Where’s The New Generation

Pim Verbeek has come out and highlighted Australia’s missing Olympic generation. This is nothing new as several commentators like Les Murray and Craig Foster have done so in the past but it further raises the concern that we are not seeing younger quality players coming through.

In this two part series I take a look at the last Olyroos squad and where they are at now. I have ignored the overage players.

Goalkeepers
Adam Federici (Reading, England : On loan to Southend)
Offically joined the Royals in 2006 (after spending some time there the previous season) and since has seen very little game time (9 appearances in 2 seasons). Recently he has been loaned out to League 1 side Southend where reports indicate that he has impressed.

It seems he is contracted to Reading until June 2009. He probably needs to move and find a position as the regular starting keeper, even if that means dropping down permanently to League 1.

Certainly has potentially to develop and at 23 has plenty of time to grow into the role. Should really be pushing as Schwarzer’s backup for the World Cup.


Tando Velaphi (Perth Glory, Australia)
Burst onto the scene last year and probably gained his spot due to the Vukovic suspension. Inexplicitly was relegated to third choice keeper this year when Mitchell went out and obtained Frank Juric as the first choice keeper.

A series of poor performances from both Juric and Petkovic however have seen the youngster promoted back to a starting position where he has outperformed both of his older competitors. It looks like he will be the first choice starter for the remainder of the year and this should help build his confidence.

He still needs 2-3 years here in Australia occupying a starting position before heading off overseas but so far this 21 seems to be on track for a long career.

Defenders
Adrian Leijer (Fulham, England)
One of the fan favourites while at Melbourne Victory he made the move across to Premiership team Fulham in 2007/08 season. Since then however he has yet to make an appearance for the Cottagers, though he has been a regular in their reserves.

Along with Matthew Spiranovic, Adrian is one of the most talented centre backs that we have coming through. He is contracted until June 2010 to Fulham but he desperately needs first team match time. Either a transfer to a Championship team or a loan is critical to his development which seems to have stagnated.


Matthew Spiranovic (FC Nurnberg, Germany)
Since FC Nurnberg’s demotion to the second tier of the Bundesliga Matthew seems to be getting much more first team match time and seems to becoming a regular within their starting team.
Still very young (20), he is an exciting player who has the long term potential to be at least as good as Craig Moore and Lucas Neill. He is in a good position at the moment and he now needs to cement his position as a regular starter and build that into a transfer to a bigger club (whether within the Bundesliga or elsewhere).

Would really like to see him starting in the upcoming AFC Cup qualifying matches in January and March.


Mark Milligan (Newcastle Jets, Australia)
You could write a book about the mistakes Mark has made recently with respect to his career. After a dream run being selected as a train on player for the World Cup by Guus Hiddick and winning a starting position as a 20 year old with Sydney FC it seems to all have gone downhill quickly.

There is no doubt that the kid has talent but I think he is his own worst enemy and you need to question the advice he is getting. One of the issues he has is that he doesn’t seem to have a natural position. Is he a right back, centre back or holding midfielder ? Back with the Jets now he has a chance to get regular match time once again under his belt but his recent overseas tour of European clubs was a disaster and his career has taken a large hit.

Pim does seem to have maintained confidence in him and you would expect he will be selected for the AFC Cup Squad in the upcoming matches.


Ruben Zadkovich (Derby County, England)
Got to admit I am not a fan. Was surprised to see him land a contract at recently demoted Derby County and I suspected he wouldn’t see much match time once they saw him on the training track. To date he has been used twice as a late sub by Paul Jewell and to be honest there is no indication this will change.

To develop Ruben needs match time and I just can’t see that happening at Derby. At 22 years of age he should be playing as a starter and he will need to drop down to a lower league to achieve that. He appears to be going nowhere fast. We may see him back in the A-League sooner than later


Nikolai Topor-Stanley (Perth Glory, Australia)
The last couple of years have seen him playing as a left back which I don’t think is his true position. Although he has done well for Perth he seems more suited to a centre back role. Nikolai doesn’t seem to be coming on as a player and may need a change in environment to take the next step.

Similar to Spiranovic he may need make the transition to the second level of the Bundesliga or similar level league. He certainly does not look even close to an Australian Cap with his current form.


Trent McClenahan (Hamilton Academical, Scotland)
Did show some good things in the Olympic qualifiers but I have my doubts whether he has the composure and skills to step up to senior level.

Disappeared from view when he decided to not take up a new contract with League 2 outfit Hereford United. Signed recently with recently promoted Hamilton and has started five of the last six matches. Hamilton however are currently sitting bottom and relegation to the Scottish second division is not exactly a career booster.

Really needs a transfer to a bigger club to improve further or I suspect we may see him back here in Australia at a A-League club in the near future.


Next Episode : Midfielders and Strikers

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Bigger Does Not Mean Better

So Ben Buckley has indicated that the FFA will re-look at the size of allowable squads for the clubs that are participating in the Asian Champions League. After the display that Adelaide served up in the two legged final on the surface this would seem a logical decision.

Adelaide were left with 15 eligible players to select from for the final at Hindmarsh this week and even then not all 15 were fit. For the FFA to allow the situation to arise where the biggest two games in Australian Club History (apologies to South Melbourne and their performances in the 2000 Club World Cup) were placed into the hands of a virtually untried 17 year old is appalling.

But would a larger squad size have made all that much difference. The answer may well depend on how the FFA implement a increased squad size for two teams while maintaining a fair competition in the A-League. You would have to think that any implementation of the increased size will have to be done in such a way that prevents the two teams gaining advantage from it in the A-league.

If that is the case, you would expect the FFA to implement something along the lines that the two ACL qualifiers can sign an extra 4-5 players for the ACL competition and these players may fall outside the A-league cap, but come the July 1 only 23 players can be named for the A-League.

But I am not sure how workable such a situation is. It would create the situation where clubs would need to sign players to short term contracts (Jan – July and then if they make it out of the group stages August - November) or they risk being stuck with players who are on longer contracts but ineligible to compete in the A-League.

There is also the fact that most A-League clubs already have more foreign visa players than the ACL allows so additional squad members cannot be filled by overseas guest players.

So the most likely candidates for these extra short-term spots will be state league players who are willing to throw away the preseason for their state clubs for a chance of sitting on the bench during the ACL and then to be discarded in a couple of months. Forgetting the fact that the majority of Australian state league players have little or no A-League experience let alone international club experience are going to hardly add a great deal to the squad, I seriously doubt that we will see huge amounts of players putting their hands up for a deal like this.

However looking back at the two early goals in the last leg there is a case that a experienced keeper may have kept Adeliade in the game. There is no doubt that Birighitti could and should have done better. I would not go as far to say that the goals were his error, his defenders were virtually non-existent in that first 15 mins, it is likely however that a more experience keeper would not have deflected the first goal ball back into corridor, and would instead look to “push” the ball wide. The second goal again was saveable and with a more experience keeper in place who knows.

So increasing the squads just for the Champions League will not add a lot of value but may remove the situation where teams are forced to use very inexperienced youth players to fill gaps in the team. I am not sure however that this is the result that we want. What we could very well see is managers going with the safer option of a experienced but less talented player rather than giving the less experienced youth a shot. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but if you asked me before the match I personally I would rather see Mark Birighitti in goals than say a Tommi Tomich.

The FFA have a delicate balancing act to achieve here and it will be interesting to see if they get it right.
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Sooky Sooky La La

What is with the A-League managers at the moment? It seems a day cannot go by without one of them having a good old fashion whinge about something.

Last week we had the A-league's serial whinger John Kosmina complaining about the current transfer process which has disrupted his team. It seems that Kossie is not happy he has to decide on the future of some of his squad now rather than in two months time when the normal window would have opened. Poor guy I really feel for him.

Then on Friday night Kosmina is back again in the news after showing a complete lack of sportsmanship after his team went down to Wellington. It seems that Kossie thought the late penalty to the Phoenix was a very fortunate decision and decided to let Ricki Herbert in on his personal opinion. Forgetting that the replays show that ref Craig Zetter was 100% correct in his penalty call, it was poor form from Kosmina and the Wellington coaching staff have every right to feel aggrieved.

Of course the Sydney manager has prior form in this sort of behaviour so it comes as no surprise.

On the other hand it seems Gary van Egmond felt left out and decided to also get into the act on Sunday when he accused Perth player Arian Trinidad of taking a dive to gain the late penalty that gifted Perth a draw. Now I hope that Gary is feeling quite embarrassed by his behaviour after reviewing the tape as the vision clearly shows that the penalty was more than deserved and that Mr van Egmond might be better served having words to his soon to be departing captain. Did Trinidad draw the foul, yep and damn good work it was.

Thankfully Frank Farina managed to contain himself this week after another poor home result for the Roar. Maybe he has finally run out of excuses and has finally admitted to himself that its his teams fault they are not scoring.

Maybe the managers might just want to harden the fuck up and look to their own backyards before teeing off at the media, refs, other managers. Maybe then they just might have a chance of affecting some change in their underperforming teams.

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Lets Go To The Video

The calls for the introduction of video decisions in some form seem to have grown to a overwhelming roar in the A-league over the last week. The majority of managers support at least a limited introduction of technology to help the poor referees out but is this what we really need in our game?

The ability of referees to call on video replay to help make decisions has been around in other sports now for a significant amount of time ( in the case of cricket since 1993) and has been quite successful in helping those sports eradicate certain mistakes they were commonly made by the referees.

However there appears to be two common aspects of where a video decision can be and cannot be implemented.

Where the game has come to a complete stop and the ball is dead
Cricket is a good example of this requirement, each delivery is a “play” unto itself. Once the delivery has been completed the ball is considered dead. The ref can stop the game to consult the video as there is no direct effect upon the game except for a small amount of lost time. Tennis is another classic example of this principle, each point is self contained and video technology does not interrupt the continuous aspect of the game.

The video decision should not be used to interpret the result
Video is very good at giving you a yes or no answer. In cricket for instance it is common for it to be used to determine run-outs and stumpings. It is perfect for this as the decision is limited to whether the foot/bat has made it across the popping crease and is grounded. Cricket authorities have resisted introducing the camera for LBW decisions as these type of dismissals are much more open to various variables and although a referee may get it wrong it was felt that a camera would not be conclusive and would therefore cause more issues.

If we use these two principals in our game is there a place for some type of video decision? There seems to be three common aspects of our game that people suggest could be resolved by some type of video intervention.

The first is the goal mouth scramble and the debate over whether the ball crossed the line or not. To be honest I don’t think the use of a video decision for this circumstance passes either principle. In over half the cases where there is debate around this type of decision the referee has waved play on and the ball is still live so it fails Principle 1. There is also the added problem that in a great deal of cases the ball will be in the air and so unless the camera is perfectly positioned across the goal mouth there will be some doubt whether the ball fully crossed the line and so the second principle also fails.

FIFA has tried to solve this issue however by using ball tracking technology. Progress over the last few years has made it possible to embed tracking devices in the ball which would allow a conclusive decision on whether the ball has crossed the line of not. Although trails have shown the technology is not ready yet I think that FIFA are on the right track here and this approach is better than the Video Decision in this case.

The second type of decision is the curse of the world game, the simulation. There is nothing worse than losing a match to a penalty that was awarded to a dive that was more appropriate for the swimming pool than the football pitch. This type of decision certainly passes the first principle. The referee has awarded a free kick/penalty and the play has come to a stop, perfect time to check the video for cheating. But is the decision clear cut. There are many variables to consider and the video referee would need to make a judgement call (ie Was the contact sufficient to cause the player to go down). Lucas Neill’s infamous tackle on Italian Fabio Grosso at the 2006 World Cup is a case in point. Could a Video Referee overrule the controlling ref on the penalty decision, I don’t think so as it calls for a judgement call.

I suppose you could make the argument for clear example of diving to be overturned and the benefit of any doubt to rest with the controlling ref but I don’t think video decisions are the answer for diving. I would rather see post game analysis of the match and hefty suspensions handed out to “clear” example of cheating. Out the player for 6 months for diving and the culture would change.

The last type of decision is the one that is getting a lot of play in the Australian press at the moment. The “was it a free kick or a penalty”. There is no doubt that referee’s regular get it wrong whether the foul is committed inside the penalty box or just outside it. The best referees in the world are not immune to this mistake.

I firmly believe this is the one type of decision that our game would benefit from having video intervention. It passes the first principle. The game has come to a complete stop as a foul has been awarded. It also passes the second principle as the video referee has a clear cut decision to make. Was contact made outside the box or inside. This leaves very little room for the video ref to interpret the result.

So lets go to the camera, now we just have to convince FIFA to give it a try here in Aus.
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Queensland To Lose Roar

Interesting news during the week that Queensland are shifting their headquarters from the current home at Richlands to the Ballymore complex in Herston. This step will further distance the club from its original parent club Queensland Lions.

The Roar is an interesting case in the A-league as they were the only club that was granted a licence where a strong ethic background was already in place. As most football fans know the Queensland Lions were once known as the Hollandia Inala Soccer Club and still today maintain a strong Dutch flavour through the social club. The Roar’s prominently Orange strip is an acknowledgment of their history as an ethic backed club.

The move to Ballymore though will help the Roar to put some distance between themselves and Hollandia and begin the process of widening their appeal to all segments of the Brisbane public. With the Lions Social Club no longer part of the Roar, there is talk already of completely re-branding the club in the move. Although the club denies it, a change of name and strip would seem to be on the cards.

The Queensland name seems unwarranted now that two additional teams from Queensland are joining the club next year and changing the name to be more Brisbane oriented would seem to make a lot of sense. Also dropping the orange and switching to a maroon strip with a touch of blue would help identify the club more closely with Queensland.

The move to Ballymore is a fantastic for the club. Located only a couple of kms from the city centre, it will provide a terrific location for a training base as well as a match day stadium. It is well documented that the Roar have a poor stadium deal with Suncorp that results in the club is making zero dollars from the gate. The ability to transfer to the smaller Ballymore on a better package would be key to the long term success of the club and the current redevelopment there will provide the Roar with a first class training establishment that includes swimming pool, gym and elite medical centre as well as one of the best football surfaces in the country.

In an added bonus of course it also would allow The Roar to sidestep one of the great curses in the A-league, The Roar Home Record at Suncorp is nothing short of horrible. Of the 37 matches they have played there, they have won only 10. This is simply not good enough and there is no doubt the record has hurt the Roar’s ability to draw fans to its home games. Sydney claim that title of second most supported team in the A-League but the Roar are not far behind and some improvement in their home form could see them quickly leap frog Sydney in crowd numbers.

Many Roar fans would be hoping for a far happier experience at Ballymore.

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Three Down, Ten To Go

Great to hear last Tuesday that the football department at Victory have moved quickly to re-sign Roddy, Mitch and Evan. With both Gold Coast and North Queensland sniffing around the quicker we can lock up our key players the better.

Mitch especially appears to be an excellent signing as I am sure there would have been significant interest from North Queensland. It would appear that Theo’s impression of Michael Flattery on Petrovski’s foot and subsequent suspension has in fact being rather fortuitous for Victory as I am not confident the result would have been the same if Mitch hadn’t seen game time this season.

So with those three under lock and key what of the remaining nine players coming out of contract at the end of the season? I am going to take a punt and see if I can guess who is staying and who is going.

Staying : Hernandez, Thwaite, Kemp, Celeski, Ryall

Carlos is a must sign but in all honesty it most likely will hinge on his desire to stay in Australia and whether Kevin Muscat retires or not. In fact if Super Kev
does not retire I suspect we will lose both Hernandez and Thwaite as I doubt that Victory could find the space in the cap that would be needed to keep them while still carrying Kev’s salary.

Kemp, Celeski and Ryall have all done enough to warrant re-signing and I suspect that Victory would be able to match the offers from the newcomers for them.

Leaving : Muscat (Retired), Brebner, Ward, Theoklitos, Pantelidis

Victory will soon face the hardest decision of its short history when the future of Kevin Muscat must be decided. There is no doubt that Super Kev is the soul of the club and nobody would want a situation where he and the club are in dispute. However, Kev will turn 36 as the new season kicks off and as the highest earning player within the Salary Cap serious questions of him continuing into next season must be asked. I suspect retirement is on the cards and for him to be named Assistant Manager.

Grant Brebner and Nick Ward’s time at Victory has come to an end I feel, both North Queensland and Gold Coast are sure to be interested in their services and with both players fighting for starting midfield roles with Celeski and Broxham I can see them leaving for first team roles with the new clubs.

Theo has indicated a few times now he wants to explore opportunities overseas next year and the resigning of Mitch would seem to indicate that he already has one foot out of the door. Lets hope he ends up with a starting role somewhere rather than warming the pine in some second rate league.

Ian Ferguson is keen to recruit a squad of “hard workers and not prima donnas” and there is nobody who works harder than Panta. I expect Steve to don the zinc cream and head north.

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Qatar, Our Bunnies !

We are all thinking it but nobody is saying it. We own Qatar !

Yes they have just lost their coach to illness and yes the conditions last night couldn’t have suited Australia more or Qatar less but still they were like rabbits caught in the crosshairs of an oncoming semi-trailer.

Australia has scored 10 Goals in 3 games against the Gulf nation in the space of 8 months the same number of goals we have scored in the other 8 matches combined that we have played in that space of time.

From the opening whistle last night it was apparent that Qatar was already on the back foot. To have any chance of taking a point away they need to squeeze the space in midfield and deny Australia easy possession in the transition to attack. But right from the start Australia knocked the ball around with confidence and Qatar let them do as they pleased. It played into Australia’s hands and the enviable happened, a cross found a Carney was knocked on, found a second head in Josh Kennedy and fell to Super Tim and he shown why he is held in such high regard as a goal poacher, the guy just knows when to make his run and is a deadly finisher.

The penalty Cahill earned a short time later was well taken by Brett Emerton and left Qatar floundering. Half Time would have seen a very happy Pim Verbeek in the club rooms and asking his team more of the same please.

The second half saw Sterjovski replaced Chippers but very little changed in terms of the game. Qatar tried to be more aggressive in midfield but they were simply being outclassed. The passage of play that saw Brett Emerton slot through his second was a pleasure to watch and something that I am sure had every Socceroos fan in the country smiling. Clever one touch passing drew the Qatar defence out to the left opening up space for Emerton to run into, McDonald provided a clever run, a spot on pass to Josh Kennedy, a quick turn and through ball to the charging Emerton, beautiful to watch…more of that please.
Josh Kennedy’s goal was well deserve after a fantastic effort as the target man. He dominated the Qatar defence last night and typically it was a well timed cross from Luke Wilkshire that saw he head home our final goal.

Speaking of Wilkshire, he seems to have cemented his spot as our right back now and appears to be getting better every game. He cops a decent amount of criticism on the fan forums but I must say I am warming to him. He was rock solid last night, flashy he is not but I love the way he just goes about his business.

To say Australia bullied Qatar last night was an understatement, yes the Saudi ref was over keen on the whistle but Australia made sure that there was no easy possession for Qatar and it worked. By taking away the Qatar players ability to charge at the defence Australia took away their main weapon, Sebastian Quintana. Quintana was well held last night but he would have been a frustrated man with the lack of service to his feet.

With two wins from two and Bahrain away next the Aussies are well placed and Pim must be feeling vert satisfied. I doubt we will get a full squad next match (non-FIFA match day) so it will be interesting to see how we go with a reduced squad.

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Joeys Fail At Last Hurdle

The Australian Under 16 team has once again failed in their efforts to gain qualification to the FIFA World Cup Under 17 competition. The Joey’s were knocked out of the AFC Under 16 Championship last night in the quarter finals after a late goal to the United Arab Emirates saw them lose 3 – 2.

It’s disappointing to once again see our youngest national team fail to make it out of the continental tournament and onto the world stage. There is no doubt that results at this age group matter less than the development of the players however, results do influence the development as they allow the players to perform against ever higher quality teams.

I must admit I hadn’t seen the lead up qualification games heading into the match last night but by all accounts the Joey’s have been playing some excellent football and so I tuned in last night to Saudi Arabian TV (Foxtel lift your game) with high expectations.

I was looking forward to see how we would go against Japan and it was a bit of a surprise that we were playing the United Arab Emirates rather than Japan. I knew that Yemen had been accused of fielding an overage player but the AFC left it very late to uphold the disqualification. It is quite ironic that it appears that we were the nation to appeal and force the issue, there is a lot to be said sometimes for playing the cards that you are dealt.

The UAE had finished third in their group, so on the surface the change should have been a very favourable one for Australia but guess who is the only team to have beat the Joey’s in the last year on the road to this tournament ? Yes that is right the UAE inflicted the Joeys only loss over the past year when the defeated them 1-0 in the Lion City Championship and so it was never going to be a stroll in the park.

Australia started the game poorly when the conceded a goal through feeble marking but then went on to dominate the first half. There are several quality players within the Joey’s team and they were a class above the Emirates players. However like in any football match if you fail to take your chances possession means nothing. Going in at half time 1-0 down would have been disappointing to the young roos.

The first 15 minutes of the second half saw Australia continue to play all over the Emirates and finally they got their just rewards with two goals early in the half. The Joey’s had an opportunity to kill the game only minutes after they went ahead when a one on one chance was squandered.

Like a lot of Australian teams from that point on the players couldn’t seem to control the tempo and allowed the UAE to consistently expose them on the break. If there is one area of development that all junior players within this country need to work on is the ability to put their foot on the ball and slow the game down. The Joeys were being constantly caught too far forward and the Emirates players were finding too much space to move the ball forward quickly. Once the UAE equalised the game turned very much into an arm wrestle and looked headed towards extra team. The winning goal came from a beautifully executed free kick by the Emirates team in the 91st minute so the Joey’s have a right to feel a little hard done by.

Overall I was impressed with the skill and organisation of the Joeys. There were lots of missed passes and the defence was ragged at times, you expect that from players at this level, but over all it was a good performance. So where to now for the FFA ? Joining the AFC is all well and good but we cannot continue to have our junior teams failing at this level. The minimum expected must be qualification to the FIFA World Under 17 tournament and like Postecoglu before him the FFA will need to take a close look at the decision to appoint Crook.

The Young Socceroos will have their moment in the spotlight in two weeks time when the AFC Under 19 tournament kicks off. We have been given a quite favourable draw and if all goes to plan should easily progress to the quarter finals, let us hope this time it doesn’t prove as big a hurdle.

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Big Night For Adelaide United

Tomorrow marks the biggest night in the short history of the Adelaide United Football Club when they meet FC Bunyodkor at home in the AFC Champions League semi final. With not only a place in the final of the Champions League on the line but potentially a spot in the FIFA Club World Cup up for grabs as well, a good performance at home is mandatory.

Bunyodkor currently sit at the top of the Uzbekistan League ladder after regaining the top position, winning their first game under new manager, Zico, and then increasing that lead on Friday. They boast some very exciting talent within their ranks including former FIFA player of the year, Rivaldo, and will not be easy to beat. And if anybody thinks they are not taking the game seriously that was quickly quashed yesterday. Flying in on a private charter they have brought a total of 70 personnel to ensure that no stone has been left unturned to take away the best possible result tomorrow evening.

Adelaide must take advantage of this home game to gain a significant lead to take into the return away leg to have a chance of surviving. They have shown they can defend well and they need to ensure they keep a clean sheet tomorrow night. If Adelaide can contain both Rivaldo and the Chilean striker Villanueva they will get opportunities to score but must take them when they arise.

By all accounts Hindmarsh stadium is a complete sell out and has been so for over a week. It must have been tempting to move the game to the bigger AAMI stadium to accommodate the several thousand of interested fans that are sure to miss out. However I am sure Adelaide have made the right move to retain the game at Hindmarsh. Every advantage that Adelaide can garner at this stage should be taken. Which is why it is a little strange that the FFA has dismissed their request for postponement of some A-League games to help their campaign.

Now I am not saying that the FFA should rubber stamped the Adelaide request to postpone all three matches around this time but there does seem some logical changes could have been made to make Adelaide’s task a little easier.

Below is the schedule that Adelaide face over the next two and half weeks

03/10...vs Central Coast......Home
08/10...vs Bunyodkor..........Home
17/10...vs Queensland.........Away
22/10...vs Bunyodkor..........Away
26/10...vs Perth..................Home

Now, I don’t see any reason for Adelaide needing to move the just completed game against Central Coast. They have a five day break until the Bunyodkor match with absolutely no travel involved. Nor is their any valid reason to delay the Perth match on the 26/10 as the Champions League campaign for this stage will be completed by then.

The Queensland match is another matter. With Adelaide playing away against Queensland and then having to travel to Uzbekistan it would have seemed logical to swap the round 16 fixture and allow Adelaide to play at Home on the 17/10. This would have had little impact but would have allowed Adelaide an easier run into the away trip to Bunyodkor. Further it should have also been possible to bring the Queensland match forward one day to Thursday Night and allow Adelaide a further day to recover.

It seems pig headed by the FFA to not do this. The changes would not have had a significant impact on the Adelaide opponents, Queensland, and the chances of Adelaide succeeding in the away leg of the Champions League would have been greatly improved.

Aurelio Vidmar and the rest of the lads at Adelaide have a mountain to climb tomorrow night but it is not an impossible one. As they proved in the previous round they should not be dismissed lightly.

Best of luck to them

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More of Moore ?

So Frank Farina didn’t want Pim Verbeek to select Craig Moore unless he is going to start him against Qatar. News Flash Frank….You are not the National Manager anymore !

The good news is that Verbeek has ignored the request and selected a squad that is best for him not the players or A-league club. Exactly the right approach that is needed from our national manager.

I am not so sure though that Pim should start Moore. There is no doubt that Moore is a quality defender and his inclusion into the squad would help strengthen the middle of defence, a area that has look very suspect over the last two years, but there comes a time when you need to put your faith in the new up and coming players.

The home match against Qatar would seem a prefect opportunity to start Matthew Spiranovic. With Cahill, Kewell and Emerton all appearing likely to be available, the Socceroos squad is shaping up to be one of our strongest in quite some time, what better time to play Spiranovic. If Spiranovic can continue to improve he should nicely fill this role and has the potential to be star.

Now I know many people would argue that the match is too important to play developing players and that the strongest side needs to be selected but Pim also needs to keep one eye on the squad for the World Cup in 2010. The fact is he needs three solid central defenders for that squad and at the moment he has one (Lucas Neill).

Of more concern to Verbeek must be the Left Fullback role. With Carney not being selected at all in recent matches with Sheffield United it leaves Verbeek with really only one option, Scott Chipperfield. Chippers is getting on but is still a quality player and when available has to be the first choice at Left Back.

The lack of young players for this position however is a real concern, Carney has looked the most likely in recent times but needs to be playing regularly. Beyond that there is not much in the cupboard. It is for this reason that I suspect that Scott Jamieson has been added to the squad. I wouldn’t be expecting him to play a part in Brisbane but having him up there gives Pim an opportunity to take a closer look at him.

It is a mystery why Travis Dodd has missed out after his performances in the ACL but overall this is a solid squad and one that should get the job done.
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National Youth League….Hooray !

Can’t help but let out a little cheer for the National Youth League which kicked off on the weekend. Australia has been missing this development stage now for a few years and it is fantastic to once again see a national comp for future Socceroos and A-League players.

Of course this first year is going to be pretty low key and I am not sure what the crowds are going to be like but the point is that we will now have year round competition for our up and coming youth. It is generally agreed by most football people that the more games you can get into the youth players between the ages of 16 – 19 they better they will turn out.

Hopefully over time, we will see more coverage of the Youth League. I don’t think a highlights package is out of the question and in the long term maybe even full coverage of games could eventuality develop (if we ever get the Fox Sports Football Channel).

I am a huge supporter of the format. A under 21 competition that allows a smattering of overage players is much better than a reserves format as it forces the clubs to develop their youngsters rather than just using the league to get game time into their unused squad members. There is one aspect however that has left me scratching my head.

The minimum age for the league is that all players must be 16 years of age on the 01st of January of the year that competition starts in (ie All players this year must have turned 16 by 01/01/2008. This seems a little silly for a couple of reasons.

Firstly we have our Joey’s team about to compete in the AFC Under 16 championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (they just defeated the Uzbekistan Team 3 – 0 in a friendly). There are a several players in this team that I am sure could benefit from inclusion into the Youth League. It would seem that a more logical way of determining age would be to just make 16 years of age the minimum age and allow clubs to sign these younger players as have their birthdays.

Secondly we have the absurd situation where Newcastle has signed Ben Kantarovski to the senior squad but he would have been ineligible to sign for the Youth Team (as he turned 16 on the 20th of January this year). It may even be the case where the age rules may make him ineligible to play in the youth league even though he has already started two matches for the senior team.

But overall this is great news for the sport and I would encourage all football fans to get along to a game or two and catch some of the future stars of Australia. Players like Tommy Oar (Queensland), Matthew Theodore (Melbourne), Alex Sunasky (Adelaide), Jason Naidovski (Newcastle) and Kofi Danning (Sydney) are just some of the youngsters that are set to light up the League this year.

Hopefully with all teams focusing on attacking free flowing football we should get some cracking games.

I won’t be able to get along to watch the Victory Youth for the first time until their home game against Sydney late in October but already I am looking forward to the match. Check out the Fixture here

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Missing : Fox Football Channel

After thoroughly enjoying the AFC Champions league match between Adelaide and Kashima on Wednesday it got me thinking, where is my “FoxSports Football” channel.

Late last year a lot of rumours were circulating that FoxSports was set to launch a dedicated Football channel. The channel was rumoured to have a much more expanded coverage of Football across the globe including :

1. Expanded Premier League Action
2. More English Football League Matches
3. More Asian Champions League matches
4. J-League Matches
5. Additional Magazine Shows
6. Asian Youth Championships

It was a rumour that had many football lovers salivating at the thought of so much football. There was even talk that Fox Sports may have sponsored a FA style knockout cup.

When Fox Sports rebadged their local Football show “Fox Sports FC, the first thought of many was that this was the first step towards the new dedicated channel but no further word was forthcoming.

The J-league coverage is especially interesting. The more A-league sides play against J-league clubs, the more I am interested in seeing more of this competition. I can see a very healthy rivalry developing between the two leagues over the next 5-10 years and as we have already seen with the crowds at the ACL home matches the Japanese clubs are popular.

With Australian’s now likely to be heading to the J-league under their new Asian Foreign player rule, interest in the league will continue to grow.

So come on Fox Sports ! Where is my Football Channel !

,

Bagging A Set Of Antlers

Well what a night for Adelaide and Australian Football as a whole. Adelaide United turned in an excellent performance to send Kashima out of the AFC Champions League and put themselves through to the final four.

Aurelio Vidmar will be feeling justified for his strategy of resting a majority of his players in last week’s A-League game against Sydney. He has taken some criticism from that move but last night showed he was 100% correct to do so.

I must say I was extremely surprised by the Adelaide United tactics last night. I was fully expecting them to sit back and absorb the Kashima pressure and try for a goal on counter. But Vidmar should be congratulated for the attacking display that Adelaide put on. In front of a full house Adelaide played some of the best football we have seen from them in two years.

Some of the performances from the Adelaide players were heads and tails above anything we have seen from them in the A-league. Cassio was a fantastic running down the left wing last night, tracking back quickly in defence and deadly in attack. Dodd really should have had an early goal from a Cassio cross but missed the ball completely.

Speaking of Dodd, a move to Japan might be the best thing ever for him. The less physical Japanese suit him to a tee and his ability to force the ball through and then run on using his strength and speed was there to see last night, he must have beaten his defender at least half a dozen times last night.

Eugene Galekovic was splendid in goals last night, doing everything right. His positioning was spot on and the two reflex saves that he made in the first half ensured the pressure stayed on the Antlers.

But the player that stood out was one that hasn’t had a lot of media attention this year. Scott Jamieson was simply outstanding last night, this 19 year old showed signs we may have finally identified a left full back who could eventually step into the Scott Chipperfield shoes. He has a long way to go but he showed signs last night of what a great player he could become.

In is true the final 15 mins were extremely shaky by the reds but you could see that several players were just about out on their feet and they should be forgiven as they had taken it to Kashima and had put everything into the first 75min.

And the reward for Adelaide is a semi-final place, up against the Zico coached FC Bunyodkor. The legendary Brazilian will take over the coaching duties at Bunyodkor as current manager Mirdjalal Kasimov is about to become the manager of the Uzbekistan national team. Bunyodkor will be a tough nut to crack as they have several national players and Brazilian great Rivaldo.

I am sure Adelaide will get another sell out crowd on 08 October when the Uzbekistan team come to team, lets hope the reds can repeat the performance they put on last night.

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Here Comes The Japanese Raiders

Until now Japan has not exactly been a common destination for Australia Footballers. Currently only one Australian is listed on a J-League team (Eddy Bosnar at JEF United ) while a further two (Mark Rudan and Ufuk Talay) are plying their trade at second division team Avispa Fukuoka.

This is all about to change however with news last week that the J-league has allocated a fourth foreign visa place on their squads for next year to Asian only players.

This is an excellent move by the J-League and one that the A-League should seriously consider following. Arguably the best national league in the Asian Confederation this move by the J-League should help strengthen its exposure in the Asian marketplace. Up til now most of the foreign players have come from Europe and South America (similar to the A-league). This has lifted the standard of play but hasn’t brought in the international viewers.

With the clubs looking to fill these spots we can expect an influx of 33 Asian players into J-league teams (Division 1 and 2). It would be reasonable to expect that vast majority of these players to come from South Korea, China and Australia as these countries will have players of decent standard for a reasonable cost. A splattering of Middle East players could be expected as well but majority of players from these countries may demand wages beyond what J-League Clubs would be willing to pay.

So it is not unreasonable to expect 5-10 current A-League players making the move to the J-League next year. These will most likely be experienced players who are doing well in the A-League but who are not considered Marquee. Joel Griffiths, Michael Thwaite and Alex Brosque would just be a few of the players the Japanese would be looking at wooing over.

There is little the FFA can do to stop this exodus initially as the J-league operates on much larger budgets than we do (18 of the top 20 clubs by revenue in Asia are Japanese) and will have more money to tempt players there. The best thing for the FFA to do is continue to grow the competition here in Australia and abroad. With this in mind the FFA should follow the Japanese lead and change one of their 4 Visa player spots to be an Asian only allocation. We, like Japan, need to start building our brand into the Foreign Markets of China, India, South Korea and Indonesia.

Jess Fink has also made this the theme of his blog yesterday and I totally concur with him. There still seems to be a perception that we are the leading Asian Country. Truth be told we are nowhere near the standard of the J-league at this time but if we are ever going to challenge them we need to take steps now not wait for another 10 years.

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A Tale Of Two Halves

Australia 2 - South Africa 2

The game yesterday morning was certainly a game of two halves. The first dominated by a rampant Australia and the second dominated just as fully by South Africa.

I like the fact that Pim continues to favour a two striker combination when using Kennedy up front. His 4-1-3-2 certainly has the potential to display some exciting attacking football (though the defensive game seems to suffer a bit).

---------------------Schwarzer--------------------
---Wilkshire----Neill---Coyne----Chipperfield
------------------------Grella-----------------------
---Sterjovski---------Culina--------Bresciano---
--------------McDonald---Kennedy--------------

Australia’s first half was excellent. The Socceroos were not under pressure at the back and were able to consistently build up attacks through the vacant wings. Vinnie Grella had a day out (doing his transfer options no harm I am sure) controlling the midfield with slick one touch passing. Culina provided good box to box support, with Brescanio and Stevjoski rampant on the wings.

If there was one area where we suffered it was through the middle. Jason Culina provides excellent box to box support for Grella but as a creative outlet I don’t think he is the best option here. Just about 100% of our attacks came from balls crossed in from the wings and we saw practically no balls played into our box at the strikers feet.

I was surprised that Pim didn’t give Nick Carle a just chance to display what he can bring to the table by taking off Culina at half time and using a Diamond Formation. Instead he opted to try Milligan out in Central Defense, Holman up front with Kennedy and also brought Carney on for Chipperfield. The interesting part however was that he didn’t change the formation. He continued to stick with the 4-1-3-2

----------------------Schwarzer--------------------
---Wilkshire----Milligan---Coyne------Carney
------------------------Grella-----------------------
---Sterjovski---------Culina--------Bresciano---
-----------------Holman---Kennedy--------------

I wasn’t surprised to see the turn around after half time as Holman in the past has always looked comfortable running at defenders but is less capable in a true strikers role. I would have preferred he leave McDonald on and replace Culina with Carle. Add to that the inexperienced paring of Milligan and Coyne at the back we were always going to be less effective than the first half.

At the 62’ mark Garcia came on for Sterjovski and Grella made way for Valeri. Both good changes but it did have a negative impact on the game. With the loss of Grella we suddenly seem to give up control of the midfield and the turn over of possession to the South Africans became epidemic. Garcia looked a little lost in first international match and provided very little down the right.

By the time Djite was introduced at the 73’ mark our structure had broken down significantly and the South African’s were in control. I have read some criticisms of Djite performance but I thought he did well. He needs to improve his finishing (you just have to take those chances when you get them) but I thought we were already seeing some improvement in his fitness and his ability to get himself into better positions. Lets hope he gets regular game time in Turkey.

Overall there was a lot to like about the first half and I wouldn’t read too much into the second. I still feel we are still missing a left side central defender to partner with Neill (could Spiranovic start against the Dutch in the next friendly) and the creative AM position is still a concern. If Nick Carle is not the answer (and it appears that Pim Verbeek doesn’t think so) then who is ?

,

And We Are Away 2008

Well season four of the A-league has finally kicked off. I can’t say the build up to the first match was exactly electrifying. The media coverage has been bordering on nonexistent and with the FFA seemingly focussed on the expansion of the league next year it has left the start of the season feeling very flat.

So what of the first round ? Well there were certainly some positives and negatives.

First the coverage. On the positive side, Foxtel seems to determine to bump up their investment in the league this season. New graphics and a post-game review of matches has definitely improved the viewer experience. I really enjoyed the look and feel of the new graphics they have introduced and post game show on Friday night was excellent. Nice to hear from the coaches straight after the game. Also it is good to see that Foxtel has retired the idea of the “Versioning” of the league idea and are referring to the new season as “Season Four”.

It’s a pity then that Foxtel didn’t feel the need to refresh the commentary as well. I am sure that some will disagree with me but Foxtel could cast a critical eye over one of two of their commentary team. Friday Nights game was excellent but I thought the commentary on Saturday Night was very poor and actually distracted from the viewing of the game.

Got to say I have nothing but positives to talk about in terms of the refereeing. I didn’t watch the last match between Adelaide and Perth but up to that point I don’t think the referee put a step wrong. Breeze, Shields and Green (I think) were just about prefect I felt.

In terms of the matches it is a worry that not one team managed to score more than a goal and three of the four matches ended in a draw. Of course the 2007/8 season also started with three draws (though two of them were at least 2-2 affairs). Watching the matches nearly all teams seemed to lack the cohesion in the final third that is ended to finish off the build ups.

Of the teams I saw

Newcastle
Of all the teams on the weekend they looked the most underdone. Song was a standout for them but the team as a whole lack cohesion. Zura was disappointing I felt, its going to take time for him to adjust to the most physical league here. Van Egmond will be looking for improvement as the season goes on.

Central Coast
By far the most disappointing team I saw on the weekend. They lack drive through the middle and almost 100% dependent on Elrich and Caceres putting crosses into Petrovski. One dimensional would be an accurate term.

Melbourne
How refreshing to see Melbourne play the ball on the desk. Had three excellent chances to score in the first half and fluffed the lot of them. Taking into account that they were playing against a very under strength Sydney they looked the best team of the weekend. Fabiano looked like a good pickup and Lopez adds a calmness to the midfield.

Sydney
Hard to comment on Sydney with so many first teamers out. Koshmina will be very happy to take a draw away. I thought Chris Payne was excellent in his debut and Shannon Cole was a revelation (if there are players of his quality still lurking in the lower leagues the quicker we bring new teams in the better).

Queensland
For most of the game yesterday the Roar looked like they lacked teeth. Their build up play for the most part was far better than Wellingtons but they looked lost in the final third. But then Farina brought Reinaldo on and they looked a different team. Van Dijk and Reinaldo look a very dangerous combo and are going to give all teams lots of headaches this year. Miller is quality, just needs to lose another five kilos.

Wellington
Shane Smeltz would be my tip to take out the Golden Boot award this year. He kept Wellington in the game and will be a handful for every defence. Wellington overall though were disappointing, they seem to lack quality in midfield to control the game. Their defence though looks much better than last year.


Overall it was a slow start to the season. We can only hope we see more goals as the teams begin to jell.

,

The Foreign Lads – Part 3

A continuation of the look at the Foreign Player for the coming season


Adelaide United
Aurelio Vidmar seems to be in love with players with one name and now have four Brazilians. Adelaide fans have a lot of football to look forward to this year due to being the first team to graduate from the AFC Champions League Group Phase.

Cassio
One of the few foreign defenders in the league, Cassio showed signs last year of being a real find. Assuming that the scare with his knee has been settled and his current calf injury isn’t too serious Adelaide can expect to have the perhaps the most dangerous left wingback in the League

Alemao
Not content to have one foreign defender Vidmar has gone himself a second. Can’t say I have much to say about him because to be honest we haven’t heard much to date. The fact however that he has changed clubs every year in the Brazilian First division before landing here isn’t a good sign.

Diego
He has taken a while to settle in and Adelaide will be hoping he steps up in his third season here in Australia. His stats though are not flattering with only 1 Goal and 1 Assist in 20 games. Not good for your playmaker.

Cristiano
Shown signs that he is going to be a real handful during the preseason. Adelaide may have a one of the best strikers in the league here. He is a good age (27) and comes to us after playing in a quality league and team. He could be one to watch.


The four Brazilians will need to fire (especially Christiano), as Adelaide lack depth and will miss Burns/Djite. On paper I think Adelaide may not see finals football this year. Hopefully they can give the Kashima Antlers a scare instead.
League Position Tip : 6th



Central Coast Mariners
The Mariners have once again ignored Foreign signings and looked locally for the vast majority of their squad.

Andre Gumprecht
The loss of Gumprecht to a long term knee injury will leave the Mariners dangerous short of attacking midfielders.


They will rely on their wide players (Elrich and Caceres) to provide quality crosses to their big forwards (Mrdja, Petrovski & Simon). It’s a recipe that’s worked before and took them to the final last year but will it work again? I have my doubts.
League Position Tip : 7th




That brings me to the end of my preview. So in summary here is my tip as to how the ladder will look at the end of Round 21

Melbourne Victory
Queensland Roar
Newcastle Jets
Wellington Phoenix
----------------------------
Sydney FC
Adelaide United
Central Coast Mariners
Perth Glory

,

The Foreign Lads – Part 2

A continuation of the look at the Foreign Players for the coming season

Melbourne Victory
Victory have headed back to Costa Rica to find a partner for Hernandez and shape up very well on paper.

Carlos Hernandez
In outstanding form during the preseason, Victory fans expect a lot from him this season and it appears he may deliver. His form towards the latter part of last season showed what a danger he can be when fit and on song.

José (Pupy) López
A regular international for Costa Rica, López appears to have the credentials to shine in the A-League. The question will be how quickly he can adapt to the faster pace game here. The pairing of Hernandez and López may prove a handful for most opposition midfields.

Ney Fabiano
Melbourne picked Fabiano up after he scored in both legs against them for Chonburi. He looks a handful and provides a true backup to Thompson and Allsopp (He may even challenge for a starting position). Judging by his performance in last nights PSC Final his fitness may be a concern.

Grant Brebner
Currently injured Brebner may find himself sitting on the pine when he finally gets back to fitness. He does however provide an excellent backup for López who will spend some time on international duty.


Victory have perhaps the deepest squad. They may finally have a third striker to add to their dynamic duo, Allsopp and Thompson. Hernandez has looked in very good form in the preseason. If López can adjust to the Australian game style they could go all the way.
League Position Tip : 1st



Wellington Phoenix
Should easily be the biggest improvers this year, they have made some very solid signings over the break to shore up a poor defence. The signing of Kwasnik will give some much needed support for Smeltz

Daniel
He certainly has the skills to be a top performer in the A-league. He however needs to improve his consistency. Wellington will be looking for a substantial improvement on last year when he ran hot and cold.


Leilei Gao
The Chinese midfielder who first appeared at the NZ Knights is back. He has a knack of finding space and although I am not convinced that he is going to dominate defences like Hernandez and Song could he will prove tricky and will punish teams if they take him too lightly.



They need to hold onto Lochhead, without him they once again lack depth in their defence and rely too much on McKain but I would expect to see an improvement and they may even slip into the Top 4.
League Position Tip : 4th




Perth Glory
It would be fair to sign that Perth have been the basketcase of the Australian teams over the last three years. Their original foreign squad players were awful (awful is probably too nice a term) and this year Mitchell is practically building from scratch.


Eugene Dadi
35 year old striker from the Ivory Coast. It is a risk and as we have seen from previous attempts to bring older players to the A-league one that can come back and bite you. If he stays fit, he may bring some needed bite to the Glory Strike team.


Adrian Trinidad
Glory are in desparte need of some attacking flair and they are hoping the Argentinian will provide that. So far he has been far from impressive in the preseason but you do need to allow time for the team to jell. Jury is still out here but if he flops the Glory are in deep trouble as they just don’t have the depth to cover him


James Robinson
Is he a striker or a midfielder. Robinson is will need to step up this year and demonstrate why Mitchell has so much faith in him. He doesn’t score enough goals to justify his position of striker and I don’t think he has the creative skills to hold onto a midfield position


Amaral
Another 35 year old player. This one though has the class to perform at this level. If he is fit and can stay healthy he should add some quality to the Perth midfield. But he brings to mind Juninho and his ability to stay healthy. It doesn’t matter how good you are, if you can’t make it on the park you add no value.


On paper the Glory still have the poorest squad in the league, they will need more than one of their foreign signings to star to lift them I am afraid.
League Position Tip : 8th

,

The Foreign Lads – Part 1

There is already some excellent previews to the season out there, I especially recommend jumping over to Australian Football where they have provided a fantastic breakdown of each team.

As I couldn’t possibly improve on that analysis I am going to take a different tack. The four visa squad spots in each team is always a hotly debated item. The quality of the foreign players and their ability to adjust to Australian conditions can determine success or failure of a campaign and it appears this year that clubs have done an outstanding job to up the ante here.

In previous seasons the success of the foreign players could be a crap shoot. There have been many more failures than successes. For every Fred there has been Jadel and Love to tip the scales on the negative side.

So lets go through the teams and see what we can expect from the foreign brigade


Newcastle
A week ago the jets were looking very light on up front but with two new signings they have they certainly have the potential to go back to back.

Edmundo Zura
1.82 metres tall, extremely quick and judging from the U-Tube videos not afraid to have a crack outside the box. Zura has excitement written all over him but he is still a big IF. He is going to be much more tightly marked here in Australia and his ability to adjust to Australian is unknown. And as we all know the Jets have been burned before, signing foreign players on good faith and finding them less than hoped for when they step off the plane.

Jin-Hyung Song
From the little we saw of him late late season I was extremely impressed by Song, he has the ability to find space and his passing is first class. He should continue to provide the Jets that creative element that they lacked early in last years season.

Jesper Håkansson
A Danish international who has lots of experience in the “Viking” Leagues (though has been hit severely by injury over the last three years). He comes straight from playing in the top division in Denmark and the cold weather start here will not bother him (he may find the summer later in the season an issue though). The question will be weather Van Egmond will play him up front with Zura or out wide. Either way in Zura, Griffiths and Håkansson the jets now appear to have one of the most formidable strike force in the league.

A week ago I would have tipped them to come 7th as I couldn’t see how they were going to score goals now I can’t see how they cannot score a bucket load. They will take time to jell but I suspect come January they will be there abouts.
League Position Tip : 3rd



Sydney FC
With their big Australian signings over the break, there had to be something that suffered in the Salary cap and on paper Sydney look very underdone in the foreign stakes.

Terry McFlynn
I think his stats tell the story. 54 games played, 3 goals and 1 assist. For a player listed as a attacking midfielder hardly a record to strike fear into the opposition. Now truth be told he hasn’t been used much as a attacking midfielder but the question mark remains.

Michael Enfield
The biggest problem with the American is we have hardly seen him. He seems to be constantly injured (and is again this preseason). If he can make it onto the field and obtain some match fitness he might prove to be handy on the right hand side where Sydney appear to be lacking at the moment but I am not holding my breath.

Their reliance on the Australian signings and their severe lack of depth is going to hurt. Enfield and Aloisi won’t make it onto the field until Mid-September. I going against the bookies as I cannot see them making the finals.
League Position Tip : 5th



Queensland Roar
On paper the Roar have the most balanced side in the competition, a nice blending of experience, raw young talent and foreign skill.

Sergio van Dijk
A Dutch Brazilian, now that is a combination that makes you sit up. A 185cm powerhouse forward who has been showing signs in preseason that he will be the most dangerous man up front bar none this season.

Charlie Miller
By all accounts this Scotsman can play. The question mark is his application and ability to get his fitness to a level where he will be dangerous across the whole season. Early signs are good though and Farina seems very confident he can get the best out of a player who has the latent just waiting to be unlocked.

Hyuk-Su Seo
Tough, dependable and very solid. He will continue to play a large part of a very solid defence this year. Can’t say much more, his not the best Foreign player in the league but he is extremely reliable.

Reinaldo
This came out of left field. I certainly wasn’t expecting a return of the big Brazilian. It’s an interesting choice, he wasn’t exactly a star during his previous stint at the club but then again late last season he started to looked like he was finally settling in and knocking some important goals in. Will Farina play him and van Dijk up front? With the wide players the Roar have, they could prove to be a lethal combination.

Overall the Roar are very well balanced, Farina has a solid defence and an excellent strike force. Can see them going close this year.
League Position Tip : 2nd

,

Junior Development Needs To Be Accountable

I was doing some back reading on the FFV website and came across the section on the V>Elite program.

For those of you who aren’t aware of the program, the FFV initiated a elite junior program late last year for 11-14 year olds. The idea behind the program was to take the top junior talent across the state and provide them with specialist training over the summer months (December to April). For this inaugural year 75 players were accepted into the program (Boys and Girls).

The program overall is a fantastic initiative by the FFV. But what caught my interest however was a little stat buried in the selection criteria for the program. One of the initial key entry criteria was to be able to be to successfully complete 50 juggles left, 50 juggles right, 50 juggles head. The FFV had determined this measure to be world’s best practice after reviewing programs across Europe. However as only 0.3% of trailists were able to successfully complete the measure the FFV had to downgrade the selection criteria to 50 successful juggles in at least one area.

To put that figure in perspective that means only 3 in every 1,000 trailists were successfully able to complete the original ‘World Best Practice’ measure. Not exactly a flattering statistic.

What I would really like to know is how many of the 75 V>Elite participants can now successfully complete this measure. What I am referring to of course is where are the measures to judge how successful the program has been. I would like to believe that the FFV have monitored the improvement of the V>Elite players throughout the program and it would be useful to see published a set of metrics around the program to judge how successful it has been.

Also hidden among the Future Trails information is this

“…In a bid to lift the standard of footballers across the state, helpful hints and guidelines will be available soon to aid coaches and players to further develop potential and prepare for the next year’s trials…“

My understanding was that originally the FFV intended to roll out an online skills database and tracking program that would allow young players the ability to track their improvement online. With such a poor performance in the juggling measure it is a pity that such a initiative hasn’t come to fruition.

Over the last year I have seen countless articles that talk about improving the technical skills of our juniors. Small Sided Games was a huge step in this direction and coach education seems to be getting a lot of attention at the moment. However until we hold the junior clubs accountable for the skills of the players they are delivering change will be slow or non-existent.

The FFV (and FFA) need to put in place measures that will ensure that coaches and clubs are focussed on the right things. All Juniors should be assessed at the beginning of the season with a national skills test and re-assessed again at the end. These assessments should go into a national database and club ratings publish (just as school ratings are). Maybe then clubs will be accountable for the skills that they are teaching our kids.

,

FFA Should Stick With Summer

I am generally a fan of Scott McIntrye’s blog but his latest posting is way off the mark. Sometimes you really do have to wonder if the folks at SBS are locked in the past.

Scott seems to be suggesting that the FFA needs to re-look at the timing of the A-league with a view to move the League back to a winter competition. I couldn’t think of anything more absurd. One of the major reasons for the success of the league to date has been the alignment of the League to the Europe Calendar and the resulting Summer timing here in Australia.

And what does Scott use as the major reason for the decision? The introduction of Townsville may result in a need for them to play the majority of their games at an 8:00pm or later timeslot to avoid the heat and humidity that will be present during summer up there. I don’t think Townsville are going to complain too much if all their home matches from November onwards are scheduled for a Friday/Saturday Night at 8:30pm.

Of course the AFC Champions League entry issue is one that causes concern. The fact that the AFC closes entry to the league in December is a problem that impacts us but the solution is not to change our league timings. Rather we should be working with the AFC to change their entry rules to allow for a later draw. If Japan do change their league timings this will only help to convince the AFC to take a look at this and I am sure we will find other leagues following the Japanese lead.

To me the positives in a summer league far outweigh the negatives.

To date the FFA has been able to position the timing of the league to perfectly to coincide with a finish before the AFL/NFL season kicks off and thus are able to maintain a reasonable level of exposure at the pointy end of the season. But I fear a move back to winter would once again place our sport on the periphery and result in us becoming invisible. There is also the question of stadiums. At the moment with the timing of the league nearly all teams enjoy exclusive use of their stadium during summer, a move back to winter would be a backward step in playing conditions as pitch conditions are impacted due to the sharing.

Now there is no doubt that a 10 team league will present some challenges for the FFA as this will likely result in the need to conclude the competition after the AFL/NRL seasons have kicked off. I feel though that we would still be better off targeting the culmination of our season for a March finish rather than going head to head with them.

Scott touches on the other major benefit of an August to March timing though he doesn’t give it enough importance. The ability to align our season with Europe transfer windows allows us to position ourselves as a launch pad to Europe and ensures that the clubs get a clear run at obtaining and keeping players for the season. As our league grows and develops we should see more and more quality players willing to come here if they believe it is a pathway to Europe.

A summer league positions us well in a crowded market place. If as expected the TV rights increase significantly when they become available again in 2013 this will be due in main to the summer timing. We also get a clearer run at sponsors in summer when we are not competing against AFL and NRL clubs for the corporate dollar.

Finally a summer league encourages bigger attendances. Like it or not the warmer weather and the lack of AFL/NRL to compete against means that the crowds are bigger. Families are more likely to take their children along to a match on a 24oc 5:00pm start than a 11oc night here in Melbourne. Sure the weather is not true to the history of the game but I couldn’t care less if it continues to result in crowds of 30,000 at Telstra Dome (and soon the new Swan Street Stadium).


For me there is no discussion to be had here and hopefully the FFA concur.

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Nice To See You Again

Like an old friend you haven’t seen for a few months it is invigorating to see that football is back (even if it is only the preseason). It would be nice though if we, the supporters, could actually get some coverage of the matches.

Once again No TV, No Radio and now Melbourne Victory seems to have dispensed with their text Updates. In this Information Age it is unacceptable that a football club like Melbourne Victory (or any A-league Club for that matter) could not organise for somebody to post live text updates onto their website. The FFA are missing an opportunity here, they should be embracing the internet as a form of media and using this preseason comp to build interest in the season proper.

As we have seen throughout the first three seasons of the A-League the first two months of the season can be a challenge in getting the traditional media outlets interested. With the AFL, NRL and ARU all building towards finals the build up to the new season gets lost in the clutter and we are lucky to get a small article here and there.

But rather than use this to explore other avenues the FFA seems determined to sit back and wait for the ‘winter’codes to finish. They seem to accept that the media is not interested and are willing to allow this quiet build up.

Surely the internet presents an opportunity to self promote the game. With a few small initiatives we can build our own buzz. Why not :

1. Allow all clubs more creative access to their Websites.
With the need to brand the new leaque, the heavily controlled websites were a nessescity. It ensured a common approach and look across the league. But it is now time to hand back some of the control to the clubs. Still mandating a template and style is a good idea but clubs need to be able to add media and club content.

2. Media Content
If the media are not interested with what is going on within a club the fans sure are. All clubs need to have a media plan for their internet sites. Lets get some player interviews up there. What about a manager’s weekly chat or maybe even a fan’s corner where some supporter created content could be published.

3. Match Reports
In this information savvy world surely the FFA and clubs can do better than a plain old text match report. Let’s get some reasonable cameras along to the games and get some footage of the preseason. Just because Foxtel chooses not to cover the game surely that shouldn’t stop the league at least getting some highlights up to the sites.


There are probably several other ways that the FFA could explore to increase exposure . They just need to get off their butts and go to it.

In the meantime I look forward to Sunday morning when I will get to read about Melbourne Victory’s latest preseason match against Perth. With a bit of luck their might even be a small article in the Age Newspaper. We can only hope.

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84th Minute

If you haven't stumbled across it already I highly recommend taking a look at the 84th minute. This new e-zine, put together by Neil Zimmerman of Victory in Melbourne, looks good and Neil has roped in quote a few other bloggers to help him with content.

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Victory have finally released details of probably the worst kept secret in A-League history (I know it is only a short history) when it confirmed the signing of Costa Rican international José Luis López Ramírez (Pupy Lopez). Joe Keenan has been released and is expected to take up a role with Scottish Premier League team Hibernian FC.

To give you an idea of how long this has taken to be officially announced I went back and took a look when the Melbourne Victory forum first caught wind of the signing. The first post was on 14 April 2008. That is three months ago ! Of course the need to find a home for Keenan was the major factor in why it took so long to be official but still three months is still a long time.

Lopez is a holding midfielder who by all reports should bring a touch of class with his passing and ability to create out of defense. With Melbourne struggling to maintain possession and play the ball out of defence so often last year his signing should hopefully be a huge step forward for Victory

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The Sound Of Knives

Greame Arnold has the appearance of a man under siege. Seemingly frustrated at the continuing criticism of his squad selection for the upcoming Olympics he was again in the press yesterday defending his selections.

It seems he has backtracked from earlier comments where he appeared to dismiss the idea that Rob Baan and Pim Verbeek had input to the squad and has made it clear that the directive from the FFA executive is to bring home a medal (a clear indication that development of players for the Socceroos is not the priority).

Jesse Fink’s latest article outlines the impact that Arnold’s self interest is having on selections but I think that he is being a little unfair. There is no doubt that Arnold’s desire to hold onto his role within the national team establishment is clearly influencing his choices though I doubt that Arnold is making those choices in total isolation from the FFA executive.

There is little doubt that Baan and Verbeek saw this squad before it was released. Whether they were allowed to have direct input to its selection though is another question. You have to wonder where Frank Lowry, Ben Buckley and Pim Verbeek are hiding themselves at the moment. If what Arnold says is true why has Frank not released a statement supporting his Olyroos Coach and choices? Where is the Verbeek statement concurring with the choices that were made.

The fact is their silence is deafening!

Facing Argentina, Serbia and Ivory Coast will be far from easy and at this stage we would be favourites to finish bottom of the group. There is no doubt that the FFA want the Olyroos to put up a respectable performance at the Olympics. To lose all three games would be seen as a disaster by the brand focussed FFA and so Arnold will be under clear guidelines that at least escaping the group stage would be the minimum that he should be aiming for.

I cannot agree with Craig Foster who seems determined to believe that the FFA should see this tournament as a purely development opportunity. I am sure Pim Verbeek and Arnold himself would love to have been given the scope to select a developmental squad with no emphasis on results but this is just not going to happen. It is important for Australian football to continue to do well at international events and the fact that these games will be shown on FTA and further highlights the need to do well.

The fact is Arnold overage attacking options were severely limited for a variety of reasons when selecting the squad and so he has selected a squad based around defence rather than attack. He has failed to explain the Archie, Rukavytsya and Bridge choice over Djite and Burns to any satisfaction. The ridiculous explanation of heat and age has left him open to wide ranging criticism.

This is Arnold’s biggest issue. His communication on selection overall has been poor. His antagonism towards the media and his inability to clearly articulate the reasons behind the selection choices are hurting his credibility and it is no surprise that nobody else is willing to jump into the mire that he is creating for himself.


The sound of knives can be heard running across whetstones at FFA headquarters and I suspect Greame Arnold may find several in his back come the 13th August.

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A Betrayal Of Active Support

One of the highlights for me of the A-league has been the support and crowds that have been attracted to the league. Three years ago just about nobody would have foreseen that Melbourne Victory would be averaging 26,000 to home games and have a membership of 21,000.

It is with deep sadness then that I read my membership renewal form for this year. For those that are not aware the league has decided to implement a reserve seat system for active support areas (Home End Memberships or HEMs), after advice from a external consultancy who were engaged to assess how to better improve the match day experience and reduce the risk of violence.

This system is an outright disaster for the active support and Melbourne Victory officals must be fuming at the possible impact to membership this could have.

For the first three years I have held a GA membership and spent most of my attendance in the south end bays. I abhor the idea that I will have an allocated seat (I mean what if I don’t like the person sitting next to me? Do I have to put up with them for the whole season?).

The system will be implemented with very little flexibility by the FFA and allows only a small degree of scope for the clubs to work with supporter groups. Effectively the two areas behind the goals at Telstra Dome will be fully ticketed with members (& general public) being allocated dedicated seats. This will most likely have a severe impact on the numbers of people within these areas and also the quality of the active support.

The Melbourne Victory north end support groups appear to be leaning towards a total rejection of the HEM model and at this stage are encouraging all active supporters to not buy memberships into these areas. Anybody who attended matches last year will know that the atmosphere suffered heavily when the North End boycotted the area behind the goals and moved into the upper levels. It would appear this again will be repeated this year.

The South End supporters groups are in the process of coordinating with the club set bays to be put aside for them and are trying to organise a system whereby non member friends can join them in their reserved bay on match day. This is a compromise and it remains to be seen if this can be made to work successfully.

The main concern of both groups of supporters is that HEM destroys the ability of new supporters to join in with active supporter groups. HEM has only a small impact on the regular active supporter as these people will be well organised and will ensure they have allocated seats within the supporters areas. No the real impact is on the supporters who want to try active support or friends of the regulars who want to see what all the fuss is about. Imagine inviting two mates to the ground but having to wave goodbye to them once you enter as their allocated seats are two bays across.

It would have been so much better if whole bays could be designated Home End bays and memberships sold for those bays. The memberships could have allowed you to sit anywhere within the bay. Any remaining tickets to the bay could have been coordinated by Victory staff to ensure tickets were available to friends of members attending a particular match day. This would still have achieved the goal of restricting numbers to the active bays to stop overcrowding while still allowing the independence that has seen these supporter groups bring a match day experience that cannot be found in any other sport within this country.

As is stands though I don’t think I will be standing in the South End this year. Maybe if enough members boycott the HEM system we can force a rethink next year (we can only hope). In the meantime I trying to decide between a GA membership or just buy tickets as I attend.

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Olyroos Lack Teeth

The Olympic team was announced today and I must say I am disappointed. Greame Arnold has left out Djite, Burns, Williams, Vidosic. He has bizarrely used age as a reason for the decision not to take Djite or Burns. These are the same players that have played against the likes of Kevin Muscat and Craig Moore week in week out. In Djite’s case the same player who was being selected for senior Socceroo games and Arnold believes they are too young for a Under 23 competition. As I said bizarre !

You might be forgiven for thinking that his explanation was a smoke screen to cover for the fact that their clubs had applied pressure to not select them but this article from Nathan Burns seems to indicate otherwise.

The full squad is
Mark Bridge – Striker (Sydney FC)
Nikita Rukavytsya – Striker (Perth Glory)
Archie Thompson – striker (Melbourne Victory) – overage player

Billy Celeski – Midfielder (Melbourne Victory)
Neil Kilkenny – Midfielder (Leeds United, England)
Stuart Musialik – Midfielder (Sydney FC)
Kristian Sarkies – Midfielder (Adelaide United)
James Troisi – Midfielder (uncontracted)
David Carney – Midfielder (Sheffield United, England) – overage player

Adrian Leijer – Defender (Fulham Athletic, England)
Trent McClenahan – Defender (Hereford United, England)
Mark Milligan – Defender (uncontracted)
Matthew Spiranovic – Defender (FC Nurnberg, Germany)
Nikolai Topor-Stanley – Defender (Perth Glory)
Ruben Zadkovich – Defender (Derby County, England)
Jade North – Defender (Newcastle Jets) – overage player

Tando Velaphi – Goalkeeper (Perth Glory)
Adam Federici – Goalkeeper (Reading, England)

With seven defenders named and only three strikers it seems we are shaping to play on the counter for the entire tournament. With the inclusion of North, a back three is almost certain and potentially we will again see a lone striker. On first sight a likely lineup may be :

----------------------Federici-----------------
---------North--------Leijer----------Spira----
--------------Musialik------Milligan-----------
Mclenahan--------------------------------Carney
----------------Sarkies------Troisi------------
---------------------Thompson------------------

The lack of goal scoring options is a real concern and with Archie Thompson still recovering from his recent knee problem its hard to see where the goals are going to come from.

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Australian Youth Off To Jakata

It is good to see that the FFA are investing in the future. A Joey’s team will use the Asean Football Federation Youth Championship in Jakarta as a warm up for the AFC Under 16 Championships later in the year.

It is a growing sign of the money that the sport is finally seeing that the FFA can fund a trip like this. Five years ago the Joey’s might have enjoyed a extended training camp but a international tournament would have been unlikely.

It is an excellent opportunity for our youngest national players to get some solid international experience where the focus isn’t on the need to win every game. These players will be worth keeping an eye out for as we are likely to see many of them in the National Youth League next year (I believe they are too young for the league this year as all of them would have been under 16 at the beginning of the year).

Of course being able to watch these games is practically impossible and we are a long way from seeing SBS or Foxtel picking up the finals in October let alone these matches. The FFA though could and should start providing live text updates for these types of matches. We can only dream.....

Below is the list of players and the games they will be playing:
Kerem Bulut Striker NSW
Christopher Bush Midfielder ACT
Million Butshiire Striker WA
Joseph Costa Midfielder SA
Nathan Farrell Defender SA
Petar Franjic Defender VIC
Brendan Hamill Defender NSW
Benjamin Harrington Midfielder ACT
Kamal Ibrahim Midfielder VIC
Benjamin Kantarovski Midfielder NSW
Robert Kolak Goalkeeper NSW
Jared Lum Midfielder NSW
Chahine Noujaim Fullback SA
Trent Sainsbury Defender WA
Nikola Stanojevic Striker NSW
Lawrence Thomas Goalkeeper NSW
Marc Warren Left Back NSW
Tedros Yabio Midfielder VIC

The matches
July 9 Australia v Bahrain
July 11 Indonesia v Australia
July 13 Australia v Malaysia
July 15 Singapore v Australia
July 17 Australia BYE
July 19 3 v 4 1 v 2

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Socceroos Draw A Bonus For Qualification

Big smile on my face right now !

In the end the draw was not prefect but it isn’t far from it. As the young lady from the AFC was preparing to select the teams from the final pot tonight I looked at the two groups and said a quick little prayer for Group A. And it seems for once the God of Draws smiled upon us. The two groups on paper look quite even and neither group could be said to be a group of death but for us Group A has a lot of positives.

Qatar
If you asked Pim before the draw which teams were on his want list, Qatar would have been at the top in bold. Qatar was the one team we dominated in the previous group stage. We get to play them again away at nearly the same time of year as this year and we would have learnt from the trip there this year.

Uzbekistan
The presence of Uzbekistan in our group is the only reason we can’t call this the prefect draw. The Uzbeks are a real dark horse., as they were super impressive in the previous qualifying round and unlike the other three teams we have absolutely no experience against them. But there are still positives. We play away to them on a double FIFA date where we have the first date as a bye. This will allow Pim a full 8 days with the squad (in an Europe training camp most likely) before we have to play them. This is also true of the our home match against them where again we will have a full 8 days of camp while they rush here after playing at home three days beforehand (we are talking a 30hr trip for them)

Bahrain
Saudi Arabia or Bahrain, who would you want ? This is the biggest win of the night as this was the most uneven pot. To avoid the Saudi’s is great for us with the added bonus that we have played Bahrain recently and the trip there will hold little surprises for us. To me this is the difference between us going from a good chance to qualify to being one of the favourites to qualify.

Japan
Japan is easily the most dangerous opponent in the group. But the difference between Iran and Japan is very little, so it was going to be hard whichever team we ended up with. The Feb date away to Japan will be a challenge as it is a non FIFA date and so our key players we only be released late for the match. The last match at home against them of the qualifying series has the potential to be huge if either team is playing for an automatic spot.

Here is the full match schedule

Match Day 1 : 6/09/2008 Australia Bye
Match Day 2 : 10/09/2008 Uzbekistan v Aus
Match Day 3 : 15/10/2008 Australia v Qatar
Match Day 4 : 19/11/2008 Bahrain v Australia
Match Day 5 : 11/02/2009 Japan v Australia
Match Day 6 : 28/03/2009 Australia Bye
Match Day 7 : 01/04/2009 Australia v Uzbekistan
Match Day 8 : 06/06/2009 Qatar v Australia
Match Day 9 : 10/06/2009 Australia v Bahrain
Match Day 10 : 17/06/2009 Australia v Japan

With September 6 being a bye for us I am sure the FFA and Pim are already making plans for an Eastern Europe Training camp and a friendly on this date. My early tip would be a German based camp.

Bring it on.

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Young Socceroos Fail To Make Impression

Australia 0 – China 1

I am not the most negative of people. I usually avoid ranting and raving about really poor performances as I don’t think it serves any useful purpose attacking a player for what was most likely just a off day. However there were a few performances last night that deserve a mention because that were just abysmal.

For those of you who missed it Australia lost to China in the final World Cup Qualifying game. The game of course had no meaning to who progressed to the next round and Australia fielded a young team. It was a chance for us all to see our up and coming players in a quality international and see who may have the potential to make the squad for South Africa 2010.

Australia played so poorly I can remember only one or two long range speculative efforts on goal for the whole game. But it is a couple of individual performances that have me disappointed.

I am not a fan of Ruben Zadkovich, I fail to see what the Australian selectors see in him and it astounds me that Derby believe he has the quality to take them back to the Premier League. Last night only reaffirmed my belief that Zadkovich does not have what it takes to make it on the international stage. His decision making on the field is extremely suspect and his ability to control the ball and maintain possession is poor. I watched last night as time and time again he would kick the ball away and provide China with possession. It is no coincidence that he was involved in all of China’s chances ; failed clearance results in goal, terrible backpass results in indirect freekick, poor tackle results in penalty which China missed.

Mile Jedinak is not and will never be of Australian standard. Last night was a prime example of why he should never again wear the Australian yellow. To play a 4-2-3-1 we need the holding midfielders to control the tempo. To hold onto the ball and hit the passes to the three deep laying midfielders, playing the ball to their feet and ensuring a build up of attack. I was literally screaming at the TV last night as Jedinak hoisted ball after ball up the field to an isolated Bruce Djite, giving him little or no chance of support.

These two players were of course not the sole reason we lost, the team overall performed poorly (except maybe Jade North and Matthew Spiranovic, who both had good games). I am concerned at Pim’s decision to leave Djite alone up forward as a lone striker. I would have thought it would have been better to partner him with Kewell and maybe used Valeri as a lone DM. I understand though that Pim is trying to get the youngsters used to his preferred formation.

Overall the game was a useful learning experience for the younger players and Spiranovic certainly has pushed himself further into Pims thoughts (personally I would play him ahead of Beauchamp). Let us hope we have all of our senior Socceroos available come September as I feel we are going to need them.

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