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Australian Football | Hyundai A-League
The top tier of football in Australia is called the 'Hyundai A-League'.
This thread is about:
- Current news and affairs surrounding everything Australian Football
- Updated fixtures, results and tables.
- Previews and post-match analysis
- Young prospects to scout for the future.
UPDATED (19th January 2013):
- Heart V Adelaide Post-match review
- Saturday previews.
And please, by all means if you have a question I will try my best to answer it.
K7S
Last edited by Keegan7Suarez; 18-1-13 at 20:59.
Brisbane Roar (Prediction 1st):
Lost inspirational captain Mckay to Rangers and leading scorer Jean-Carlos Solórzano to Melbourne. Some think a top 4, but the reigning champions for me can go back to back - by winning the asian champions league too. They blew apart the league in 10/11, and it will be no different with young midfielder Luke Brattan set to start in the middle. He is regarded by the manager as being the passer at the club, so watch out for this young lad.
Melbourne Victory (Prd 2nd):
Where do you start? Signed Australia's best ever player in Harry Kewell, Roar's leading goal-scorer, and Wellington's best player, 19yr old Marco Rojas. This team now has the side to be champions again, and if Kewell remains fit will be untouchable. Watch out for Marco Rojas, a gift when played in behind the strikers, with pace, trickery and great short passing game. A poor year would be finishing outside the top 4.
Sydney FC (Prd 3rd):
Being my club, I will try and be unbiased
Sold all the 'dead wood' during summer and brought in Brett Emerton from Blackburn. He will add real class out to the right flank, and can help the former champions regain their title. Watch out for 18 and 17 year old's Dimitri Petratos and Terry Antonis respectively. Petratos played a multiple of games last year and got Asian champions league experience. Very quick left/right winger with a bullet shot from within 25 yards (similar to Robben). Most of you may know Terry from his 'beckham' video, or the deal he signed with Everton 2 yrs ago (which fell through due to Australia's age rule change). Antonis will start in the middle and add much needed quickness to the passing, and excellent vision.
Adelaide United (Prd 4th):
Lost their 3 best in the summer -- Travis Dodd (captain), Marcos Flores (voted best player in 10/11) and Matthew Leckie (Australia's hottest prospect, moved to Borussia Monchengladbach).
Might struggle, but ensured a decent season with bringing back Djite and Dario Vidosic (FC Nurnberg), Australian International's. Enough squad depth to cover 4th spot. Watch out for Andy Slory. some might know him from West Brom days, but after recovering from a knee operation he is fully fit and ready to go.
Perth Glory (Prd 5th):
Last season, An unmitigated disaster. After spending big, Perth were expected to challenge for the top prize - instead, they ended up challenging for the wooden spoon, winning just two of their last 24 games. IMO their best piece of business was signing Jesse Makarounas from the Institute of sport. Will play in Europe in the near future, after already announced his arrival on the world stage by scoring at the FIFA under-17 World Championships. Lost the 'GOD' Fowler, but signed Shane Smeltz. Leading scorer in the A-league over the past 2 seasons, and he scored a goal against Italy in World Cup.
Bottom 5 will come later today.......
[QUOTE=Keegan7Suarez;6450702]The top league in Australia is called the 'A-League', and it kicks off 8/10/2011, 4.30pm (AEST).
This thread will be about:
- Current news and affairs surrounding Australian Football
- Updated fixtures, results and tables.
- Issues surrounding each club
- Young prospects to scout for the future.
- [Hopefully by early December I will have video highlights of great matches and young talents]
Over the next few days I will post up Club News/Transfers/Predictions
And please, by all means if you have a question I will try my best to answer it.
Good luck to a
Originally Posted by Keegan7Suarez
The top league in Australia is called the 'A-League', and it kicks off 8/10/2011, 4.30pm (AEST).
This thread will be about:
- Current news and affairs surrounding Australian Football
- Updated fixtures, results and tables.
- Issues surrounding each club
- Young prospects to scout for the future.
- [Hopefully by early December I will have video highlights of great matches and young talents]
Over the next few days I will post up Club News/Transfers/Predictions
And please, by all means if you have a question I will try my best to answer it.
Good luck to all 10 clubs.
Mods, sorry I had a problem whilst posting, please could you delete the above and this post/response. Thanks.
Last edited by robinredshanks; 8-10-11 at 00:13.
This is how my post should have read.The top league in Australia is called the 'A-League', and it kicks off 8/10/2011, 4.30pm (AEST).
This thread will be about:
- Current news and affairs surrounding Australian Football
- Updated fixtures, results and tables.
- Issues surrounding each club
- Young prospects to scout for the future.
- [Hopefully by early December I will have video highlights of great matches and young talents]
Over the next few days I will post up Club News/Transfers/Predictions
And please, by all means if you have a question I will try my best to answer it.
Good luck to all 10 clubs.
I am so glad the idea has caught on. I will be reading with interest. And whilst I will not be able to watch Aussie footie here in Brazil, you will have my moral support.
We now have yourself, and others; all giving reports from around the world.
I now consider us all, the unofficial International reporters on the Liverpool forum. What other fan base forum can boast that? Perhaps Matt will have to group us all in an 'International' thread if we get a few more people involved.?
I think our main sponsors, 'Standard Chartered' in their wish for 'Global Awareness' should take note.
Thanks mate... I have to be honest and say that I read your news weekly, and got the idea from you. Australia is one of the largest countries in the world, not known for football, so want to help others out there see what it is all about.This is how my post should have read.
I am so glad the idea has caught on. I will be reading with interest. And whilst I will not be able to watch Aussie footie here in Brazil, you will have my moral support.
We now have yourself, and others; all giving reports from around the world.
I now consider us all, the unofficial International reporters on the Liverpool forum. What other fan base forum can boast that? Perhaps Matt will have to group us all in an 'International' thread if we get a few more people involved.?
I think our main sponsors, 'Standard Chartered' in their wish for 'Global Awareness' should take note.
Thanks again, and will be looking forward to talk to you more.
Australian football.
lol
I take it you are australian and hate the way the game is run in this country??Australian football.
lol
I agree with you.
Great to hear you got that idea from my thread, That's what I was hoping for. People starting threads from around the world.
Brazil game just kicking off, so will get back to that thread, will check in with you later.Might kick your thread off the first page,
sorry. But ther is enough spece between games/ news, for all of us.
I know a lot of people complain about the way the A-league is run, but to be honest I think the league has grown really well considering its short existence. For us to be attracting the likes of Emerton and Kewell who could both play another 2 years in Europe is a big improvement. Sure there is a lot of terrible football at times but just looking at Brisbane Roar last year, it shows that you can play great football in the A-league.
I'm not really a regular viewer of matches but I've been to 3 of the grand finals and it's decent entertainment and down in Melbourne we've got a great atmosphere for the games as well. Exciting to see where it goes from here but it should be a good season.
Glad to hear about your enthusiasm.
Do you have any tips for this week and the season..
And tell me if im wrong, but your a victory fan??? Lol
Melbourne Heart (Prd 6th):
Had a solid debut campaign last season, and can only improve on that. Did not lose anyone too drastic, and strengthed with pace and clinal finishing in the final third, by signing DC United's Fred. Also got David William's - the high flying winger with Champions League experience. Watch out for Brendan Hamill, 19yr old centre-back who is set to cause a few headaches for opposition attackers. He possess excellent aerial ability and strength, which was lacking for most parts of last season.
Central Coast Mariners (Prd 7th):
For me, they will be the biggest droppers from last season. From runner's up to outside of the finals. Did not lose anyone, and only strengthend their squad. They overachieved massively from last season, and suprised with quality possession football. With no clinical finisher, with struggle to net alot of goals. Watch out for Amini and Ibini-isei; both already on the scouts list for several top European clubs (one I can mention is Galatasaray).
Newcastle Jets (Prd 8th):
Sacked their marquee, million-dollar player Jason Culina, and their coach (just so happens to be Jason's father). However, they have the richest owner in the league, and come January, could sign recognised internationals to bolster their squad and give it a late push for the top 6 (along with central coast and melbourne). Watch out for Ali Abbas, the Iraqian winger that provides real pace and crossing ability. At only 25 he has now become an experienced player, and should succeed with lots of assists/goals.
Wellington Phoenix (Prd 9th):
A season of struggles and lows ahead. They have a very poor away form in the league, only 2 wins last year. Watch out for Paul Ifill. The best player at the club since is arrival, and will need to remain injury free to keep his side from placing last. Lost the best young player in the a-league, Rojas, and there is no recognised youth left. Maybe a young spark can reignite the lost, and burnt out fire?
Gold Coast United (Prd 10th):
Been very successful over the past 2 seasons, but poor crowds have left a disinterested public, and can only be negative for the beachside club. The club is very slow at playing the ball, yet have the best tactician in the league. Suffered the biggest transfer losses of all clubs, and will definitely struggle with probably the worst squad in the league. Watch out for Joel Porter, their best player and can still turn a game on its head.
Last season was calamitous as a Glory Fan. Their certainly was a honeymoon period when Fowler signed and he looked top class. For the first few games we certainly did look like a top 3 team.
Am gutted that Fowler left, and Pellerz as well (me and my mates had a bit of a cult following for him). A rising young star would definitely have to be our right back Neville. Quick, can defend and is very offensive. However is prone for odd rash mistake, but he's still just a kid and will learn from it. Signing of Smeltzy will give the crowd a big boost. Towards the latter end of the season we were absolutely dire in front of goal and with his arrival hopefully fortunes will change.
I have heard about Neville actually. His attitude in training is first class, always wanting to listen and learn. As mentioned above in my predictions/previews ... i believe makarounas will have a massive year. Smeltz can get goals, so all-in-all, an improvement to 5th is massive
Newcastle Jets V Melbourne Heart
The season starts in 5 mins!!!!!!!!!!!
Post-match analysis later tonight after all games are finished.
Enjoy your football tonight everyone.
Betting options:
- Jets V Heart 1-1 at $6
- Melbourne victory to win at $1.95
- Brisbane Roar to win at $2.1
Nicely worked goal, but that was terrible defending.
Yeah I guess I'm a Victory fan by default. Having just seen some of the first half it looks like the boys need to practice defending. Ante Covic has been amazing though.
I probably don't follow the league enough to know who all the up and coming players and make any predictions regarding the season. Bit shattered that Melbourne Heart managed to lure back Fred though. I don't know if he's still got it but he carried Victory at times when he was here.
One thing I'd like to see is expansion of the bench in the league. I know it means the teams will then have to pay those extra players and some of the teams do struggle with finances, but it would be such a big boost to have more young players playing in the A-league and have a chance to push themselves. A few years ago we used to have young players move to Europe early on and get involved in more intense traning and matches to aid their development. As we don't really have that here and have a shorter season as well, there has to be a way to get more involved at the highest level possible.
Hi mate, great idea for a thread. As Robin says, just the kind of thing that really sets this forum apart from others! Will be looking forward to reading a lot about the A league so keep it up!
WOW.
What a start to the A-league 11/12.
Newcastle 3 V Melbourne Heart 2
An incredible game for the neutral and follower of football. Both sides were playing incredibly high up the pitch, leaving men in the final 1/3 to score goals - what everyone loves. Newcastle sealed the win in the 93rd minute with an own goal - but perhaps Byun will want to take it.
Heart scored first through opening day specialist Mate Dugandić. A beautifully constructed goal led to the opener, and kicked off the season. The crowd got well into the game once Newcastle started pressing high, and began winning the ball in Melbourne's half. Nothing was stopping the home side, and as a result, hit the lead with 2 goals thanks to Adam Griffith's. The second-half became a little scrappy - considering the players had not played a competitive game in over 6 months - but nonetheless, an evenly matched game with fantastic attacking raids.
What more could one ask for?
Melbourne Victory 0 V Sydney FC 0
Everyone will walk away from this one not thinking about Kewell or Emerton, not thinking about this intense rivalry ... but only thinking "how the hell did that end goal less".
Let's not dwell on a red-card, and focus on what actually made the 40,000 people excited - the keepers.
It was a day for the goal keepers, Covic (MV) and Reddy (Syd). Multiple times Covic keeped the ball out of his own net; 1st and 2nd times from Mark Bridge, 3rd time a penalty save from Emerton and a diving 4th to keep out Bridge again. Reddy's best came from a scrambling effort to smother Allsop when the ball deflected through on goal, another diving effort to save a Kewell header and the best to keep Solorzano from scoring inside 4 yards!
What this game did have though, was everything else. For Sydney, Terry Antonis showed the commanding vision he has on the field and, even though gave away too many passes, showed there will be magnificent things to come. For Melbourne, Rojas was a shining light the whole game. Easily their greatest threat when Harry did not get on the ball.
VIDEO: http://www.foxsports.com.au/football...=1111112039253
Ryan Griffiths*
I only managed to catch the first half of the Victory/Sydney clash. Emerton had a pretty bad performance, and it was an abysmal penalty. You can tell that Kewell was lacking match sharpness and wasn't 100% fit yet. Rojas looked fantastic, has pace, skill and flair. It was a very open first half however as the match wore on, Melbourne did look like they were grabbing a hold of the game.
Rojas was brilliant. If he could get a good final ball in, considering how many times he beats a man, he could have a great season. From what I saw, Kewell was still the most threatening of the Victory players and you could see he was a class above everybody else on the pitch. Solorzano's chance towards the end that Reddy saved was brilliantly worked as well. You know when you begin getting entertaining 0-0 draws in the A-league they're doing something right.
It is a top league to watch now.. very quick, attacking an physical when the big teams play.
Week 2: Adelaide V Victory ... Sydney V Brisbane
I Haven't watched a full A-League game since the first season.
I may as well be watching golf
A-league is very entertaining - great to watch.I Haven't watched a full A-League game since the first season.
I may as well be watching golf
Adelaide will we hopeful that star-man Dario Vidosic can recover from a shock illness that kept him out of the opener against Perth.
Adelaide succumbed to a 1 - 0 loss, but perhaps more frightening for manager Coolen, were the long periods throughout the game where his team went missing.
Being a favourite for this year's title, Adelaide will need all hands on deck to compete with the big clubs, and it doesn't get any harder this week at home to powerhouse Melbourne.
Mark Bridge is facing a 2 week suspension for the red-card against Melbourne.
He has the approximately 1 hour to contest the suspension.
Will post up more as it happens.
Always wanted to catch an occasional A-League game, it's a shame it's on at 3 AM in the States, however.
I hear they call scoring a goal "putting a shrimp on the barbie".
That true?
I've often wondered how different the quality is between the A-League and the MLS. MLS obviously has more money and can attract better washed-up stars (see Beckham, Henry vs Dwight Yorke, 34 year old God). Also, the MLS has been running for longer than the A-league.
When LA Galaxy toured here to make sure they capitalised on Beckham Fever, the couple of friendlies they played showed the teams as being pretty even (won one, lost one from memory).
lol ...
thanks for making me smile during a s*** day lol
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