'Volcano' for the Green and Gold?

Michael Valkanis has probably been the standout central defender in the league this season. No wonder Graham Arnold is thinking of selecting him for the Socceroos squad to face Bahrain. There are a few other guys who are no doubt in the running, e.g. Michael Beauchamp, Iain Fyfe, Jacob Timpano, Adrian Leijer, possibly even the formerly unheralded Alan Picken. But it's hard to think of someone more deserving than Valkanis, a workhorse who has epitomised Adelaide's incredibly successful season with his ferocious commitment and timely goals. What an excellent reward it would be if he is chosen to partner, say, Craig Moore in the heart of the national team's defence versus a strong Bahrain outfit with plenty to prove after being pipped-at-the-post in their World Cup qualification campaign.

Melbourne Hustlers Rebuff PSV

Archie Thompson might still be headed for PSV but Melbourne Victory's counter offer has ensured that the deal will be anything but a steal for the Dutch champions.

Melbourne has refused the initial offer from PSV, which involved a six month loan arrangement with PSV paying 100% of Thompson's wages, an option to purchase Thompson for $500,000 at the end of the contract, and a 20% cut of any future transfer deal involving Thompson.

The counter offer requests that (1) the transfer fee remain negotiable at the end of the six months, and (2) a fee of 100,000 euros be paid to Melbourne if PSV's option to sign Thompson is not carried out. This proposed arrangement would allow Melbourne to extract a higher fee for Thompson should he be a revelation at PSV, perhaps even in a sale to another bidder on the open transfer market. It also protects the club against the possibility of injury, poor form and the like. According to the original offer, if Thompson doesn't make it for whatever reason then PSV has simply lost a few dollars in wage payments, while Melbourne has lost arguably its biggest asset and drawcard just before a desperate plunge for the finals. It remains to be seen if PSV consider this form of guaranteed compensation realistic within the terms of a loan arrangement.

You have to feel for the player amid all of this business interaction. There's no doubt Archie prefers to be with PSV in the build up to the World Cup.

There is perhaps another answer to the dilemma. Why not just loan out Thompson with no clause regarding his subsequent purchase? After six months, if PSV or any other club want him they can make an offer. I know it sounds too simple and totally unsexy, but given the complicated circumstances (Melbourne can still mathematically finish second on the ladder!) maybe it's worth considering -- especially if PSV rejects the latest counter offer.

Who knows what's going to happen now. Maybe PSV will turn around and offer a $1 million bid for outright purchase of Archie, which is close to the sum total (inclusive wages and re-sale share) of the initial offer anyway. Or perhaps they'll decline and look elsewhere. I wonder what's going through the mind of Guus Hiddink right now, who as much as anyone is probably quite helpless to the machinations going on between PSV and Melbourne's administrators.

Round Seventeen Report

It was a fantastic week in terms of bumper crowds, but not such a good one as far as spectacular football goes. With drab matches all around the league, it's difficult to discuss highlights. Sydney and Newcastle epitomised the high stakes tension when their desire to gain points was cancelled out by the fear of losing any. Melbourne's finals dash has all but whimpered to a halt after their unspectacular 1-0 loss in Adelaide. The most important item on the agenda for Victory this week is whether or not to immediately accept PSV's offer for Archie Thompson or (foolishly I would think) negotiate better terms. Perth somehow manufactured a truly pathetic display in their encounter with Queensland. Running out comfortable 2-0 winners, the formerly goal shy Roar have offered hope to their patient fans and with three home games to come they might just be an outside chance for the top four. Next week Queensland hosts Melbourne in what is shaping up as a desperate battle. Finally, the Mariners had a fortuitious win over the Knights, who for the fifth game in a row have either drawn with their opponents or lost by the narrowest of margins. Dean Heffernan was the stoppage time hero, giving Central Coast fans a little more comfort over the next few harrowing weeks.

Regarding the healthy attendances, it was the best turnout since Round 13 and the highest so far when only one of the top three crowd pullers (Sydney, Queensland, Melbourne) played at home. If not for the rain in Gosford (again!), the figures would be even more impressive. Over the remaining rounds there will be a few barometer matchups leading into the finals, when the FFA will be hoping for record sellout crowds. Perth hosts Adelaide next week in a match they must look to gain something from. If the Glory faifhful aren't willing to turn up for the league leaders, a team they've historically done very well against, I'm not sure where Perth will stand in the final analysis of this season's home ticket sales. Sydney and Queensland have massive home games next week against the Mariners and Victory respectively. Roar faces Sydney at home in Round 19, a match that's certain to draw in more than 20,000 viewers, while Adelaide hosts the Mariners in what looks to me one of the potential games of the season. In Round 20 the Knights have a chance to boost their overall average atttendance when they host the table toppers, while Perth gets another chance to view the Dwight Yorke show the next day. Then in the final round of the season two showcase matches stand out, both of which may be critical to the championship aspirations of the teams involved. Sydney and Adelaide do battle at Aussie Stadium in a showdown between two teams most likely to face each other two or three more times in the finals. Then in Newcastle, the Jets and Perth will face off in a kockdown drama that could well decide fourth spot on the table.

All of this suggests an increase in average attendances across the league. Currently a shave under 11,000 per game and three-quarters of a million in total, I think we can be quite hopeful of eclipsing 11,500 per game, comfortably over one million total admissions, once the finals series concludes. (If the Knights home matches are taken out of the equation, the overall figure for matches played in Australia will get close to 12,500, i.e. approximately what the FFA aimed for at the start of the season when "ten to fifteen thousand" was an often quoted objective.)

Best of Round Seventeen:

Player: Lucas Pantelis (pictured) - plenty of enterprising work from the flanker

U-20 Player: David Micevski - sterling debut from the Perth youngster who was among the best on ground

Coach: John Adshead - shrewd defensive tactics are playing a big part in the revival of the Knights

Match: Central Coast Mariners vs New Zealand Knights

Referee: Mark Shield

Goal: Dean Heffernan - an important goal, well controlled and placed into the corner with a fairly cunning low drive

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Alex Brosque - Archie Thompson
Lucas Pantelis - Terry McFlynn - Zenon Caravella - Massimo Murdocca
Dean Heffernan - Alan Picken - Michael Valkanis - Jade North
Liam Reddy

Subs: Simon Colosimo, David Micevski, Ante Milicic, Glen Moss

Hiddink Swoops for Archie

Have we seen the last of Archie Thompson? Having lost 1-0 to Adelaide, Victory seem sure to accept PSV's offer purchase the striker, which will secure him a home in the buildup to the World Cup.

It's been a brilliant freewheeling season for Thompson, who has climbed into the upper echelons of national team selection and been a wonderful ambassador for the A-League in its nascent days. Considering their fiscal problems, Melbourne can certainly use the money from the sale, rumoured to be as much as $1 million. Whether or not the Thompson deal will focus the attention of other European clubs on Australia is questionable, though. Given Hiddink's involvement with the Australian national team and the substantial gap between the end of the A-League season and the start of the World Cup, the pending Thompson transfer is a unique situation. Of all the players in the league he is the most likely to make Hiddink's finals squad. Petrovski, Bolton, Fyfe, Colosimo, Beauchamp, North, Brosque and the rest would probably not be adequate first team performers for PSV nor many other upper-tier clubs in the largest European leagues. As the Karl Dodd departure to a second-tier team in Romania reminded us, however, the majority of our home based players are almost always thinking about a career Europe. One of our priorities for the FFA, then, will be trying to make sure we attract as many players back from overseas as possible in order to offset the inevitable flood of quality talent moving abroad. Whether the likes of Viduka, Schwarzer and Kewell would ever want to play - or even live - in Australia again is seriously debatable. But as the recent return of Jamie McMaster has happily demonstrated, the exceptions are far outweighed by the norm. Tracking potential returnees will be a very interesting aspect of the offseason.

Round Sixteen Report

For fans, it was a welcome return to action for the A-Leaguers after what felt like a long December break (but was only a few weeks). Among the players, a few hangovers and cobwebs were evident, which may have also had something to do with the extreme pressure surrounding the handful of remaining matches. Over the next few weeks, the stakes are highest for Perth, Central Coast and Melbourne but the table is so tight that only Adelaide and New Zealand are really free of the psychological baggage associated with the demand for finals qualification. Round Sixteen didn't really shape up as a turning point for all of those teams, but given some of the extraordinary results it may well have important ramifications as we approach February.

The Knights pulled off the surprise of the round, drawing 2-2 with an over-confident Sydney FC thanks to a late equaliser from starlet Jeremy Brockie. The late appearance of substitute Neil Emblen as a target man up front derailed Sydney's momentum, forcing them to defend (what?!) and in the process lose track of mobile forwards like Brockie and Kris Bright. It was a great display from the Knights, who have usually appeared out-classed even when they've picked up a win or another draw. I'm still not sure they can finish with more than double-figure points, but it looks like every team visiting Auckland will at least be made to work a lot harder to take anything away from the Knights. It's just a shame that in the eyes of so many fans and critical observers the damage has already been done, i.e. the Knights remain loathed and unwanted. Pulling off a stunning victory to wreck the finals aspirations of another club would be a big morale boost for the team and its supporters. At home to Perth in Round Nineteen seems the most likely candidate, a match that may well see ex-Knights captain Danny Hay return to the A-League in the white and purple away attire of the Glory.

Another shock over the weekend was Newcastle's 4-1 capitulation to Central Coast. Before this round, the Jets were of the opinion that a win against Adelaide in Round Fifteen would have all but secured for them a spot in the finals. The rise of the Mariners and the likelihood that Perth will continue to achieve decent results over the coming weeks now means that the Jets top four aspirations are under threat. Poorer goal difference compared to their closest rivals may hurt them in the final analysis, a statistic not helped by their thrashing at the hands of the extremely motivated and fit Mariners outfit. I don't think the Mariners can achieve the second spot they're aiming for, but third on the table is not by any means a far fetched proposal. I can't wait for the appearance of Jamie McMaster in their midfield, nor to see what happens with their suddenly congested forward line. It's an embarrassment of riches for Lawrie McKinna, one that augers very well for a solid run at the title. Their visit to Adelaide in Round Nineteen is one of the major highlights of the remaining program.

Melbourne's life got very difficult with its failure to top Perth at home. The 2-2 draw was not the required result, given the difficulty of their mostly away-based run through Janurary. Glory would be happy to capture a point, which came in quite comical circumstances courtesy of a Bobby Despotovski special. Having had his powerful header saved by Michael Theoklitos, Despotovski face down on the ground in front of goal. When the blocked ball returned to him, he raised his legs and trapped it between his thighs before plonking it on the ground 'below his crack' as Graham Arnold put it. Following up behind the striker, Nick Ward overcame the desire to drive the ball over the line along with the man in front of it and deftly chipped it over the top of the now advanced Theoklitos. It all looked pretty comical, but Despotovski's insight and awareness may have kept them in the finals hunt. (Jamie Harnwell's point blank rejection of a Michael Ferrante's goal bound shot also warrants more than just a pat on the back.)

Queensland can kiss their season goodbye after losing 4-2 to Adelaide in a match they led early on and lost in dizzying eleven minute spell featuring the multiple talents of Adelaide's ferocious forward line. In full flight, the 'train wreck' combination of Rech and Qu is something to behold and only a team capable of shutting one or both of them down for ninety minutes will have any chance of winning the championship. The unveiling of Reinaldo Elias de Costa was a modest success for the Roar and it will be interesting to see if they seek his services in the longer term. With the long layoff between the end of the finals and the start of next season, it does seem unlikely that players such as Reinaldo will stick around to enjoy the Australian winter. Miron Bleiberg will also be thinking about his career, with poor results and supporter disgruntlement epitomised in campaigns such as www.SackMiron.cjb.net giving chairman John Ribot plenty to think about over the coming weeks.

Best of Round Sixteen:

Player: Kristian Sarkies (pictured) - benched far too often this season and out to prove his manager wrong

U-20 Player: Kristian Sarkies

Coach: Lawrie McKinna - regardless of the hot weather, demolishing Money's Jets with his relentless pass-and-move attacking tactics

Match: Melbourne Victory vs Perth Glory

Referee: Mark Shield

Goal: Archie Thompson - Qu's chip was fantastic and Brockie's volley quite brilliant, but both were clearer chances than Archie's, which required a bit of work off the right thigh before a left-footed smash into the bottom corner

4-4-2 Team of the Week:

Shengqing Qu - Archie Thompson
Damien Brown - Kristian Sarkies - Andre Gumprecht - Rich Kitzbichler
David Tarka - Jamie Harnwell - John Tambouras - Darren Bazeley
Danny Vukovic

Subs: Michael Valkanis, John Hutchinson, Vaughan Coveny, Glen Moss

A Hectic Break

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sydney Gets Brosque

The Australian reports that Queensland Roar's Alex Brosque has come to an agreement to sign with Sydney FC at the end of the season.

If true it's good personal news for Brosque, who due to Sydney's strength up front will surely be encouraged to move to a wider position on the left wing rather than remain out of position as a striker. It only fuels this speculation that Pierre Littbarski has to date been quite adamant about playing David Carney on the right side of midfield rather than the left, where he is more naturally suited.

Given the restriction of the salary cap it is likely that someone will have to make way for Brosque. For a while now, rumours have been flying around about the departure of unfit co-captain David Zdrilic if Brosque were to arrive. It will be interesting to see how this develops: the Knights are one team with a pressing need for a decent target man, while Queensland's desperation for a proven goal scorer will only increase once Brosque heads south.

In other transfer-related news, the Knights have declared their interest in the K-League. I'm all for high quality Korean players joining the A-League, but quite rightly this new admission from the New Zealand executives is likely to catch the ire of those who imagine the Knights as a vehicle for supporting home-brewed talent. The recent stellar (comparatively speaking) emergence of Jeremy's Brockie and Christie has been one of the few annotations in the plus column during the Knights' woeful inaugural season. Probably half or more of the circa 2,000 supporters still dutifully attending the home matches in Auckland are there specifically to see how their fellow countrymen fare against the largely Australian contingents of the away teams. Nationalism has no place in my worldview, but even I would be happy to concede to pressure from the fans and release a statement or two about the club's scouting activites surrounding around the local game. The Knights have employed scouts to keep an eye on the New Zealand domestic competition, right?

Right...?

UPDATE (Dec 22): The World Game indicates that Brosque may have already joined Sydney for the remainder of the season, which would certainly boost their championship aspirations. If true, this is especially good news for Sydney when you consider that Dwight Yorke is likely to be unavailable for part of the finals series due to international commitments with Trinidad and Tobago.