So..where to start. To be honest I didn’t watch the game, couldn’t get access to a TV showing it, and was away from my computer, but I’ve read through a few match reports and am ready to give you my take on the game.

A defensively weakened Newcastle Jets team were ‘tanked’ by a vastly superior Pohang team in Korea on Wednesday. A team missing key defenders Ljubo Milicevic and my favourite Jets player Nikolai-Topor Stanley were always going to struggle, but I don’t think anyone expected a 6 nil thumping. The night started badly for the Newcastle team, when Jason Hoffman was penalised for a shirt pull on Brazilian Denilson, who promptly put the spot kick past keeper Ben Kennedy. Things then went from bad to really really bad when Choi Hyojin scored. This second goal was mainly a result of poor defending, after Jobe Wheelhouse had the ball stolen at the halfway line by Hyojin, who proceeded to sprint towards the goal and score. Things kept on getting worse, but a denied penalty shout and a disallowed goal from a Denilson free kick kept Newcastle slightly in the game.

Then, after half time it looked as if Newcastle manager Gary van Egmond had pulled off an act of tactical genius when he brought on youngster Sean Rooney, who had an immediate effect. However this bright start, and any chance of an amazing comeback, were once again in ruins after Jae Sung Kim put another one past Kennedy. Humiliation then began to appear likely when Hyojin added his second seven minute later, and he then completed his hat trick with a 65th minute header which evaded Kennedy. And finally Macedonian striker Stevica Ristik came off the bench to put a sixth goal past Kennedy in the 85th.

So…way to suck alot Newcastle. After the game manager Gary van Egmond spoke to the media: (taken from AAP via Fox Sports)

‘It was very disappointing obviously, we copped two goals in the first half which were from our own bad defensive mistakes…The first one is a penalty and the second one is a mistake at the back which allowed Pohang to score…In the second half we played with two up front and you are trying to force the game a bit…Pohang played it very smart they’ve got some very good players to play on the counter and exposed us defensively…It’s a shame in regards to the result, because of a lot of good work that we have done in the group stage, for us to go out this way…But again I want to give Pohang full credit.”

He then went on to add that the build up to the game had not really been ideal,

“We’ve not had the best of preparation because of the fact our domestic season was not on…We’ve got a number of injuries to key players which obviously doesn’t help our cause as well….But at the end of the day, we were naive in our defending and, where in prior games two or three of our players really stepped up and played outstanding, unfortunately today it was probably the opposite.”

But at the end of the day, they still played like crap (pardon my French) and don’t really deserve any excuses. I personally think its sad that the world has to see our so called ‘best’ A League team play (and get thrashed) like that. While I realise it would be difficult, I think it would be so much smarter to have this years first and second team (i.e Melbourne and Adelaide) playing, rather than this years wooden spooners.

What do you think? Agree, or think I’m a crazy idiot? Let me know in the comments

Ohh and with that I’m off to sunny Hamilton Island for a week and a bit. So until then adios, and I’ll be back soon with some more articles written up while living it up in the warmth.

Newcastle Jets 1-0 Ulsan Hyundai

A first half goal to midfielder Jason Hoffman saw the Newcastle Jets, who this year finished at the bottom of the A-League table, into the next round of the Asian Champions League. After the 36th minute goal, an hour of solid defending saw the Jets progress to the next round, where they will once again travel to Korea to face Pohang Steelers in a one-legged tie on June 26th. A solid display in defence by Canberra lad Nikolai Topor-Stanley made sure keeper Ben Kennedy maintained a clean sheet. And Newcastle’s biggest recruit, former Lazio midfielder Fabio Vignaroli, showed why Jets manager Gary van Egmond brought him to the club, with a quality display that saw him create the only goal of the game. However there was disappointing news for the Jets, with defender Ljubo Milicevic forced off in the ninth minute with an injury. After the game, Jets coach Gary van Egmond told the media,

“It was always going to be a difficult game for us away from home… We caught them on the counter attack and we scored a goal, which we felt we could do, and our discipline defensively was very good…It’s not one of our best footballing games but for us defensively I thought it was very good.”

He then went on to add that the Pohang game will “…be a very difficult game.” So you heard it from the man. But hopefully the Jets can do a repeat of Adelaide and make it to the final, although between me and you, I’m not hopeful.

Fury defeated in their debut game..haha
Epic fail much. Ok how do I put this nicely. I know it was there first game ever, but they were playing Singapore side Tampines Rovers, not exactly champions of Asia. Then the Rovers go down to ten men, and the Fury get a penalty…which they miss. And then they let the Rovers score. I know I should be nice, but hahaha at the Fury. Maybe if they’d had god playing instead of sitting in the stand they would have won…

The Brazilians are coming…
The Brazilians have now completed their invasion of the A League, with three more signing for the new “Glamour Club’ Gold Coast United. Striker Milson (aged 31) and defensive midfielder Robson (22), arrived in landed in Queensland yesterday and were joined there this morning this morning midfielder Jefferson (27). This new influx of ’samba stars’ is a result of Miron Bleiberg scouting mission there last year.

Theoklitos leaves Victory
Melbourne keeper Michael Theoklitos is apparently looking overseas after rejecting the A-League club’s offer of a new contract. According to The World Game MVFC have confirmed the 28-year-old will leave the club when his contract expires on June 30th. Victory football operations manager Gary Cole said after the announcement that “Michael was offered a contract, which he rejected. He has ambitions to play overseas and we wish him all the best in his future endeavours.” However he also added that “While he will be missed, we’re in a fantastic position with Mitchell and Glen, who are both outstanding goalkeepers and prospects for 2009/10 and beyond.”

News in Short

John Hutchinson earns Malta call up

Melbourne want to play some B-Ball

Middleby eyes Fury captaincy

Bozza’s back….at Sydney Olympic

Former Rangers bad boy Bob Malcolm is joining the Roar, apparently…

And finally, just wanted to point out a rather good article by Fox Sports commentator Simon Hill on the pros and cons of having a second division, check it out here

Well thats all folks, only 2 weeks till exams, then holidays.. so expect to see a flood of articles coming round then

Things didn’t look promising for Adelaide early as Bunyodkor had a lion’s share of the posession and plenty of shots on target to intimidate the home side. It didn’t take long before the nostalgia set in however and we saw how little Rivaldo had changed from the feather we were all familiar with from the Wold Cup six years ago.

Half time rolled round 0-0 and the visitors had had the better of the game with adelaide yet to get a shot on target.

The second half started more or less the same way the first started with Adelaide trying to withstand attacks from the Bunyodkor strikers. That all changed in the 57th minute when Cassio’s cross from the left was controlled superbly by Diego on the edge of the area and he thumped the ball into the back of the net. Adelaide’s first shot on target bearing fruits. Adelaide struck again nineteen minutes later as Barbiero drove home a header from Dodd from close range.

The game was put beyond doubt in the 88th minute when Cassio was sent sprawling inside the area and the referee pointed to the spot and Cristiano stepped up to calmly slot home the goal.

In the end Adelaide were perhaps a little lucky to run out 3-0 winners and take a solid advantage into the return leg in MHSK Stadium, Uzbekistan on the 22nd of October. However, last season Bunyodkor overturned a similar defecit last term with an emphatic 5-1 win. I’m sure you’re all with me when I say “Good luck, you bastards.”

It wasnt the best of games but the reds got it done against a talented Kashima side. Robbie Cornthwaite headed home a sweet ass Cassio cross to turn himself from villan (own Goal in the first leg) to hero!

Kashima seemed to play into the hands of united, repeatedly knocking in crosses from the wings which were easily cleared by Adelaids tall defenders. Easily MOTM in nmy opinion was Eugene Galekovic, dont think he put a foot wrong all game. In fact some media people actually said “wana swap keepers?” which is credit to eugie however it has presented some problems too.

Kashima and the rest of Japan have no salary cap whatsoever so therefore can pay players like (singled out by japan media) cassio and Travis Dodd enourmous wages ripping them from the salary-cap haulted A-League. Thsi is something that needs to be address and addressed immediatley if we wish to continue competing for glory in Asias top competition.

Another thing that got on my nerves a bit was the fans…of adelaide no less. I mean the joint was packed to the rafters but all i could here was ohhhhhhhh aaaaahhhhhhhhh and boring chants of United…United…United wtf!!! At times the Kashima supporters were louder! This isnt on! Show some flair you reds, ill write you up a song book if you want just do something!

end rant..

So yea United progress to the next stage where Adelaide will meet the winner of a match also taking place tonight between domestic league teams from Uzbekistan and Iran with home and away games to take place on 8 and 22 October.

If Adelaide win the semi-final over the two matches, they will play another home-and-away series on 5 and 12 November to decide the Asian Champions for 2008 and stand to share in prizemoney of US$1.0 million.

Happy Days!

Match Report

Media Coverage
TV: Live & Exclusive Fox Sports 1 – Match broadcast commences 7:30pm ACST
Radio: Fresh FM (Adelaide) 92.7FM

Tonight, Adelaide United will re-commence their Asian Champions League experience against Kashima Antlers from Japan.

A very different Adelaide will take the pitch than the side that made them the first Australian team to ever progress to the ACL Quarter Finals. In that team, there were two of the most talented Aussie youngsters Djite and Burn’s. Now they’re gone, it seems as if the duty will be left to Paul Agostino, Deigo, Pantelis and Travis Dodd to break through the Kashima defense.

Adelaide United

Although many of the players who got them through are out, Adelaide have set themselves up with the same tactics in mind, hoping to grind out victories away from home. I hope Vidmar knows what hes doing, leaving a player of Christiano’s talent on the bench though, perhaps he will be the one to turn to if Kashima break through Adelaides tight defense… however could it be too late if it turns that way?

Holding midfielder Jonas Sallay will not play this match because of bullshit bureaucracy, so looks like United will be fairly weak in the center of the park. If Viddy deploys an attacking mindset i will be happy, and expect Pantelis and Dodd to make their usual runs down the wing, with diego thundering down the mid helping out lone striker Agostino.

Kashima Antlers

Dont know too much about Kashima, but it looks as if they play free flowing attacking football. Marchinho, Shinzo Koroki and Marquinhos look to be the mean threats and have combined well in the J-League to achieve their current 2nd position.

Verdict:
I dont have very high hopes for Adelaide in this one. After watching the Melbourne match, it would appear that they are fairly easily broken down by quick passing and pacey strikers…. what kashima has. If they look to play the defensive game that they did in the group stages, then they will almost certainly lose as i dont believe the defense to be mentaly strong enough to keep the strikers at bay for the whole match. However if United take the game to them (like we know they can) then it could mean a very entertaining game that could go pritty much anyway.

Prediction
Kashima 2 vs 1 Adelaide United

By leaving Christiano on the bench and playing the loan stiker, it would appear that viddy is going for a very defensive lineup… to his perril.

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

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

Match Report

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

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.