Australia's quest to qualify for the World Cup completely overshadowed the A-League this week, which featured few shining performances and little of outstanding merit.
Kazuyoshi Miura's appearance in a Sydney FC shirt came quite late in the second half, much to the chagrin of his fans and personal media crew, and he made little impact against the organised Roar defence. Unfortunately, Roar sweeper Chad Gibson's misdirected attempt at clearing Sydney striker David Zdrilic's meek cross-shot on goal proved very costly indeed. The Queenslander's are in quite an offensive rut about which Alex Brosque can do very little when he continue to be outmuscled in a striker role that his flying style doesn't very well suit.
Adelaide's stunning come-from-behind victory rubbed salt deep into the substantial wounds of the Central Coast Mariners. Starting the year so impressively by winning the (still nameless?) pre-season cup, injuries and suspension have derailed the campaign of Gosford's only professional sporting club competing in a nationwide tournament. Judging from current form and fortune, they'd do well to finish above the New Zealand Knights. Meanwhile, Adelaide continue to snatch three points from unusual situations. They won in the wet in Auckland and now with two goals in the remaining few minutes they've pulled off the most thrilling and satisfying reversal of the season. Some results like this indicate a good team, others think their luck is bound to run out at a critical point in the future. But I think we can say with some certainty now that Adelaide is (a) the surprise packet of the inaugural A-League season, and (b) almost certain to figure in the top four finals series.
Of the Knights, what else can one say? Perth Glory didn't have to exert itself too much in what may as well have been a walkover. Next week the Knights take on Adelaide and I'm going to do something I haven't bothered with since week one (because I suck) and that's make a prediction: a five or six goal win for the Reds is the final blow as Knights manager John Adshead decides to give someone else a shot at motivating his charges. This may not actually involve him stepping down, but rather allowing someone else to become more involved with taking charge of the team during training and/or matches. For once I kind of believe all the rhetoric about Adshead's job safety, at least until the December break.
Finally, Melbourne and Newcastle battled out a fairly exciting 0-0 draw, probably making Queenslanders happier about their lack of potency up front. For Melbourne, Rickey Diaco showed some class, but couldn't finish, and Daniel Piorkowski gave the gaffer yet another youthful option at the back. On days like this, Victory fans should probably remember that operations manager Gary Cole and head coach Ernie Merrick still have an ace up their sleeve in the form of one more available spot on the roster. It's incredible that they haven't felt the pinch in terms of depth, as have the Mariners and just about everyone else at particular moments in the season. What's more, Melbourne's bench has proven very useful, and they still have top players like Chris Tadrosse lurking about with intent. If they manage to sign a gun midfielder in the transfer window (wouldn't we love to see Paul Okon back in Australia?) then you'd have to think them likely champions this year or next. Wouldn't you? As for Newcastle, they remain something of an enigma. Superb when banging the goals in, they are suspect when under the pressure applied by the league's top sides. The Carle-Milicic combination is without a doubt the most vibrant and value-for-money going around, but something is amiss within this squad and I just can't quite put my finger on what it is. The gut feeling is that Sydney may well be the unfair target of the arrogance label, since between the aforementioned dynamic duo, Ned 'Call Me The Saviour' Zelic, Richard 'In Ya Face' Johnson, Liam 'My Haircut Is Ace' Reddy, Stuart 'That's Right, I'm a Bad Boy' Musialik and the rest (maybe not Jade North), it's a quality the Jets seem to have in spades.
The league table has finally started to show signs of substantive splintering, with Adelaide and Sydney looking the goods, Perth, Newcastle, Melbourne and Queensland duking it out for third and fourth, while the weakest teams in terms of numerical support, the slipping Mariners and the farcical Knights, are left to face their demons. Doubts must also be expressed about Queensland's capacity to really threaten the teams above when goals are so scarce. There's still nine rounds to go, and anything can happen, but at this point luck rather than form may be required to positvely determine things for those not among the top two.
A big big open-ended question is will the Glory Boys ease off on the Steve McMahon hatred if their lads manage to win it all? In so many ways, it's a question that sends shivers down the spine...
Best of Round Twelve:
Player: Daniel Piorkowski (pictured) - coming into the starting team in a difficult situation and keeping everything very tidy against the league's in form attacking unit (i.e. the Carle-Milicic demolition team)
U-20 Player: Nick Ward - forcing his way into the starting lineup in recent weeks and capping off a polished game by collecting Mori's low cross and finishing in style
Coach: Ernie Merrick - sticking to his principles and successfully fielding the youngest back four since the U-17 World Youth Cup
Match: Central Coast Mariners vs Adelaide United
Referee: Craig Zetter
Goal: Fernando Rech - taking a rebound from a monstrous Beltrame kick upfield and thoroughly spanking a late match-winning half-volley over and around Danny Vukovic, who like Jason Petkovic early on is making a habit of getting beaten by the long ball
4-4-2 Team of the Week:
John Hutchinson - Shengqing Qu
Adrian Caceres - Carl Veart - Nick Ward - Richard Kitzbichler
Mateo Corbo - Daniel Piorkowski - Matt Horsley - Andrew Packer
Danny Vukovic
Subs: Jacob Timpano, Angelo Costanzo, Bobby Despotovski, Liam Reddy
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