A League XI of the season

By: Kieran | April 18th, 2009

Ok everyone, here’s my A League team of the season. Feel free to comment and disagree with me (or agree) and post your own team. But here it is…(Drum roll)

Goalkeeper:

Eugene Galekovic

Well who else. Really it comes down to two Galekovic and Theoklitos, and I had to go with Galekovic. This was mainly because of his great performances in the Asian Champions League and his managing to keep out Melbourne until the 60th minute. Probably the easiest decision of the team, had to be Galekovic.

Right Back:
Shannon Cole gets my vote at right back, mainly because he managed to shine, even though he was playing for a club which had a shocking season.

Centre Backs:
The two centre back positions were hard choices, because of the outstanding displays from three CBs this year, Ognenovski, Vargas and Moore. While all three had stellar seasons, at the end of the day I can’t have 3 centre backs. So first choice was obviously Craig Moore, who had a stellar season with the Roar, and his experience really helped out his team. Second choice had to go to Sasha Ognenovski, who just edged out Vargas to get my vote. Sure Vargas had a great season with the Victory, but Ognenovski’s displays at the back for Adelaide and his performances in the ACL get him my vote (ohh and the fact he was voted second best Macedonian footballer of the year).

Left Back:
Sorry but no contest in this position, it goes to Scott Jamieson for a quality season, which in my opinion has made him a strong contender for the Socceroo World Cup squad. Good work Scotty.

Holding Midfielders:
Two main contender for this role, Mile Jedinak and Kevin Muscat, but lucky this time I can have both . Muscat played well for Melbourne this season, and while he excelled at centre back for them, I (and Soccer International ) think his on field quality make him the perfect choice for this role. As for the other holding mid, I must admit to being very disappointed when Jedinak left for Turkey, but he deserved the move, as he was a great player for the A League, so he gets the other spot.

Right Attacking Midfielder:
Well there were a few options for Right AM but at the end of the day, in my eyes there was only one person. Travis Dodd. I still can’t believe he didn’t score against Gamba Osaka in the Club World Cup, but he’s just such a quality player, so he’s in the team.

Left Attacking Midfielder:
On the left there were a few players who could have got the vote, Matt McKay in particular put up a big shout for the spot, but I have to give it to our Scottish Import Charlie Miller. At the beginning of the season he looked like a risky signing for the Roar, but 4 goals in the opening 4 games but made the doubters look stupid. Unfortunately he had to undergo a Hernia operation, and missed some games, but he just gets the spot over McKay for his great play when he was in action. Look out for Miller next season everyone.

Strikers:
The two striker positions were definitely the hardest to pick (even harder than CB), simply due to the number of great strikers this season. Smeltz, Dadi, Thompson, Simon… the list goes on. But at the end of the day, I had to exclude Archie, simply because of his shocking display at the Australia vs Qatar game (yes I know that wasn’t in the A League, but I’m writing this blog so I say he’s out ). So it was down to Smeltz, Dadi and Simon, but unfortunately I can’t play a 4-2-2-3 (yes start laughing James), so I went with Shane Smeltz and Matt Simon. Firstly Smeltz, I mean how could you not give this guy a spot, he’s been amazing, and he even won the Johnny Warren Medal (surprisingly since he’s a Kiwi ). Simon gets the other spot because he’s such a good player. Good in the air, good at running at defences, good at..well most things.

So here’s the team, playing a 4-4-2 with two holding mids and 2 wingers:

—————————–Galekovic————————–
————-Cole—–Moore—–Ognenovski—–Jamieson—

———————-Muscat—-Jedinak——————–
———–Dodd—————————–Miller———-

————–Smeltz——————-Simon————

Lastly I think an honourably mention has to go to Nikita Rukavytsya, who had a great season and topped it off with a move to Twente. He’d be on the list but for Smeltz and Simon, but I thought he still deserved a mention. Good work!

So what do you think? Disagree? Thinking Archie Thompson should be in there?