Kickoff Tonight

The second season of the Hyundai A-League commences tonight at 8 pm EST with Melbourne hosting Adelaide.

Given their hot form, the Reds must be favoured for a win even though they'll be without Bobby Petta and have both Fernando Rech and Shengqing Qu still trying to find their feet after short pre-seasons. The battle between Travis Dodd and Alessandro on the flank will be one of the highlights of the match, as will the biffo between Kevin Muscat and Ross Aloisi in the middle of the park. I can't see this being a high-scoring affair, with both sides approaching full strength at the back. Melbourne are still experimenting with personnel and shape, though, giving Adelaide the edge in terms of organisation and approach. Unless Melbourne find a way to bring Archie Thompson back into top gear, they'll find it tough to break the Reds down.

Tomorrow Queensland host Perth in a match that will mark the return of Stan Lazaridis to domestic league action. Queensland haven't managed to fire in the pre-season build up, but you sense they are on the verge of doing so. Given that Roar are at home in the first match of the year, the crowd will be enormous. Surely they will be after a swag of goals to please the fans. If Ante Milicic has rested well during the week, he could form one of the most dangerous three-pronged attacking units in the league along with Reinaldo and Simon Lynch. I'm not sure how Perth will cope with persistent attacking football from Queensland. The absence of Bobby Despotovski, who seems to be Queensland coach Miron Bleiberg's favourite player, could be very telling. Perth will need to get something out of the midfield engine-room (will Simon Colosimo stand up and be counted this year?) and spread the ball to their speedy wingers on the counter. If they can keep Queensland from opening the scoring within the first hour, perhaps the mental pressure will tell and Perth will be able to fly home with some league points to accompany their Sasa Ognenovski-inflicted bruises.

Two matches are played on Sunday. New Zealand start at home, with the Jets paying visit to what one hopes is a North Harbour stadium occupied by at least 10,000 fans. Solid defense has characterised New Zealand's play in the pre-season, and they'll need it against the wizardry of Nick Carle and the power of Vaughan Coveney. The Jets are starting the campaign without a backup goalkeeper, thus any incident involving Ben Kennedy leaving the pitch will result in someone like Labinot Haliti taking the gloves, which can't be a good thing. While the Jets have a goalkeeping paucity, the Knights have a surplus. They have named Mark Paston in the lineup, who could get a start if Michael Turnbull hasn't overcome his niggling injury concerns, and left Danny Milosevic on the outer. Perhaps Nick Theodorakopoulos and Paul Nevin should discuss a trade while they're matching wits on the sideline. New Zealand will be fired up to get something out of this match, but Newcastle have a superb record against them (4-0, 4-2, 3-0). Unless Nevin effectively counters Carle with someone like Richard Johnson, it's hard to imagine the small army of Knights fans leaving the stadium in high spirits.

Last year's grand final opponents duke it out in the final match of the week, which could draw 30,000 people or more. Sydney have it all. Dwight Yorke, returning to the playing squad this week, the flair of David Carney and Alex Brosque, Mark Milligan fresh off a great match in defensive midfield for the national team, the experience of Mark Rudan, Sasho Petrovski's knack for slotting the goals home. It's one heck of a powerful and balanced outfit. The Mariners just keep taking this sort of competition in their stride. Their astonishing blend of mobility, fitness, pace, teamwork, and finishing continues to keep them near or at the top. Tony Vidmar is another returning veteran to the domestic league game this week, and he could be joined by Tom Pondeljak. If you're going to allocate the time to watch one match this weekend, it has to be this one. Sydney would hate to lose and should be able to take it out, but I'm expecting a tight, tough encounter.