Im Back!
By: Daniel |
2 Comments
Theres been so much going on in Aussie soccer, i finally got on top of it then out of nowhere i couldnt log into wordpress!!! so ive been sitting here with all these things to say but no way to say them… anyways we’ll get back to all the shenanigans in Aussie football but in the mean time check out the highlights to the Victory vs Juventus match last night.
A-League Offside Video of the Week
By: Daniel | 1 Comment
Heres a vid of a group of 4 Ghanaian supporters looking for a fifth person to join the group and become the H in the word GHANA. i assume they painted each letter on their chests and went crazy at Fridays Australia vs Ghana match. It’s quality viewing.
On another note, Hull has beaten Bristol, winning promotion from the championship to the Premier League. As mentioned in the previous post, this means that Richard Garcia will join the Aussie contingent in Englands top division. Well done Richard and good luck next season.
Let’s catch up shall we!
By: Daniel | 2 Comments
This has been a massive week of football in Aus. theres so much crap ive been trying to cover, ive missed out on a few things so heres an effort to get up to date!
Garcia vs Carle tonight!
I don’t know how much money is on stake when a team moves up to the prem league but it’s a shit load and the Bristol vs Hull game will have its own aussies connections on both sides of the pitch. Nicky Carle (Bristol) and Richard Garcia (Hull) will be fighting it out toplay in the premier league next season. Im a little biased towards Carle as I want to see a boy whose come from the A-league and made it onto the big stage. He has enourmous talent and I don’t think he deserves another year in the championship. But this is also unfair to Richard as hes been slugging it out in the championship for years and probably deserves this as well. I don’t know too much about the guy so cant comment on his skill but hes stats are pretty crazy. Either way its one more Aussie in the prem and one cant complain about that!
Olyroos 3-1 Ireland
The Australian under 23 team are at it again!. Undefeated in this tournament in Malaysia. Actually they’ve won every game! The latest one was against Ireland with Central Coast’s Matt Simon Banging in an awesome hat-trick! The team were without many of its players as they were called up for the senior side against Ghana. The Aussies now have made the final of the comp which sees them play Nigeria tomorrow. MATCH REPORT
Victory sign Ney Fabiano
Melbourne Victory has completed the signing of Chonburi FC striker Ney Fabiano to a 2 year contract. This is awesome news for all Victory fans out there as he was an absolute handful for Melbournes defence scoring in the away and Home legs. It’s a matter of if you cant beat em…. Get them to join you and for once an A-League side makes a calculated decision when it comes to Brazilian signings. With the 29 year old in the prime of his carrer, I will look forward to seeing him in Aus.
Adelaide United sign Cristiano
Melbourne aren’t the only ones attempting to fill their brazilian quota this season as Adelaide United have signed Willem II’s striker Cristiano. I don’t know a whole lot about this player but he’s got some really good stats in Holland. At 26 I think this is another really good capupture as I can see him actually adding something to this league as aposed to some player in brazil’s 3rd division
Schwarzer to Fulham
Mark Schwarzer has made the move to London signing for Fulham after 11 years at Middlesborough. To the naked eye it seems like a really stupid move. Why the hell would a 35 year old goalie move to a team with lesser quality, away from a team who you’ve stuck by for 11 years. He also had offers coming from Juventus and Bayern!… its not really conceivable but when money, contract lengths and first team football come up in an offer, its always hard to resist… especially for a 35 year old.
Promotion relegation
The Lack of promotion relegation argument has resurfaced as the ACL is reformatting its format. Aparently because we don’t have promotion relegation in our league, they wont rank us as highly at club level… who gives a shit really! I mean its not like theyre going to throw out the Aussies from the ACL. After 3 years, I think its too early for the A-League to even think about promotion relegation. Trust me I would love to see it implemented as it would add another dimension to the games but until we have conistant numbers of fans coming to games week in and week out this will never happen.. I mean how many people would go to a Perth Glory game if they were ever relegated? ARTICLE
Scotty Mcdonald wins SPL title with Celtic
Celtic Scotty Mcdonald’s side has won the SPL for the 3rd time in a row and they probably have him to thank for most of it. The Socceroo banged in 30 something (cant be fucked looking it up) goals for the hoops in an outstanding season! Hes one of my favourite Socceroos and I hope he gets heaps of praise and maybe a bit of champions League glory as well.. absolute legend, lets hope he replicates that form in the Socceroo June madness
Look forward to reading your thoughts
Aussies 1 v 0 Ghana in Scrappy Friendly
By: Daniel | 3 Comments
Australia 1 Ghana 0
Just came back from the pub after watching a game that probably symbolises the fact that it was a friendly match, featuring what was effectively an Australian ‘B’ side on the park.
The first half was boring as bat-shit to watch as neither team did particularly anything at all. I was very disappointed with Harry Kewell’s performance. I guess it may be because he was lacking match fitness but he was never really a part of the game and didn’t show what he was capable of at all. It was a very scrappy first period, one where neither team could get a real hold of the proceedings at all.
The match picked up in the second with Mile Sterjovski slotting it within seconds of the restart. Was a very good goal from a player that has been slated by his own coach recently. If it hadn’t been for him getting sent off, id have given him man of the match. As the second half wore on the Aussie began to get a very good hold of the game, with nice pieces of play. Then the unthinkable happened… Pim put on Danny Allsopp…. why oh why is he even in the team selection!!!?? From what i remember he only got one touch of the ball all game! Anyways approx the same time “super”dan came on, the game seemed to switch into Ghana’s favour. I was very impressed with the way the Ghanaians played without many of their star players in the side. They really ripped us in the later part of the game.. had it not been for the fantastic defensive work of the Aussies, Ghana would have surely scored. They probably deserved a draw tonight.
The Aussie defence was fantastic in this game. The whole back line were sturdy and held off the Ghana attack throughout the match. I was impressed by Adam Griffiths and Socceroo Debutant Matthew Spiranovic. They both showed that they could step up when and if the manager needed them. Can’t say the same about Adams brother Joel as he had a very quiet one tonight.
Basically i don’t think that Verbeek learnt anything from this match other than that he has reliable backup in the defensive department. I dont think any of the players stepping into the mid-field or attack impressed at all.
Special Mention to the girls! Australia 2 Canada 1
The Matildas took part in a match against Canada right before the Socceroos. The game finished off 2-1, with Caitllin Munoz the star performer for the aussies, setting up the first and scoring the second. The second was crossed in by 17 year old Elise Perry who also plays for the womens national team in Cricket. Some people are just too good at everything! Fuck! hehe anyway heres some vision of that game. I like giving the womens game a shout out here and there.
Adelaide, first Aussies throught to Knock-out ACL!
By: Daniel | 2 Comments
Adelaide United are officially the first Australian team to make it out of the group stages of the Asian Champions League! Congrats!!
Changchun Yatai v Adelaide United
Adelaide needed a soletary point to finish top of this group and the team pulled together, doing what it had to do, achieving a 0-0 result in China. Changchun pilled on the pressure from the word go, coming extremely close to a goal in the opening minutes. However defensive duo Angelo Costanzo and Saso Ognenovski were the heroes for United. They made every tackle and header count in their bid to calm the chinese storm that was coming in. Travis Dodd and Lucas Pantelis were the performers in the midfield making fantastic runs and supporting the striker. As for out-going duo Nathan Burns and Bruce Djite… all class. Their ability to be calm under pressure and change the game with certain interventions will be massive as they make the step up to Europe. After their ACL performances, i believe they are ready to better themselves in europe.
Throughout the match there was some scary moments, however overall, a solid display from Adelaide won them qualification into the next round of the comp. Good luck Reds! And well done to the manager for his tactics so far… keep it up Aurelio!
As im posting this a little earlier than the Victory game one, i hav’nt been able to get my hands on the team lists for this game but heres the report
Archie sends message to Verbeek with Victory Win!
By: Daniel | 2 Comments
The Asian champions League journey ended tonight for Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory, and what contrasting performances!! For now i can only post this but stay tunned for Adelaide vs Changchun game review
Melbourne Victory VS Chonburi FC
Last night in front of less than ten thousand people at the Dome, the Victory achieved a 3-1 win Chonburi. Probably got those thinking about that could have been in this competition. A First half blunder by captain Kevin Muscat caused a goal by Chonburi FC striker Ney Fabiano. However the captain redeemed himself on the 55th minute with a tap in from close range. Then it was goals from A-league all time goal scorer Archie Thomspson and Carlos Hernandez, as the Aussies dominated the second half.
Archie Thompson produced an inspiring return from injury in the 30 minutes that he was on, with he and Carlos Hernandez dominating the second half. Archie did his chances of being selected for the Ghana game no harm here. With Verbeek in the crowd, Thompson did a massive, PICK ME PIM!… PICK ME!. A great performance for the Victory but its too little too late.
What pissed me off most was Merricks post match comments! “It’s amazing though when you get your whole squad in, and you’ve lost Archie and Carlos (Hernandez) early in the piece, but when you get your best squad in you play good football.” stfu Merrick seriously! 1. Two players don’t make the whole team and you cant expect to play good football only when these two are on the park. 2. Melbourne got absolutely OWNED by Gamba Osaka… in both games! Adelaide manager Vidmar has had to deal with injuries to Agostino, Djite, Cassio, Diego but still has produced the goods! I mean you have Elasi on the bench who ripped it last game and you didnt play him at all today! i feel sorry for young kids at the Victory
Mate when will you admitt that your style of football was the problem, not the fact that you ddnt have Carlos and Archie in. Maybe if you stopped winging and put your best team out youd be in the next stage like United. Suffer now i hope the fact that you had less than 10,000 at the game yesterday will open your eyes!
end rant
Melbourne Victory 3 (Kevin Muscat 56’, Archie Thompson 65’, Carlos Hernandez 77’)
Chonburi FC 1 (Ney Fabiano De Oliveira 55’)
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
Telstra Dome, Melbourne
Referee: Salem Mujghef
Crowd: 9958
Melbourne Victory: 2.Kevin MUSCAT (Captain), 4.Steven PACE, 7.Matthew KEMP, 9.Daniel ALLSOPP, 12.Rodrigo VARGAS, 16.Carlos HERNANDEZ (19.Evan BERGER 81’), 18.Leigh BROXHAM (21.Sebastian RYALL 77’), 20.Mitchell LANGERAK (gk), 22.Nick WARD, 24.Billy CELESKI, 25.Tom PONDELJAK (10.Archie THOMPSON 61’)
Substitutes not used: 1.Michael THEOKLITOS (gk), 6.Steve PANTELDIS, 11.Nathan ELASI, 13.Kaz PATAFTA
Highlights
The borefest that will be Melbourne Victory vs Chonburi FC
By: Daniel | 9 Comments
Here we go! The start of the most hectic few months in the history of Australian Football and what worse way to kick off the action than tonights pointless Asian Champions League game at the Telstra Dome. With both teams having no chance of making it to the next round, and nothing else to play for than pride, Melbourne Victory vs Thailand’s Chonburi FC promises to be an epic borefest! So pointless is this match that Victory coach Ernie Merrick did’nt even attend any of the teams lead up training sessions untill today, prefering to take a trip to Costa Rica to check out some striker. Well if the coach of the team dosent give a shit about this game then neither will i! seriously… i wouldve loved to have tolled you something about how the young stars will be given a run in this match and all that but id much rather prepare for Adelaide’s ACL game tommorow and the Australia vs Ghana friendly on friday instead! and thats coming from a Victory supporter…
Frankly im fed up with the coaches stubboness when it comes to putting the best young and team players on the park, rathering stick to so called “players” like Danny Allsopp! When it comes to Melbourne all i can see good on the horizen is a fantastic event vs Juventus at the Dome on May 30!
For all you die hards out there you can check out the pregame here
What i will follow however is the Olyroos form in the Intercontinental tournament in Malaysia. they have seriously been on fire! killing off Chile 2-1 and togo 4-0!
The last match against Togo has been described by Australian media as a complete farce and thats exactly what it was! Bascially a Togo player got sent off at around the hour mark, then another sent off 15 minutes from full time and subsequently another three players went off injured, which meant the referee had to abandon the match. i had to recheck this! What the hell? ahhh well at least we won!
What i did like however was the fantastic performance from Michael Zullo who i am a huge admirer, capping an immense day at the office with a goal!
Match Details
Australia 4 (Jason Hoffman 7’, Aaron Downes 42’, Michael Zullo 65’, Matt Simon 70’)
Togo 0
Australian line-up: Dean Bouzanis (gk), Tarek Elrich, Mark Milligan, Aaron Downes, Trent McClenahan, Stuart Musialik, Adam D’Apuzzo, Michael Zullo, Matt Simon, Dario Vidosic, Jason Hoffman.
Subs: Leijer, Zadkovich, Boogaard, Rukavytsya, Velaphi
Inj: Hearfield
Suspended: Dilevski
Cautions: Hoffman (32’)
Not looking forward to tonights match but the rest of the Aussie schedual looks very promising! look forward to reading your comments and following it with you.
A-League Offside’s 1st Video of the Week!
By: Daniel | 3 Comments
Just to show how far this game has come over the last 3-4 years with the esablishment of the A-League and our entrance into the Asian Confederation i thought id post this vid.
Heres some quality of footage for you all out there so love a good argument. An episode of The World Game back in 2006, football analysis tells it straight to former (now sacked) Australia under 23 coach Ange Postecoglou, that it just wasnt good enough the youngsters hadnt qualified for the under 23 world cup.
Wether its just bad coaching or it was the state of football at the time without any major competition in the country in 2006 is debated here. All we know is that football in this country now has direction and a system that is now being filtered down across all age groups…
Heres the vid, i hope you enjoy it, its pure quality!
Category: A-League NewsOlyroos take down Croatia
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Last night the Olyroos gave a performance to remember, taking out Croatia 3-0 in the first game of the Under 23’s Intercontinental Cup tournament in Malaysia.
First half, Perth Glory’s Nikita Rukavytsya headed the Roos in front then it was Wellington’s Troy Hearfield and out-of-contract James Troisi to round off the win.
Unfortunatly both Rukavytsya and Hearfield came off with inguries but this allowed James Troisi to come on and ripple the net within minutes to show Kevin Keegan that he shouldnt have been sent away.
Few things to note about this game, Queensland Roar’s Michael Zullo finally got his Olyroo debut, he couldve had a lot more caps under his belt had it not been for injuries, but its good to see him out there as hes a fantastic winger. It’s also interesting that Fulham’s Adrian Leijer didnt get a run out. Id imagine it might be because he hasnt played first team football yet, or he might have an injury. He’s usually the captain so i dont know whats going on there.
All in all the Oly’s played a fantastic match, controlled the tempo against a very good Croatia side.
For those who dont really care about this tournament too much, it just got a whole lot more exciting as Togo’s coach revealed that Arsenal star Emmanuel Adebayor will be coming and will face Australia in the third and final group game. The Togo team will need him to fire as they got torn apart by Chile 5-1 in their group match. It will be interesting to see how the Olyroo defence copes up against a prolific Premier League striker, as its hard to tell how really good a defender is if it only comes up against A-league strikers and strikers under 23.
Australia 3 (Nikita Rukavytsya 19’, Troy Hearfield 52’, James Troisi 74’)
Croatia 0
Australian line-up: Tando Velpahi (gk); Ruben Zadkovich, Nigel Boogaard, Aaron Downes, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Spase Dilevski, James Holland (Adam D’Apuzzo 75’), Mark Bridge, Michael Zullo, Nikita Rukavytsya (Matt Simon 32’), Troy Hearfield (James Troisi 70’)
Cautions: Ruben Zadkovich (90’)
Substitutes Not Used: 12.Dean Bouzanis (gk), 19.Jason Hoffman, 3.Adrian Leijer, 13.Trent McClenahan.
Olyroos prepare with Malaysian tournament
By: Daniel | Add Comments
Australia’s Olyroo (under 23) team are gearing up for the first match of the Intercontinental Cup in Malaysia tonight (Aussie time) against Croatia and then play Chile on Sunday 18 May (11:00pm AEST) before their final group match against Ghana on Tuesday 20 May (10.45pm AEST).
This should provide the boys (minus those playing for Adelaide and Melbourne mid-week in the ACL) with usefull experience in tournament situations and match fitness ahead of the Olympics since most of them havnt been bloody playing for 3 months!
A notable inclusion in the squad for the tournament that runs untill May 25th is Dean Bouzanis. Playing for the Liverpool youth team, Benitez rekons hes the best young goalie in the world. However hes’s also played for the Greek under 23 team as well and given Olyroo coach Graham Arnold a “play me or lose me to Greece” threat. Well it seems as if the coach has given in!
I loath the way he thinks he can influence Arnold’s decisions in team selection like that and think the kid should have his arse ushered back to Greece i don’t care how good he is, but alas its not my decsion to make.
You will also find that Mark Milligan is included in the side. As his ban from the previous post shows, he will be banned untill the game against Ghana… and thats the way uh huh uh huh i LIKE IT!
Olyroos Side - Intercontinental Cup Malaysia
Nigel Boogaard (Central Coast Mariners), Dean Bouzanis (Liverpool FC, England), Mark Bridge (Sydney FC), Adam D’Apuzzo (Newcastle Jets), Spase Dilevski (Universitatae Craiova, Romania), Aaron Downes (Chesterfield, England), Tarek Elrich (Newcastle Jets), Troy Hearfield (Wellington Phoenix), Jason Hoffman (Newcastle Jets), James Holland (Newcastle Jets), Adrian Leijer (Fulham, England), Trent McClenahan (Hereford United, England), Mark Milligan (Uncontracted), Stuart Musialik (Sydney FC), Nikita Rukavysta (Perth Glory), Matt Simon (Central Coast Mariners), Nikolai Topor-Stanley (Perth Glory), James Troisi (Uncontracted), Tando Velaphi (Perth Glory), Ruben Zadkovich (Derby County- England) and Michael Zullo (Queensland Roar).
Bruce Djite heads to Europe
See now this is the way you leave an A-League team Mark Milligan! Bruce Djite (also an Olyroo player) is leaving Adelaide United whilst playing for them and handing the reds a bit of cash through the transfer fees as well. Well done Brucey!
Although it looks like another one of the A-League’s brightest talents is heading to Europe (most likely Turkey)in pursuit of greatness its very much fair play to him. After 2 seasons playing for Adelaide, its clear that the 21 year old striker has learnt all there is to learn from the A-League and has shown enough promse in his performances to suggest he would become a fantastic player if he continued to develop in the european leagues.
This is what i want to see from the league, a young exciting player using the A-League as a platform to Europe… Fantastic!
I could have attached a compilation of all Djite’s goals for Adelaide Utd and the Olyroos, but i thought this would be much funnier! Its a vid of some of the United boys attempting to copy Wayne Rooney hitting the camera off the volley.
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