Confessions of an A-League Junkie

Low Point

2009-03-05T22:01:00.008+11:00

A brief return to make a few comments about the low point of Pim Verbeek's tenure tonight in Australia's 0-1 loss to a very spirited and quite fabulous Kuwait.

I should say I'm a fan of Verbeek. He's tactically astute, got us prepared for Asia, pulled out the necessary results and even managed to be quite humorous at times.

But I think he might need a team of experienced and savvy players at his side who understand his requirements and can execute accordingly, i.e. the marvelous internationally-based technical virtuosos who comprise our 'A' team, particularly Grella, Bresciano, Culina, Emerton, Neill, Kewell.

The A-League just doesn't seem to be a good breeding ground for the technical, thinking players that Verbeek needs on the pitch to execute his chosen methods. He needs a young Ned Zelic or Paul Okon in the heart of midfield, someone who can routinely think their way through a 90-minute performance and guide the rest of the team. On the basis of tonight's performance, Craig Moore's body just won't follow his mind fast enough any more, which is sad but not entirely unexpected. Reid is a decent punter who makes good decisions, but he seems to find it hard to get the ball moving and he's certainly no general. Archie tries, but he's an enigma whose best skills erupt in a flash, not as a result of careful build-up, planning and execution. McKay dashes about and seems to have a handle on the situation, but he doesn't seem able to inspire or provide that killer final ball. At least Vargas approaches the sublime aura of someone like Milan Ivanovic, something you yearn for in your backline. But it's not enough. Going forward is where the cracks start to appear in Verbeek's troops, at least insofar as the way they go about adopting Pim's systematic approach.

In response to the obvious lack in the league's technical acumen, Pim seems to be trying to build something afresh, a new generation who can embrace the challenge and learn to appreciate his highly thoughtful approach to the game. Tonight he may have learnt an awful lot about the capacity of some individuals to respond to his erudite, laudable (but perhaps misguided at this moment in time) agenda.

Whatever the reasons - Kuwait's excellent break-up and counter-attacking play chief among them - tonight we witnessed an utter meltdown of the Verbeek system, which several times has teetered on the edge of failure but not finally spluttered to a void of hopeless nothingness until now.

It's not panic stations yet, but it seems fairly obvious that the experiment cannot continue over the next few matches and some alternatives will need to be re-examined.

In my mind, Travis Dodd has been very hard done by. Here, we have a dynamite player, man of the match last time out versus Kuwait, certainly leads and inspires, can achieve the brilliant at important moments, and has every physical asset Pim ostensibly admires in the so-called 'modern' athletic player: explosive speed, big leap, powerful shot, bit of a dribble, strength in the challenge. Yet he's been stranded for some peculiar reason. Is it his lack of defensive energy? Proneness to lapses of concentration? Bouts of stray passing?

After tonight, potential excuses thrown at Dodd can surely be put to the wayside. There are at least 5 or 6 players who made it on the pitch against Kuwait who clearly and self-evidently have deficiencies that equally preclude them from instant success in Pim's system. I won't go into them because I'm sure there'll be more than enough negativity about the team's performance found elsewhere.

So, here's my plea to a boss I will continue to like and respect. Keep it positive, keep it real, but put Travis in the squad for goodness sake.

Team for Beijing

2008-07-04T12:42:00.010+10:00

Okay so here it is:

GKs:

Federici
Velaphi

DEFs:

North
Milligan
Spiranovic
Leijer
Topor-Stanley
McClenahan

MIDs:

Carney
Troisi
Musialik
Sarkies
Kilkenny
Zadkovich
Celeski

ST:

Thompson
Bridge
Rukavytsya

It seems that Arnold has gone for adaptability with his three over-age selections, current or recent A-Leaguers North, Carney and Thompson. Given that both McClenahan and Topor-Stanley have been selected, I imagine Carney will be used in the left or right attacking forward position in a 4-2-3-1, probably with Troisi on the other flank.

The selection of Archie was a bigger surprise than either North or Carney. He's still getting over a knee injury and has hardly impressed in his brief recent appearances. He'll fit into the team's on- and off-the-park dynamic okay, though.

Given the abundance of decent centre halfs and Arnold's previous strategies, Milligan might be pushed in front of the back four to partner Musialik. Or he could even play right-back, much as he is known to dislike the position. The only viable alternative is North, but I suspect he'll be asked to mark the likes of Aguero and Drogba. (EDIT: My contempt for Zadkid precluded my consideration of him on the right side of defence. I guess he'll start for sure.) Milligan may also lose the captaincy if Arnie decides to hand North the responsibility.

Strangely, Arnold hasn't opted for any midfielder possessing great flair or match-breaking ability, which could be a weakness. Nathan Burns' move to Greece probably ruled him out. Kaz Patafta has barely played of late. James Holland looked a bit raw and out of sorts against China, but even so his absence is a bit strange. Nick Ward hasn't been a major presence in that regard (but then again neither has Celeski). Sarkies would appear to be main candidate to fill the hole behind the lone striker, which could be fine if he plays at his very best. Otherwise . . . .

The selection of Zadkovich is a bit on an irritation. His capacity to play just about anywhere has helped him gain favour, I think, but he seems to lack the discipline, mentality and maturity to succeed among the very best.

I'm happier with the selections of Federici, McClenahan and Rukavytsya. The latter was the natural choice to take Bruce Djite's place in the squad. Djite like Burns will arguably gain more from training with his new club in Turkey than joining the team in Beijing at an important juncture in his career. Maybe the decision to overlook David Williams was similarly motivated, with Brondby facing UEFA Cup matches in July and August.

Olympian Challenge

2008-06-30T10:02:00.002+10:00

Assuming Graham Arnold selects the full complement of 3 over-age players in his 18-strong squad for the Olympics, there're only 15 spots up for grabs for the current U-23s.

Speculation over the 3 hasn't exactly been rife, but Kewell, Schwarzer and Holman have been mentioned as likely candidates. Each may be with a new club and hence will have a strong reason not to go. Bresciano, Sterjovski, Culina, North, Joel Griffiths, Vargas, Covic could just as easily be among Arnold's thoughts.

Assuming he takes an over-age goalkeeper, defender and striker, here's the 15 I would select to join them:

GK:

Velaphi - backup; only 2 goalies needed in a squad of 18

DEF:

Spiranovic
Milligan
Leijer
Topor-Stanley - probably a touch more versatile than McClenahan

MID:

Musialik
Troisi
Holland
N. Burns - has to go, surely
Ward - over Kilkenny and Sarkies
Broxham - one of the few mids who can perform fullback duties in a pinch

ST:

Djite
Bridge
Williams
Rukavytsya

Draw Mechanics

2008-06-23T11:10:00.002+10:00

Just glossing over the AFC draw and schedule for Round Four World Cup qualification, it seems Australia will have a fortunate run for the crucial final three matches in June next year, with an easier away game preceding two home games.

Seeded in the first pot (along with South Korea, who consequently we will avoid), Australia's group foes will be determined on 27 June from the following qualifiers:

Pot 2 (one of):

Iran
Japan (or Saudi Arabia)

Pot 3 (one of):

Saudi Arabia (or Japan)
Bahrain

Pot 4 (two of):

Uzbekistan
North Korea
UAE
Qatar

The schedule for Australia will be:

Match Day 1 - 6 September 2008 - bye
Match Day 2 - 10 September 2008 - away vs first pot 4 team
Match Day 3 - 15 October 2008 - home vs second pot 4 team
Match Day 4 - 19 November 2008 - away vs pot 3 team
Match Day 5 - 11 February 2009 - away vs pot 2 team
Match Day 6 - 28 March 2009 - bye
Match Day 7 - 1 April 2009 - home vs first pot 4 team
Match Day 8 - 6 June 2009 - away vs second pot 4 team
Match Day 9 - 10 June 2009 - home vs pot 3 team
Match Day 10 - 17 June 2009 - home vs pot 2 team

The difficult period with two tough away games on Match Days 4 & 5 at least offers our European stars a lighter travel predicament mid-season. No jetting back to Australia with 36 hours recuperation. The two games are also nicely separated from one another by a period of three months. Even better, our run through June next year minimises travel (the first away match offers the potential of a pre-match camp just a short hop from Europe) and allows home support to become a major influence should the matches still be important for us to win (pretty darn likely).

Such are the virtues of being a top seed, I guess.

Ten Remain

2008-06-23T09:32:00.002+10:00

Here are the ten AFC teams advancing to the final round of qualification for the World Cup, with current FIFA and Elo rankings in parentheses:

Australia (35 FIFA; 40 Elo)
Japan (38; 23)
Korea Republic (45; 43)
Iran (48; 29)
Saudi Arabia (54; 44)
Uzbekistan (58; 47)
Bahrain (72; 74)
Qatar (83; 76)
United Arab Emirates (95; 92)
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (118; 69)

From this, the task of qualifying looks simpler for Australia (on paper) if we draw at least two of Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and North Korea in our group of five while avoiding Japan.

During Round Three of qualifying, Bahrain defeated Japan and North Korea did not concede a single goal, so it seems to me that the most fortunate draw we could hope would include Qatar and the UAE in our group. That might mean difficult weather conditions for the away games, but it might be easier to deal with a bit of heat rather than one team that almost qualified for the last World Cup (Bahrain) and another that involves visiting one of the most reclusive nations on the planet (North Korea).

Nice Surprises

2008-06-20T14:37:00.011+10:00

One thing I love about the Verbeek era is the opportunity he has been happy to provide to younger players and established old hands who deserve a chance to bloom late. And we're not just talking about those players whose reputations precede them. While Verbeek seems to have time for the likes of Milligan, Sarkies, Nathan Burns, he's been far more generous with his selections to a range of other players:

throwing lifelines to Coyne, Vargas, Petkovic; Jedinak
thoroughly establishing 'potential guys' like Holman and Valeri in the squad
hauling into the spotlight starlets who not so long ago were quite secondary to the aforementioned group of young guns: Holland, Topor-Stanley, Musialik, Zadkovich, Spiranovic, Djite, and, above all, Troisi.

When you consider that we've still got Patafta, Vidosic, Leijer and other previously heralded guys coming through (and probably now having to make up a bit of ground on the others), the future of the national team seems to be in a fair state at the very least.

The experience being given to both the younger players and the older, wiser lot, suggests pretty careful risk management and multi-level goal-setting on the coaching staff's behalf. Yes, we've got to think about the World Cup qualifiers and the squad for the finals of the tournament if we make it that far, but we've also got to think about the logistics of friendly internationals (with our 'home' locations on either side of the planet), other important tournaments (the Asian Cup, the Olympics, various youth championships) and of course the long-term future.

I still think we're yet to find the next 20-something up-and-comer who waltzes into the squad and changes the composition of the starting team (ala Tim Cahill or Jason Culina in recent years, or even Scott Chipperfield, in a sense). But maybe 'find' is not the right word. We've probably already seen who the next big thing is but they're yet to establish themselves on a regular basis. Maybe it's McDonald. Or David Carney might just keep getting better. I don't know. But the squad seems about ready to accommodate a riser. I'm not sure it'll be an 18-year old. Historically our players don't seem to bloom until they're in their early-20s. Kewell was a massive exception. But who knows? It'd sure be a nice surprise.

Measuring Success

2008-06-13T11:22:00.005+10:00

The Asian Football Confederation's recent assessment of its member associations' professional leagues makes for interesting reading.

Each association has been graded across ten different areas to arrive at a score out of 500.

Unsurprisingly, Japan has the highest scoring association in Asia, with a score of 470.1 and the best score in every category except for the "technical standard" of its football (scoring 82.4 out of 100). Here, the Korea Republic triumphs (scoring 94.8).

Australia fares quite poorly in the assessment, scoring 306.0.

Compared with the top three (Japan, the Korea Republic and China), Australia is left behind in terms of its organisation, technical standard, governance/soundness, business scale and media. Business scale, especially, is a category where Australia loses out quite significantly in comparison to the big three in East Asia. Presumably this has something to do with the smaller size of our national population and the relatively tiny Australian diaspora, factors that restrict the potential amount of earnings from TV rights, sponsorship and merchandise. (On the other hand, match attendance is an assessment category in which Australia scores quite well.)

The low organisation score for Australia is a factor of the A-League's new beginning. With only eight teams in the league and no promotion and relegation structure in place, there is room to improve this score steadily over the coming years.

For Australia to score just 12.5 out of 50 in governance/soundness is rather provocative and suggestive of the level of esteem that our corporate structure is held within the Confederation. Only Singapore scores lower than Australia in this category, while Hong Kong, India, Uzbekistan, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Syria and Jordan all share an identical score.

A supporting document spells out the problem areas for Australia within the governance category. As listed below, most of the criteria are concerned with the absence of clear legal separation between the activities of the country's professional league (i.e. the A-League) and it's governing body (the FFA):

The league governing body must be a legal entity owned governed by its football association
The league governing body must have a management structure that controls competition, marketing, media and finance
The executive committee of the league must contain representatives from (a) the clubs, (b) the football association and (c) league management
The league CEO must be engaged full-time
The league must have an audited profit & loss statement and balance sheet
The league must have an auditor

The signal is quite clear: independence, transparency and accountability are very important to the AFC.

While it's hard to see how we can improve our business scale score, gains in our organisation and governance scores may provide the few extra points we need to obtain an extra team or two in the Asian Champions League and additional leverage in any other sense, presuming the AFC's assessment methodology becomes a standardised instrument for decision making.

But the gains in other categories could be doubled if we can improve the perception of Australian football's technical standard. Scoring just 51.3 out of 100 we are a long way behind our major competitors. To put the score in perspective, here's the hierarchy as it currently stands:

Korea Republic - 94.8
Japan - 82.4
Saudi Arabia - 78.8
Iran - 69.6
China - 61.5
Uzbekistan - 59.5
United Arab Emirates - 53.7
Australia - 51.3
Jordan - 51.2
Syria - 49.1
Qatar - 46.4
Bahrain - 46.4
Oman - 42.1
Singapore - 40.5
Kuwait - 34.6
Thailand - 33.0
Hong Kong - 30.9
Vietnam - 26.9
Indonesia - 24.4
India - 23.1
Malaysia - 19.4

It's both a little bit alarming and kind of hard to argue with. My only gripe: for all the AFC's ambitions to be more transparent, I haven't found any evidence of how these technical standard scores were arrived at. While they might seem 'about right', I have no idea what they're based on and it would be very interesting to be privy to any studies, statistics or whatever else went into their fabrication.

More Physical, or About the Same?

2008-06-12T13:45:00.013+10:00

What characteristic might best differentiate the A-League from other leagues around the world?

For three Queensland Roar trialists, the answer it seems is the league's emphasis on highly "physical" and energetic play.

Sergio van Dijk: "In Holland it's physical, but not as physical as here".

Marcio Carioca: "I've played a lot in the north of Brazil, and it's definitely more physical there than the rest of Brazil" (by way of asserting that he has the strength to cope with Australian defences).

Bruno Mezenga: "This is a very good chance for me to improve my strength by playing a game that's more physical and that has more power and more speed".

Australia just can't seem to escape this stereotype, be it at the local level, during international friendlies (thanks David Mitchell and Kevin Muscat) or at the World Cup.

Of course, the stereotype does contain an element of truth. Australian culture exhibits broad tolerance, even gleefulness, for thuggish behaviour in sports. Somewhat tragically, a bit of inelegant biffo usually goes down as well with audiences as any sublime moment of skill. Yet, there's also a touch of irony here. Historically, "soccer" in this country has been seen as the game for sheilas, wogs and poofters, to quote Johnny Warren. For us to be viewed internationally as a strong, rough and powerful proponent of the round ball game is strongly at odds with many perceptions at home.

As usual, the truth is probably a balance of the two perspectives. I think it's highly controversial to claim that the A-League is any more physically demanding than, say, the English Championship or the Scottish Premier League. But, the Australian manner of going about business in the sporting arena at home is clearly dissimilar to the way a group of multi-nationals will play together at a top club in Europe, where raw brawn is permitted for perhaps only one or two players with the rest of the team expected to demonstrate equivalent competence on the ball. (This is another way of saying that a rich club in Europe can achieve a better balance of equivalent abilities among team members across a season than a relatively poor club in Australia, where a greater range of skill levels might be observed on any one day.) I'm just not sure that cultural differences are the primary reason for different patterns of play globally. Surely latent and developed skill has something to do with it. If we in Australia play at a fast tempo and with quite a lot of rough and tumble, it's probably more a factor of a particular set of abilities (athleticism, strength, bravery) making up for shortfalls in other areas (technical understanding, creative flair, magnetic touch). That comes down to signatures at birth, habits, coaching and training, professional guidance, community acceptance and support for one's chosen endeavour, hard work, and so on.

These differences don't necessarily make individuals any more or less useful as footballers nor leagues any more or less physical than others at similar levels of average skill around the world. You can still have your leg horribly broken at the highest level or escape unscathed from any harm at all after a few decades in a prison league.

I do hope that we also manage to attract footballers from overseas who ignore all the nonsense about the physicality of our league and instead look forward to developing their skills and reputation at an accommodating mid-tier juncture in their careers.

A Nice Combo

2008-06-11T17:43:00.004+10:00

It's necessarily not a tremendously high profile move and if we're to believe reports not monetarily the best available either, but Nathan Burns $500,000+ transfer from Adelaide United to AEK Athens seems a pretty smart transaction all around.

Burns has been itching to get into a decent league in Europe and in the top flight of Greece he has definitely found one. AEK have Rivaldo on the books and will appear in the UEFA Cup next season. He may not start immediately but given time will surely push for first team selection on a regular basis.

Adelaide would have lost Burns for free had they not recently secured him on a new contract but with a get out clause. They may not have received as a transfer fee as great as they apparently did for Bruce Djite (some $850,000+), but together the pair has generated fairly significant income for the club.

AEK meanwhile gain the services of one of Australia's most promising forwards. He's in the modern form so admired by our Dutch national coaches, with excellent athletic attributes, a bit of creative talent, good vision and alertness with soft touch and well-weighted passing ability and he's able to score goals frequently.

If he can learn a thing or two from Rivaldo so much the better.

New Look

2008-06-04T12:30:00.003+10:00

I was getting a bit bored with the old template for the blog and have finally updated to one of the more dynamic templates on offer. Whether or not this encourages me to post more often I'm not yet sure . . . .

Defensive Frailties

2008-06-01T21:59:00.002+10:00

An old problem seems to have re-surfaced, with Australia's back two (and to a lesser extent the shielding men, Grella and Valeri) caught out of position on numerous occasions against Iraq. Beauchamp and North can count themselves fortunate that Australia survived to win the match 1-0, thanks largely to some poor shooting by Iraq and swift shot-stopping from Schwarzer.

If Neill remains unavailable for selection, I wonder what Verbeek will do to tweak things at the back before the away match in Qatar? If the bench is any indication, it seems Coyne and Vargas will have the first opportunity to take the place of one of the current stoppers. Beauchamp is probably the most come under scrutiny, given his lack of pace and North's better performances against China and Ghana.

Spiranovic might also find himself in the frame, given his solid, if unremarkable, appearance against the Black Stars.

Barring either of these options, Verbeek might pursue some intensive video and tactical one-on-ones with the current pair. The Iraqis have clearly worked hard on their combinations, runs from deep and through balls to pull opposition defenders into areas soon to be behind behind the play. Enormous concentration is required to keep tabs on wily drifting forwards while swift runners are cruising across the paddock in unpredictable ways, especially as the legs start to tire in the latter stages, but in peak condition both North and Beauchamp are capable of keeping the mental switches firing. Experience will make them better, and thankfully we've now gained a little breathing space in the group to continue persevering with a duo that hasn't set any hearts racing but which has pointedly kept the sheet clean.

In the longer term, though, the expectation is probably for one or two of the U-23 boys to step up. If they can post solid, dare I say spectacular, performances against Messi, Drogba, Aguero, and so on, Milligan and Leijer might be hard to ignore in the jostle for squad selection in the all-important next stage of World Cup qualification group matches.

Coyne Joins Squad

2008-05-21T11:53:00.004+10:00

Colchester and former Luton centre-half Chris Coyne has seized upon an invitation to train with the national team in the build-up to the match against Ghana.

Coyne was sold to Colchester for £350,000 during the season, having made a final appearance for Luton in a 1-1 FA Cup tie with Liverpool (Luton's goal coming courtesy of an John Arne Riise own goal, funnily enough). His signing couldn't save Colchester from the drop, however. With League One awaiting him next season, this current opportunity may represent the one and only chance Coyne gets to impress the national staff.

With our stocks a bit slim at the back, surely he's worth consideration. Conversely, if Matthew Spiranovic is ready to commence his national career, a turn to youth will be a more than welcome boost to our perennially aged backline.

Wilkshire and McClaren Reunited?

2008-05-20T09:26:00.003+10:00

While Luke Wilkshire's FC Twente have qualified for the Champions League next season they'll need a new manager to usher them through the tournament with current boss Fred Rutten heading to Schalke.

Steve McClaren has been mooted as the possible replacement.

Wilkshire has already served under McClaren's stewardship at Middlesbrough (as have Mark Schwarzer, Mark Viduka and Tony Vidmar, of course). I don't know if he'd be thrilled about a reunification with his old gaffer. For one, McClaren was happy to sell Wilkshire to Bristol City in 2003 having given him only a couple of dozen matches in all senior competitions to prove himself. (He's now played about the same number of matches for Australia, including a few in the World Cup.)

Wilkshire's career was probably stifled a bit in the lower English divisions. I wonder if his sometimes over zealous lunges (against Holland and Giovanni van Bronckhorst in particular in the warm-up match for the 2006 World Cup, for instance) emerged as a result of too much action in League One. (It could be more a case of 'big game' syndrome, though. Of his two red cards in English football, one came against Arsenal in a league match while playing for Middlesbrough. Wilkshire received two yellows, the second for a challenge on Robert Pires. The victim of the first? None other than van Bronckhorst.)

Garcia or Carle Bound for the EPL

2008-05-15T12:04:00.002+10:00

Either Richard Garcia or Nick Carle will feature in the English Premier League next season--so long as they remain with their current clubs--after both Garcia's Hull and Carle's Bristol City qualified for the Championship play-off final.

Garcia has already had a taste of the EPL a few years ago with West Ham and looks to be a possibility inclusion for national team duty in the near future. He scored and set up another goal in Hull's 4-1 home victory over Watford.

Meanwhile, Mile Sterjovski will of course find himself playing in the Championship next year following Derby's relegation. Adrian Leijer may have found more match time for Fulham had they gone down, but they managed to stay up so it will be interesting to see how his career progresses next year. Either he'll continue plugging away in the reserves, get loaned out, or have an opportunity to step up.

Beijing Possibilities

2008-04-23T09:41:00.003+10:00

First, Dean Bouzanis (or rather his agent) has finally suggested he will commit to Australia's Olympic campaign if selected for the climatisation camp in Malaysia.

He may have a tough fight on his hands for the starting job, though, with Velaphi and Federici also in the mix.

Second, Tarek Elrich reckons Harry Kewell would be keen to play in Beijing too, if asked. Kewell didn't get to play in Sydney in 2000 when he was eligible as an U-23 but injured, and neither was he selected as one of the three overage players for Athens in 2004.

If he's fit, I'm sure Arnold would be ready to oblige Kewell, but there's also the problem of his club status at the time Beijing kicks off. Coming off contract and likely to leave Liverpool, he may face a tricky situation with his new club, who will no doubt expect him to be available when the season begins. It's easy to imagine Kewell's next team compelling his non-attendance in Beijing, be it through an improved contract offer, internal disciplinary action, or what have you.

Mark Schwarzer and Brett Emerton are two other high profile national team members coming off contract at the end of June, clouding their availability if wanted (though neither probably is).

Meanwhile, Tim Cahill is injured, Mark Viduka is a very slim possibility indeed given his preference to maximise time away from national team duties. Jason Culina and Mark Bresciano could well be moving to new clubs over the northern summer, limiting the chances of their inclusion.

Then there's the case of potential overage players who are not necessarily first choice at their clubs: will they elect to fight for their place in the starting 11 at the dawn of a new season rather than cross the globe in August? Scott McDonald might find himself in that sort of quandry with Celtic boss Gordon Strachan clearly not a fan of his striker's travel requirements when representing Australia.

Yet, with the likes of Mascherano, Riquelme, Drogba and Toure lined up in opposing group teams, Australia's squad will undoubtedly require some bolstering.

So who will be chosen . . . and accept? Vinnie Grella? Josh Kennedy? Mile Sterjovski? Luke Wilkshire? Brett Holman? Or perhaps Nick Carle, whose selection might help seal the wound of being harshly overlooked for Athens?

Pim Tells It Like It Is

2008-04-22T15:55:00.008+10:00

I like this quote in regard to the sometimes difficult squad and team selection challenges that face the national manager:

I have 20 million people on my back wanting Australia to qualify for the next World Cup.

Damn straight.

But so far, although Pim's selections have raised a bit of controversy, he's more or less been proved 'correct'.

Pim Assures Garcia

2008-04-19T20:13:00.003+10:00

Hull City's right winger Richard Garcia has apparently received the nod of approval from Pim Verbeek and will be given every chance to attend the next national team training camp.

Hull currently lie in 2nd place in the Championship, with a very strong chance of promotion to the EPL next season.

Always good to see new talent in good form being given the opportunity to make an impression. I'm hopeful that someone like Garcia will probably make a stunning rise within the national set-up, pretty much in the same way Tim Cahill did during our last World Cup campaign. David Carney seems to have already made a mark, but I think there's room for one or two more bolters in the current sqaud.

The Commitment Conundrum

2008-04-10T23:07:00.005+10:00

Should Mark Viduka -- and others who have voiced a similar ploy (e.g. Mark Bresciano) -- be allowed to pick the games in which they represent their country?

The common consensus seems to resound 'no'. The players ought to commit to World Cup qualification and do everything in their power to fly out for matches on the other side of the planet a few days either side of appearances in their domestic leagues.

Under these terms, Viduka, it seems, is unwanted by the majority of the public fan base.

But what if we were to select a World Cup squad tomorrow and Viduka declared himself eligible? Would we want him to be picked for the team?

I think the answer might be different. We'd want to take our very best team into the tournament. Only a diabolical personality conflict or attitude problem would normally see a player unceremoniously barred from selection. Those issues are not relevant in Viduka's case. He simply wants to avoid material wear and tear on his body and no doubt is more comfortable being close to the comforts of home and his young family these days instead of running amok with some of the younger lads from the national squad. In my ethical universe, there's no sense of the nation's pride being held at stake here. It's a personal preference of a veteran player who has produced superlative performances in various youth and senior national teams for something like 15 years. Is it so difficult to show a bit of leniency? To offer a sort of long service reward?

I'm not sure I understand what all the fuss is about (though, I'm about as strict a nationalist as I am unopinionated). Viduka, when he chooses to play, will probably be needed. He'll pick his moments with as much knowledge as any of us, meaning that a friendly against Singapore is unlikely to attract his attention but a crunch qualifier with China might. If he turns up, I think many fans will be relieved. Even some of those pulling out the knives at the moment.

In the meantime, Pim Verbeek will have the opportunity to trial Viduka's successors in the arguably somewhat less meaningful and friendlies and less important qualifying matches (e.g. any games still to play after we've already qualified for Round 4). Without so much pressure on their performance, McDonald, Kennedy and the younger guns yet to make much of an impression will consider themselves fortunate: unlike Viduka's early days, when in every match he was expected to be Australia's cheeky backheeling hero or marauding striker menace, they'll be able to do no wrong. If they have a bad outing it'll probably be skipped over in the 'whatever, we've qualified or will soon, when Viduka comes back' news. If they score a brace, they'll be praised accordingly.

The situation does raise the question though: if Viduka gets his wish, who'll be next to ask for the same treatment?

Steps to Qualification

2008-03-29T13:17:00.006+11:00

Not everyone seems to realise that Australia's qualification campaign for the World Cup stretches beyond the current Round 3 group matches. (Or even that we're in Round 3 for qualification. As a top seeded team, Australia had a bye for the first two rounds.)

If we finish in the top two of the current group featuring China, Iraq and Qatar there's still Round 4--another eight home and away fixtures--to come.

Commencing in September this year, Round 4 involves two groups of five teams each battling it out for a place in the World Cup finals. Only the top two teams from each group directly qualify, while the third place teams play each other in a decider in October next year. Five teams in total go through to the finals in South Africa.

Although there's only been two games played in Round 3 so far, we can probably make some fairly safe predictions about the composition of the two Round 4 groups.

From Round 3 Group 1:

Australia
China PR

There's no real doubt that Australia will qualify, but the contest for the other spot will be tight. After Iraq's loss to Qatar, China must be slight favourites.

From Round 3 Group 2:

Japan
Bahrain

While Oman and Thailand might put a bit of pressure on these teams, they are both just too strong. The only question after Bahrain's recent home win over Japan is who will finish on top.

From Round 3 Group 3:

Korea Republic
Korea DPR

It'll be a fairly easy ride for the two Koreas. As the best of the third seeds in the groups Jordan are a handy team, but they've already lost at home to Korea DPR so their chances look bleak.

From Round 3 Group 4:

Saudi Arabia
Uzbekistan

These two are utter power houses against relative minnows in Singapore and Lebanon. Uzbekistan is a team on the rise with good firepower up front and definitely one to watch out for in the later stages.

From Round 3 Group 5:

United Arab Emirates
Iran

The other group of death. Iran have found themselves in very poor form at a bad time and have brought in Ali Daei as coach to help sort things out. It's hard to imagine them not making it through to the next stage. The U.A.E. on the other hand have put themselves on top courtesy of a strong win over Kuwait at home and a draw with Syria away. If Ismail Matar keeps scoring them should qualify, perhaps even ahead of Iran.

I have no idea how the Round 4 groups will be determined. It'll be tricky because of the odd number of teams in each group, meaning that one group will probably have three Round 3 group winners and the other just two. Higher seeded teams may also be preferentially allocated.

Purely to develop a hypothetical scenario I've undertaken a random draw, putting all the one Round 3 group winners in one hat and the runners-up in another, then simply alternately drawing one winner and one runner-up to take successive slots in each Round 4 group. I allowed teams from the same Round 3 group to be drawn together again. This is what I came up with:

Round 4 Group 1

Saudi Arabia
Bahrain
Japan
China
Korea Republic

Round 4 Group 2

Uzbekistan
Australia
Iran
United Arab Emirates
Korea DPR

Seems like wishful thinking to me!

China 0 - 0 Australia

2008-03-26T20:27:00.003+11:00

A respectable performance from Australia - playing under significant tournament pressure for the first time since the exit from the Asian Cup.

Archie Thompson's early injury pretty much forced the Socceroos into accepting a goalless draw. China also seemed content not to lose the match.

Credit to Pim Verbeek for selecting the right line-up considering the conditions. Going with a back three allowed him to pick both Beauchamp and North, who rewarded the manager with very good displays. North looked especially relaxed and although there were one or two moments where he was successfully beaten on the flank and crossed upon he was among the best on ground. Beauchamp was strong in the air and did enough on the ground to make sure he wasn't embarrassed by his his lack of pace.

Carney and Wilkshire on the flanks both had uneven matches but got forward when they could, chased back, and showed good control with some very direct and heavy passing from the centre. We never really threatened the byline or brought in any worthwhile crosses, but it seemed part of Verbeek's game plan to contain the perimeter rather than exploit it.

The defensive effort was pretty strong in the midfield as well. While Čulina had a pretty miserable game in an attacking sense, he worked hard to compress open space in the middle of the park and force China into long diagonal balls. These worked quite nicely for them at times, but probably not as well as short interchanges through the middle might have. Meanwhile, the presence of both Grella and Valeri in front of the back three was the match saving solution for Australia. They generally timed their challenges very well, worked the triangles and distributed in width and depth effectively enough to keep Chinese pressure away from the Australian 18-yard box.

Bresciano--what can you say? He's been hauled off in recent matches for Australia, be it due to tiredness or a tactical switch. Tonight he reaffirmed his importance to the team, staying on until the end and demonstrating that he can even serviceably hold up the ball while waiting for support up front in these times of desperation. He was pretty unlucky not to get a complete foot onto Holman's pass across the box early in the match, ending up with a bit of toe poke at the Chinese 'keeper.

Holman has drawn big wraps for his performance as Thompson's replacement and good on him. The amazing thing about his appearance is that he played in his usual slot about as high up the pitch as Bresciano and Čulina. In other words we didn't actually have a striker on the park for almost the entire game. China really needed to push an extra man out of defence if they were serious about winning the game, but given their present dire form you can understand why they didn't.

Schwarzer, thanks once again for an important penalty save. He created his own problem by not coming out for the challenge earlier, but perhaps Neill should have protected his number one a little better as well. It was a lousy penalty and Schwarzer sensibly kept his dive to a minimum. He was probably a tad fortunate that the spot kick was too soft to rebound off his shins and straight back out for a second pop, but it's that sort of luck you have to ride in order to get through to the World Cup finals.

Now that this saga is over there's time for management to reassess and plan for the forthcoming fixtures in June. We've learnt plenty on this trip and arguably come away with a pair of results that, although a little disappointing on paper, finally reflect some belated understanding and maturity concerning this new gig of ours as a representative of Asia.

Correction...

2008-03-26T16:43:00.007+11:00

The team has been announced. Archie will start up front and it seems Holman has been left on the bench, perhaps in order to have someone quick who can come on later in the game.

I'm off to the pub.

Update: Should have known better than to trust a Sydney newspaper speculating on a line-up when the only alternative to Bridge - a new Sydney FC signing - was a Melbourne Victory player! Heh.

Blow After Blow

2008-03-26T16:14:00.008+11:00

With Kewell now apparently out of the match as well (not much of a surprise, really, though tremendously disappointing), Bridge has been mooted as the lone striker to face China.

It looks like we're now going to line up something like this:

----------------- Bridge
--- Bresciano ----------- Holman
---------------- Culina
--------- Grella ----- Valeri
Carney - Beauchamp - Neill - Wilkshire
--------------- Schwarzer

Or with North in for Beauchamp.

With China desperate to turn their campaign around, it looks like it's time for someone on either team to be a hero.

Kewell Options

2008-03-25T18:21:00.001+11:00

The introduction of Harry Kewell to the centre midfield in Singapore last night was a sign perhaps of things to come and not just a one-off tactic to give HK sufficient touches without too much sprinting before Wednesday.

We don't know enough yet about the nature of Pim Verbeek's relationships with Australia's star players, especially Kewell and Mark Viduka. But it's highly plausible that the big names hold a fair amount of sway in the negotiation over high-level strategic decisions, such as in which position to play for the national team and when to play at all. It's easy to imagine Kewell asking Verbeek to give him a run in the middle of the park, perhaps using the career lengthening adventures of Ryan Giggs as a point of comparison.

The forthcoming match against China should tell us more. Verbeek and/or Kewell may continue to exhibit the preference shown against Singapore. If Kewell does indeed play in central midfield, it might be an opportunity for Jason Čulina to venture further up the park. The last time I can recall Čulina playing in support of the forward line was just before the World Cup in the friendly against the Netherlands. I can't remember if he started in an attacking midfield position or just found himself plugged in there later in the game when Guus Hiddink demanded a more exaggerated pressing game. I do recall Čulina running himself absolutely silly, harassing and rushing the Dutch backline, not allowing them to settle on the ball.

For Australia and PSV Eindhoven, Čulina has rarely been given the chance to roam forward, whether on a wing or in the hole behind the strikers. Granted, he's not technically as gifted as Mark Bresciano, who can one-touch pass, cross, dribble and finish with more flair and distinction. Čulina, though, is extraordinarily fast, agile, fit and clever. He gets into excellent positions and has the vision and decision making to move the ball effectively. All these characteristics have served him excellently as a central midfielder. But if the Kewell experiment really is a serious one, and given the various exclusions of Tim Cahill, Mile Sterjovski, Nick Carle and Ryan Griffiths, Australia is going to need an alternative option among its forward three or four. Scott McDonald is probably favoured to start up front, which would leave Bresciano, Brett Holman and Archie Thompson as the only serious fellow starting options. I don't know about you, but that doesn't exactly inspire confidence. While we shouldn't forget that Bresciano and Holman scored last time we played China, if we throw Čulina into the mix things start to look a bit more promising. Assuming a five-man midfield with a back four and a lone striker:

Bresciano ---------- Čulina
------ Kewell - Wilkshire
---------- Grella

Should Kewell drop into central midfield, the other option that comes to mind is David Carney. If Wilkshire were to start at left wingback, there'd be sufficient cover for Carney to move up the left wing. This'd result in a three-pronged engine room that looks pretty tremendous:

Carney --------- Bresciano
---- Kewell - Čulina
--------- Grella

Any other combinations you fancy?

Lone Man

2008-03-24T14:28:00.006+11:00

Now that it has been confirmed that Scott McDonald will not play against China, it's almost certain that Pim Verbeek will employ a lone striker up front. Why? Because if he plays with a stiker pair, one of the two will almost certainly have to be Bruce Djite or Mark Bridge! That's assuming Harry Kewell does not play up front, but he might given that this particular limitation in our squad depth has allowed something of an emergency to develop.

With the FFA already confirming that nobody named John Aloisi, Joel Griffiths or James Brown (damnit) will be called up as a replacement, Archie Thompson is almost certain to start for Australia.

Brett Holman's chances have probably improved too.

Anyone miss the V-Bomber?

Oh well. I actually find this sort of pressure quite welcome. It's the World Cup after all.

Let's go.

(Just as an aside here, how indispensable does this make Bresciano look! With his goal creating and scoring ability, in my opinion he's far and away Australia's most important player at the moment.)

Singapore 0-0 Australia

2008-03-24T11:30:00.004+11:00

Given the humidity, the soggy and clumpy pitch and the team's obvious lack of playing time together as a unit, the predominantly A-League-based national team performed passably in the rather flat and eventless 0-0 draw with Singapore, who, it should also be pointed out, played admirably.

The match wasn't a disaster. No truly awful mistakes were made to allow Singapore to score. No rash challenges ended in red cards or injuries to either team. No childish outbursts were witnessed. It was, in a mental and emotional sense, a pleasingly mature performance from Australia, but certainly one that lacked the precision and execution of the 3-0 victory over Qatar.

The Round Ball Analyst provides an instructive report card and match review.

Some insights surrounding Pim Verbeek's impression of the match are also available, since he selected seven (then later nine) participants in the game to join the full squad to travel to China for Wednesday's World Cup qualifying match in Kunming. It seems Verbeek was impressed with Adam Griffiths, perhaps with a view to his versatility across the backline and into midfield, while Bruce Djite also did enough in his short appearance as a substitute to convince the national coach of his firepower. However, among the additions, only Jade North and Archie Thompson are likely to see game time.

Verbeek also showed his squad tactics a bit with the previously announced squad players he decided to leave out. Perhaps thinking that its better all round for the unlikely to play European-based players to be sent back home (rather than sit on the bench, potentially disgrunted) and for the A-Leaguers to build some squad experience (i.e. with no intention of having them enter the fray), James Troisi (one of our best against Singapore), Adam Federici, Nick Carle and Jacob Burns were all uninvited.

National Team Captain?

2008-03-19T17:01:00.003+11:00

Since it seems that a long term decision still has not been made (pardon me if this is incorrect), and given a full strength squad, who should captain Australia should it qualify for the World Cup in 2010?

Let's look at the candidates:

Lucas Neill - vocal about how much he wants it and great with the mainstream media, but does he have the on field respect of comrades and foes?

Mark Viduka - question marks over his international career continuing, but proved a good choice last time

Vincenzo Grella - possibly, along with Viduka, the smartest football brain we have, but more of a laconic charmer than an acerbic wit with the scribes

Brett Emerton - has pretty much locked in a spot in the 11 for years to come and took the U-23s through the 2000 Olympics . . . but perhaps that's why he's never really been discussed as a serious contender

Mark Schwarzer - there are probably too many alternative options on the pitch to give the armband to the man between the posts

Harry Kewell - it worked for Viduka last time, so would making our left-footed wonder the top dog improve his performance, physically, mentally and emotionally? If so I think many of us would love to see the results . . . but what the heck would the team, fans and media make of the decision?

Tim Cahill - would be a popular choice, I think, but from out of nowhere - plus, would it ruin his game, given that he loves getting in amongst it with the referee and opposition (without any responsibility attached, aside from not getting himself sent off)?

Pim Verbeek seems to be in a similar situation to Fabio Capello with England a while ago. Like Capello he'll probably bide his time and wait until he's convinced with his decision, which probably means it won't be a major surprise. Neill must be the favourite, but if Viduka chimes in with a resounding "Hell, yeah, I'll play in the next World Cup" then it could get interesting.

World Cup Squad 2010 - An Early Prediction

2008-03-16T15:15:00.003+11:00

So far Pim Verbeek has run his calculator eyes over a swag of players young and old, but come crunch time he's selected the tried and true. Should we expect anything different when the time arrives to select the 23 players for the World Cup squad - assuming Australia qualifies?

For Germany 2006, surprise call-ups from Guus Hiddink went to Milligan and Beauchamp, while Covic could also count himself fortunate to be in the manager's mind at the right time.

Like his former mentor, Verbeek appears to be another surprise puller in spirit (or concession bender, if we interpret Hiddink's selection of a few candidates for the bench as a gesture of respect to the local football fraternity - let's remember his comments about Sarkies too, whom he declared squad material after he belatedly saw him in training). Might he be keeping something up his sleeve, like a poker player already thinking ahead to a 6am fleecing of the table at the beginning of a tough night's play?

Bearing these thoughts in mind, here's my wild and woolly prediction for Verbeek's squad in 2010.

GKs

Schwarzer - no realistic competition
Federici/Coe/Van Strattan - one of these guys ought to start making a longer lasting impression soon
Bouzanis - the wonderkid, assuming he doesn't pledge his future to Greece

DEFs

Neill - let's hope he stays healthy - without him we won't have sufficient experience at the back
Spiranovic - given his technical quality, stepping up should be a breeze - ought to be the major addition to the NT over the next two years
Milligan - still very talented, but must eliminate the lapses
Leijer - with Beauchamp treading water in Germany, may get an opportunity, but will need to seize it when it comes
Kisnorbo - his versatility increases his chances for a tournament appearance

MIDs

Cahill - finally starting to take the focus away from Kewell, Viduka and Bresh
Bresciano - deserves to have a better WC than in 2006
Grella - the only worry might be a Moore-like loss of physical speed to go with the mental speed as gets on
Emerton - can he stick around for 2014?
Culina - will Pim release him forward a bit more often?
Valeri - becoming an increasingly seamless deputy anchor
Carney - Chippy unlikely to go the distance
Wilkshire/Carle - hmm, the dependable or the unpredictable?
Holland/Herd/Zullo - selected for the experience

FWDs

Viduka - what retirement? (Lucas will be captain, though, with Emo a dark horse.)
Kewell - used up front or off the bench, ala Guus
Kennedy - nobody can replace Viduka, but so far seems capable of performing as a target man as well as Crouch-like on the deck
McDonald - problem is he needs to keep scoring to remain in the frame, since that's his game
Troisi - already a Pim favourite but may find first team opportunities hard at Newcastle for some time yet
N. Burns - seems patient with success but must be due to move overseas shortly and it's hard to believe he won't have an impact wherever he goes

No place for Holman (Wilkshire is more versatile and Carle has creative flair), D. Williams (McDonald is the pure finisher), A. Elrich (Herd might be a better long term prospect down the right, and Elrich doesn't like to lie deep). Sterjovski deserves a place but could just as easily see himself sacrificed for a young gun.

The Forgotten Ones

2008-03-15T22:42:00.008+11:00

While a fairly large number of players have already been selected for various camps and with more than a few surprises among them, there's still a large contingent of players that remain on the fringe and persistently overlooked. Here's a few.

Michael Petkovic - perhaps the goal he scored from his own box recently will call attention to his contribution to Sivasspor's tilt at the domestic title, a run that seems to be based on a miserly defence, including perhaps between the sticks? (Any Turkcell Super League followers keeping track?)

Michael Theoklitos - still has a little bit of time to nurture an international career, but it might be crunch time now: will the Vukovic ban and ACL action lead to a chance or will even younger 'keepers (Federici, Velaphi, Coe, Van Strattan) be fast tracked?

Dean Bouzanis - intent on playing for Greece or just getting some valuable international experience at youth level, closer to home and without strings attached? No selector should have to worry about this sort of thing, yet here we are. Again. Cap him in the dying seconds of a meaningless friendly, have a bit of a laugh with the press and let's all move on.

Matthew Spiranovic - see above, except with more vindication. Come on, the kid was often playing ahead of Beauchamp when both players were actually in contention for a game last season. Why draw out the inevitable - give him a trot in the 93rd minute next time we play in Europe and we can all rest easier knowing that a potential 100-capper is shored up for the future. (Anyone else think super-fit Emerton might just make it to 100 appearances?)

Chris Coyne & Adrian Madaschi - North (currently 2nd choice behind Neill?!), Beauchamp, Kisnorbo and Thwaite all add up to about one Craig Moore in his prime, so perhaps its prudent to investigate all of our short- and medium-term centre half options. Maybe a fit David Tarka will be worth a look as well.

Ahmad Elrich - sure, it's true that leaving aside one spectacular goal he didn't achieve much last season, but we shouldn't forget that he injured himself on international duty ala Milicevic, and look how bitterness with 'the system' ruined his career! The elder Elrich bro is still one of the very few players to have emerged from the youth set-up since the previous Olympics with evidence that he can make the transition to the Socceroo elite.

Richard Garcia - bit surprised we've not recently had a longer look at a guy who's a consistent scorer from the right and could potentially be involved in the EPL next season. More, probably, than can be said for Mile Sterjovski. (Okay that was a cheap shot. Come on Sterj!)

Labinot Haliti - just kidding.

Resurrection

2008-03-15T20:19:00.004+11:00

Okay, so it's a change of focus for me as I veer away from the A-League, which is now incredibly well-supported in the blogosphere (see links at right, and please send me others you think should be added to the list). It's been a great pleasure observing the fan-produced content surrounding the league grow exponentially since 2005's inaugural season kickoff.

The focus of the site is going to shift to the national team. For two reasons: it's the larger obsession and it's easier to track sweeping movements in the international arena than it is to follow the minutiae of the league. That's why pretty much every post from here on is going to short and straight to the point - simply a comment or two based on the latest cursory reading of some pundit or whatever other fleeting impression crossing my mind. There'll be less to read but hopefully enough to ponder.

Without further ado . . . .

Socceroos Training in Melbourne

2007-09-08T18:23:00.000+10:00

Scenes from the national team afternoon training session at Scotch College on Saturday 8 September as they prepare for Argentina. I just happened to be riding past on my bike . . .

Season 3: Wellington

2007-08-31T15:42:00.000+10:00

Squad

Goalkeepers: Mark Paston, Glen Moss, Jacob Spoonley

Defenders: Karl Dodd, Tony Lochhead, Cleberson Souza Santos Gois, Steven Old, Steven O'Dor

Midfielders: Ahmad Elrich, Daniel Lins Cortes, Tim Brown, Ross Aloisi, Felipe De Souza Campos, George dos Santos Paladini, Richard Johnson, Michael Ferrante, Jeremy Christie

Forwards: Shane Smeltz, Vaughan Coveny, Royce Brownlie, Costa Barbarouses, Greg Draper

Vacancies: Squad complete

Comments

Key Man: Smeltz - looks to be pretty much in the form of his career with goals pouring down in pre-season and for the New Zealand national team.

High Expectations: Daniel - another attacking midfielder from Brazil who looks like a brilliant pick-up - here's hoping he can eeep his composure and execute his natural flair judiciously and lethally throughout the duration of the season, rather than in patches.

'X' Factor: Felipe & Paladini - who knows?

Young Gun: Barbarouses - based on reputation, could be the best prospect in New Zealand football for quite some time. Brings good vibes for the club too, as a local lad.

Consistent Performer: Dodd - arguably Queensland's best stopper before giving it a bash in Romania and Scotland - ought to have an excellent year if he's in similar or superior form to season one.

Problem Child: Aloisi - we'll see how the team responds to (a) his captaincy and (b) hysterical antics on the pitch when things start to get pear-shaped. On the plus side: no Ange Costanzo to rile-up his (lost) brotherly affectations. Bombing free kicks help too.

Prediction

7th.

Yes, they're going to surprise teams and they may go close to making the final four in a tight finish - but Phoenix is probably not going to win the league. The odds just don't stack up: new team needing time to gel, several unknown quantities, a handful of discards that might do something positive at their new club, an audience and media that will be satisfied with a solid run, a midfield that looks a bit long in the tooth and short on a productive passing game. I'd love to be proved wrong, and like I intimate - the league may be so close that the whole season could come down to one or two big moments or tests of character and skill. Only time will tell.

Season 3: Perth

2007-08-31T15:40:00.000+10:00

Squad

Goalkeepers: Tommi Tomich, Tando Velaphi, Jason Petkovic

Defenders: Hayden Foxe, David Tarka, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Dino Djulbic, Jamie Coyne

Midfielders: Simon Colosimo, Leo Bertos, Stan Lazaridis, Nick Rizzo, Blagoja Celeski, Naum Sekulovski, Mitchell Prentice, Anthony Danze, David Micevski, James Downey

Forwards: Mate Dragičević, Nikita Rukavytsya, Jamie Harnwell, James Robinson

Vacancies: 1

Player Movement

In: Foxe, Dragicevic, Topor-Stanley, Rizzo, Velaphi, Celeski, Djulbic, Rukavytsya, Prentice, Danze, Robinson, Downey

Out: Bobby Despotovski, Ante Kovacevic, Stuart Young, Adrian Webster, Jeremy Christie, Alex Vrteski, Luka Glavas, Mark Robertson, Mislav Saric

Comments

Key Man: Colosimo - had a fantastic rebound last year after a lacklustre season one affected by his disappointment at failing to break back into the national team, but with Glory struggling to surround him with talent could find the going tough again.

High Expectations: Dragicevic - hmm . . . not really a prolific goal-scorer during his career in Croatia and Russia, but a quality threat and obviously a far superior acquisition than Brian Deane.

'X' Factor: Rizzo - everyone who's heard his sob story (signed by Liverpool, moved to Crystal Palace at Terry Vanables' advice, broke his leg, never quite the same player since) wants to see Nick succeed in the A-League.

Young Gun: Celeski - back in the A-League after strangely finding himself out of favour at the end of Perth's inaugural season; seem to have found his feet again quick smart.

Consistent Performer: Bertos - one of the surprise packets of last season will have to do it all again and more from his right flank, but will be all the more dangerous if Rizzo manages to turn it on.

Problem Child: Harnwell - does he still want to be with this team?

Prediction

8th.

It's sad to see the national league champions of not so long ago struggling to keep up with the likes of Melbourne and Adelaide, yet last season Glory found themselves having to stave-off a challenge from an improving New Zealand Knights outfit just to hang on to 7th place - the worst-finishing team in Australia. Internal squabbling bubbling over onto the pitch just indicated the frustration being felt in the change rooms. So, the big question: has enough changed? Early signs are actually looking quite promising, but it's still very difficult to see this team - on paper - convert recent successes over the long-term. I hope I'm wrong - for the sake of the league, a strong team is needed in the west.

Season 3: Central Coast

2007-08-30T18:45:00.000+10:00

Squad

Goalkeepers: Danny Vukovic, Matthew Trott, Andrew Redmayne

Defenders: Dean Heffernan, Alex Wilkinson, Tony Vidmar, Nigel Boogaard, Paul O'Grady, Andrew Clark

Midfielders: Andre Gumprecht, Tom Pondeljak, Greg Owens, Mile Jedinak, John Hutchinson, Matthew Osman, Damien Brown, Brad Porter, Ian McAndrew

Forwards: Sasho Petrovski, Nick Mrdja, Adam Kwasnik, Matthew Simon

Vacancies: 1

Player Movement

In: Heffernan, Petrovski, Owens, Redmayne, McAndrew

Out: Stewart Petrie, Noel Spencer, Wayne O'Sullivan, John Crawley, Jamie McMaster, Vuko Tomasevic

Comments

Key Man: Petrovski - suddenly, with the acquisition of Sasho and the re-emergence of Mrdja, the Mariners are scoring goals again. Petrovski was clearly disgruntled so at Sydney that he seemingly allowed his form to dip. We know better: he's a proven goal-scorer, something the Mariners have lacked since Petrie's was successful in their inaugural season.

High Expectations: Mrdja - it's been so long, but we haven't been prompted to forget about Mrdja, who has always managed to remain conspicuously absent with his long-term injuries - now all that's behind him, it's time to bang-in some goals and see if Andrew Durante has forgiven him for breaking his leg.

'X' Factor: Heffernan - can he get close to the goal-scoring heroics of yesteryear? Probably not, but his blazing pace will still cause problems for sluggish right-sided fullbacks in the league (Alagich? Coyne?)

Young Gun: Boogaard - after only just managing to clinch to a new contract, has recently turned in some excellent performances to cement his position in the starting line-up.

Consistent Performer: Wilkinson - a manager's dream stopper: week-in, week-out, he's there for you because he's rarely caught out, hardly ever gets cautioned (just 4 yellows in over 4,000 minutes) and remains healthy. (Of course, as I write this he's just been listed as out injured.) Over-shadowed amid the rise of Michael Beauchamp, but could be a better long-term prospect.

Problem Child: Nobody - okay Petrovski is a tad smug, Heffernan has already pulled a few wild man antics, but really there's no conflict or bizarre behaviour worth reporting on (yet).

Prediction

3rd.

Now this is a balanced squad, and what remarkable depth in midfield. Easily the most under-rated team heading into this season, which is quite amazing considering the extent of their success in season one and at consecutive off-season Hong Kong 7s tournaments, the Mariners will have every chance to make a championship tilt. They've improved up front with the signing of Petrovski and the belated return of Mrdja. They've brought back Heffernan from Germany, immediately giving them a most dangerous attacking fullback to keep up with Adelaide's (Cassio) and Melbourne's (Keenan) new signings in the same position. Fit-again Pondeljak, Hutchinson, Vidmar and Boogaard are all big boosts. The only question mark is probably in defence, which like any other team in the competition will be tested by the big striker partnerships of other squads. Vukovic anchoring the backline helps an awful lot. Can go all the way.

Season 3: Queensland

2007-08-30T09:48:00.000+10:00

Squad

Goalkeepers: Liam Reddy, Matt Ham (inj.), Griffin McMaster (inj. replacement)

Defenders: Craig Moore, Sasa Ognenovski, Seo Hyuk-soo, Andrew Packer, Stuart McLaren, Ben Griffin, Josh McCloughan

Midfielders: Matt McKay, Marcinho, Danny Tiatto, Massimo Murdocca, Chris Grossman, Michael Zullo

Forwards: Reinaldo Elias da Costa, Ante Milicic, Simon Lynch, Robbie Kruse, Tahj Minniecon, Mitch Nichols

Vacancies: 2

Player Movement

In: Moore, Marcinho, Tiatto, Grossman, Kruse, Minniecon, Nichols, Ham, Zullo, McMaster

Out: Dario Vidosic, Spase Dilevski, Chad Gibson, Remo Buess, Marcus Wedau, Tom Willis, Yuning Xhang

Comments

Key Man: McKay - super fit and fast, he's the heartbeat of the team. Continues to improve and will benefit enormously from the sudden emergence of Marcinho. Is a regular call-up to the home-based national squad on the horizon?

High Expectations: Marcinho - injured at the start of the season after scintillating pre-season form; looks to be the show time player the Roar require to bump themselves into the top four.

'X' Factor: Reinaldo - now that he's had a couple of seasons to settle in and adjust to conditions in Australia, the league's least spoken of Brazilian could emerge as a bonafide scoring threat . . . or he could have another frustratingly inconsistent season.

Young Gun: Ben Griffin - showed he's capable of stepping up when given a taste last year, but may be asked to continue to provide a utility service off the bench

Consistent Performer: Murdocca - alongside (now) Juninho Paulista, an inspiration to slightly built midfielders across the country.

Problem Child: Tiatto - with sparks already flying, what's it going to be like when Roar take on Victory?

Prediction

4th.

With the arrival of Moore, Tiatto and Marcinho, Queensland ought to have what it takes to finally push for a spot in the top four. The loss of Vidosic was a bit tragic, considering his outstanding rise, but they rolled on after the loss of Brosque the previous year, almost making the finals without their star forward from season one. The only element missing is a gun striker, but you get the feeling that if one of Reinaldo, Milicic or Lynch goes on a spree, Roar'll run all over an opposition that exhibits a defensive frailty. Reddy as well will need to keep himself out of mischief, since the departure of Willis and season-ending injury to Ham has alarmingly reduced the goalkeeping stock.

Season 3: Sydney

2007-08-29T19:13:00.000+10:00

Squad

Goalkeepers: Clint Bolton, Ivan Necevski

Defenders: Tony Popovic, Mark Rudan, Iain Fyfe, Jacob Timpano, Nick Tsattalios

Midfielders: Juninho Paulista, Steve Corica, Mark Milligan, Ufuk Talay, Robbie Middleby, Terry McFlynn, Ruben Zadkovich, Michael Enfield, Adam Biddle

Forwards: Alex Brosque, Brendon Santalab, David Zdrilic, Patrick Roberto Daniel Da Silva, Adam Casey, Ben Vidaic

Vacancies: 1

Player Movement

In: Juninho Paulista, Popovic, Santalab, Patrick, Casey, Enfield, Necevski, Tsattalios, Biddle, Vidaic

Out: David Carney, Alvin Ceccoli, Sasho Petrovski, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Jeremy Brockie, Justin Pasfield

Comments

Key Man: Brosque - so much potential and yet so much waste - he was just about the biggest disappointment in the league last year, yet showed glimpses at times of his brilliance. Seems to respond best to being sat on the left wing, but needs to be freed mentally from the challenge of having to score often. If someone rises to the occasion and tucks some of his quality crosses and through balls away, then maybe we can talk about a top four finish.

High Expectations: Juninho Paulista - what can you say, the guy's a champion; if he fires, Sydney will create a lot of chances, but can they finish them?

'X' Factor: Santalab - returning home from Europe where he enjoyed some quality pitch-time in Belgium before a lay off in Hungary. Nobody's seen him for a while; perhaps he's learned something; clutching at straws.

Young Gun: Casey - given the weakness of the striker talent ahead of him, possibly has a chance to make an impact up front this season.

Consistent Performer: Corica - how he adjusts to a new role in support of Juninho will be most interesting - he ought to remain the incisive key supplier from last season and profit from the extra attention being given to the Brazilian, but is he gets pushed too wide his effectiveness might diminish.

Problem Child: Zdrilic - it's the bane of so many teams slumped in mediocrity: a highly paid striker who can't score. With talk of shunting Zdrilic to stopper, his confidence must be at an all-time low. His quite reasonable performances for the national team now seem hazy memories. A shame.

Prediction

6th.

Maybe this is too low, considering the fact that Sydney did rather well in the Asian Champions League and has plenty of star attractions to keep them in with a chance for most matches. But over-reliance on those stars could prove a major issue, with quality a massive problem in attack, depth an issue at fullback and the effects of age likely to take their toll on a midfield orchestrated by two guys in their mid-30s. In fact, there doesn't appear to be very good balance in the team at all, with players already being featured out of position in the first round. If a goal-feasting striker doesn't materialise soon or if Bolton has a bad patch, things could get very bleak real fast.

Season 3: Newcastle

2007-08-22T17:08:00.000+10:00

Squad

Goalkeepers: Ante Covic, Ben Kennedy

Defenders: Jade North, Stephen Laybutt (inj. replacement), Matt Thompson, Andrew Durante, Adam Griffiths, Steve Eagleton, ~~Craig Deans~~

Midfielders: Stuart Musialik, Jorge Drovandi, Noel Spencer, Denni Rocha Dos Santos, Paul Kohler, Adam D'Apuzzo, Tarek Elrich, Jobe Wheelhouse

Forwards: Mark Bridge, Joel Griffiths, Mario Jardel, Scott Tunbridge, Troy Hearfield, Jason Hoffman

Vacancies: 1

Player Movement

In: Jardel, Drovandi, A. Griffiths, Spencer, Denni, Tunbridge, Hoffman

Out: Nick Carle, Milton Rodriguez, Paul Okon, Ivan Necevski, Labinot Haliti, Tolgay Ozbey, Tony Faria

Comments

Key Man: Bridge - primed for a fantastic year after setting a high standard for himself on Olyroos duty, Bridge could benefit enormously from Jardel's tutelage.

High Expectations: Jardel - he may be somewhat overweight and pretty much unfit, but Jardel comes to the league with a long history of scoring bags of goals - if he can harness only half his quality from yesteryear, he'll be a star.

'X' Factor: Prieto - can he fill the massive playmaker gap vacated by Carle? (Update: Obviously written before Prieto did a runner. Probably Denni now to fill Carle's boots.)

Young Gun: Musialik - this will probably need to be a break-out season for the rudder man if the Jets are to improve on last year's third place.

Consistent Performer: Thompson - something of a workaholic on the pitch, who can always cause disruption with his commitment and range.

Problem Child: Deans - simply because he doesn't really belong in this squad.

Prediction

5th.

The Jets might have brought some outstanding quality into the club and the league, but it's still too early to tell. One can imagine them having another slow start and late burst like last season, but without Carle pulling the strings and pulling off the miraculous (e.g. that goal versus Adelaide), it might not - after a very close call - be enough.

Fantasy A-League 2007-2008

2007-08-21T11:43:00.000+10:00

*bump* - now with details of another league (yes, another)...

21 August

FourFourTwo is also offering a Fantasy A-League competition this year. The two systems are not substantially different, but they do offer yet more action for the fantasy addicts (I think this includes me, but honestly I can't imagine keeping up - we'll see).

I have created a mini-league for anyone who wishes to join.

Simply join and create and name a team (yeah, it does take a while to tweak) and join the league. For convenience here is the link to join a custom league (it can take a while to find).

League name: Redimensionalised

Password: vincenzo

15 August

I know I've hardly made a peep since the Asian Cup disappointment, but with the A-League starting shortly I'm hoping to find the strength, time and mental conditioning to get back in business. First up will be a series of reports evaluating the off-season activity of each team.

At the moment, though, my attention has turned to the Fox Sports Fantasy A-League offer for 2007-08.

If you would like to join a private league but have few friends who follow football in Australia let alone who would wish to join an online fantasy game about said subject, then please feel free to come join the little party being established in the "Redimensionalised" league, named in honour of Vincenzo Grella's flair for the English language.

Just enter the following code to enter: 9491-1355

See you all there, or back here within a few days, promise.

Season 3: Adelaide

2007-08-18T21:36:00.000+10:00

Squad

Goalkeepers: Robert Bajic, Daniel Beltrame

Defenders: Angelo Costanzo, Michael Valkanis, Cássio José de Abreu Oliveira, Richie Alagich, Robert Cornthwaite, Isyan Erdogan, Milan Susak

Midfielders: Travis Dodd, Jonas Salley, Bobby Petta, Jason Spagnuolo, Diego Walsh, Kristian Sarkies, Lucas Pantelis, Shaun Ontong, Matthew Mullen

Forwards: Paul Agostino, Nathan Burns, Bruce Djite, Dez Giraldi

Vacancies: 1

Player Movement

In: Agostino, Salley, Cássio, Sarkies, Erdogan, Susak, Ontong, Mullen

Out: Fernando, Carl Veart, Matthew Kemp, Greg Owens, Ross Aloisi, Shengqing Qu, Kristian Rees, Aaron Goulding, Adam vanDommele

Comments

Key Man: Dodd - runs a bit hot and cold, but if he can get on fire on a more consistent basis Adelaide is going to bring serious intensity through to the final whistle with their speed, strength, fitness and depth in midfield.

High Expectations: Agostino - with the Reds mobile service platform looking incredibly strong there's a clear and patent need for an experienced big man up front; nobody expects Agostino to create 15 goals for himself, but his presence and running could be huge.

'X' Factor: Cassio - perhaps opposition teams will learn to deal with his dangerous free kicks and long-range bombs, but the crossing game and natural adventure of the fullback will still have to be dealt with; he could be instrumental for the Reds.

Young Gun: Djite - it's take your pick really, with Burns, Sarkies, Cornthwaite, Giraldi and, at 24, the somewhat mature Spagnuolo all hoping to make major impacts this season, but Djite may be the greatest beneficiary of the half-eyes being kept on strike partner Agostino.

Consistent Performer: Salley - an awesome pick-up, probably the best of the intra-league off-season acquisitions; brings gravity to the holding position rather than the pent-up aggressive mayhem of Aloisi.

Problem Child: Bajic - still hard to fathom why he thought he could get away with lashing out at Fred last season, a bizarre How Do You Do side-kick that effectively ended his productive stint as the No. 1.

Prediction

1st.

They have been the quiet achievers of the A-League, which all too often - and I realise I'm a culprit of this myself - is focused on the east coast and particularly on Sydney and Melbourne. There're a few reasons why I think Adelaide will do very well again. They were slammed in the final last year, but will be the better for it mentally. They have excellent depth and competition for places all over the park, even in goals and especially in midfield. The Asian Champions League experience has kept the players in touch during the off-season, as have the Olyroos excursions - both competitions have fast-tracked the development of the younger lads in relation to the other A-League teams with a bit of a youth focus. Finally, the recent pre-season victory indicated all of the above.

Season 3: Melbourne

2007-08-18T19:51:00.000+10:00

Squad

Goalkeepers: Michael Theoklitos, Eugene Galekovic, Mitchell Langerak

Defenders: Ljubo Milicevic, Rodrigo Vargas, Joseph Keenan, Matthew Kemp, Daniel Piorkowski, Steven Pantelidis, Sebastian Ryall

Midfielders: Kevin Muscat, Grant Brebner, Carlos Hernandez, Kaz Patafta, Leigh Broxham, Evan Berger, Daniel Vasilevski

Forwards: Archie Thompson, Daniel Allsopp, Adrian Caceres, Leandro Love

Vacancies: 2

Player Movement

In: Milicevic, Hernandez, Keenan, Patafta, Kemp, Love, Vasilevski, Berger, Langerak

Out: Fred, Adrian Leijer, Kristian Sarkies, Alessandro, Mark Byrnes, Simon Storey, James Robinson, Claudinho, Michael Ferrante, Vince Lia, Geoffrey Claeys

Comments

Key Man: Brebner - it's Muscat, of course, who dictates the mental and emotional approach of the team on the pitch, but Brebner increasingly seems to be the guy setting the tempo and marshaling the play.

High Expectations: Hernandez - the current Costa Rican international is largely regarded as a one-for-one replacement for Fred and he will be expected to perform accordingly.

'X' Factor: Keenan - has looked one of Victory's best in warm-up matches and could provided much needed delivery from the flank for Allsopp.

Young Gun: Patafta - will hopefully see healthy time on the pitch eventually, but for now may have to warm the bench for Muscat, Brebner and Hernandez.

Consistent Performer: Vargas - considering the departure of Leijer and the loss of depth players like Byrnes, another superb season like is probably required from Vargas if Victory are to repeat.

Problem Child: Milicevic - who knows what Melbourne is going to get from Milicevic, who has to prove on the field - not in the press or the locker rooms - that, to rejoin the national team, he has the mental fortitude to complement his natural ability; a little work on his ponderous acceleration might help as well.

Prediction

2nd.

While it's hard to see Melbourne not making the final four, I'm not convinced they are well-placed in terms of depth to take out the Minor Premiership again, especially given their enormous player turnover (although I do see the argument that maybe it's a tremendously positive thing to have replaced players like Lia, Ferrante and Storey). All the key elements from last season remain in place, however, including one would assume the massive home crowds. There's also the question of if not Melbourne, then who? That, I'm still mulling over.

Pre-tournament Jitters

2007-07-07T20:09:00.000+10:00

If form is any indication, Australia will almost certainly play Iran in the semi-final of the Asian Cup.

I no longer hold any bad feelings towards Team Melli for promoting Australia's exit from the 1998 World Cup at the final qualification hurdle. A certain match in November 2005 and the reform of the local game in the wake of arguably our grandest and most tragic failure has changed all that. It's hard as well to forget the fantastic movie, Offside, which depicts the tribulations of female football supporters in Iran as they try without much luck to enter the national stadium for an important match. The fact that Iranian players tend to embrace flair and celebrate a football of attractions also steers them very much into favour. Hopefully, they will remain respected opponents of Australia for years to come. However, the next meeting of the two teams will be the first at senior level since that fateful evening in 1997 when a 2-2 draw was enough to see Iran through to the World Cup finals on away goals. If it so happens, then, that the two teams meet in a fixture as important as an Asian Cup semi-final (or a final should one of the two finish second, rather than top, their group), so much the better for Australian football - which finally will have the chance to put a final and extremely delayed nail into the coffin our darkest modern era day.

Here's to expectations being fulfilled and a spectacular game on the 25 July between Asia's two highest ranked teams.

But first things first. The Socceroos have some work to do to adapt to the conditions and top their group, then either Japan or the United Arab Emirates will probably be up next. Japan's preparation hasn't been good at all, but their matches with Australia are usually always unpredicatble affairs. And with the way the United Arab Emirates are playing at the moment, experienced coach Bruno Metsu and wonder striker Ismail Matar leading the way, we can pretty much rest assured that Australia will not be waltzing into the final four. Major tournaments have a habit of going very sour and totally pear-shaped for at least one pre-tournament favourite. I don't think it's going to be Australia, with South Korea a far more likely victim, but hey you'd think by now that we've suffered enough heartbreak to start learning from our perhaps slight over-confidence going into these events.

Of course, what I really just want to say is the hell with it - let's take out the cup!

Fantasy Football

2007-06-18T22:18:00.000+10:00

Sad, depressed, lonely . . .? Looking for some fantasy action that doesn't come attached with an '000' telephone suffix?

The good fellows over at FourFourTwo have set up an Asian Cup Fantasy Football game that, while seemingly a tad buggy at the moment, promises some fine points-hoarding and transfer-wheeling action.

Sign-up for free here: http://fourfourtwo.fantasyasiancup.com.

Once you're set-up with a cool as Harry team name and you've selected a line-up (good luck getting Kewell, Viduko and Bresciano on the field in your chosen formation), you may feel a bit lost in the wilderness if you don't have a private league in which to compete. (Maybe your friends just don't get it, most of mine certainly don't - no, Mike, my brother in forgotten transfer deadlines and retrospective line-up re-engineering, not you.) So, feel free to join the league I have arranged for just such a possibility. Here's the info you'll need to join:

League name: A-League Junkies
Password: australia

Happy punting, whether you join or not!

The Squad

2007-06-09T12:10:00.000+10:00

Can this team win the AFC Asian Cup 2007?

Goalkeepers:

Mark Schwarzer (Middlesborough, England)
Brad Jones (Middlesborough, England)
Michael Petkovic (Sivasspor, Turkey)

Defenders:

Lucas Neill (West Ham, England)
Patrick Kisnorbo (Leicester City, England)
Michael Beauchamp (FC Nürnberg, Germany)
Michael Thwaite (Wisla Krakow, Poland)
Mark Milligan (Sydney FC, Australia)

Midfielders:

Harry Kewell (Liverpool, England)
Mark Bresciano (Palermo, Italy)
Tim Cahill (Everton, England)
Vince Grella (Parma, Italy)
Brett Emerton (Blackburn, England)
Jason Culina (PSV, Holland)
Mile Sterjovski (FC Basel, Switzerland)
Luke Wilkshire (FC Twente, Holland)
Carl Valeri (Grosetto, Italy)
David Carney (Sydney FC, Australia)
Nick Carle (Newcastle United Jets, Australia)

Forwards:

Mark Viduka (Mewcastle United, England)
John Aloisi (Alaves, Spain)
Archie Thompson (Melbourne Victory, Australia)
Brett Holman (NEC Nijmegen, Holland)

Hell, yes it can.

While the absence of Moore and Skoko will be felt to some extent, there's really quite decent cover in the squad for both those veterans (Neill is such a giant these days, and, with the possible exception of Japan, we must have the deepest quality midfield in the competition).

The loss of Chipperfield's versatility will be more keenly felt. The big question is who will start on the left side of a back four or as the left wingback in a back three? Just about half the squad are potential options: Thwaite (at fault against Uruguay), Milligan (in what would be only his fourth-best position), Sterjovski, Carney, Carle, Culina or Kewell (all would be positioned much deeper than usual) or Wilkshire (about the most versatile player in the team after Chippers)? The warm-up match should give us some clues, but it seems that more than one player will be rotated through the role in order to impress before the latter stages of the tournament.

Some other questions:

Who will partner Neill, Kisnorbo or Beauchamp? Or both in a back three?

Who will be the backup 'keeper, Jones or Petkovic?

Unlike during the recent World Cup, will we find a way to get Kewell, Bresciano, Cahill, Grella, Emerton, Culina all on the park at the same time?

Will Cahill and perhaps even Kewell be ready in time or risked early on? (If not Sterjovski looks absolutely primed and good to go.)

Who, like Skoko in the World Cup, will be disappointed not to make it on the park?

Will someone like Sterjovski, Holman, Kisnorbo, or dare I say Nicky Carle emerge as a bonafide, match-winning top-drawer national team player for the next World Cup cycle? Or are those players still not even regular fixtures in the set-up at the moment (e.g. Spiranovic, McDonald, Vukovic, Bridge, Leijer, and the like)? (Or are those next generation stars even less visible for contention at the moment, like young whipper-snappers such as Bouzanis, Patafta, Burns, Troisi, Williams and so on?)

And some off-the-cuff tips:

Viduka to score four goals for the tournament.
Kewell to take penalties if Aloisi is off the pitch.
One of Neill, Bresciano or Sterjovski to earn player of the tournament honours.
Grella to miss a latter-stage match due to accrued yellow cards.
Cahill to escape worse offences than Grella, as usual. (How does he do it?)
Australia to be the most penalised team by at least a factor of two.
Kewell to play within himself until the semi-final, then have to contend with a double-teaming job in the final, which will free-up Bresciano, Cahill or Culina for a blinder and/or the winner. (Although it'd be nice to see Dukes score the goal to get us the Cup . . . yet that might make him consider stupid premature thoughts, like retirement. Don't do it Mark!)
Schwarzer to do enough to seal his position for the World Cup qualifiers and beyond.
Post-tournament, Carle to get what he wants and deserves: a contract in Europe.

Cup Quiz

2007-05-28T16:49:00.000+10:00

Sigh. No free trip to Thailand for me.

I bombed out of the 'Expert' trivia category in Telstra's Be Involved campaign to take five people to Thailand for the Asian Cup finals, scoring only 17 out of 20. (Embarrassing, but there you have my startling, pathetic admission in black on yellow.) Checking back through my browser I noticed I'd somehow managed to incorrectly select North Korea instead of Lebanon for the second question regarding the team that withdrew from Australia's qualifying group for the tournament - damn lack of mouse control!

No idea what else I got wrong, though. I thought I was geek enough.

Revenge? Pointless.

2007-05-27T11:42:00.000+10:00

Australia's friendly international versus Uruguay next week is not a rematch, at least not a fair one. With Uruguay bringing over Recoba, Forlan, Lugano, Garcia, Canobbio, Diogo, Estoyanoff, Sanchez, and so on, La Celeste are close to full strength. (I say close mainly because Sebastian Abreu has again been selected. I admit to only having seem Abreu play a couple of times, but that seems evidence enough to me: any squad that needs him around has to have a bit of a problem with depth up front. Perhaps Regueiro, Pouso and Varela are the other notable absentees.)

Australia on the other hand are nowhere near full strength. No Kewell, Viduka, Bresciano, Grella, Cahill, Schwarzer, Aloisi, Moore, Chipperfield or Skoko for starters.

The veterans on the ground are pretty thin. Only Neill, Emerton, Culina, Wilkshire, Sterjovski and Thompson will be there to guide the emerging younger guns, e.g. the likes of Brett Holman, Patrick Kisnorbo, Scott McDonald and Matthew Spiranovic. The rest of the squad is a bit touch and go . . . and I think that's fantastic. With so many major tournament matches and friendlies crucial to the countinued reign of Graham Arnold, it's been a long time since we've seen such a squad. Finally, we've embraced a chance to evaluate some of the fringe performers against world class opposition. Uruguay is coming here to whip our asses, and unless some of these lads on the periphery step up that's exactly what will happen. It's going to be an interesting evening.

With the non-selection of Michael Petkovic, Ante Covic or Clint Bolton we're certain to start with a debutante in goals, and it's not Paul Henderson or Danny Vukovic. Brad Jones will start, with Adam Federici, another first-timer, backing him up. It's great news for Jones and I'm sure many in the community who've been scratching their heads about our second and third goalkeeper selection strategies of the national team ever since Covic went to the World Cup. Federici seems more of a longer-term prospect to me, with circumstances rather than consistent form edging him into the frame earlier than expected. If Reading were not flying so high in the Premiership, perhaps someone like Henderson would have been picked, if only to balance the experience somewhat. After years of selecting keepers in or past their prime, we've now turned 180 degrees and picked a pair of kids with zero international exposure. No real complaints from me, but others may wonder why a balance couldn't have been struck.

At the back, it Neill and Kisnorbo ought to start, with Beauchamp in contention if we start with a back three. Jade North and Michael Thwaite are pretty much on the outer rim, with Matthew Spiranovic far more likely to come on as a late substitute (as he did in the German DFB Pokal final overnight) to earn his first cap and spurn forever the whispering advances of Croatia. Personally, I'd like to see Spiranpovic make the Asian Cup squad. He was far and away our best performer for the U-20s and he's proven himself at least the equal of Beauchamp in Germany. He's one of the few bonafide long-term prospects we have at the moment, so why not?

Unless North or Thwaite occupy a wide defensive role, Emerton and Shane Stefanutto will probably start in the wingback positions. It'll be good for the local audience to see Stefanutto on home soil again and gauge what the impact of losing Scott Chipperfield will be for the forthcoming Cup. Chippers is pretty much irreplaceable, but if he decides to take a thoroughly well-deserved break then we'll need someone like Stefanutto or Ryan Griffiths or Wilkshire to take over that versatile man-of-action down the left.

The situation is similar in midfield. Carl Valeri will try to impress on the home crowd that he's a suitable backup for Vinny Grella in the holding position, at least, that is, until Mark Milligan returns from U-23 duty. From memory of the Athens Olympics, Valeria is a technical player with pretty good vision and who likes to roam. In this way he's probably more similar to Grella than is Milligan - an analog who doesn't upset the team balance quite so much. Regarding this speculation, Simon Colosimo may other other ideas of course. If he's in the sort of form (after playing in Turkey) that somehow kept the dire Perth Glory above the fast-finishing New Zealand Knights in the second season of the A-League, he may find himself thrown into what will arguably be the most important position on the park against Uruguay (somebody has to stifle the service to the super dangerous forwards; maybe we could do with a Rafa Bentizesque 4-5-1 for this match, with two defensive midfielders protecting the backline).

Culina and Wilkshire (or Emerton - those two are pretty interchangeable) will probably patrol the central midfield. What odds Wilkshire is sent off for a late lunge on Garcia? While Holman will definitely get a run, with Nick Carle and David Carney possibilites, Bresciano and Sterjovski will probably start as the supporting players for the striker, which I guess will have to be Thompson or McDonald. Archie might get the nod, but some might feel he's already been given a chance at this level and is yet to really fire. However, promoting new Celtic signing McDonald to such a lofty height will no doubt impel many a punter to wonder if they are dreaming. It seems that for years now people have been screaming for the introduction of a younger forward, be it McDonald, Joshua Kennedy or David Williams (thankfully we can still rely on Viduka and Aloisi to turn up when it really counts). Everyone in the stadium, I think, would love to see McDonald play, but we'll then be forced to play a new style of football. In such a scenario, how, why and how successfully Arnold tinkers with the system that's been in place since the last time we played Uruguay is possibly the biggest question of the night.

There could be one 'out' for Arnold that allows him to adopt the same tactics and plow on with the Hiddink method: playing Danny Allsopp up front as the target man. It would be a massively controversial decision to start Allsopp over McDonald, a kid who's been screwed or just been plain unlucky with the national team on several occasions already. Yet, Allsopp provides all the intangibles of the big lug Viduka - he's a solid presence, he can hold the ball, he can turn and run at defenders, he can shoot with power from outside the box, he has a good sense of the runners around him (running ahead of Allsopp is all Archie seems to do at Victory sometimes). We know that when you play Uruguay you need to have a certain sense of street thuggery about your game, or guile at the least. A large, tall striker becomes a sort of figurehead for the team, a crushing yet agile bastard up front that you can poke or smash the ball at whenever you're in trouble or simply pissed off at all the legs flying in around your ankles.

Possibly the biggest surprise of among Arnold's squad selection is in fact one of the most sensible: Allsopp is just the type of guy you want around when facing off against Uruguay, a national opponent we've come to love to hate (and certainly respect) more than any other (proviso: until we again play Iran again at the top level).

Beijing Breaks

2007-03-24T10:05:00.000+11:00

Yep, it's been a while.

The site's been on hiatus for a number of reasons. Other work has taken priority, the off-season has restricted content a bit, and I haven't felt that burning desire for a while that urged me to start this thing in the first place. Really, the original mission of bringing of this site - to contribute to fan-oriented promotion of the league - has already been accomplished. Now that we're two years into the A-League, there are thankfully numerous places to find out the latest info, canvass a wide section of opinions, and flame away at whatever topic takes one's fancy. A content dearth two years ago has become a content overload in some respects, with site's like this one fast becoming redundant against the surging tide or bandwagoning of the mass media outlets.

In order to feel compelled to return to regular updates, I'll probably need to give the blog an overhaul, or at least a change of emphasis and direction.

The mission of the national team to become Asian Cup champions is certainly an interest worth studying in finer detail. Tonight the Socceroos play away against China in a friendly that is shaping up as a fascinating test of the team's depth. The Australian midfield - such a strength over the past few years - will tonight include only three players (Bresciano, Sterjovski, Wilkshire) with World Cup experience. Kewell, Cahill, Grella, Culina, Emerton, Chipperfield and Skoko are all missing. In their place we have Holman, Stefanutto, Valeri, Ryan Griffiths, Jacob Burns, Colosimo and Carle. Had he been fit, Elrich would surely have been a cinch for a start tonight; ditto Milligan were he not on U-23 duty.

Such drastic change represents a significant challenge for the lads as they try to bounce back from the recent loss to Denmark. It also gives the recently introduced players a chance to prove something on the pitch, not just at training. Yet for all the long term value of those opportunities, we have a match to win, and the answer I think lies in the contributiuons of the more senior midfielders, especially Wilkshire and Sterjovski. The match tonight is ready-built for those two to step up and really emphasise their senior position in the international pecking order. Sterjovski needs to start scoring and improving his communication with Viduka. Wilkshire needs to keep a level head and demonstrate confidence. Good performances from both ought to fill the alarming void in midfield left by the departed superstars. Poor displays will put far too much pressure on Bresciano, who like any great player lives and breathes off the movement, fast-thinking, and return balls from those surrounding him.

Beauchamp is of course the other senior player who is hopefully aiming to cement his status tonight. I think it's fair to suggest that Kisnorbo has already staked a claim as the best of our centre-half options after Neill and Moore. With Thwaite waiting in the wings, Spiranovic pushing Beauchamp at club level (witness his start over Beauchamp in Nurnberg's last encounter with Bayern Munich), and doubts still lingering over Beauchamp's ability to adjust to the national team set-up, what's required is a convincing display tonight as Neill's shield.

Let's hope as well that Arnie, in his eternal wisdom, sees fit to cap Jones in the second half. It's amazing how the retirement of Kalac has suddenly made our goalkeeping ranks seems extraordinarily slim. There's really nobody behind Schwarzer who oozes confidence and has the experience to slot straight into the team without inducing a comedy of errors at the back. Not Petkovic, Covic or Bolton. Leicester's Paul Henderson is yet to be given a shot. Vukovic and Federici are still coming on, while Coe and van Strattan remain bereft of opportunity. Jones needs to start getting his chances. Maybe over the next 18 months he'll start to push a lot harder for Schwarzer's role. Maybe in the mean time we need to think seriously about getting John Filan into the equation, as a worst case scenario Plan B. Maybe we need Dean Bouzanis to be a freakish prodigy.

Cheers to Arnie as well if he throws McDonald into the fray for an extended period. His introduction will necessarily instigate a reshuffle - it's not like he can replace Viduka as a target man - but given the shot in the heart to our midfield we're likely to have some trouble breaking the Chinese defense down and thus need some fresh input.

Round Twenty One Report

2007-01-26T19:44:00.000+11:00

Best of Round Twenty One:

Player: Ufuk Talay, Sydney - sent off late in the match, but instrumental in controlling the middle of the park to just get Sydney over the line against Queensland

U-20 Player: Nathan Burns, Adelaide - claiming a neat hat-trick after great build-up work from the likes of Bruce Djite and Bobby Petta; Ruben Zadkovich also had a strong game, again as a right-sided wing back

Coach: Gary Van Egmond, Newcastle - following a 4-0 demolition of the runaway competition leaders, who isn't scared of the Jets heading into the finals? GVE has turned it all around

Match: Queensland Roar vs Sydney FC

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Malik Buari - Mark Bridge
Bobby Petta - Ufuk Talay - Jonas Salley - Noah Hickey
Matt Thompson - Paul Okon - Iain Fyfe - Andrew Packer
Clint Bolton

Subs: Ante Covic, Dean Gordon, Ross Aloisi, Reinaldo

Shown the Door

2007-01-26T19:40:00.000+11:00

The following off-contract players who have been told their services are no longer required. All will be looking for new clubs during the off season.

Central Coast Mariners:

Wayne O'Sullivan
Noel Spencer
Vuko Tomasevic

Perth Glory:

Luka Glavas
Mark Robertson
Mimi Saric
Adrian Webster
Stuart Young

Queensland Roar:

Remo Buess
Chad Gibson

Round Twenty Report

2007-01-20T11:31:00.000+11:00

Sorry this is so late - having started a new job things are little busy! I write this knowing that Newcastle have secured a spot in the finals, and that Queensland and Sydney will duke it out for the final position, joining Melbourne and Adelaide.

The biggest loss of Round Twenty wasn't a match, but rather a player. Bobby Despotovski finally called it quits on a remarkable national league career. It was a pity the A-League never really saw him at the top of his game, even if he still managed to win the inaugural Johnny Warren medal for best player last season as voted by his peers. It's hard to imagine another veteran, Kevin Muscat, not winning the same award this time around. (Edit: Except, of course, he has been given a red card, and so is inelligible for the award. In which case, maybe the likes of Simon Colosimo, Daniel Allsopp and Matt McKay will stand the best chance.)

Best of Round Twenty:

Player: Joel Griffiths, Newcastle - two very late goals to pull the Jets back into finals contention

U-20 Player: Tando Velaphi, Queensland - the round's other match-winning, season-saving performance

Coach: John Kosmina, Adelaide - continues to play the psychological game - especially with Sydney - with some degree of success, seems to have pulled Ross Aloisi back into some semblance of form, and made excellent work of his bench this week

Match: Perth Glory vs Newcastle United Jets

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Damian Mori - Joel Griffiths
Matt McKay - Nick Carle - Simon Colosimo - Leo Bertos
Matt Thompson - Michael Valkanis - Che Bunce - Steve Eagleton
Tando Velaphi

Subs: Daniel Beltrame, Richie Alagich, Richard Johnson, Reinaldo

Round Nineteen Report

2007-01-08T10:30:00.000+11:00

Best of Round Nineteen:

Player: Ante Covic, Newcastle - rose to the occasion in a crucial derby contest, made even more interesting with Danny Vukovic - probably Covic's major future contender for the number one home-based national team jersey - patrolling the opposite nets

U-20 Player: Kristian Sarkies, Melbourne - finally proves he can score from dead ball situations; surely bound for a spark-plug role off the bench during the finals

Coach: Ricky Herbert, New Zealand - two wins on the trot, this one away to Sydney, with the team looking more like a cohesive football than ever before

Match: Newcastle United Jets vs Central Coast Mariners

Goal: Kristian Sarkies, Melbourne

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Lelei Gao - Damian Mori
Jason Spagnuolo - Kristian Sarkies - Jonas Salley - Reinaldo
Andrew Packer - Josh McCloughan - Che Bunce - Matt Thompson
Ante Covic

Subs: Clint Bolton, Andrew Durante, Mile Jedinak, ~~Damian Mori~~ Alen Marcina

Round Eighteen Report

2007-01-02T10:48:00.000+11:00

Great to see Central Coast and Newcastle pull enormous crowds over the New Year's break. Just a shame both teams lost. Injuries hurt the Mariners, who only managed to field 3 fit players on the bench, while the Jets seemed undone by the woeful state of their pitch.

Sydney's three points means that the FFA's 3-points suspension for salary cap breahces is now practically irrelevant, at least in terms of making the final four. With an appeal deadline imminent, will SFC try to clear its name or simply accept the FFA's decision and move on?

Ernie Merrick promised player rotation going into the last few rounds, starting in goals. Eugene Galekovic was handed the gloves and played well in the Victory's win over the Mariners. Michael Ferrante and Vince Lia were also offered rare appearances, neither greatly impressing which isn't surprising given the lack of match practice. Faring better was midfielder Brad Porter, given the difficult task of filling in at stopper alongside Alex Wilkinson. Both dealed about as well as can be expected with Archie Thompson and Daniel Allsopp - now one of the deadliest striker partnerships in Australian domestic football history.

Nothing prepared us for the rout in Auckland, where the Knights stunned the Roar with a marvellous three goal barrage. It was the first time New Zealand had scored more than twice, and the win puts the cellar dwellers within reach of 7th placed Perth. Enormous kudos to Ricky Herbert, Neil Emblen (awesome performance up front), Darren Bazeley (back to an acceptable standard), John Tambouras (his return a bit of a talisman for the Knights), Che Bunce, Richard Johnson, Jonas Salley, Lelei Gao, Alen Marcina and the rest of the tightrope-treading organisation for getting out there and playing some football.

Things might have been worse for Glory had Adelaide managed to snatch a win from the round's earliest match. The Reds continue their erratic season - we know they're good enough to beat Melbourne and Sydney, but they continue to play in patches (some breathtaking, others unbelievably inept) and make hard work of every game they play. Adrian Webster and Jamie Harnwell weren't paying much attention, however, preferring to exchange pleasantries with each other after the 0-0 draw was brought to a conclusion. The Perth captain left the sticks and stones on the ground, but seemed to aim a few choice words at the fiery Webster, who in appreciation for the wit planted a hand on Jamie's face. Fortunately neither of the subsequent flying fists made contact.

And now we head into 2007, the year of Australia's first major step into Asia with stints in the Asian Champions League and Asian Cup awaiting.

Best of Round Eighteen:

Player: Neil Emblen, New Zealand - hard to look past someone from the Knights, the hardest of whom to ignore was Emblen - the big man promoted to the front line, where he displayed excellent control, distribution and leadership

U-20 Player: Ruben Zadkovich, Sydney - briefly shifted to right-back

Coach: Terry Butcher, Sydney - forced to re-shuffle the backline, with Zadkovich effective at right fullback and Fyfe tucked inside. Thanks especially to Milligan, Talay, McFlynn and Corica neutralised Nick Carle and the massively in form Mark Bridge.

Match: Melbourne Victory vs Central Coast Mariners

Goal: Sasho Petrovski, Sydney

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Archie Thompson - Neil Emblen
Dario Vidosic - Steve Corica - Terry McFlynn - David Carney
Damien Brown - Che Bunce - Alex Wilkinson - Ruben Zadkovich
Tommi Tomich

Subs: Ante Covic, David Tarka, Richard Johnson, Adam Kwasnik

Round Seventeen Report

2006-12-21T09:18:00.000+11:00

After brushing aside New Zealand with four goals in ten minutes, Melbourne Victory has deservedly won the 'minor' Premiership to clinch their first trophy (in fact, the Premiership Shield).

They hope to show off the silverware to home fans in Round 20, but might have to wait until the away game the following week in Newcastle (with a second presentation for the local fans made during the first home semi-final). I'm sure Jets fans could do without the Shield being held aloft in front of their desperate faces at the start of their final - probably crucial - game of the season. Let's hope the FFA gets flexbile on this issue and allows championship winning teams to display trophies whenever the first available home match arises.

Big wins also for Adelaide and Queensland this week. Romario finally scored - albeit from about two feet away - and played particularly well in the Reds' showdown with Newcastle. The incredible goals kept flying in throughout the game, with a few other splendid shots - one from Romario - narrowly failing to hit the back of the net. World Cup squad member Ante Covic had a debut worth forgetting for the Jets, midjudging Fernando's underhit shot. Newcastle lost the match but showed that even without the unavailable Nick Carle and Paul Okon, they are a force to be reckoned with and genuine final four contenders - I think they're capable of beating both Adelaide (questionable defence) and Sydney (not firing on all cylinders) for a spot in the final.

Queensland clawed and scraped against the intentions of the referee as much as Central Coast's graft. Liam Reddy couldn't stop two Mariners' penalties, one of which had to be re-taken, but Matt McKay and Dario Vidosic conspired and toiled to pull off a terrific 3-2 result for the Roar. It's the first positive thing to happen for Queensland for some time - the question now is will they be able to gather steam and make a late charge for the top four? With Newcastle and Central Coast both at home to the top two teams in the league, a good result for the Roar away to New Zealand next week might put them right back in contention. It doesn't get any easier, though, with away matches against Melbourne and Sydney, then a tough home match against Adelaide to follow.

Perth Glory submitted to a lacklustre Sydney, going down to Alex Brosque's first goal of the season (starting to turn it around, as predicted last week). They will need to win all four remaining matches to stand only a tiny mathematical chance of making the finals, but I suspect determining the future direction of the club over the next three home matches and one away game in far off New Zealand will be the foremost priority in the minds of Glory management, who have miserably failed to meet the high expectations of the club's former NSL supporter base. Something needs to be done, but nobody seems willing to take the affirmative steps.

The only team worse off are New Zealand - will they still exist in just over a month's time? The forced withdrawal of the club's owners, player contract disputes, the appearance of yet more part-time players on the field (by my count the Knights have now used 31 players this season!), and the arrival of New Zealand Soccer as temporary license holders, has turned the club into a bit of a fiasco over the past week. Count me as a member of the ever-decreasing circle of supporters for a New Zealand team in the A-League - but only under the provision that murky issues surrounding the team's split-regional status between Asia and Oceania are sorted out. I can't imagine any prospective owner being encouraged by the team's ineligibility for the Asian Champions League - what a farce that would be if the Knights ever did qualify - thus largely restricting sponsorship deals to New Zealand and Australia. I think there's a national audience for the Knights, but I'm not sure that there's a financial system based around the New Zealand national market to fully support the team's continued involvement.

Best of Round Seventeen:

Player: Dario Vidosic - another match-winning performance. Good thing he's contracted for another year - as a proven scorer of crucial goals he'll be worth a great deal on the park and/or in the transfer market for the Roar next campaign. Adelaide's Jason Spagnuolo also had an instrumental performance.

U-20 Player: Ben Griffin, Queensland - his thundering volley past Danny Vukovic ('Where'd what go?') was the highlight of the match. As predicted, Frank Farina has been able to draw excellence from the Roar youth. Farina's not doing too bad with some of the senior players either.

Coach: Frank Farina, Queensland - a successful reshuffle on this occasion, with Buess (left fullback) and Seo (defensive midfield) starting where they ought to in the minds of most fans.

Match: Adelaide United vs Newcastle United Jets

Goal: Greg Owens, Adelaide - quality shimmy and finish after the lay off from Romario, and such a massive goal in the context of the final four. Roar's Ben Griffin and Victory's Adrian Caceres also scored screamers - as The Roundball Analyst points out, this was a week of great goals.

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Alex Brosque - Damian Mori
Jason Spagnuolo - Dario Vidosic - Mark Bridge - Leo Bertos
Matt Thompson - David Tarka - Mark Milligan - Ben Griffin
Danny Vukovic

Subs: Clint Bolton, Steven Pantelidis, Steve Corica, Romario

Round Sixteen Report

2006-12-14T10:22:00.000+11:00

More than 80,000 people attended the round's four matches, the highest overall attendance in the league's short history.

Newcastle destroyed Queensland to set themselves up for a very big finish indeed.

Neither Melbourne or Sydney were prepared to test the waters too any significant degree so close to the finals, resulting in a classic goalless draw.

Perth pretty much surrended its campaign to a suddenly watertight Central Coast unit.

Romario and Aloisi were finally dragged by John Kosmina, their replacements gaining an important point against a determined and fortunate New Zealand.

Although Glory, the Knights and Roar all seem unrealistic final four contenders at this stage, just about everyone still has something to play for - each club has between one-third and one-half of their playing staff coming off contract at the end of the season. Who knows what personnel changes might eventuate between now and the start of the third A-League campaign? As Alex Brosque showed last year, loyalty is something to speak highly of in the press but ignore when it comes time to make a bottom-line decision (that hasn't turned out particulary well for him, so far, but you get the feeling an exceptionally important goal might be just around the corner). Over the coming weeks, expect to hear plenty of positive self-judgements seeping into the press from players and agents seeking new deals.

Meanwhile, Sydney stands to lose competition points due to salary cap breaches involving payments to David Zdrilic, the FFA finally seems to have given New Zealand's owners the big flick, and Brazilian commentators - seeking excuses for Romario - have weighed-in on the slow pace and lack of sharpness evident in Adelaide's midfield.

Never a dull week of football.

Best of Round Sixteen:

Player: Mark Bridge, Newcastle - his chances have been come and go, as you expect from youth, but when he's come in and played well he's really given that extra option to lift the Jets

U-20 Player: Dario Vidosic, Queensland - came on as a sub and looked one of the few Roar players interested

Coach: Gary Van Egmond, Newcastle - it's just remarkable, right now they have to be genuine title contenders

Match: Melbourne Victory vs Sydney FC

Goal: Mark Bridge, Newcastle - take your pick, the first a great one-two-three with Milton Rodriguez, the second a perfect demonstration of when to be greedy

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Mark Bridge - Archie Thompson
Stewart Petrie - Stuart Musialik - Simon Colosimo - Travis Dodd
Damien Brown - Rodrigo Vargas - Mark Rudan - Jade North
Mark Paston

Subs: Tommi Tomich, David Tarka, Robbie Middleby, Alen Marcina

A Look at Attendances

2006-12-10T10:55:00.000+11:00

Following the record-breaking crowd of 50,333 at the Melbourne vs Sydney fixture on the weekend, average attendances for the current season are closing in on 13,000. In comparison, the last regular season finished with an average of just under 11,000 per game. So, we're clearly seeing a big improvement, albeit one fueled by Melbourne's stunning crowds (which have increased an enormous 85% from last year). Central Coast (up 24%) and Adelaide (up 10%) are the other teams to have significantly increased their home-and-away season crowd averages, while New Zealand (down 25%) and Perth (down 21%) have witnessed the biggest slides.

Yet, we still get ridiculous pieces of 'analytical' journalism such as this from Philip Micallef:

IF Terry Butcher wants to know why Melbourne pull far bigger crowds than Sydney, he should look no further than Friday night's blockbuster ...

Contrary to free-spirited Victory, whic [sic] is without doubt the flag-bearer of the league, Sydney does not create many scoring chances and is not exactly pretty to watch.

Perhaps this is why Victory gets huge crowds and Sydney's gates are poor, compared to last season at least.

Good grief. This is simply inane and vulgar sports commentary with no basis to factual reality. Micallef wants us to believe that exciting, attacking football brings patrons to games, an assertion that could be disputed with reference to all manner of examples from home and overseas. Queensland, for instance, are arguably playing less attacking football than last year - Miron Bleiberg stated as much before his departure, and Frank Farina's Roar has hardly managed to exhilirate fans so far. Average attendances to Roar matches have barely fluctuated from last year, though - the same fans are still turning up, regardless of the 'quality' of the attacking display.

Secondly, Micallef wants to drag Sydney through the mud some more - why not, everyone else is? Sydney's gates are down from last year, yes, but only by a relatively modest 8%. The situation is clearly far more dismal in the far east and west bases of the league, but perhaps due to their remoteness and low key media profiles those clubs haven't received the wrath of an ill-informed, agenda-based press. It's quite evident that an endless stream of negative media reports is at least partly, and possibly mostly, responsible for Sydney's poorer turnouts this year. Terry Butcher's heavy-handedness and watchful style probably hasn't helped an awful lot, but it's incredibly facile to assert his results-oriented approach is the major reason for fan disgruntlement. John Kosmina has also carved his team in the Jose Mourinho results-over-substance style, and one doesn't hear too many complaints from the larger Adelaide crowds.

Relative degrees of success is of course the other big factor affecting the fluctuation of attendances. (Perhaps I shouldn't say 'of course'; what might be obvious to 99% of us clearly isn't at all to a handful of imbeciles holding down decently paying jobs at our major sportscasters.) As the most successful team in the league in terms of the win column, Melbourne has benefited most of all from the post-World Cup intensification of interest in the local game. Since they keep on winning and remain on top of the table, Victory has been able to sustain the football bubble longer than anyone else. The enormous expectations surrounding Sydney after last year's championship no doubt contributed to the slowdown when early league results - especially at home - did not go their way. Meanwhile, the successful but not entirely satisfying inaugural seasons of the Reds and the Mariners may have helped pave the way for their improved attendances this year - the fans have had a taste and now they want more.

Finally, there's one more piece of the puzzle Micallef overlooks, much to his discredit: for an intense rivalry to emerge, it takes two to tango. If Sydney is so boring, why haven't 50,000 (or even 30,000) Melbourne fans attended any of the Victory's matches against any of the league's other teams? The analysis (not that Micallef did any) of home gates is just one aspect of the story. To provide a more complete picture of the league's favoured and disfavoured teams, both home and away attendances need to be taken into account.

--

By the way, if you're looking for a breakdown of current and historical aggregates and averages, please navigate to the approporiate page on AusFootballReview.

Round Fifteen Report

2006-12-05T11:24:00.000+11:00

Best of Round Fifteen:

Player: Daniel Allsopp, Melbourne - benefits so much from the hard running of Thompson and Caceres, as well as the precise passing of Muscat and Fred, but deserves every accolade for the way he's rebounded from a lacklustre first season to top the scoring charts

U-20 Player: Chris Grossman, Queensland (see comments) ~~Adrian Leijer, Melbourne - not much competition this week, with Burns quiet and a little clumsy, Vidosic and Zadkid on late, and so many other U-20s on the bench~~

Coach: Ernie Merrick, Melbourne - no, the defeat against Newcastle was not a sign of hard times ahead - after demolishing Adelaide with their pace, vision, movement off the ball and hard tackling, Melbourne are still clear favourites for the title

Match: Central Coast Mariners vs Sydney FC

Goal: Matt McKay, Queensland - maybe a bit fortunate Tomich was slow to get across to his far post, but a fine looping shot to win the match for Queensland

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Daniel Allsopp - Joel Griffiths
Robbie Middleby - Kevin Muscat - Andre Gumprecht - Spase Dilevski
Matthew Kemp - David Tarka - Mark Rudan - Wayne O'Sullivan
Liam Reddy

Subs: Tommi Tomich, Dean Gordon, Fred, Nick Carle

Round Fourteen Report

2006-11-27T09:31:00.000+11:00

A number of surprises this week. Biggest of all, the Jets triumph over a fairly lacklustre Melbourne. Just goes to show the impact of a key suspension (Muscat) in combination with a defensive reshuffle (Theoklitos, Piorkowski and Storey all sitting out). One loss such as this doesn't imply that a chink in Melbourne's armour is about to become a significant hole - let's wait until next week before assessing the situation any further.

The Mariners topping the Reds so comfortably was another mild surprise. Romario was completely ineffective and perhaps even detrimental for Adelaide, who were in with a shout but couldn't match Central Coast's finishing. Two quick goals soon after half-time and it was back to the drawing board for next week's massive clash against Melbourne at Hindmarsh - a game I'll be attending (and hoping for much better things from Romario).

The other result of note was Sydney's demolition of Queesland. What do they say about a few weeks in football...? Having slipped from second to seventh, and with few signs of a rapid resurrection, the Roar are now in serious trouble. The timing of Miron Bleiberg's exit has made it an extremely difficult initiation for Frank Farina, who may not survive long if the confidence and form of the squad are as low as they seem. Since I'm a cynic, allow me to suggest that Bleiberg knew precisely what he was doing when he jumped ship with such tricky matches approaching - Farina is already bad guy.

Ron Smith on the other hand has seen his gamble of playing Jamie Harnwell up front for Perth Glory pay off twice in succession. Three goals this time for the converted front man, albeit against the ten men of a Knights outfit that has surely condemned itself to another wide-ranging cull during the off-season. There's only one worthwhile question for the Knights now: Could life possibly be worse if the team was mostly comprised of local talent?

Best of Round Fourteen:

Player: Ivan Necevski, Newcastle - came on early for an injured Ben Kennedy and firmly bolted the back door to set up a massive win for the Jets.

U-20 Player: Nathan Burns, Adelaide - a cameo to outshine Romario.

Coach: Lawrie McKinna, Central Coast - hats off to Gary Van Egmond, but McKinna proves he's still the best personnel manager in the league - after losing Mori to the Roar, plonked Mrdja back into the starting eleven and reaped the dividends of a fresh formation and tactics. Also dealed very well with the media hype surrounding Romario during the week.

Match: Melbourne Victory vs Newcastle United Jets

Goal: Milton Rodriguez, Newcastle - used the time given to him by the Victory defence to glide a cheeky shot past the 'keeper's near post after Nick Carle's little dink into the box

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Jamie Harnwell - Daniel Allsopp
Robbie Middleby - Nick Carle - Mile Jedinak - Leo Bertos
Gregory Duruz - Tony Vidmar - Mark Milligan - Steve Eagleton
Ivan Necevski

Subs: Robert Bajic, Seo Hyuk-soo, Steve Corica, Adam Kwasnik

Round Thirteen Report

2006-11-23T10:16:00.000+11:00

Best of Round Thirteen:

Player: Fred, Melbourne - played just 45 mins after collecting an injury early on, but carved up the porous Roar midfield to set up the win for Victory. (Of those on the pitch for more than one half, Perth's David Tarka.)

U-20 Player: Adrian Leijer, Melbourne - aside from the odd random malicious act, has been so consistent all season

Coach: Ron Smith, Perth - interesting to see the gamble of playing Jamie Harnwell up front pay off, even if it was a bit of a cowboy trick

Match: Perth Glory vs Newcastle United Jets

Goal: Luka Glavas - calmly stealing the win with a well-placed, side-footed strike inside the far post in the 94th minute. Lovely turn to beat two defenders from Leo Bertos in the build-up.

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Damian Mori - David Zdrilic
Stan Lazaridis - Grant Brebner - Steve Corica - Leo Bertos
Seo Hyuk-soo - David Tarka - Mark Rudan - Iain Fyfe
Tommi Tomich

Subs: Michael Turnbull, Rodrigo Vargas, Robbie Middleby, Reinaldo

Farina Back in the Spotlight

2006-11-20T11:24:00.000+11:00

Miron Bleiberg resigned last week knowing full well that whomever his replacement turned out to be, his successor's immediate job was not going to be simple. Queensland's next opponents were the runaway league leaders; a home match but far from an easy one for new coach Frank Farina. Contrast this with the move to axe Nick Theodorakopoulos the weekend prior to Newcastle's clash with the cellar-dwelling New Zealand Knights. Gary Van Egmond stepped in, got the relatively easy victory that was expected, and the Jets have looked a different team ever since - certainly a group with more zip and confidence.

It's going to be extremely interesting to chart Farina's success - or lack of it - in the A-League. His tactics never quite managed to cut the mustard on the international circuit, but his player management skills were passable and his talent identification has arguably been of a very high standard. Farina blooded Marco Bresciano when he was nothing much more than a bouncy go-getter. He gave Mile Sterjovski every possible chance to prove himself on the big stage, inevitably leading to the Sterj's mini-downfall after a woeful performance against New Zealand (and Danny Hay in particular) as a target man. Farina also fully supported the likes of Jonathan McKain and Ljubo Milicevic, burly stoppers who he often attempted to play in the holding role.

Something Farina's first match in charge of the Roar showed is that old habits die hard. Chad Gibson and Stuart McLaren both found themselves thrown into the defensive midfield position by Farina. Utility-man Spase Dilevski, another old favourite of Farina's, started wide in midfield, just where Farina routinely positioned him during the Athens Olympics. Then there was Ante Milicic - whose caps for the national team have all come under Farina's stewardship - getting a full game up front at last. Miron Bleiberg had been playing him off the bench in previous weeks, but clearly Farina is a fan and will be determined to see Milicic play himself into some form with regular appearances.

Given some of Farina's reasonably predictable approach, presumably Victory coach Ernie Merrick was comfortably prepared for the mental duel. The 2-0 result may have been an indication of the quality and confidence gap between the two sides, but Farina's gambits might not have helped constrict that gap to any telling effect. That's part of the battle he'll have to face over the coming months. Every head coach, assistant, and trainer in the league knows all about Farina's methodology, at least they do if they've had more than a passing interest in the national team over the past decade or so (Terry Butcher might be excused, but that's why you have Ian Crook around). Finding a way to sustain his preferred tactical arrangements while introducing new elements to surprise opponents - that would seem to be Farina's first challenge on the road to . . . winning the A-League, yes . . . but also becoming the national team coach once again. Surely, even if it's just lurking in the depths of his subconscious, that above all else would have to be his long-term objective. He's likely to outlive Frank Lowy, his number one naysayer, after all.

Round Twelve Report

2006-11-15T10:45:00.000+11:00

Best of Round Twelve:

Player: Mark Bridge, Newcastle - started ahead of Milton Rodriguez and was instrumental in Newcastle's dominating performance, scoring a great how-do-you-do volley and setting-up Nick Carle for another with a nice flick out the back

U-20 Player: Kristian Sarkies, Melbourne - hopefully a glimpse of more to come

Coach: Terry Butcher, Sydney - finally seems to have worked out how to get Petrovski and Zdrilic on the park together

Match: Newcastle United vs Central Coast Mariners

Goal: Grant Brebner - unmarked, but a game-winning shot from outside the area, so he gets the nod ahead of Petrovski's low-drive, Bridge's powerful volley and Mori's looping header

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Mark Bridge - Carl Veart
Adrian Webster - Ufuk Talay - Fred - Joel Griffiths
Alvin Ceccoli - Michael Valkanis - Jamie Harnwell - Wayne O'Sullivan
Tommi Tomich

Subs: Robert Bajic, Steve Eagleton, Grant Brebner, Sasho Petrovski

Testing the Depths

2006-11-13T15:55:00.000+11:00

The Socceroos will be without Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Tim Cahill, Lucas Neill, Josip Skoko, Scott McDonald and possibly Craig Moore for this week's clash with Ghana. As a result, Patrick Kisnorbo, Michael Thwaite, Shane Stefanutto, Kasey Wehrmann, Ryan Griffiths and possibly Michael Beauchamp could all play a part in the fixture. England-based Neil Kilkenny, Aaron Downes, Trent McClenahan, James Troisi and possibly James Wesolowski (and/or Nick Ward; conflicting reports) have also been brought into camp in order to bolster training numbers.

If Moore can't go, Beauchamp and Kisnorbo may start in the middle of a back four featuring Chipperfield and Emerton out wide.

Strange days.

I wonder how long it's been since a League Two player (McClenahan) was involved in the national set-up?

Of the lot, I'm most interested in how Wehrmann goes. Australia still lacks a natural deputy for Vince Grella (perhaps Mark Milligan in the long-run). Vinnie is fit and ready to tangle with Michael Essien and friends, and I'm sure Wehrmann would be a big step down in terms of passing and organisation, but I'd still like to see the Lillestrom hitman come on for a few minutes. His presence might also lead to the release of Jason Culina further upfield. I really enjoyed watching Jason hound the Dutch backline for 90 minutes in that build-up match to the World Cup and would love to see him given that sort of dogged front-running role again.

Brett Holman is another guy I hope gets a run, a much longer one. He may be one of the few Socceroos with the pace to stretch any of the Ghanaians. It seems that Australia will need to rely on tight, slick passing from Grella, Bresciano, Culina and Sterjovski if it's too have any chance of breaking the Black Stars down. I rather fancy John Aloisi's chances too. This is a big match. It's going to be physical and require mental toughness. Openings will be scarce. Factors like these seem to sway in favour of Aloisi, who has demonstrated before that he naturally thrives under such pressure.

Round Eleven Report

2006-11-08T12:34:00.000+11:00

Best of Round Eleven:

Player: Daniel Allsopp, Melbourne - in the sort of dynamic poaching form that had him among the top goal-scorers in the UK; now seemingly on the verge of international call-up

U-20 Player: Adrian Lejier, Melbourne - just pipping fellow stopper Sime Kovacevic and tireless Knights striker Adam Casey

Coach: Paul Nevin, New Zealand - having the courage to blood Dustin Wells and Mark Paston, while grinding out a necessary result with behind-the-ball football

Match: Melbourne Victory vs Central Coast Mariners

Goal: Daniel Allsopp, Melbourne - his second, to tie the match in the dying minutes with Victory down to nine players; a great volley in the top corner after Fred's remarkable verve, vision and cross

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Archie Thompson - Daniel Allsopp
Robbie Middleby - Fred - Dustin Wells - Joel Griffiths
Gregory Duruz - Adrian Leijer - Paul Okon - Steve Eagleton
Mark Paston

Subs: Clint Bolton, Josh McCloughan, Jamie McMaster, Adam Kwasnik

U-20s Coming Home Early

2006-11-06T23:52:00.000+11:00

Well, the better team won and it certainly wasn't Australia. Korea Republic were scintillating in a match they utterly dominated yet only managed to win 2-1 due to over-zealous long-range shooting and the best efforts of Australia's last man standing, Matthew Spiranovic.

Someone will have to take the fall for a performance that put the Koreans eons ahead of us in terms of teamwork, skill on the ball, tempo, organisation and running in midfield, and slickness in attack. We were no match at all, which is quite alarming when you consider this generation of U-20s is ostensibly one of our best.

Some will blame the pitch, again. The Koreans managed to adapt to the bumps and hollows, playing some marvellous football. Why not us? Did coach Postecoglou give the lads a fair run on cow paddocks back home in order to prepare? Or did we continue to play on smooth AIS pitches during our pre-tournament drills and warm-ups? Instead of air-balling it would have been nice to see a bit of the old Control The Ball First mantra being exercised.

Some of the players just have to share the blame. Shaun Ontong was terrible tonight, as he has been during the tournament in my opinion. He's Postecoglou's general on the park, and I see no other reason why he's been made captain. His distribution was woeful, his Grella-like suggestions made with much pointing and arm-waving were often not the best choices, his long balls were constantly cut out by the opposition 'keeper, and so it goes on. Aside from Spiranovic, the back line has also been at fault during the tournament. Tonight goalkeeper Tando Velaphi joined the merry antics of the clowns in front of him, finding himself out of position for the Koreans second goal, which bounced over his outstretched arms (probably off a divot of some kind). Kaz Patafta ran out of breath after about sixty minutes. David Williams was majorly unsighted for most of the evening. Incessantly, Bruce Djite tried to turn when safer options were available. Sebastian Ryall was sent off late in the match for a badly disguised follow through on a Korean who made a mockery of Ryall's defensive abilities a little earlier with a glorious skinning - you could almost hear the Korean thinking his way through the move, which he executed with perfection, leaving Ryall sprawled on the ground and attempting to haul the Korean in with his . . . arms.

It's hard to find positives, really. In fact, I'm not far off disgusted. As for the South Koreans, I hope they win the thing. Postecoglou will surely receive his pink slip now, but who's going to replace him? Nobody seriously qualified comes to mind, frankly, especially when you consider that anyone brought in will be obliged to acquaint themselves with the AIS and state league system that has been erected in "support" of youth football here. Sure, we need an academy, but I'm not sure the AIS structure is the answer.

Bloggers

2006-11-06T14:08:00.000+11:00

From an article on the NZ Knights website regarding part-time signing Fernando De Moraes:

Some A-league commentators have regarded Fernando as one of the unluckiest players not to be signed by a club and some internet blogs have listed him in their top ten that should have been picked up.

Possibly the first mention of the blogging community in an official A-League release. But who are these bloggers referred to? Can't say I've come across a post on something like the Top Ten Unsigned State Leaguers before. Good idea. Never managed to do it myself. Too many considerations! e.g. Do you include or exclude previously signed players, former or current part-timers, youth players based on potential and future earning capacity? etc.) Maybe I've seen one and just forgotten. Anyone point me to a post fitting this description?

First Major Clash

2006-11-04T16:55:00.000+11:00

Korea Republic U-20s vs Australia U-20s.

6 November, 9:30 pm (EST).

Aside from the national women's teams, who've already played for rather a lot, it's the first major (or semi-major, if you don't really believe in the value of youth tournaments) meeting of Australia and another powerhouse from Asia in a match that really counts. With the winners qualifying for the semi-finals of the AFC tournament along with the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2007, and with the losers going home, there's something pretty big at stake for both nations.

Let's hope we can get some P2P coverage of this one!

Eligible U-20s Not Representing Australia

2006-11-02T11:41:00.000+11:00

Over at The Football Tragic, Mike Salter raises the excellent point that European-based teenagers like James Troisi (Newcastle), Shane Lowry (Aston Villa) and Rostyn Griffiths (Blackburn), while eligible and probably good enough for Australia's U-20 team currently involved in the AFC Youth Championship, are practically off-limits for Australian selectors during the European season due to FIFA laws that do not oblige clubs to release players for youth internationals.

A sad state of affairs for the U-20 and U-17 coaching staff, for sure, but there are a few question marks surrounding the matter.

How, for instance, was Ange Postecoglou able to convince Benfica, Brondby and Nürnberg to release Kaz Patafta, David Williams and Matthew Spiranovic? (Also, Ryan McGowan from Hearts was selected in the stand-by squad). Have these players managed to negotiate an 'international escape' clause in their professional contracts? Were they motivated to accomplish this because they were certain they'd be picked in future Postecoglou squads? Did the AIS or state institutes of sport have anything to do with their international release, given that all are products of The System?

Another question, then. Given that those players have been on Postecoglou's back doorstep in the recent past, does their selection indicate a fairly hefty streak of nepotism and/or an utter lack of budget for Postecoglou to scout overseas-based players?

Finally, if any of this is true, does non-selection to the government-supported AIS or state bodies mean that our young players can kiss any hope goodbye of being selected for an Australian youth team? Would this factor into a young player's mind at the age of, say, 17, when he's deciding whether to accept a trial offer with an EPL team or write out yet another grant application for the AIS after being knocked back in the past for not fitting the Postecoglou profile?

Cynical questions, yes, but worth considering?

Curious about the state of overseas-based players eligible for the U-20s and arguably of a high enough standard (or fairly close), I thought I'd compile a bit of a list. Here's the result, I'm sure I've missed some:

James Troisi
Shane Lowry
Rostyn Griffiths
Scott Jamieson (Bolton)
James Meredith (Derby)
Matthew Park (Hearts)
Tim Rasmussen (Derby)
Rhys Williams (Middlesbrough)
and
James Wesolowski (Leicester) - at least in the frame for a full cap soon

Ex-Marseille youth Adam Hardy would have joined them, but apparently he's succumbed to a nasty injury and won't be playing football for who knows how long. Then there's also Alex Cisak (Leicester), Christopher Herd (Aston Villa), Hayden Doyle (Stoke), Gareth Musson (Dorchester), Paul Connell (Cork City), Andrew Shephard (Cheltenham Town) and Matthew Wardle (Livingston), none of whom may be superior to the currently selected squad. (To be honest, I don't know much about most ot these guys. I think that's okay, but if Ange Postecoglou doesn't know much about them either then we have a problem!) Furthermore, most observers are still scratching their heads over the exclusion from the main squad of A-Leaguers Alex Vrteski, Ben Kennedy and Oliver Bozanic as well as ex-Porto signing Cameron Watson, and we might add to them New Zealand Knights pair Sime Kovacevic and Tim Smits who both failed to make even the stand-by list.

There are possibly some excellent reasons for the non-selection of certain individuals over the Postecoglou reign. The questions that I've raised exist, however, because accountability remains a minimal concern for the youth administrators and coaches. They don't feel the need to explain their decisions. To my knowledge there has been no statement made about the eyebrow-raising selections of goalkeepers Tando Velaphi and Mitchell Langerak over Vrteski and Kennedy, for instance. This might be the media's fault to begin, if perhaps nobody has bothered to ask these kinds of questions. Given that few of us crazy fanatics with too much time on our hands know anything about the form of James Troisi aside from what we manage to read between the lines of short Internet reports, sift from fan forums or hear from mates fortunate enough to catch the odd Newcastle reserve match, I guess it's a tough call for a busy journalist to stick their neck out during a press conference and ask probing questions about obscure things happening on the other side of the world.

Still, that doesn't hold them back when it comes to celebrity gossip mongering or hawking fashion reportage. Oh well, another booby prize for utilitarianism I guess.

Stefanutto Gifted Chance

2006-11-02T11:12:00.000+11:00

The selection of ex-Brisbane Strikers and current Lillestrøm S.K. left back Shane Stefanutto in the Australian squad to face Ghana sends a message from Graham Arnold out to all overseas based potential Socceroos - he is watching.

Arnold cites a shortage of left-sided defenders due to the retirements of Stan Lazaridis, Tony Vidmar, Tony Popovic and Danny Tiatto as the primary reason supporting 26-year-old Stefanutto's inclusion. Scott Chipperfield and the number one home-based option, Alvin Ceccoli, are no spring chickens either, while retro-fit wingbacks Ryan Griffiths and Jacob Burns have been given the once over in previous squads. More overseas-based options exist, with left-backs Eddy Bosnar, Shane Sherriff and Dean Heffernan all plying their trades in Europe, but it's nice to see a consistent serviceman like Stefanutto given the next roll of the dice.

Lillestrøm are currently in fourth place in the Norwegian Premier League, with one round to go. Australian defensive midfielder Kasey Wehrmann also plays for the team but unlike Stefanutto doesn't seem to be a regular starter at the moment.

Round Ten Report

2006-11-01T19:41:00.000+11:00

Best of Round Ten:

Player: Nick Carle, Newcastle - the fantastic game-clinching goal demonstrated his determination to succeed and capped off a solid all-round effort

U-20 Player: Alex Vrteski, Perth - back in goals following Petkovic's leg break means he's back on track for the Rising Star Award

Coach: Gary Van Egmond, Newcastle - has he fired-up the Jets or what?

Match: Newcastle Jets vs Adelaide United

Goal: Nick Carle, Newcastle - shades of Saeed Owairan's box-to-box gallop for Saudi Arabia in a 1994 World Cup match against Belgium; not quite the evasion required for that effort, but similarly done at a scintillating pace - in the 90th minute! - and with a sharp, cunning finish

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Archie Thompson - Yuning Zhang
Adrian Caceres - Nick Carle - Grant Brebner - Joel Griffiths
Matt Thompson - Andrew Durante - Alex Wilkinson - Andrew Packer
Danny Vukovic

Subs: Alex Vrteski, Wayne O'Sullivan, Fred, Reinaldo

Ange Lets Us Down, Again

2006-10-30T23:45:00.000+11:00

Pacy, tireless running, a dominating possession style, with robustness in the centre and strength in the air -- let's call it the Ange Postecoglou methodology.

A brilliant one-touch pass in the forward line, craftiness from the striker creeping behind the back of a stopper, some slack marking to expose our solitary defender without much pace, and it's 1-0 to China.

Brilliant? Why not? It's precisely the sort of slick - but relatively simple - interplay that the Australian U-20s lacked in a rather dreary performance against skilled but not innately superior opposition. With an attacking line-up featuring Dario Vidosic sitting just behind Nathan Burns and David Williams, you'd think we might have created more than a handful of dangerous situations in and around the Chinese area. Yet, we never really did. Vidosic failed to gel with the midfield dynamos behind him: Kaz Patafta in the centre and Shaun Ontong mopping up in front of the back three. Williams and Burns tried their guts out, but - and here is the Ange way - to no real benefit. Okay, the pitch was awful. But you adjust. The crowd was minimal. But you say, "Hey, it ain't no thing," and get on with winning the match.

It was the same story in Holland for the last U-20 World Championship. It seems to have undone the current crop of U-17s before they even had a chance to mount a qualification campaign, falling at the first hurdle to Laos. Going back further, we've had other early exits and not-quite-good-enough appearances at final tournaments after showing promising form and showcasing the undeniable talents of immensely gifted players. Something's not quite right, and as is customary the coach ought to shoulder some of the responsibility.

Yet, to my knowledge there has rarely - if ever - been a word from FFA headquarters regarding the instability of Postecoglou's job. Does he possess a ten-year ironclad lease on the position, or what? How many times do we have to see A+ efforts diminished (if not derailed or demolished) by D- tactics, bizarre favourtism, low player morale (when's the last time we saw an Ange player smiling and obviously enjoying their football?), and inept administration (e.g. the David Williams ineligibility fiasco at the last U-17s).

Stale. That describes our approach to these campaigns. Any coach in the world can look at our efforts over the long Postecoglou era, examine tapes from way back, and learn pretty much everything there is to know about his methods and habits in a few productive hours. The players can't be expected to win games at high levels when nothing changes tactically and every burden falls on their young, relatively inexperienced shoulders. Vidosic for one seemed to succumb to the pressure a bit tonight; Berger and Downey thoroughly. I'm giving the kids a break though. No, I'd much rather Postecoglou face the music - come on, just this once!

PS - Credit to Matthew Spiranovic for a massive performance at the back. Aside from his rather torpid lack of a second-gear (ah, it's all about good positioning anyway), the guy was a defensive Mount Kosciuszko. Huge in the air, a wizard with the ball at his feet, great vision, it's almost everything you want.

AFC Youth Championship 2006

2006-10-27T10:58:00.000+10:00

There doesn't seem to be an awful lot of local coverage for this event, but at least we can follow the progress of the Young Socceroos on the official competition website as they seek qualification for the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2007 in Canada.

With the four semi-finalists qualifying, Australia will be desperate to avoid a quarter-final clash with Group A contenders and 11-time former champions (including four of the last five competitions), Korea Republic. To do so, Ange Postegoclou's outfit will need to finish ahead of main Group B rivals China, fellow finalists with the South Koreans from 2004. Not going to be easy.

Round Nine Report

2006-10-26T11:38:00.000+10:00

Best of Round Nine:

Player: Adrian Caceres, Melbourne - tough choice this week, but Caceres, who has wrested the left flank position from season starter Alessandro, was a critical provider for Victory

U-20 Player: Nathan Burns, Adelaide - strong performances from Zadkovich and Kennedy as well, but Burns is a highlight reel at the moment

Coach: Gary Van Egmond, Newcastle - have the Jets finally turned the corner?

Match: Central Coast Mariners vs Perth Glory

Goal: Tom Pondeljak, Central Coast - cheeky backheels from crosses usually only trickle in at the far post, but somehow Tommy rapped this one with enough power to go in at Jason Petkovic's near post

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Archie Thompson - Nathan Burns
Adrian Caceres - Nick Carle - Tom Pondeljak - Spase Dilevski
Alvin Ceccoli - Andrew Durante - Paul O'Grady - Alex Wilkinson
Ben Kennedy

Subs: Tom Willis, Iain Fyfe, Jason Spagnuolo, Adam Kwasnik

Round Eight Report

2006-10-21T11:55:00.000+10:00

Best of Round Eight:

Player: Kristian Rees, Adelaide - capitalising with a brilliant display at the back after finding himself back in Kosmina's favour

U-20 Player: Nathan Burns - another excellent performance, displaying pace, strength, vision, and a great nous for mounting the counter-attack

Coach: Miron Bleiberg, Queensland - for overcoming a fired-up Glory in Perth

Match: Melbourne Victory vs Adelaide United

Goal: Greg Owens, Adelaide - one of the best counter-attacking moves of the season, Burns, Qu and Owens combining expert strength, speed and finishing

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Ante Milicic - Reinaldo
Stewart Petrie - Nick Carle - Matt McKay - Leo Bertos
Stan Lazaridis - Kristian Rees - Paul Okon - Darren Bazeley
Robert Bajic

Subs: Danny Vukovic, Josh McCloughan, John Hutchinson, Nathan Burns

Round Seven Report

2006-10-11T15:39:00.000+10:00

Best of Round Seven:

Player: Rodrigo Vargas, Melbourne - he's been large in every match this season, but against Newcastle in particular really stood up to demonstrate the strength of Victory's defensive backbone

U-20 Player: Nathan Burns, Adelaide - with Rech and Qu on the sidelines, stepping up remarkably well

Coach: Ernie Merrick, Melbourne - man of the moment after defeating all seven other teams one by one

Match: Sydney FC vs Queensland Roar

Goal: Alvin Ceccoli - a screamer, of course, but earns major kudos as a slamming response to Terry Butcher leaving him out of the squad for a couple of weeks ago

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Bobby Despotovski - Daniel Allsopp
Adrian Caceres - Matt McKay - Carl Veart - Jason Spagnuolo
Paul Kohler - Rodrigo Vargas - Neil Emblen - Alex Wilkinson
Danny Vukovic

Subs: Michael Theoklitos, David Tarka, Alvin Ceccoli, Nathan Burns

Team of the Year - Until Now:

Archie Thompson - Daniel Allsopp
Matt McKay - Simon Colosimo - Kevin Muscat - Leo Bertos
Alvin Ceccoli - Rodrigo Vargas - Sasa Ognenovski - Greg Owens
Danny Vukovic

Subs: Michael Theoklitos, David Tarka, Grant Brebner, Simon Lynch

Coach: Ernie Merrick

Vukovic comes into the starting line-up following his recent brilliant displays. Theoklitos continues to do well, but he has Vargas marshalling the troops in front of him. Somewhat surprisingly, neither Ognenovski nor Muscat -- probably the player of the year so far -- have been sent off yet. Tarka creeps onto the bench ahead of Neil Emblen, Daniel Piorkowski, Adrian Leijer, Alex Wilkinson and the perhaps somewhat over-hyped Nikolai Topor-Stanley (playing well, but it's not like he's the second coming of Tony Vidmar just yet). Ceccoli keeps his spot, with Gregory Duruz a distant challenger. On the right, it's again hard to look past Owens who deserves a spot somewhere, and Bertos, who has been brilliant with only daylight behind him until Dave Carney returns from injury and Travis Dodd rediscovers his magic hat (okay, and maybe Ruben Zadkovich). Colosimo edges out Brebner, who has missed time, while Matt McKay slips in on the left midfield again ahead of Stan Lazaridis and Malik Buari. Up front, Thompson and Allsopp have been an absolute menace, while Lynch's consistency earns him a spot on the bench ahead of Reinaldo.

Others on the cusp (not exhaustive): Robert Bajic, Clint Bolton, Josh McCloughan, Angelo Costanzo, Mark Milligan, Carl Veart, Joel Griffiths, David Zdrilic (blimey!), Milton Rodriguez.

Captain Grella

2006-10-11T13:11:00.000+10:00

It's barely been mentioned in the media, nor discussed on forums oddly enough, yet I'd wager a heck of a lot has been spoken about it in the dressing rooms at Bulleen Veneto and along alfresco dining strips throughout the country.

I'm no statistician, so please correct me if I'm wrong -- no, really, do it! -- but it seems that Vincenzo Grella has become the first ever Australian footballer to be given the captain's armband for an Italian Serie A club on a long-term basis. I know, I know, I'm way behind the eight-ball, having only found out myself that Vinnie has been made captain of Parma this season thanks to Simon Hill's passing comment during the recent international fixture against Paraguay.

Shouldn't this be major news? I mean, it's sort of passe now for Australians to captain teams at high levels in the UK (Joe Marston, Craig Moore, Mark Viduka, Lucas Neill, Kevin Muscat, Tony Popovic, and probably a bunch of others I've forgotten) and we've had Josip Skoko win a league title in Beligum as captain of Genk, but to earn the honour in Italy, albeit for a struggling team with a new coach, is quite an achievement.

The appointment certainly seals Grella's conviction from a recent interivew with The World Game that Parma has been 'redimensionalised' this season. I guess it's safe to assume Vincenzo is one of those inspirational leaders who does his talking with his maneuvers on the pitch rather than vocally in the change rooms at half-time. Not to disparage the champ at all, we can't all be Shakespeare and nor would the world be even remotely tolerable if that were the case! Bravo Vinnie!

Davo, Fo Shizzle

2006-10-11T12:42:00.000+10:00

Find out everything you (n)ever wanted to know about potential Socceroo and current Brondby striker David Williams as he goes all My Space-y on us.

Cheers to "Socceroo_06" on the Melbourne Victory boards for drawing attention to this obscurity. (So, don't blame me!)

Trying to imagine . . . five or six years from now, Williams blogging about the road to the World Cup, his high school chums utilising as many phrases as possible from the Urban Dictionary to describe his form, Kaz Patafta getting crazily jealous and opening a vanity home page, Guus Hiddink laying down the law: "Thou shalt not promote thy presence through online or other agencies disconnected from the FFA lest thy name be Kewell".

Jeepers!

Reminds me that Mark Schwarzer used to maintain a personal site, as did Tranmere's Shane Sherriff when he played in Denmark, both of which, from memory, contained quite reflective, considered, and even -- gasp -- grammatically accurate writing! Tellingly, neither of these seem to be functional anymore. It does seem sort of counter productive for a reasonably well known professional sportsperson to share their thoughts via a free-for-all means, when selling over-priced, ghost-written autobiographies after retirement is very much the viable game plan, especially for those extrovert personalities with a collection of untold humorous and sordid stories ready to unleash on unsuspecting sports journalists, public librarians and ABC Shop consumers. I wonder if "Ned Zelic: Doing It Without Me" and "So Sexy, It Hurts: The Mark Bosnich Story" are on the publication horizon?

Nick Theo, Jettisoned

2006-10-10T17:08:00.000+10:00

It had to happen -- Newcastle head coach Nick Theodorakopoulos has been sacked after failing to win a single match during his thirteen-game reign, which if my memory serves is the shortest tenure of any full-time A-League coach to date. (He joins Steve McMahon, John Adshead, Richard Money and Pierre Littbarski as the league's ex-head coach appointees. Alan Vest was caretaker when replaced by Ron Smith.)

The timing is probably spot on. With the Jets facing the Knights on Saturday, they run into the middle portion of the season with arguably the league's easiest opponents first up. A win would certainly sooth tension in the dressing room and give something back to the few diehard fans that actually bother to turn up (Newcastle's home attendance last week was its lowest in the history of the A-League).

Following the departures of Richard Money last season and now Nick Theo, Gary Van Egmond finds himself caretaker coach, yet again. He might even provide the perfect remedy: he knows the squad better than anyone, he's a local lad, he has enough playing and coaching experience to get by over the next few weeks, perhaps beyond. You have to imagine that the form and softly spoken leadership of Paul Okon will be especially important during this interim phase as well.

Of course, Frank Farina's name has been raised just about everywhere as the long-term replacement in the head coaching position. Does he even need to apply for these jobs anymore, given that the media pretty much lets every CEO and his dog know that Farina is willing and available? Somehow, though, you get the feeling that Jets Chairman Con Constantine, CEO George Liolio, and Director of Football Remo Nogarotto have a different agenda. For better or worse (you be the judge), they haven't often followed conventional wisdom. I don't think it would really surprise anyone if they appointed a "high profile" head coach from Austria or El Salvador, or even someone substantially less bizarre and ultimately sort of boring, like Gary Phillips.

Each circus needs its ringmasters, I suppose.

As for Nick T, perhaps if Wollongong gain an A-League team in the future he will stand a chance of getting another job outside of the SBS television studios. Nick Theo orchestrating an attacking set-up with Scott Chipperfield running the show in central midfield . . . sounds about right to me.

Round Six Report

2006-10-03T15:25:00.000+10:00

Sorry about the absence of updates, I've been away on short vacation. Getting back to last week's stretched out fixtures between Thursday and Monday, we witnessed the Mariners claim their first victory of the season over the unfortunate Knights, Glory hammer the Jets, Victory cruise to a massive league advantage by whipping the Roar, and Sydney returning to within a glimmer of their former championship-winning selves in a major triumph over Adelaide. New A-League arrival Benito Carbone stood out in a big way, setting up two goals for Sydney and scoring another. Melbourne's Fred also had an excellent game on his return from suspension.

Best of Round Six:

Player: Benito Carbone, Sydney - a thorn in Adelaide's side throughout the encounter, if he plays like this every week Sydney can only benefit -- but will they sign him to a longer-term deal?

U-20 Player: Ruben Zadkovich, Sydney - the Kid returns

Coach: Ron Smith, Perth - they're fast and furious down the flanks, strong in the centre, playing smart up front, and able to handle difficult opposition -- perhaps the league's darkest horse?

Match: Adelaide United vs Sydney FC

Goal: Nathan Burns, Adelaide - showing awesome determination to get the ball in his own half, receive it again in the build up, then slot the ball home after a slick one-two with Veart

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Archie Thompson - Simon Lynch
Stan Lazaridis - Benito Carbone - Fred - Ruben Zadkovich
Gregory Duruz - David Tarka - Neil Emblen - Jamie Coyne
Clint Bolton

Subs: Naum Sekolovski, Simon Colosimo, Grant Brebner, Alex Brosque

Romário

2006-09-30T14:59:00.000+10:00

Adelaide United has confirmed the guest signing of Romário de Souza Faria -- the player Guus Hiddink considers the greatest he has ever coached -- who will play a series of matches in Australia between October and December. Four of these will be for Adelaide, who have lined up a trio of home games and one away match to showcase the aging superstar's abilities. Melbourne, New Zealand and Newcastle are the opposition for the home matches, while Central Coast are the fortunate away side. (Fortunate for the Gosford fans at least, maybe not so much for Tony Vidmar and his associates in the Mariners defence.) If Central Coast stadium doesn't pack out for the match on November 25, perhaps it never will.

Romário's other matches will include a couple of friendlies for his current team, first year franchise Miami FC, who are also travelling out to Australia. Miami and Adelaide will duke it out in a friendly match in October, which will give us a first indication of how the A-League stacks up against American competition, in this case the top flight of the second-tier United Soccer League. Zinho, another member of Brazil's 1994 World Cup winning squad, is also currently playing for Miami FC. Zinho still has it at 38 -- he led the just-finished domestic league in assists. Miami also has a few current internationals on their books: Jamaican forward Sean Fraser, Haitian defenders Stephane Guillaume and Jamil Jean-Jacques, and Guatemalan midfielder Mario Rodriguez. One of their young starlets seems to be US defender John Paul Rodrigues.

Interestingly enough, Miami played a friendly against John Aloisi's Deportivo Alaves in early-August. Romario scored in Miami's 2-1 defeat. Aloisi did not.

Without checking to make sure, I assume Romário's appearance will mark the first time a former FIFA World Player of the Year has played for a domestic club in Australia.

One thing is certain: Romário will not score his 1,000th goal for Adelaide. His cherished home team Vasco da Gama would absolutely blow their fuse if he achieved the feat for anyone but them. He still needs quite a few more goals in any case, seemingly having something like a mere 977 at the moment. Surely there's a countdown for this somewhere on the web?

Finally, what a great honour for Fernando Rech (as well as Melbourne's Brazilians, I guess) to play alongside such a heroic figure in Brazilian football history. Securing such a lasting reward is a nice bit of vindication for coming all the way to Australia to earn a living.

I'm off now, to figure out which match to attend! Gosford or Adelaide? Versus Victory ("Adrian Leijer injures world's second greatest goal scorer of all time!") or the Jets ("Paul Okon and Romário today compared dining notes as they lumbered around the Newcastle box in search of a touch of the ball -- oh, but what a touch!")? Decisons, decisions . . . .

Bugno Walks

2006-09-27T17:50:00.000+10:00

This has been brewing for quite some time. Walter Bugno has stepped down as Chairman of Sydney FC, citing time committments with another position. He may well have simply had enough, really, considering Frank Lowy's recent (and probably ongoing) interference in the running of the team, the executive board's position regarding marquee signings (they're too expensive), the sluggish start to the season, the negative press haunting the club the past few weeks, and so it goes on.

Replacing Bugno is Edmund Capon, director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Apparently Capon will "make a further statement about the club in a few weeks". I suppose this means a decision will be made about the direction of Sydney FC long after triallist Benito Carbone has left for greener pastures. Perhaps the fans would appreciate a statement from the board concerning the sudden departure of Bugno, not to mention Capon's short-term vision for the future. A few simple words about getting performances back on track, standing by the manager, and bettering success on the field would suffice. Anything to instill confidence and allay fears that this maneuver is all about a clash of personalities or balancing the accounts, which of course it probably is but anything is better than having supporters wait in anguish while the media stews over the lurid details of this affair.

(Dear readers: You may wish to substitute Lowy for Capon in all of the above.)

Update (next day): Well, perhaps things aren't all that bad -- Beni Carbone and Sydney have finally agreed terms to a guest contract.

Round Five Report

2006-09-27T16:29:00.000+10:00

Not much of a report this week, but other places have already compiled wrap-ups far superior to my curt efforts so far this season. Belated post-World Cup hangover? Something like that.

Best of Round Five:

Player: Tie: Danny Vukovic, Central Coast, and Robert Bajic, Adelaide - unfair to separate, each had outstanding performances in goal to earn their respective sides a point

U-20 Player: Adrian Leijer, Melbourne - solid once again, having quite an eventful season as the hard man alongside the silky ball carrier from defence, Rodrigo Vargas

Coach: Miron Bleiberg, Queensland - juggling Roar's myriad of attacking options reasonably well thus far -- seems to have re-gained the confidence to really start turning up the chatter, which is great

Match: Central Coast Mariners vs Newcastle United Jets

Goal: Mark Rudan - burly stoppers don't crack left-footed half-volleys into the net particularly often

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Joel Griffiths - Reinaldo
Stewart Petrie - Matt McKay - Sasa Ognenovski - Massimo Murdocca
David Tarka - Rodrigo Vargas - Alex Wilkinson - Andrew Packer
Danny Vukovic

Subs: Robert Bajic, Mark Rudan, Adrian Caceres, Milton Rodriguez

Miron Quote of the Week

2006-09-22T09:47:00.000+10:00

Queensland coach Miron Bleiberg on playing John Kosmina's Adelaide this weekend:

"Of course I want to beat him," he said. "I'd give my left arm, not my right because that's the one I play tennis with, to beat him."

(This has just got to become a regular segment.)

The Victory Dome

2006-09-21T09:56:00.000+10:00

There's a nice ring to that name. Melbourne have announced plans to relocate the bulk of their remaining home games to the Telstra Dome. Pending confirmation and go ahead from the FFA, the change of venues would commence from October 1, when Victory host the crowd-pleasing Queensland Roar. Only home games against Perth and New Zealand would not be relocated and remain at the smaller, perhaps less comfortable Olympic Park stadium.

The report does not indicate whether the Dome seating will be re-shaped to a rectangle throughout the duration of the contract, but previous reports have suggested this might be possible. It seems that Telstra Dome management is bending over backwards to clinch the deal, offering Victory a minimum fee to offset stadium rental regardless of attendances. Maybe Victory fans purchase a staggering amount of concessions.

Update: the FFA has endorsed the move.

Round Four Report

2006-09-20T21:38:00.000+10:00

We learned an awful lot this week. Sydney, for all their off-field dramas and on-field tantrums, are still in the top four and lurking with dangerous intent. More than just top four prospects, Melbourne and Queensland are officially title contenders. New Zealand face another long and disappointing season. Central Coast's status as underdogs seems to have finally caught up with them. Newcastle are nowhere near as bad as their form so far this season indicates -- once they string together a few matches at home, a successful run mirroring Adelaide's over the past two weeks could easily follow. The arrival of Milton Rodriguez, two-goal hero on the weekend, can only help. Finally, the standard and pace of the league is measurably superior to last year.

Just look at the running of the Queensland forwards in the build up to Matt McKay's first goal against the Knights. Or Adelaide's desire to move the ball as quickly as possible, as evidenced by the one-touch lay-offs around the box and the immense speed of the Reds down the flanks. Check out Nick Carle's burst down that left that leaves the Sydney defenders grasping at thin air while Milton Rodriguez announces himself to Australian spectators. Perhaps the speed of the match caught up with Paul O'Grady, whose mind and legs couldn't react fast enough to whip an innocent cross out of the box, resulting in a woeful attempted clearance, a wild deflection and a goal. Perhaps it's just me, but I'm starting to feel tired just watching the vast amounts of energy expended on A-League pitches. The high tempo game attracts the fans, maximises the athletic ability of our most gifted players and leads to both exceptionally skillful and bizarrely horrible situations. How a 35-year-old striker who hasn't played in five years can be expected to contribute to such a league is beyond me.

Best of Round Four:

Player: Milton Rodriguez, Newcastle (pictured) - a huge impact off the bench, even more so then Dario Vidosic in Round One who didn't have to rescue his team from two goals down

U-20 Player: Alex Vrteski, Perth - starting to dominate this category, but may not hold out Jason Petkovic for much longer

Coach: Nick Theodorakopoulos, Newcastle - could have gone to winning coaches John Kosmina or Miron Bleiberg, but Nick Theo gets it for his cautious handling of Milton Rodriguez -- holding him back ala Hiddink/Kewell vs Uruguay, firing him up, before throwing him on to pounce all over an unsuspecting Sydney

Match: Adelaide United vs Perth Glory

Goal: Travis Dodd, Adelaide - a powerful, dipping, swerving, admirable strike from just outside the box, Dodd gleefully capitalising on the lack of closing down from the Perth defence

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Milton Rodriguez - Archie Thompson
Matt McKay - Fernando - Marcus Wedau - Travis Dodd
Daniel Piorkowski - Rodrigo Vargas - Angelo Costanzo - Greg Owens
Michael Theoklitos

Subs: Alex Vrteski, Josh McCloughan, Simon Colosimo, Jason Spagnuolo

Team of the Year - Until Now:

Presented every so often, a run down of the form players in the league, concentrating on regular starters and consistency rather than single-game wonderkinds. One of the big surprises: Greg Owens, whose adaptability has seen him cover acres of territory from the centre of midfield, to the left flank, to the right fullback position.

Archie Thompson - Daniel Allsopp
Matt McKay - Simon Colosimo - Kevin Muscat - Leo Bertos
Alvin Ceccoli - Rodrigo Vargas - Sasa Ognenovski - Greg Owens
Michael Theoklitos

Subs: Alex Vrteski, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Fernando, Joel Griffiths

Tough Year Ahead for the Olyroos

2006-09-19T17:20:00.000+10:00

Australia's Olypmic hopefuls face a stern test having been drawn with Iran and Saudi Arabia in Group D of the 2008 Beijing Games' second qualifying round. Only the top two teams in the group will progress to the third and final round of qualifying, which places competitors in another four-team group that -- assuming they get this far -- the Australian U-23s must top if they are to make it to Beijing. It would be highly beneficial to avoid regional powerhouses Japan and the Korea Republic during the final stage, but, as we have learned recently, teams such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, etc, can all prove tricky opponents.

Before they even get to the first really difficult stage, the Olyroos must first defeat Chinese Taipei (or, for the politically incorrect, Taiwan) in a home-and-away preliminary scheduled for early February next year. Both these encounters should be relatively easy for the Olyroos, who ought to win by several goals overall. If we concede more than a couple, or fail to score at least half-a-dozen, our expectations for making it all the way to the Olympics ought to be lowered.

In the second round, Iran and Saudi Arabia loom as big threats standing in the way of qualification. The Olyroos recently played out a 0-0 draw with Iran, so we know they are no easy beats. Both countries have comparatively strong youth systems, with Iran in particular capable of unearthing a gem talent or two every so often. I'm not sure if they'll be involved in the U-23 qualifying tournament, but age eligible players Hossein Kaebi (a pacy right-sided wing-back contracted to Al-Emarat in the UAE) and Mehrzad Madanchi (a left-sided attacking midfielder for Persepolis) are fully capped internationals with World Cup experience under their belts. Kaebi alone has earned more than 50 caps already. Either Jordan or Kyrgyzstan will round out the group, neither of whom are as weak as Chinese Taipei.

In order for the Olyroos to remain competitive throughout the year-long qualifying campaign, it will be necessary to field the strongest possible team. How A-League matches, the limited availability of overseas-based players, and other international commitments interfere with the schedule is still a bit of an unknown factor. The two matches against Chinese Taipei are due to be played just before the domestic Preliminary Final and Grand Final. If, for the sake of argument, Melbourne, Queensland and Adelaide were involved in these matches, Adrian Leijer, Spase Dilevski, Kristian Sarkies, Vince Lia and Dez Giraldi could all find themselves playing four huge matches several thousand kilometres apart in the space of two weeks. Similar clashes will arise if the Olyroos make it through to the third and final stage, which might coincide with the start of the next Hyundai A-League season.

Gaining the services of Nick Ward, Neil Kilkenny, James Wesolowski, possibly David Williams and Kaz Patafta, is another challenge confronting Olympic coach Graham Arnold. The second round of qualifying is played out from late February to early June, a pretty awful period of the year for national team managers seeking friendly acquiescence regarding international call-ups from their domestic league counterparts. Ward, especially, is already a central component of the Queens Park Rangers midfield set-up. Arnold can only hope QPR are not involved in a relegation battle (unfortunately, they probably will be).

All of this is why nobody claimed qualifying for major tournaments through Asia was going to be easy.

Round Three Report

2006-09-12T12:03:00.000+10:00

Inclement weather around the country had a dramatic affect on attendances this week, which sagged to an average of 5,888 -- a new low point in A-League history. Interestingly enough, the previous low average of 7,269 achieved in Round 14 last season featured precisely the same quartet of home fixtures: Adelaide, Central Coast, New Zealand and Perth. (Both times Adelaide had the largest crowd, and New Zealand the smallest.)

Best of Round Three:

Player: Archie Thompson, Melbourne (pictured) - a magnificent return to form that could keep Victory at the top of the league for quite some time

U-20 Player: Alex Vrteski, Perth - another performance like this might keep Jason Petkovic out of the team

Coach: John Kosmina, Adelaide - would Adelaide have been so impressive had Kossie made it to Kuwait and missed the week's training?

Match: Perth Glory vs Sydney FC

Goal: Archie Thompson, Melbourne - slick build-up featuing a nicely weighted through ball, and the finish from almost right-angle had to be perfect

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Shengqing Qu - Archie Thompson
Matt McKay - Fernando - Tom Pondeljak - Jason Spagnuolo
Alvin Ceccoli - Nikolai Topor-Stanley - Angelo Costanzo - Iain Fyfe
Alex Vrteski

Subs: Danny Vukovic, Alex Wilkinson, Grant Brebner, Mark Bridge

Round Two Report

2006-09-04T18:09:00.000+10:00

A huge crowd of almost 40,000 at the Telstra Dome witnessed easily the best match of the round, an epic duel between probably the league's most fierce rivals. Five goals, one red card, a broken collarbone, an off-the-ball incident headed for video review, poor quality refereeing, an irate coach on the sideline, feigning, diving, Brazilians tripping over the ball while executing stepovers, it was a match that wanted to bite your head off and spit it out on the pitch for use as a proxy ball. If the league can deliver three spectacles like this each year, fans everywhere will be grateful. (Something we can probably do without is the jerk who threw a lit flare off the third-tier of the stadium down onto spectators below. I have no beef with flares, but if you light one then you ought to take responsibility for its safe handling not throw it around like a piece of confetti so as not to be sighted in possession.)

Queensland visited Newcastle and returned on top of the league following a string of horrendous defensive errors. Chad Gibson and Paul Okon scored bizarre own goals -- Gibson's a classic piece of hesitation and miscommunication between himself and Liam Reddy in goals, while Okon, attempting to clear the ball for a corner, instead tucked a low shot ball beneath his diving goalkeeper into the centre of the net. Queensland look like scoring a lot of goals this year, but it remains to be seen if they can match their league best defensive record from last season. Newcastle were unlucky to lose. If they can get their act together over the coming weeks, the league is shaping up as an ultra tight affair.

That's because the Knights are the real deal. They defeated Adelaide thanks to a wonder strike from Malik Buari, but also due to the smart, rugged, highly organised type of play that characterised the Reds' superlative performances last year. Paul Nevin has brought the right tactics into play for last season's strugglers: it's not about finesse, it's about doing the graft to earn vital league points. Adelaide on the other hand seem to be in a spot of bother. If their big guns (Qu, Rech, Dodd, Veart) fail to fire, as they have on the past two occasions, they seem to find it tough to manufacture chances. The introduction of Bobby Petta on the left might make a difference, but if it doesn't some early alarm bells may start ringing for the current league champions.

Too new marquees duelled in the round's final match between Perth and Central Coast. Stan Lazaridis threw down the gauntlet with a vintage dashing performance, while Tony Vidmar did what he could to stem the tide of relentless Glory forays on the Mariners goal. It was another highly paid recent Socceroo who swung the match. Simon Colosimo has been out of form and out of favour with Glory fans ever since the commencement of the Hyundai A-League, but finally the pendulum seems to be swinging in the other direction for him. His cheeky goal, stolen with a quickly taken free kick (no Mariner stood over the ball), capped off a creative, mobile performance that immediately puts him back in the picture for future national team representation in the crux defensive midfield position. Leo Bertos also deserves mention for another zippy outing on the right flank. Perth seemed to have it a mountain ahead of them after the late mauling in Queensland last week, but the season is well and truly back on track. On the other hand, the Mariners will need to dig deep and find something to enliven their campaign, which doesn't get any easier with unbeaten pair Queensland and Melbourne up next. Last year, they always had an answer: Heffernan's goal-scoring runs from deep, Petrie's lethal poaching, Hutchinson's magical spell, Pondeljak's sublime vision, Gumprecht's hard running and eye for goal, Spencer's booming long shots. So far this year, the individual brilliance has been missing.

Best of Round Two:

Player: Kevin Muscat, Melbourne (pictured) - gave Corica too much space early on, but solid defensively thereafter and the supplier of a magnificent long ball for Allsopp to score, one that carried way too much heat for Milligan to clear

U-20 Player: Alex Vrteski, Perth - didn't have much to do, but, nevertheless, a clean sheet on home debut

Coach: Paul Nevin, New Zealand - tightened the screws in midfield to shut down Adelaide's creative nexus, pulling off the Knights' first ever home victory

Match: Melbourne Victory vs Sydney FC

Goal: Malik Buari, New Zealand - powerful shot sensationally curled into the top corner from wide outside the box

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Daniel Allsopp - Reinaldo
Stan Lazaridis - Simon Colosimo - Kevin Muscat - Leo Bertos
Alessandro - Michael Valkanis - Neil Emblen - Labinot Haliti
Robert Bajic

Subs: Danny Milosevic, Iain Fyfe, Scott Gemmill, Malik Buari

So Long Dwight, That's Business

2006-09-01T17:23:00.000+10:00

He entered with a media frenzy and has left in similar circumstances, with the press all over the underlying reasons for his transfer to Sunderland. 'Where's the dirt, there's gotta be some dirt,' they wonder, but come now, is there any?

Dwight Yorke seems happy enough after his switch, gaining the stability of a two-year contract. Sydney FC seems happy, having acquired a cool $500,000 from the deal while offloading their costliest expense in the process. The Sydney fans don't seem too perturbed either, knowing that Dwight's plans to play in midfield this season were always going to conflict with coach Terry Butcher's plan to play him up front.

Everybody seems quite happy.

Except maybe the opposition clubs, who can no longer capitalise on the drawing power of Yorke, and fans across the rest of Australia who'll have to make do with Samba action and flair from the boots of those closer to home for their entertainment diets.

Yorke will probably be best remembered for his solid performance in last year's Grand Final, when he stood up in the midfield, dictated flow and set up the solitary goal for Sydney's win. For that and his superb World Cup run, while contracted to Sydney. The bottom line: it was all worth it, Yorke served a great purpose in stimulating awareness of the A-League in Australia and abroad. He's gone now, and soon John O'Neill will follow, but it's no disaster. It's certainly not dirty. No more so than a Kevin Muscat shove behind play. Let's move on shall we?

Australia Stronger Than Expected

2006-08-31T11:41:00.000+10:00

Graham Arnold selected a much stronger Australian team for the match in Kuwait than media outlets hinted last week:

GKs: Schwarzer, Covic

DEFs: Beauchamp, Chipperfield, Kisnorbo, McKain, Milicevic

MIDs: Burns, Culina, Elrich, Skoko, Ward, Wilkshire

FWDs: Aloisi, Ryan Griffiths, Holman, McDonald, Sterjovski

Quick comments:

- Milicevic and Skoko are forgiven for their post-World Cup outbursts.

- Great to see Ward and Griffiths in the squad, and also the return of Burns.

- Does Schwarzer's inclusion suggest dissatisfaction with the major European-based backups Covic, Michael Petkovic, Brad Jones, and Paul Henderson?

- Does Zeljko Kalac's exclusion signal the end of his national team career?

- Michael Thwaite, Chris Coyne, Neil Kilkenny and Richard Garcia all miss out. Wesolowski doesn't make the cut either, but Ward is a more deserving choice.

- Joshua Kennedy would certainly have been selected if it weren't for his achilles injury.

- Who will captain the side? Skoko? Schwarzer? What if neither starts? Aloisi? Or should Arnie try to groom someone younger, like Kisnorbo?

Official A-League Statistics

2006-08-29T09:43:00.000+10:00

Glancing through the player statistics on the A-League website this morning, I noticed a couple of strange inclusions and exclusions regarding the goal assists.

Assists are sometimes a bit of a subjective grey area, but some rather glaring errors seem to populate the judgement calls made during the statistical analysis of last weekend's footage.

Queensland's Simon Lynch, who clearly supplied a final ball for Dario Vidosic's goal against Perth, is not credited with an assist.

Ante Milicic, meanwhile, is given an assist for his block of Tyler Simpson's clearance, an effort that led to Lynch's goal. I'm not sure if this was so much a clear instance of an assist to Milicic as a mistake from Simpson.

Sasho Petrovski gets a slightly dubious assist as well. His attempt to control a high ball into the box resulted in failure, the ball bouncing away from his poor first touch towards Iain Fyfe. Yet he gets an assist for Fyfe's subsequent goal, as if he'd made a deliberate pass.

In yet another problematic issue, Alessandro is not credited with an assist for earning Melbourne's penalty. He didn't take the spot kick himself, so why has he not been given an assist?

Some consistency here would be much appreciated!

Round One Report

2006-08-28T18:59:00.000+10:00

Here we go again. Big crowds, home-team resilience and a surprising result marked the start of the new A-League season.

Total attendances almost reached 63,000, 10 per cent smaller than last year's inaugural opening round but larger than any other week during the regular season. Unlike last year, when teams performed better away than they did at home throughout the competition, home teams dominated Round One.

Melbourne pulled off an upset victory, slamming Adelaide in the midfield to pull off a hard-fought 2-0 win at Olympic Park. Queensland scored three in the final ten minutes to defeat Perth in front of more than 20,600 spectators, proving that Brisbane thoroughly deserves to host the Socceroos versus Paraguay on October 7, the nation team's first game in Australia since the World Cup. New Zealand showed spirit to hold out for a 0-0 draw with Newcastle, selling a reasonable 7,000 tickets in the process, almost twice as many as last season's average. And in the Grand Final replay, the scoreline echoed a 1-0 advantage for the champions thanks largely to Clint Bolton's reflexes.

Best of Round One:

Player: Clint Bolton, Sydney (pictured) - two big saves proved the slim difference between Sydney and the Mariners

U-20 Player: Dario Vidosic, Queensland - played less than thirty minutes but ignited the Roar's devastating late burst

Coach: Miron Bleiberg, Queensland - credit for bringing on Vidosic at the expense of captain Chad Gibson

Match: Queensland Roar vs Perth Glory

Goal: Simon Lynch, Queensland - kept low on a tight-angle, an important goal that opened the floodgates to lead to Vidosic's one-two finish and McLaren's longer-range strike

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Ante Milicic - Simon Lynch
Dario Vidosic - Fred - Kevin Muscat - Leo Bertos
Vuko Tomasevic - Nikolai Topor-Stanley - Paul Okon - Darren Bazeley
Clint Bolton

Subs: Michael Theoklitos, Sasa Ognenovski, Grant Brebner, Greg Owens

Team for Kuwait Away Tie

2006-08-25T14:49:00.000+10:00

The Daily Telegraph is reporting that Graham Arnold is on the verge of selecting a squad comprised of European based fringe Socceroos for the national team's next away encounter with Kuwait.

A fantastic idea.

Australia's has already qualified for the Asian Cup after defeating Kuwait at home with a third-choice squad selected from the A-League. The outcome of the next match is not important, but it's a perfect occasion for players on the periphery to stand up and make a name for themselves.

The Telegraph's David Lewis has his own opinions about who should or might be selected, including the following (these should be taken with a punch of salt):

Jacob Burns (Wisla Krakow), Chris Coyne (Luton), Richard Garcia (Colchester), Paul Henderson (Leicester), Brett Holman (NEC Nijmegen), Neil Kilkenny (Birmingham), Patrick Kisnorbo (Leicester), Scott McDonald (Motherwell), Nick Ward (QPR), James Wesolowski (Leicester), plus five regular Socceroos based overseas.

Elsewhere, it is reported that Ward is only a standby for the team.

Other players who could find themselves in the mix include:

Michael Petkovic (Sivasspor), Brad Jones (on loan to Sheffield Wednesday), Michael Beauchamp (FC Nürnberg), Michael Thwaite (Wisla Krakow), Jon McKain (FCU Politehnica Timisoara), Carl Valeri (Grosseto), Kaz Patafta (Benfica B), David Williams (Brondby).

While, the dark horses, aside from the ones already listed, could be:

Adrian Madaschi (Grosseto), Dean Heffernan (FC Nürnberg), Shane Sherriff (Tranmere Rovers), Eddie Bosnar (Heracles Almelo), Wayne Srhoj (FC National Bucuresti), Danny Invincible (Kilmarnock), Ryan Griffiths (Rapid Bucuresti), Dylan MacAllister (Lyn Oslo).

Of the regular Socceroos, my money is on Scott Chipperfield (FC Basel), Luke Wilkshire (FC Twente), Mile Sterjovski (FC Basel), Ahmad Elrich (Fulham) and John Aloisi (Alaves).

Two of the big question marks will be Ljubo Milicevic (BSC Young Boys) and Josip Skoko (Wigan), who were outspoken in their criticism of non-selection for the World Cup squad and team sheet respectively. If Arnold doesn't pick them now, they may find it hard to get back into the equation for next year's tournament.

Kickoff Tonight

2006-08-25T08:54:00.000+10:00

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.

Fantasy A-League

2006-08-18T08:59:00.000+10:00

Fantasy boffins are rejoicing the new Fantasy A-League competition unveiled by Fox Sports.

There's a $5,000 cash prize up for grabs, and luck is usually a big factor in these things, so even if you're a fantasy neophyte you may want to check it out. For what's it worth, here's my current lineup:

Katsuben's Kamakazis

GK: Vukovic
D: ~~Leijer~~, Gibson, ~~Durante~~, O'Grady, Valkanis, Rudan
M: Brosque (c), Carle, Dodd, ~~Wedau~~, Brebner
F: Qu, Griffiths, Young, Lynch

Updated: Aug-25

If you find the Fox Sports version a bit too simplistic or easy, tune in to the Marinators.net for a fan-created A-League Fantasy competition, which promises to be tougher. Apparently up and running soon. (It's up now.)

Australia Do Enough

2006-08-17T13:34:00.000+10:00

The critics have been somewhat scathing, but to me Australia's makeshift unit delivered an adequate performance in last night's 2-0 win over Kuwait. It was never going to be an easy victory for the under-prepared team, and only when seven Sydney FC players were on the pitch for Australia did it seem like there was any sense of a Hiddink-like cohesion or shape to the play. Full credit to Kuwait, as well, who played their defensive counter-attacking system with a great sense of tactical appreciation. Goalkeeper Nawaf Al Khaldi was one of the standout performers on the night -- he certainly knows how to punch a ball.

Yet, 2-0.

The results haven't often been in our favour when experiments like this have been undertaken in the past, so I'd rather see the victory as a sign of the domestic game's progress. Playing in his first full international, Travis Dodd was the star, finding himeself unmarked at the top of the box to open Australia's account, and beating Kuwait's captain for guile and pace before rifling a shot on target that produced Sasho Petrovski's first international goal. Mark Milligan was a terrier in defensive midfield, ripping the ball from the feet of the Kuwaitis and distributing rather effectively. Kevin Muscat wore a furrowed brow of concentration as he managed to avoid any sort of controversy. It was when Muscat started carrying the ball out of defence rather than hoofing it long for the unimpressive Archie Thompson and Joel Griffiths that Australia started to control the match and create attacking opportunities. Michael Valkanis was another debutante who did nothing wrong. The timing of his lunging tackles was superb.

Following his lively cameo appearance, Alex Brosque must surely press for a starting claim during the next outing. Probably the in-form attacking midfielder in the A-League, he looked dangerous and on the verge of creating something every time he touched the ball.

Now the local action turns to the final of the Pre-Season Cup between Central Coast and Adelaide. Just a few weeks ago the pair fought out a 0-0 draw in Orange. Each possesses silverware from last season and would benefit from gaining a psychological advantage as we head into the regular season. It should be another tight low-scoring affair, with injuries to important midfielder and strikers forcing both teams to play conservatively.

Finally, in other news that I am just catching up with, Shane Sherriff (formerly known as Shane Cansdell-Sherriff), has opened the English Championship season as the captain of Tranmere Rovers. Last seen turning out for Australia at the 2004 Athens Olympics, Sherriff has to be under consideration as the long-term solution at left-back for the natonal team.

Squad for Kuwait

2006-08-14T09:43:00.000+10:00

Australia's final squad for the Asian Cup qualifying match against Kuwait has been announced, solely comprising players from the A-League.

Adelaide's Travis Dodd, Queensland's Matt McKay and Sydney's Iain Fyfe are the flyers, with Fyfe gaining selection over recent pre-World Cup trainee Adrian Leijer. Dodd was one of the best wide midfielders in the competition last year, while McKay had a solid season and spent some time on loan in the K-League.

On paper, Australia looks lightest in midfield, where Steve Corica is likely to anchor a central unit featuring youngsters Kristian Sarkies and Stuart Musialik. Arnold may line up with a rear guard of four, as he did in the successful second-half against Bahrain, or, considering the home venue, opt for a more attacking lineup with wingbacks on either side of three central defenders. The former will put a lot of emphasis on the wing play of David Carney, Alex Brosque and perhaps Dodd, while the latter orientation featuring the likes of Alvin Ceccoli, Mark Milligan or Jade North on the flanks would aim to take pressure off the core midfielders. In either case, both Kevin Muscat and Michael Valkanis should start, quite an intimidating pairing.

Up front, the Socceroos suprisingly look quite strong. Archie Thompson and Joel Griffiths provide a finishing threat under pace, with Sasho Petrovski able to handle a lone striker role if called upon.

Clint Bolton will start between the posts, with long-term national team prospect Danny Vukovic backing up.

Unlucky to miss out are the injured Spase Dilevski, Tom Pondeljak, Richard Johnson and Ruben Zadkovich. Also unfortunate is Nick Carle, whose silky skills and possession oriented approach to the game are out of favour with national team coaches at the moment. Paul Okon declared himself unavailable for the match, presumably a decision indicating his desire to retire from international football. New Zealand Knights first-choice goalkeeper Michael Turnbull may also count himself a touch unlucky to miss out.

Squad Reports Up

2006-07-14T22:32:00.000+10:00

As the start of the Pre-Season Cup approaches, it's about time the HAL teams close in on their final squads for the 2006-07 regular season. Only Melbourne has assembled a full complement of players so far, but incoming transfers are thick and fast at the moment. To help keep up, I've compiled at-a-glance squad lists for each team.

Who's looking strong?

NB: I'll shift these over to the right sidebar once they fall out of the recent posts and keep them updated through the season (so we can stay on top of all the inevitable short-term injury replacement signings).

Sydney: Squad Report

2006-07-14T22:25:00.000+10:00

Out: Bingley, Laurie, Packer, Salazar, Yorke

In: Brockie, Brosque, Zadkovich

Required for a full squad: Who knows?

GKs:

Clint Bolton
Justin Pasfield

DEFs:

Alvin Ceccoli
Iain Fyfe
Mark Milligan
~~Wade Oostendorp (U-20)~~
Mark Rudan
Jacob Timpano

MIDs:

Jeremy Brockie (U-20)
David Carney
Steve Corica
Terry McFlynn
Ufuk Talay
Ruben Zadkovich (U-20)

FWDs:

Alex Brosque
Adam Casey
Robbie Middleby
Sasho Petrovski
David Zdrilic

Short-Term Signings:

Matthew Bingley (Defender)
Tallan Martin (Striker)
Jonas Salley (Midfielder)
Joel Thiessen (Midfielder)
Nikolas Tsattalios (Midfielder)
Nikolai Topor-Stanley (Defender)

"Guest" Players:

Benito Carbone (Striker)

Queensland: Squad Report

2006-07-14T22:15:00.000+10:00

Out: Baird, Brosque, Brownlie, Carro, Dodd, Gava, Higgins, Moon, Richter, J. Simpson, T. Simpson, Shin, Tollenaere

In: Lynch, Milicic, Ognenovski, Packer, Reddy, Vidosic, Wedau

Required for a full squad: Squad complete

Head coach Miron Bleiberg resigned mid-season. Frank Farina signed for two and a half years as his replacement.

GKs:

Liam Reddy
Tom Willis

DEFs:

Remo Buess
Spase Dilevski
Chad Gibson
Ben Griffin (U-20)
Josh McCloughan
Stuart McLaren
Sasa Ognenovski

MIDs:

Andrew Packer
Seo Hyuk-soo
Matt McKay
Massimo Murdocca
Marcus Wedau

FWDs:

Simon Lynch
Ante Milicic
Damian Mori
Reinaldo
Dario Vidosic (U-20)
Zhang Yuning

Short-Term Signings:

Steve Fitzsimmons (Midfielder)
Chris Grossman (Midfielder)
Robbie Kruse (Striker)
Griffin McMaster (Goalkeeper)
Carl Recchia (Midfielder)
Tim Smits (Striker)
Tando Velaphi (Goalkeeper)

Perth: Squad Report

2006-07-14T22:10:00.000+10:00

Out: Caceres, Celeski, Deane, Fa'arodo, Horsley, Ishida, Jovanic, Mc Mahon Jr, Miller, More, Teggart, Ward, Vasilevski

In: Bertos, Christie, Glavas, Lazaridis, Magdic, Robertson, Saric, Townsend, Vrteski, Webster

Required for a full squad: Squad complete

GKs:

Jason Petkovic
Alex Vrteski (U-20)

DEFs:

Jamie Coyne
Jamie Harnwell
Ante Kovacevic
David Tarka
Ryan Townsend

MIDs:

Leo Bertos
Jeremy Christie
Simon Colosimo
Stan Lazaridis (Marquee)
Josip Magdic
David Micevski (U-20)
Mark Robertson
Adrian Webster

FWDs:

Bobby Despotovski
Luka Glavas
Mimi Saric
Naum Sekulovski
Stuart Young

Short-Term Signings:

Andrew Crews (Goalkeeper)
Mark Lee (Midfielder)
Andy Petterson (Goalkeeper)
Paul Pezos (Defender)
Tyler Simpson (Defender)
Tommi Tomich (Goalkeeper)

New Zealand: Squad Report

2006-07-14T18:55:00.000+10:00

Out: Bright, Brockie, Bull, Caravella, Christie, Collet, Fitzsimmons, Hay, Imaya, Maguire, Moss, Rose, Tambouras, Tinkler, Yeo, Zhang (phew!)

In: Buari, Bunce, Carbon, Casey, Duruz, Gemmill, Johnson, Kovacevic, Paston, Richter, Rodrigues, Salley, Turnbull, White

Required for a full squad: Squad complete

Contract of manager Paul Nevin terminated mid-season. Interim replacement is Barry Simmonds.

GKs:

~~Danny Milosevic~~
Mark Paston
Michael Turnbull

DEFs:

Darren Bazeley
Che Bunce
Matt Carbon
Gregory Duruz
Neil Emblen
Sime Kovacevic (U-20)
Frank van Eijs

MIDs:

Scot Gemmill (Marquee)
Noah Hickey
Richard Johnson
Jonas Salley
Michael White (U-20)

FWDs:

Malik Buari
Adam Casey (U-20)
Sean Devine
Jonathan Richter
Dani Rodrigues

Short-Term Signings:

Campbell Banks (Striker)
Nick Crossley (Goalkeeper)
Dean Gordon (Defender)
Fernando De Moraes (Midfielder)
Jeff Fleming (Midfielder)
Gao Lelei (Striker)
Li Yan (Midfielder)
Alen Marcina (Striker)
Hamza Mohammed (Midfielder)
Ivan Necevski (Goalkeeper)
Steven O'Dor (Defender)
Franco Parisi (Striker)
Tim Smits (Striker)
John Tambouras (Defender)
Dustin Wells (Midfielder)

Newcastle: Squad Report

2006-07-14T18:45:00.000+10:00

Out: Bates, Corbo, Johnson, Kohler, Milicic, Parisi, Petterson, Picken, Reddy, Studman, Zelic

In: D'Apuzzo, Faria, Griffiths, Kennedy, Necevski, Okon, Old, Ozbey, Rodríguez

Required for a full squad: Squad complete

Head coach Nick Theodorakopoulos sacked after seven regular season matches. Assistant Gary Van Egmond promoted as caretaker.

GKs:

Ante Covic
Ben Kennedy (U-20)
~~Ivan Necevski~~

DEFs:

Craig Deans - injured (season)
Andrew Durante
Steve Eagleton
Labinot Haliti
Jade North

MIDs:

Nick Carle
Adam D'Apuzzo (U-20)
Tarek Elrich (U-20)
Stuart Musialik
Paul Okon
Milton Fabián Suárez Rodríguez
Matt Thompson
Jobe Wheelhouse

FWDs:

Mark Bridge
Vaughan Coveny
Tony Faria
Joel Griffiths
Tolgay Ozbey (U-20)

Short-Term Signings:

Tim Brown (Midfielder)
Troy Hearfield (Striker)
Paul Kohler (Defender)
Steven Old (Defender)
Tando Velaphi (Goalkeeper)
Shane Webb (Defender)

Melbourne: Squad Report

2006-07-14T18:38:00.000+10:00

Out: Diaco, Kitzbichler, Recchia, Tadrosse, Vlahos

In: Alessandro, Brebner, Caceres, Claudinho, Fred, Vargas

Required for a full squad: 1 player

GKs:

Eugene Galekovic
Michael Theoklitos

DEFs:

Mark Byrnes
~~Geoffrey Claeys~~
Adrian Leijer (U-20)
Daniel Piorkowski
Simon Storey
Rodrigo Vargas

MIDs:

Alessandro
Grant Brebner
Adrian Caceres
Michael Ferrante
Fred
Vince Lia
Kevin Muscat
Steven Pantelidis
Kristian Sarkies (U-20)

FWDs:

Daniel Allsopp
~~Claudinho~~
James Robinson
Archie Thompson (Marquee)

Short-Term Signings:

Peter Gavalas (Goalkeeper)
Antun Kovacic (Defender)
Leigh Broxham (Midfielder)