and some of the better players are of a good standard. Mike Havenaar the whitest Japanese international you will ever meet played in the league a few months ago and he has played La liga e.tc. At the end of the day its always going to be better than an armature comp where the boys have 9-5 jobs and it is a pretty solid shop window for the rest of Europe. He certainly deserves a squad spot especially given the withdrawls
Nikko Boxall playing a lot for VPS, featuring in 20 of the teams 23 Finnish top flight matches so far. VPS currently 4th in the league.....why not give Nikko a lash in the matches vs Mexico and Murica? It's not as if we're flush with defensive midfielders (which Transfermarkt says he is)
Played this morning in 1-1 draw against KuPS. Transfermarkt says he's been playing all over the field - 8 matches RB, 7 matches CB, 4 at LB, 3 at DM.
Must be doing ok as VPS doing well for a team that struggled last season
Scored his first goal for VPS against SJK in a 2-1 defeat last Thursday.Just for good measure, picked up a yellow card too.
Has played 24 of 28 matches for VPS in the Veikkausliiga, with only another five games left for him in the season.
So If we're now over the process of selecting questionable players from the likes of Onehunga Sports, then he could, and should be worth a look for the coming AW's squad against Mexico and the USA.
Is VPS in the first or second division
Top division, currently 7 points out of a European spot with 5 games to go.