A Hectic Break

While Sydney has been galavanting about Japan during their impressive Club World Championship run, they and the other seven A-League clubs have made several interesting moves over the 'inactive' summer break. Here's a quick summary of how each team has fared over the past few weeks:

Adelaide United - No doubt confident that they have almost clinched a final two spot, Adelaide has quietly gone about its nose-to-the-ground style of work, training hard and maintaining a low profile. Angelo Costanzo and Robert Bajic may have had a bit of a tiff on the training ground, but niggling incidents like that have been occuring all year at Hindmarsh. Besides, perhaps moments likes those all just part of John Kosmina'a mind games. Looking further down the track, Adelaide's final game of the regular season against Sydney shapes up as a grand final preview.

Central Coast Mariners - While looking forward to the return of Tom Pondeljak and Paul O'Grady, the Mariners have definitely lost Nick Mrdja for the rest of the season. In the face of adversity, the way they've held their team together over the past few matches has been extremely admirable. It makes sense to think that things can only improve from here. Word is that ex-Leeds United starlet Jamie McMaster is about to sign on a short-term contract with the club, along with teenager Brad Porter. McMaster has youth international experience with England to his name and talent to burn. If he attunes to Lawrie McKinna's preferred set-up, he's a fantastic capture.

Melbourne Victory - Everyone at Victory HQ thinks they're good enough for a top four finish, but with their unhealthy recent record, the loss due to suspension of apologetic captain Kevin Muscat for the next three matches, injury to Carl Recchia during a trial match versus a select Victoria XI, continual pressure on coach Ernie Merrick, displeasure among supporters, speculation about the future of Archie Thompson's contract and various other matters it seems that their confidence has been superceded by delusion. About the only positive news was the unexpected turn out of the full squad at the putatively 'voluntary' Boxing Day camp. A measure of Melbourne's commitment, desperation or both? A new injury replacement signing for Recchia is expected to be announced soon - someone from the Victorian Premier League, you'd have to think.

New Zealand Knights - The situation the Knights administrators have gotten themselves into is truly astonishing. Discussing the club's lack of performance, the harsh comments from their new shirt sponsor JUST marketing spoke volumes about the political economy of football, NZ Knights style. Meanwhile, Danny Hay and Simon Yeo have joined Ronnie Bull and departed the ailing club, both clearly wanting to get as far away from Auckland as possible. Yeo returned to his old League Two side Lincoln, while Hay has indicated he'd like a move back to one of his old stomping grounds too: Perth Glory. Don't be surprised if more names join the exit list over the coming weeks. The bigger questions are who Adshead and co. intend to bring into the club next year, and more importantly what organisational, managerial and tactical strategies will they adopt in order to bring the club back from the disaster zone?

Newcastle United Jets - Extending key midfielder Richard Johnson's contract and fending off the advances from Busan for Nick Carle have been largest on the agenda for the Jets during the break. Like Adelaide, Newcastle have benefited from modest exposure due to their small market, and look to have a decent chance at the title on current form. The experience of big name veterans like Ned Zelic, Ante Milicic, Vaughan Coveny and Johnson is quite an edge for the Jets, who are more than capable of pulling off a few surprises in February's finals.

Perth Glory - It's always frantic and a little messy when a coach is sacked, no less so at Glory after Steve McMahon was given the boot as soon as the break commenced. New interim coach Alan Vest and his player-assistant Damian Mori have kept the team focused on the bigger picture, namely making the A-League's final four. The departure of Matt Horsley has been offest with the signing of David Micevski, a left-footed midfielder from the local state league. Daniel Vasilevski, Milan Jovanic and Steve McMahon Jr were all told their services were no longer required, with each tabled for release at the end of the season. Sweeping changes, then, over in the west, with early hints suggesting that Mori may well take over the full managerial reins next year. We'll also see if Stuart Young gets a more prolonged run than the few minutes the previous manager gave him all season.

Queensland Roar - It's all about Reinaldo. With no firm idea how good he can be, what position he might play nor how much time he'll spend on the field over the coming weeks, it's startling just how much pressure has been put on the Brazilian youngster since his arrival just a few weeks ago. Perhaps it's a way of taking the heat off Alex Brosque, who it seems is still undecided where his future lies, with Queensland or Sydney (contrary to numerous reports that Sydney has already signed him, with the transfer window already closed no less). Looking into my crystal ball I actually see Royce Brownlie popping up with the much needed goals for the Roar, but they'll probably be all too little, all too late.

Sydney FC - The conquerors of Al Ahly return from Japan on a substantial high, even though they failed in their mission to meet Liverpool in the semi-finals of the CWC. With a lot of help from the top shelf performances of Dwight Yorke, Clint Bolton, David Carney, Sasho Petrovski, and Mark Milligan, Sydney were fine ambassadors for our fledgling league, although we shouldn't forget that they represented Oceania, not Australia or the A-League! Kazuyoshi Mirua and Alex Salazar didn't return from Japan, leaving Pierre Littbarski with 18 players in the squad, including backup goalkeeper Justin Pasfield and Australian U-17 defender Wade Oostendorp who haven't touched a ball in the competition (John Buonavoglia is on the books but ineligible to play.) Sydney may have to come to terms with over-confidence issues and find a way to penetrate on the left flank if they're to topple Adelaide, Newcastle and the other threats to the championship that many seem to think is already theirs.