Ben Cacace

Central Defender - Team Wellington U18
31 Dec 2028
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Marked for Ben Cacace

125 Edition

The Team Wellington Gazette

18 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Market18 Dec 2028

Ben Cacace puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Team Wellington, and it is not being withdrawn.

Player ratings18 Dec 2028

No sign of nerves from Michael Van Hattum at 17 — 7.86

The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Michael Van Hattum did not need any: 7.86, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

The dugout18 Dec 2028

Clayton Payne: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Team Wellington have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market18 Dec 2028

Epeli Vunibola is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Team Wellington is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad18 Dec 2028

Words exchanged at Team Wellington

Walter Scott and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Match16 Dec 2028

Willem Ebbinge among the goals in a wild afternoon

6 goals in one match, Willem Ebbinge on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Team Wellington and Auckland City.

Match16 Dec 2028

Team Wellington come up short against Auckland City

Auckland City left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad18 Dec 2028

Steven Lustica falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Player ratings18 Dec 2028

Willem Ebbinge was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.14. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout When it matters, Willem Ebbinge plays
  • Squad Beaten 4 times: a bad day for Matthew Acton
Back issues
105 Edition

The Team Wellington Gazette

31 Jul 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Match31 Jul 2028

Team Wellington up to position 2

22 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Squad31 Jul 2028

Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Market31 Jul 2028

Epeli Vunibola is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Team Wellington is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad31 Jul 2028

Tempers go at Team Wellington

Steven Lustica was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad31 Jul 2028

Willem Ebbinge has improved at 27, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

The dugout31 Jul 2028

Matthew Acton gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Matthew Acton is on it.

In brief

97 Edition

The Team Wellington Gazette

5 Jun 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Match5 Jun 2028

Team Wellington refuse to drop out of the race

Position 2, 22 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.

Market5 Jun 2028

Epeli Vunibola hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Team Wellington can pretend not to have heard.

Squad5 Jun 2028

Matthew Acton signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matthew Acton and Team Wellington agree another 2 years.

Squad5 Jun 2028

Tempers go at Team Wellington

Walter Scott was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad5 Jun 2028

Ben Waine is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 14 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad5 Jun 2028

Late improvement for Ruon Tongyik

At 31 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Market5 Jun 2028

Callum Payne steps up from the Team Wellington academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Callum Payne has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market5 Jun 2028

One of our own: Deklan Just joins the Team Wellington first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Deklan Just is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market5 Jun 2028

Team Wellington promote Clayton Reid from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Clayton Reid has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

In brief