Round 2: The Preview

By: Daniel | August 21st, 2008

Round 2 Kicks off Friday night when Perth Glory take on the Jets at Members Equity Stadium. I’m hoping that there will be a few more goals than last round. 5 goals from 4 matches is nothing to rave about to the average AFL/NRL fan we’re trying to convert to the real football this summer.

Friday 22 August 2008

Perth Glory vs Newcastle Jets

7.00 PM Members Equity Stadium

Hard to see the Glory get a win out of this game…or any game for that matter with the way that they are playing so far. They have an awesome defense but no point having that when you cant get the ball down to the strikers and crack!

Nikita Rukavytsa and the rest of the glory forward line need to show a bit of testicular fortitude and do what what we know they can… score goals! The Jets lost heaps of key players in the off-season, however they absolutely dominated the Coast and were unfortunate not to ripple the net until the final minutes. Jin-Hyung Song looks to be a real talent, creating space and providing for the strikers, they constantly get into the right positions just hash it, hopefully they can do a bit better tonight.

Prediction: Jets 2 vs 0 Glory

Saturday 23 August 2008

Central Coast Mariners vs Sydney FC

7.00 PM Bluetongue Stadium

There has been a massive amount of history between these clubs with players moving from one side to the other. Last year there was the cracker of a game where Sydney won 5-4 so i’m defiantly hoping for exactly the same this time around, but it is the beginning of the season after all so they’ll still be rusty. Probably think that Sydney will probably come away with the win only just. Sydney have improved their squad with players like Aloisi, Bridge and Colosimo and i don’t see that much improvement in the Mariners squad. Stuart Musialik and Mark Bridge come back into the squad for this one and will provide extra depth in quality. Defiantly backing Sydney to take this one.

Prediction: Mariners 0 vs 1 Sydney

Sunday 24 August 2008

Wellington Phoenix vs Melbourne Victory

5.00 PM Westpac Stadium, Wellington

It’s the Victory’s turn to make the trip across the tasmin to take on Wellignton. 2 away games in a row at the beginning of the season will not go down well for Melbourne and i think they will struggle at least int he first half. The Phoenix will be going all out to get the 3 points out of this game and after their performance against the Roar, they’ll be confident. Victory played some very good football last round and got into many goal-scoring opportunities. With the Nix’es defense being so vulnerable, i don’t see them holding out players like Fabiano and Lopez so for me its Melbourne in this one.

Prediction: Phoenix 1 vs 2 Victory

Queensland Roar vs Adelaide United

5.00 PM Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

Match of the round!! Adelaide and Queensland were the two best sides last week and i think that this game will be the most attacking match of them all. Both sides will move forward will free flowing football. Agostino and Christiano will be looking to build their brilliant forward partnership with Travis Dodd belting down the wing. However Queensland have an equally good forward line with youngsters Robbie Kruse and Michael Zullo providing new import Sergio Van Diijk. This is another must see match with (hopefully) plenty of goals. I cant really split them at the moment, i think it will just come down to which team has the better attack

Prediction: United 2 vs 2 Roar