Football Archives
Victory and Mariners share the points in extraordinary match
By Roy Hay
Melbourne Victory and the Central Coast Mariners drewthree-all in an extraordinary Round Eleven match in the A-League at Telstra Dome last night in front of 28,118 fans.
Victory got the best possible start when Archie Thompson skinned Vuko Tomasevic out on the right wing and his cross found Daniel Allsopp in the goal area for a decisive header in the fourth minute.
The Victory and its fans hardly had time to celebrate before the Mariners hit back with a carbon copy goal.
Former South Melbourne and Melbourne Knights star and Australia’s all-time national league top scorer Damian Mori got away on the Mariners’ right wing and his cross was hammered home by Jamie McMaster in the 6th minute.
Back came Victory and Allsopp found Thompson just on the half-way line and the Socceroo outstripped the chasing defence and chipped the ball neatly over keeper Daniel Vukovic.
That was in ten minutes, and two minutes later the Mariners were level again with another move down the right. Two defenders failed to clear and Damian Mori set up Stewart Petrie for a second equaliser.
There was hardly time to catch breath before the Mariners took the lead.
Adam Kwasnik’s header was creeping in at the near post when Rodrigo Vargas tried to head it clear.
That proved to be insufficient and in a reflex action he helped it on its way with his hand.
The result was a red card for Vargas and a penalty for the Mariners, which Kwasnik himself drove into the net.
Melbourne coach Ernie Merrick took off midfielder Adrian Caceres to allow Steve Pantelidis to come on to shore up the defence, but both teams continued to attack as if their lives depended on it.
Five minutes before half time Kevin Muscat forced his way past two defenders and put over an inviting cross which Brazilian Fred struck straight at the keeper in the closest the Victory got to drawing level in a see-sawing match.
Skipper Muscat then tangled with Jamie McMaster off the ball but right in front of the referee.
He had already been booked for an incident with McMaster so this time he received a red card and the Victory was down to nine men.
In the second half the Mariners used their two-man advantage to stretch the Victory, but Archie Thompson caused panic with two sharp crosses the second of which was hacked over his own crossbar by a confused Alex Wilkinson.
After Stewart Petrie stretched Victory keeper Michael Theoklitos with a shot, the Victory lifted as Allsopp won a hard ball in midfield and fed Thompson.
In turn his shot struck Vukovic’s foot as he dived and ballooned out to Grant Brebner whose return header landed on top of the net as the keeper scrambled back.
Following a couple of substitutions Victory had two Brazilian wing-backs and Kristian Sarkies came on as pinch-hitter to take a free kick which laid out Stewart Petrie.
It was football but not as you know it.
The home crowd gave its nine battlers tremendous support throughout, with chants and counter-cheers from both ends of the ground.
Fred went on one of his mesmerising runs and rounded the keeper but as the goal gaped he pulled his shot into the side netting in the 80th minute.
Then in the 86th minute came the reward the Victory deserved when Sarkies and Fred combined with the latter going on another mazy circuit which ended with a cross driven home with aplomb by Daniel Allsopp.
Three-all after 94 pulsating minutes and what an advertisement for the game.
Going well for Didulica
Published in the Geelong Advertiser, Tuesday 24 October 2006, p. 34.
under the heading 'Joey's Dutch courage'
By Roy Hay
You wouldn’t want to put the moz on him by drawing attention to it, but Geelong keeper Joey Didulica has made an incredible start to his resumed career in Holland with AZ Alkmaar. His club has played ten games in the Dutch Eredivisie (First Division) and the UEFA Cup and remains unbeaten. Most recently AZ thumped SC Braga from Portugal by three goals to nil in the UEFA Cup this week, but the big win was achieved thanks to some superb saves by keeper Didulica. One finger tip touch around the post from striker Marcel brought the crowd to its feet and was the turning point in the match, since former Glasgow Rangers star and AZ skipper, Shoto Arveladze scored immediately afterwards to set his team on its way.
Didulica will get considerable media exposure as his club pursues domestic and European success and this will further his campaign to become the number one keeper for Croatia, the country he reluctantly decided to play for when he was not selected for Australia. Didulica was in the Croatian squad at the World Cup in Germany but unluckily did not get any game time in the tournament.
He recently celebrated his 29th birthday with a clean sheet in a two-nil away win over Sparta Rotterdam. AZ is second top of the league, a point behind Ajax Amsterdam.
Didulica is well known in Holland having spent several years with Ajax before moving to Austria Vienna in the Austrian Bundesliga. In domestic matches he comes up against a former Ajax colleague, Socceroo Jason Culina, who is now with PSV Eindhoven.
Meanwhile the news is not so good for another Geelong overseas player, Socceroo Josip Skoko. Though he played in the recent matches against Paraguay and Bahrain, he is finding it difficult to break into the Wigan Athletic first team in the English Premier League. Last season he moved to Stoke City on loan to maintain match fitness prior to the World Cup and he may have to look at a temporary or permanent move again this year. He did start in Saturday’s 4–0 thrashing of Manchester City and his free kick led to an own goal for Wigan by City’s skipper Richard Dunne. But Skoko was replaced after half an hour by Danny Landzaat, whose place he had taken for the game. Skoko had incurred a hamstring injury and despite praise from coach Paul Jewell, he is likely to be out for some weeks.
The Advertiser carried the footnote: 'The Roy Hay kiss of death has struck. Overnight Culina's PSV Eindhoven downed AZ Alkmaar 3-1'. To rub salt in the wound, Joey was severely concussed by a close range shot from Culina which struck him in the face and he too will be out for some games. Perhaps I should give up this football writing?
Eighth win denied: Adelaide surprises Victory
Geelong Advertiser, Monday 16 October 2006, p. 35.
By Roy Hay
Melbourne Victory went gunning for its eighth straight win in the 2006-07 A-League against Adelaide United at Telstra Dome last night but came up short in a one-nil defeat.
There were 32,368 fans in the ground to cheer on their heroes.
Geelong’s Adrian Leijer missed his first game of the season as a result of an accumulation of yellow cards which led to a one-week suspension.
His place was taken by utility player Steve Pantelidis with Mark Byrnes joining the squad on the bench.
Adelaide’s wingers Socceroo Travis Dodd and former Celtic star Bobby Petta used their pace to unsettle the Victory in the first few minutes, but thereafter the home defence settled to keep them at bay.
Ross Aloisi, elder brother of Socceroo striker John, was booked in the second minute for clumsy foul on Brazilian Fred which provoked a short-lived altercation in mid-pitch, in which Victory’s Grant Brebner was also cautioned.
As the Victory tried to impose its game, Greg Owens and Angelo Costanzo joined those two in Matthew Breeze’s book.
Daniel Allsopp and Fred combined after 17 minutes to set up Adrian Caceres but the latter’s shot was saved by Robert Bajic.
Aloisi drove narrowly wide from a corner kick, but it was Victory which was dictating play.
Archie Thompson was brought down right under the nose of Assistant Referee Hakan Anaz but he ignored the trip.
The closest Victory got to a goal in the first half came on the half hour when Thompson crossed and Matthew Kemp had to knock the ball over his own crossbar from just underneath it as Allsopp closed in.
At half-time the match remained scoreless with the Victory still well in control.
Former Melbourne Knight Michael Valkanis saved Adelaide just after the interval when he managed to block a pass from Allsopp to Thompson who was clear in the goal area.
Victory kept up the pressure and if it had been a boxing match the referee might have called it off, but in soccer an upset is always possible.
In 82 minutes completely against the run of play, Adelaide broke in midfield, Brebner appeared to be pushed over but Nathan Burns picked up the loose ball and fed Greg Owens who had just enough time to dink the ball over Michael Theoklitos for the decisive goal.
The controversy was not over for when Kevin Muscat chased a loose ball over the touchline he came into contact with Adelaide coach John Kosmina whose chair tumbled over as Muscat tried to pick up the ball.
In the fracas which followed Muscat appeared to be booked and Kosmina was sent to the dressing room. Although the referee raised a yellow card his match report did not record a caution for Kevin Muscat.
At the press conference after the match Kevin Muscat said there was nothing in the incident with John Kosmina. “I went to pick up the ball and slipped”, he said. Kosmina also said “I went to pick up the ball and he should not have been in my technical area. I was not going to step backwards. “Afterwards both coach and player said they had a laugh about the matter, but for the game it is no laughing matter.
The incident overshadowed the quality of the play and both sides fought the match out at high speed till the end. Referee Matthew Breeze indicated that he would be sending in an incident report, and no doubt the Football Federation of Australia will look at the matter in the light of that report.
It is possible that a charge of bringing the game into disrepute could be laid.
Cup the greatest: Soccer's showpiece the envy of all
Geelong Advertiser, Monday 9 October 2006, p. 37.
By Roy Hay
The football World Cup is the greatest multicultural sporting extravaganza of modern times. Its only conceivable rival, the Olympic Games, is a multi-sports activity in which all member countries can take part in a tournament that is concentrated in two weeks usually in a single city. At the Olympics, however, the largest attendances at the Games have been for the football tournament, despite the fact that it used to be restricted to amateur players and now consists of players under the age of 23.
Even Kofi Annan says, ‘The World Cup makes us at the UN green with envy, As the pinnacle of the only global game, played in every country by every race and religion, it is one of the few phenomena as universal as the UN. You could say it’s more universal, FIFA has 207 members; we have only 191. But there are better reasons for our envy. This is an event in which everybody knows where their team stands. I wish we had more of that sort of competition in the family of nations. Countries vying for the best standing in the table of respect for human rights, and trying to outdo one another in child survival rates or enrolment in secondary education. States parading their performance for all the world to see. Governments being held accountable.’
In 2006 more than 3 million people watched the games live, and probably several times that number watched at public screening areas throughout Germany and the world. Television audiences ran into the billions, with women making up approximately 40 per cent of those watching. An estimated 60 000 Australians were in Germany during the World Cup, most without tickets for games but there to take part in the experience.
Scotland did not qualify for the World Cup final tournament, yet there were many thousands of Scots in Germany in June 2006. Many were supporting Trinidad and Tobago, just because it was playing England and because some of the team played for Scottish clubs. Jason Scotland of St Johnstone became the public face of Irn Bru, Scotland’s other national drink.
One group of mixed Rangers and Celtic fans from Motherwell, near Glasgow, consisted of 14 young men with but two tickets between them. Another Scot, spotted in Kaiserslautern, was wearing a kilt but no shirt and had his head painted as a replica of the Adidas ball used in the tournament. In Scotland a person’s whose behaviour is bizarre might be referred to as a ‘bawheid’, literally ‘ball head’, and this one certainly was.
England did qualify and some of its supporters let the team down by wearing offensive t-shirts and engaging in hooliganism.
The vast majority however entered into the spirit of friendliness which the German hosts tried hard to project. For the Germans the tournament gave them a chance to find and display an acceptable form of national pride without the baggage of the past. A New Zealand student at university in Berlin noted, ‘For a country that struck me as being uncomfortable with open patriotism, it was refreshing to see the whole city suddenly awash in black, red and 
Australia’s travelling support was in Germany in force, and somel have already published accounts of their experiences. Tony Wilson, Australia United: Adventures at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Geoff Slattery Publishing, Melbourne, 2006, is one fan and novelist’s account. Just before leaving Australia Roy Hay attended a farewell for a group of Australian-Croatian fans who were heading for Germany. Former North Geelong player Eddie Radojevic, who was kept at home by family commitments, presented his cousin Steve with a red and white diced hat, which looked for all the world like a Croatian grb. But if you looked closely, the logo on the front said Sydney Swans. Joe Radojevic, grandfather of Geelong’s Croatian keeper, Joey Didulica, could not travel to Stuttgart, but he said he would barrack for Australia all the way through, unless Joey was in goals when the teams meet, when family loyalty would take precedence.
In Australia the reception of the World Cup by the mass of the people was extraordinary. This was reflected in the media which seems to have underestimated the extent of popular enthusiasm. Large screens in major venues saw crowds of several thousands gather to watch matches. Federation Square in Melbourne was packed, with some people travelling from Geelong, 80 kilometres away, to watch matches on the big screen rather than at home or in a local hotel. The games finished at anywhere between three and seven in the morning, Eastern Standard Time. After the Australia–Croatia game a significant number of those present at Federation Square, estimated at around 4000, marched to the steps of state parliament in Spring Street, some shouting ‘Guus for Prime Minister’ in honour of coach Guus Hiddink.
The impact of the World Cup can be felt in the strangest places. It was a radical feminist writer who pointed out several years ago that the only time the guns fell silent during the previous civil war in Lebanon was when the World Cup was being played. ‘Perhaps the way to solve the Middle East torment is to give the men round-the-clock live male contact sports,’ she wrote, though this time Hamas, Hezbollah and the Israelis seem not to have paid enough attention to the Cup.
Many Australians ceased to be involved once Australia was eliminated, but many more, having experienced what World Cup football means, followed the tournament to its conclusion, while those thousands who made the pilgrimage to Germany returned with experiences which they will never forget.
The conservatives in Australia who worry about divided loyalties among Australia’s multicultural population need have no fears. The more we know about the world, and international football is a great way to learn about it, the better a place it will be for its citizens, as we found when we talked to the young and old Aussies who were part of the tournament.
So there was not a World Cup, but many world cups for the groups of fans and individuals, each with its own story. The Scots used the World Cup to distinguish themselves from the English, the Germans to rediscover some acceptable national pride and the Australians to celebrate their appearance on the world stage.
The modern fan is an active participant in the event, moulding the experience to fit personal and group needs and expectations and adapting to surroundings in at least some ways which were certainly not conceived of by the organisers. Yet, and this is the point which is often missed, credit must go to the German organisers of this World Cup in that they set up a structure in which all these adaptations could take place, almost entirely without trouble, for which the resilience and good humour of the hosts and visitors were also responsible.
Victory dulls roar
Geelong Advertiser, Monday 2 October 2006, p. 31.
By Roy Hay
Top of the table Melbourne Victory recorded its sixth win in a row against second-placed Queensland Roar by four goals to one at Telstra Dome last night in front of 25,921 fans. Victory sprang to an early lead in the tenth minute when Danny Allsopp robbed Marcus Weddau and laid the ball off to Brazilian Fred who waltzed past two defenders before slotting the ball past Thomas Willis in the Queensland goal. Fred was looking very sharp in his first match after a three week suspension.
Queensland hit back in 16 minutes as Hyuk-Su Seo’s shot was blocked but it fell to Simon Lynch.
Lynch’s deep cross picked out the unmarked Ante Milicic at the far post and the former Socceroo striker poked the ball over the line. It was end to end action from then on and Fred chipped a ball into the Queensland penalty area in 21 minutes. It appeared to hit Josh McLoughan, but in trying to prevent further damage young Matt McKay handled the ball and referee Simon Przydacz gave the Victory a penalty kick. Skipper Kevin Muscat made his usual effective job from the spot for his fifth goal of the season.
Victory continued to have the bulk of the play with several shots on goal, but the Roar threatened on the break. Adrian Caceres rounded off a sparkling first half with a run and cross which Brazilian Fred headed just over the bar.
The Victory had three quick chances to add to its lead early in the second half as Fred hit the post, Allsopp had a shot which the keeper kept out with his foot, then Seo blocked another in the goal area. But when Socceroo Archie Thompson went on a run into the box, Stuart McLaren was adjudged somewhat harshly to have brought him down. Muscat buried the second penalty kick to give Victory a three-one lead. The midfielder is now top scorer in the A-League.
Adrian Leijer who had been very sound in defence was cautioned for a challenge in midfield. This led to a free kick by Spase Dilevski which was headed wide by defender Sasa Ognenovski.
As the Roar pushed forward it left itself vulnerable to swift raids by the Victory and Thompson found Allsopp clear on the right. The big striker might have been trying to slide the ball through to Fred in the goal area but it struck McLoughan on the heel and looped into the net in the 81st minute.
Visiting coach Miron Bleiberg said afterwards, ‘Melbourne Victory is the best team in the A-League on and off the field. It is a good side and conditions at the Telstra Dome are perfect. Melbourne players had excellent ball control and we lost the battle in the midfield in the first half.’
Ernie Merrick of the Victory said, 'We did not have a bad player. This was the second largest A-League crowd after the Sydney game. Fred has been devastating at training. He is a very determined player and hit the post in addition to his excellent goal.’
Melbourne Victory down Central Coast Mariners
Geelong Advertiser, Monday 18 September 2006, p. 36.
By Roy Hay
Melbourne Victory ran out one-nil winner over the Central Coast Mariners in its Round Four match in the A-League at Olympic Park yesterday. The crowd of 17,617 was a sell out with the capacity of the ground only a few hundred more.
Victory began with a series of three corner-kicks. Geelong’s Adrian Leijer met the last of these with a header which was repelled by keeper Danny Vukovic. Daniel Allsopp was just unable to force the rebound over the line.
The early play was all in the Mariners’ half of the field, but when the visitor did break Leijer took out Andre Gumprecht and was yellow-carded as a result. Gumprecht had to be substituted a few minutes later with Jamie McMaster taking his place.
Victory continued to create chance after chance in the first half with Socceroo Archie Thompson’s strong running causing chaos. In 17 minutes however when chasing a long ball he collided with Vukovic and was harshly booked for diving, even though he made no attempt to claim that he had been fouled and had got up to play on. Eight minutes later he skinned two defenders but his final shot was blocked for another fruitless corner-kick.
As often happens when one team dominates the play, the other makes a break and this time it was McMaster who took advantage of a slip by Daniel Piorkowski only for Victory keeper Michael Theoklitos to save with his legs and prevent a goal. Thompson and fellow striker Daniel Allsopp combined to give the former a clear shot on goal, but Vukovic modelled his save on the previous one by Theoklitos.
Kevin Muscat had a free header from another Kristian Sarkies corner as the Victory kept the pressure on until the interval.
There was a lot to admire in the Victory’s fluid play mixing long balls and one-touch passing through midfield, but unfortunately the finishing was not as effective. The second half began with the same pattern and Thompson sprang the offside trap in the 56th minute, rounded the keeper but was forced wide and no one could get on the end of his square ball across the goal area. That should have been a goal, but the breakthrough came a minute later when Steve Pantelidis sent over a cross from the right and Adelaide defender Paul O’Grady sliced it into the goal area. Allsopp lifted the loose ball over the keeper and Thompson completed the goal from right under the cross-bar.
Thompson and Allsopp both should have settled the game when clean through on goal again in separate incidents, but their failure meant the Mariners had a chance to equalise right at the end.
But if the Victory was unlucky in front of goal, the Central Coast has failed to score in four games and remains at the foot of the ladder, while the Victory remains on top with four wins from four games.
Ernie Merrick was delighted with his team’s all round performance. ‘We played them off the park. This was a team we had never beaten, so that was very satisfying,’ he said. ‘Rody Vargas was man of the match. His organising of the defence and the midfield is excellent. We needed that experience.’
Archie Thompson was candid afterwards. ‘We are going to win the league’. ‘I am combining well with Danny Allsopp. I nicked a goal off him this week. But I will give him one next time.’
Laurie McKinna, coach of the Mariners admitted ‘They deserved their one-nil win. We will have Nick Mrdja back soon. He will give us the presence up front. Andre Gumprecht has medial ligament damage and will be out for six weeks.’
Victory knocks off defending champion in front of record crowd
By Roy Hay
Melbourne Victory knocked off the defending champion, Sydney FC by three-goals to two in an A-League second round match that had everything before a record crowd of 39,730 at Telstra Dome on Saturday night. Five goals, a controversial penalty, a sending off and several incidents which escaped the referee’s notice kept the crowd on its toes for the whole ninety minutes.
The Victory hammered Sydney by five goals to nil in the equivalent fixture last year and it seemed that this might go the same way after an explosive opening ten minutes. Striker Daniel Allsopp forced his way through three tackles in the Sydney penalty area but his shot was deflected for a corner kick. Grant Brebner sent over the corner and Geelong’s Adrian Leijer barrelled into Sydney’s Robbie Middleby helping to cause confusion in the Sydney defence and Allsopp hammered the loose ball into the net in the seventh minute.
Three minutes later a long ball from the back found Brazilian striker Alessandro in the clear but Socceroo and Sydney keeper Clint Bolton was adjudged to have brought him down by referee Mark Shield. Kevin Muscat did his usual immaculate job from the penalty spot.
Middleby was unable to continue and was replaced by Socceroo David Carney but Sydney was dealt a body blow in the 12th minute when Mark Rudan brought down Alessandro in full flight. That meant a yellow card, but when the big defender kicked out at Alessandro on the ground referee Shield gave him a straight red.
Down to ten men and two goals behind, Sydney went all out in attack and won a corner kick on the right. Defender Iain Fyfe outjumped the defence to head his side back into the match with his second goal in as many matches. For the rest of the first half the Victory struggled to impose its numerical superiority but apart from a couple of near things in the last minutes it failed to do so.
Six minutes after the break Victory skipper Muscat lofted the ball over the defence and Allsopp chipped it neatly over the keeper for what appeared to be the decisive third goal. Five minutes later Alessandro sprinted through and seemed to collect Mark Milligan with his elbow, but none of the officials had a clear enough view of the incident to take action, which left Sydney coach Terry Butcher and most of his players fuming. Ernie Merrick, the Victory coach, quickly removed Alessandro and replaced him with another Brazilian striker Claudinho, who should have scored a fourth goal for his team after being set clear in front of goal by Archie Thompson.
Even with ten minute the Sydneysiders kept pressing and David Carney’s deflected shot in the 83rd minute brought his team back into the game. Grant Brebner could have settled the nerves with a goal from another Thompson pass, but fired well over the bar, and the Victory held on for the win. Melbourne-Sydney rivalry is alive and well and the huge attendance really sets up the Victory’s season.
Adelaide Down
Geelong Advertiser, Saturday 26 August 2006, p. 83.
by Roy Hay
Melbourne Victory opened its 2006 A-League season with a two-nil win against last year’s finalist Adelaide United in front of 15781 fans at Olympic Park last night.
Victory won a couple of free kicks in dangerous areas but could not penetrate the defensive wall.
Adrian Leijer picked up the ball at the back and set Archie Thompson clear down the right and the Socceroos’ driven cross was sliced on to his own cross-bar by Michael Valkanis.
In a rapid counter-attack Adelaide’s Socceroo wing-back Travis Dodd was clean through only to be denied by a dive at his feet by keeper Michael Theoklitos.
In seven previous games against Adelaide, the Victory had failed to score, but all that changed in 27 minutes when Brazilian winger Alessandro bamboozled Richard Alagich and the Adelaide full back brought him down.
Kevin Muscat, the Victory skipper, buried the spot kick and sent the Victory fans into raptures.
Thompson almost doubled the lead ten minutes later when he lifted the ball over keeper Robert Bajic, only for Robert Cornthwaite to lift the ball clear as Thompson endeavoured to head it into the empty net.
Adelaide missed the chance of the first half in 41 minutes when Aaron Goulding’s cross found Ross Aloisi with only the keeper to beat.
Somehow Theoklitos managed to push his shot away but only as far as Dodd who hit the side netting when it seemed easier to score. An offside flag probably would have resulted in a goal being disallowed in any case.
As the players left the field at half time there was a confrontation between skipper Muscat and Alessandro and the latter did not appear after the break, being replaced by Adrian Caceres. After the match, Ernie Merrick said he had planned to withdraw the Brazilian ten minutes before half-time.
Caceres threatened to unhinge the Adelaide backline with a couple of runs down the left but it was the visitor which had more of the play in the second half.
Angelo Costanzo and Brazilian Fernando Rech came on for Adelaide and for a while the Victory was stretched to hold on.
But then in a rare breakaway Costanzo stopped when he seemed to collect a stray elbow, but Victory’s Daniel Allsopp kept going and forced Bajic into a diving save, only for the ball to squirt out to substitute Claudinho who drove it low into the net.
That was in the 78th minute.
The Brazilian is due to become a father and celebrated by rocking an imaginary cradle.
Adelaide continued to create chances but Victory defenders threw their bodies into every gap while Claudinho lifted the seige with a couple of runs which almost brought a third goal.
Victory finals plan
Geelong Advertiser, Thursday 24 August 2006, p. 39.
by Roy Hay
Melbourne Victory launched its second A-League season with a flourish in Melbourne yesterday. As is now often the case, Melbourne Lord Mayor John So stole the show with his repeated shouts of ‘Victoree’.
At the media session, Victory President, Geoff Lord, put the pressure firmly on the players and coach, Ernie Merrick, with his declaration, “Not making the finals this year will be unacceptable”. When asked if the club’s aim was one of the two places in next season’s Asian Champions League he said, “If we get to the finals then we will worry about that afterwards”.
He went on, “Building a new club takes time. It is not just what happens on the field, though that is important. Look at Manchester. Its population is less than Melbourne’s but it supports two English (Premier) League clubs.” Lord’s long-term vision is that Melbourne Victory will eventually have both international and domestic recognition.
Victory has had an excellent preparation this year according to Football Operations Manager and former Socceroo, Gary Cole. ‘Of the three Brazilians we have signed, two are settling in well and one is finding it rather cold. He is married with a young baby. They are coming to terms with the physical side of the game in Australia, but their technique is superb.”
Coach Ernie Merrick is also upbeat in his laid-back Scottish way. “It is now down to the players. We have given them everything in preparation.”
Victory kicks off its A-League season on Friday night against last year’s Minor Premier and Grand finalist and this year’s Pre-Season Cup winner, Adelaide United, at Olympic Park at 8 pm. Victory has not beaten Adelaide and has yet to score against John Kosmina’s team, so this is its moment of truth.
Geelong's Spiranovic runs hot in Chile
Geelong Advertiser, Monday 14 August 2006, p. 46.
by Roy Hay
Geelong teenager Matthew Spiranovic has anchored the Young Socceroos’ defence in its second draw in succession with world-class opposition in South America. Overnight the Under-20 team held host nation Chile to a one-all draw, while earlier in the week the current world champion, Argentina, was kept scoreless in another highly impressive performance by the next generation of Australian footballers.
Spiranovic has been ever present in the key games as Australia, under coach Angelo Postecoglou, prepares for the Asian Football Confederation Under-20 Championship which will take place in India during October and November. The top four teams at the 16-nation tournament will qualify for the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada. Spiranovic is currently with the Australian Institute of Sport, but has already had a couple of games with Melbourne Victory, whose coach, Ernie Merrick, has a very high opinion of him. Merrick already has one Geelong central defender, Adrian Leijer, in his starting line-up, and Leijer is training with the senior Socceroos.
The Young Socceroos went a goal behind to Felipe Valderrama in the second half in Chile, but fought back for the draw with AIS striker Bruce Djite getting his third goal in four matches to secure the draw. Coach Postecoglou said, ‘The first half was a bit disappointing after the Argentina game and we lacked fluency and generally struggled. However I was pleased that we fought back after being a goal down. It is important that we compete and battle away to get a result after falling behind, so I was happy with the character that the players showed.’
World Cup 2006
By Roy Hay
The football World Cup, which reaches its climax in Germany this weekend, is the greatest multicultural sporting extravaganza of modern times. Its only conceivable rival, the Olympic Games, is a multi-sports activity in which all countries who are part of the Olympic movement can take part in a tournament that is concentrated in two weeks usually in a single city. Even at the Olympics, however, the largest attendances at the Games have been for the football tournament,despite the fact that it used to be restricted to amateur players and now consists of players under the age of 23.
The World Cup, by contrast, is usually spread over a whole country, or even two as in Korea and Japan in 2002. It lasts four weeks and involves more countries in its qualifying competition than there are members of the United Nations. Attendances are huge. This year more than 3 million people watched the games live, and probably several times that number at public screening areas throughout Germany and the world. Television audiences run into the billions, with women making up approximately forty per cent of those watching. An estimated 60,000 to 80,000 Australians were in Germany during the World Cup, most without tickets for games but there to take part in the experience.
Though it is ostensibly a sport, the World Cup does not have a level playing field. In the 18 competitions since it began in 1930 only seven countries have won the Cup. Six of these took part in the quarter-finals in Germany—Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Italy, France, and England. The only winner not present was Uruguay, eliminated by Australia on that never-to-be-forgotten night in Sydney last November. The two outsiders in 2006 who reached the last eight were Ukraine and Portugal.
One reason for this imbalance is that in recent years the top players in the world have become concentrated in the major leagues in Europe. It seems that only players taking part at the highest level of club football have the knowledge, consistency, skills and stamina to win the World Cup. As we have seen with the current generation of young Australians, who represented the country so brilliantly, they had to go to Europe to establish themselves as top-class players and test themselves against the best on a regular basis. Hence the likes of Vince Grella and Marco Bresciano had no fear of their Italian opponents in the round of sixteen, since they come up against them week in, week out in Serie A in Italy for their club side Parma.
One English club, Arsenal, provided players for the squads of ten countries taking part in the World Cup finals—Germany, Ivory Coast, Switzerland, England, Sweden, France, Togo, Spain, Holland, and Brazil. And they have signed one of the Czech Republic’s players since the tournament began. Only a country like Italy, with one of the strongest domestic leagues, can afford to field a team of home-grown and domestic players and hope to be in with a chance of winning the Cup. Even Italy included Gennaro Gattuso, the hard-working, hard-tackling midfield enforcer who had a spell at Glasgow Rangers as a teenager.
The impact of the World Cup can be felt in the strangest places. It was a radical feminist writer who pointed out several years ago that the only time the guns fell silent during the civil war in Lebanon was when the World Cup was being played. ‘Perhaps the way to solve the Middle East torment is to give the men round-the-clock live male contact sports,’ she wrote, though this time Hamas and the Israelis seem not to have paid enough attention to the Cup.
Here in Australia we have seen the wonderful phenomenon of sport dividing to unite, as people from all the countries which make up this nation have watched Australia and the country whose heritage they share and appreciate come together in football competition. Families split for the duration of the matches but then came together in celebration once the result was determined. Certainly many Australians ceased to be involved once Australia was eliminated, but many more, having experienced what the World Cup football means, will be following the tournament to its conclusion, while those thousands who made the pilgrimage to Germany will return with experiences which they will never forget.
The Peter Costellos, Hugh Morgans and Peter Moores of this world who worry about divided loyalties among Australia’s multicultural population need have no fears. The more we know about the world, and international football is a great way to learn about it, the better a place it will be for its citizens. Just talk to the young and old Aussies who took part in the largest outward movement of Australian population since the Second World War.
(An edited version of this article appeared in the Geelong Advertiser, Saturday 8 July 2006, p. 33 under the heading, Divided and united by the Cup. It appeared in full on the Football Federation of Victoria website on 13 July 2006.)
For more World Cup material click the link.
Farewell Jimmy Johnstone
By Roy Hay
Jimmy Johnstone, ‘Jinky’ to everyone, the man voted the greatest Celtic player ever, has died at the age of 62 after a long illness. A supremely talented ball player with mesmeric close control, he was an integral part of the Lisbon Lions, the home-grown Celtic team which was the first British side to win the European Cup in 1967. Some good judges, including the Real Madrid legend Alfredo di Stefano, rate him even more highly than the late George Best as the greatest player never to grace a World Cup. By the time Scotland qualified for the first of a series of five successive World Cup final tournaments in 1974, Johnstone’s genius was probably in decline, despite a brilliant performance against Wales in a lead-up match. His last cap came in 1975 and he won four in 1974, and though he made it into Willie Ormond’s squad for West Germany, he did not kick a ball in a match in the tournament, unlike another talismanic hero, Denis Law, who played in the opening game against Zaire.
Johnstone made 515 appearances for Celtic, scoring 130 goals, but was capped only 23 times by his country. Johnstone’s relatively small number of Scottish caps cannot be explained simply by his mercurial temperament and lack of disciplined application, for he had to share the international limelight for much of his career with an almost equally talented and diminutive Rangers winger, Willie Henderson, as well as several high quality, though more conventional, attackers. Johnstone did lack confidence in the Scotland dressing room, was often abused as a catholic by the fans of Glasgow Rangers under the Scotland flag, and was victimised by one Scotland trainer. One of his Scotland managers, the ebullient Tommy Docherty, once said, ‘I remember calling off our first practice match because no one could get the ball off wee Jimmy Johnstone.’
Old Firm games were no place for the faint-hearted.
Jimmy Johnstone (front) with Billy McNeill, Sandy Jardine,
Colin Jackson and Peter McCloy.
Photo source: Playing for Celtic, No. 5, Stanley Paul,
London, 1973, p. 29.
Like another famous striker Dennis Bergkamp, Johnstone hated flying. His manager Jock Stein, who said that his greatest feat was keeping Jimmy in the game for as long as he was, played on this by offering the dynamic winger a chance to stay at home when the team flew to Belgrade for the away leg of a European Cup tie in 1968 against Red Star, provided the home leg was won by four goals. Johnstone applied himself that night, and when the fourth goal went in, team-mates and fans alike were taken aback by the extraordinary fervour of his celebrations as he cavorted around the park shouting, ‘I don’t have to go, I don’t have to go.’
Then there was the infamous incident at a Scottish training camp at Largs on the Ayrshire coast, following that dazzling display by the wee winger against Wales in 1974, when after a few refreshments Johnstone found himself in a rowing boat with only one oar drifting out into the Firth of Clyde. Colleagues thought it was all a great joke as the non-swimmer became a speck on the horizon, but then the authorities had to be alerted before he succumbed to hypothermia. Jock Stein’s summary was, ‘He is not a bad boy with regard to being against authority. It is just that if there is trouble, or a problem, Jimmy seems to be in the thick of it.’
Jack Webster, who ghosted Johnstone’s autobiography, testifies to his unexampled skill and his football nous, combined with an unworldliness off the field. Going to his house for an arranged interview for the book, Webster would be greeted by Johnstone’s wife with the news, ‘Jimmy’s no here’. On one occasion Webster found him playing with about a hundred kids, most as tall as the little winger, on a patch of waste ground not far from the house. Thinking to test his own, not inconsiderable, defensive skills against ‘Wee Jinky’, Webster invited the Celtic man to bring the ball up to him and beat him. Johnstone agreed and brought the ball so close to Webster that the latter was certain he had his measure. No sooner had the thought been conceived than the wee man had dropped a shoulder, rolled his foot under the ball and lightly lifted it over Webster’s lunging toes, and skipped away in total control.
For a number of years after his playing career was over Johnstone suffered a debilitating illness which eventually claimed his life. But he was loved by all who came in contact with his infectious enthusiasm for life and football. In 2005 he had a Fabergé egg made in his honour, the first living person to whom this has happened since the days of the Romanovs. In Sue Mott’s A girl’s guide to ball games one of her respondents to a poll on the greatest sports stars of all time, describes Eric Cantona as ‘nearly as good as Jimmy Johnstone’. Another mercurial icon, Jim Baxter of Rangers, who played with and against him said, ‘What he did to poor Terry Cooper in the semi-final of the European Cup against Leeds in 1970 should have been prohibited by Act of Parliament.’ In my mind’s eye I can still see Jinky with the ball tied to his feet making a mockery of the defensive talents of some of the world’s greatest players in front of the fans in the ‘Jungle’ at Parkhead, where his greatest moments of pure football skill were performed.
(A very sensitively edited version of this obituary appeared in The Celt, no. 103, May 2006, pp. 9-13, thanks to Eugene MacBride. Copies of this long running and superb fanzine/social history/literary magaziner/critical homage can be obtained from E A MacBride, Celt House, 31 Harrowby Lane, Grantham NG31 9HY, Lincolnshire, UK. Subscribe to the best read on all things relating to Celtic. £5 per four issues.)
Greece and Australia have a long football history
by Roy Hay
When the current European football champion, Greece, comes to play the Socceroos in Melbourne in May in a warm-up game for the World Cup in Germany it will cement links between the football playing cultures of the two countries. Greece and Australia are linked by chains of migration and the match is guaranteed to be huge popular spectacle as well as a football occasion.
Greek national teams toured Australia in 1969 and 1978, while Australia played Greece in return matches in Athens in 1970 and 1980. In 1969 three games were played in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, with Australia winning the first by one–nil thanks to an Atti Abonyi goal, drawing the second two–all, with goals by Billy Vojtek and Ray Baartz, and losing the third two–nil. On 17 November 1970 Australia won three–one in Athens with Adrian Alston, Jimmy Mackay and George Blues on target. The 1978 Greek tour had matches in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney, resulting in two losses and a draw for the home team. In Athens in November 1980 Australia managed a three-all draw.
Australian teams have often had a complement of players of Greek extraction, including Charlie Yankos, who captained the Socceroos with distinction under coach Frank Arok in the second half of the 1980s, and Steve Georgakis, Steve Refenes, George Slifkas, Eric Hristodoulou and Mike Michalakopoulos, who helped the Australian Olympic team, the Olyroos, qualify for Barcelona in 1992. In 1996 in Atlanta it was the turn of Peter Tsekenis (Kosta Salapasidis played in lead-up games), while in Sydney in 2000 Con Blatsis and Stan Lazaridis were in the squad. At the Athens games in 2004 Australia’s women’s team, the Matildas, played their Greek counterparts in the group stages of the competition.
Many Australian players born in Greece or with Greek backgrounds went on to have more or less significant careers with Greek clubs, including Chris Kalantzis, Jim Patikas and Tony Spyridakos. Kyriakos Tohouroglou, though born in Sydney, later played for Greece as a full international.
Soccer administrators, sponsors, writers and coaches, as well as players, have been highly influential in the game in Australia. Theo Marmaras, first President of the Victorian Soccer Federation, Sir Arthur George, President of the ASF from 1969 to 1988, John Constantine, Chairman of the ASF from 1990 to 1995, Sam Papasavas, Nick Politis and Nick Theodorakopoulos are well known. Angelo Postecoglou coached South Melbourne to back-to-back national championships in 1998–99, the second of which resulted in the club taking part in the FIFA World Club Championship in Brazil where it played Manchester United. Postecoglou went on to become coach of the Australian Under-17 team, the Joeys, and the Under-20 team, the Young Socceroos. Postecoglou remembers: “It wasn’t cool to be Greek when I was at school. It wasn’t cool to play soccer either. In fact, I didn’t want to be Greek at the time; I wanted to be an ‘Aussie’. I realise now that I was being an Aussie. We all were.”
Greek clubs in Australia have been pacesetters in state and national competitions since the Second World War. Outstanding Greek-Australian–backed clubs included Pan-Hellenic, Sydney Olympic, South Melbourne Hellas, Heidelberg United Alexander and West Adelaide Hellas. South Melbourne was National Soccer League champion in 1984, 1990–91 and again in 1997–98 and 1998–99. Sydney Olympic won the title for the first time in 1989–90 and then again in 2001–02.
So when Greek meets Australian in Melbourne in May they will be adding another chapter to a significant football history.
(This article is derived from Bill Murray and Roy Hay, ‘Australia, Greece and Olympic Soccer’, in Steve Georgakis, ed., Back to Olympia, Joba Press, Sydney, 2005, with the permission of Steve Georgakis. Edited versions appeared in the Geelong Advertiser, Friday 10 February 2006, p. 35, Australian and British Soccer Weekly, Tuesday 14 February 2006, p. 18, and on the Football Federation of Victoria website at www.footballfedvic.com.au)
Melbourne Victory v New Zealand Knights
By Roy Hay
Melbourne Victory completed its first A-league season with a two-one win against last-place New Zealand Knights at Olympic Park on Saturday night in front of 10,078 dedicated fans. It was the closest one-sided game in the twenty-one rounds of matches with the home team having 58 per cent of the possession and 14 shots on target to just two.
Victory got a perfect start after Simon Storey’s shot was spilled by Knights’ keeper Glen Moss and had to be hacked behind for a corner. Kristian Sarkies’ inswinging effort was missed by everyone, except central defender Mark Byrnes who had a free header at the back post for the opening goal in the second minute.
In the 20th minute Victory’s Daniel Allsopp was pulled down in the penalty area by John Tambouras, allowing skipper Kevin Muscat to score his sixth goal of the season, five of which have come from the penalty spot.
The Knights have been anchored to the bottom of the league all season and played with big Neil Emblem and Sean Devine up front, but they offered little threat in the first half-hour, not winning even a corner-kick in that time. Victory had a string of corners and when Sarkies drove one in from the right in 36 minutes, defender Carl Recchia’s header thumped against the cross-bar and Byrnes fired the rebound past keeper Moss only for Sam Jasper to clear off the goal line. Sarkies and Michael Ferrante shot wide from good positions, but it was all Victory throughout the first half and it was clearly worth its two goal lead.
Ricky Diaco came on at half-time in place of Andy Vlahos as the Victory sought a third goal. But despite a number of near things it was unable to add to its tally and was punished for its profligacy. Two minutes into stoppage time the Knights’ youngster Jeremy Brockie was allowed to run free in the Victory defensive area and he finished with a drive past Michael Theoklitos. It was only the New Zealanders’ second shot on target in the game.
Overall it was a lack-lustre match with most of the atmosphere created by the diehard Melbourne fans whose banners showed both their sense of humour and that their patience with the lack of goals was wearing thin. Melbourne’s average crowd was over 14,158 which represented 76.5 per cent of the ground’s capacity, the highest in the A-League.
After the match Victory coach Ernie Merrick said the match was a microcosm of the season. “Our defence has been rock-solid and has hardly allowed the other team a shot at goal, our midfield have created lots of chances, our strikers have got on the end of things. Goalkeepers always have a fantastic game against us, so does the woodwork. It shows you the areas we have to work at for next year.”
Merrick is aware that the Victory must achieve results next year and make the finals and needs two strikers, a goalscoring midfielder and a mature full-back if it is to prosper.
New Zealand coach, John Adshead, admitted once again that the Knights had underestimated the standard of the A-League and had signed players from the English leagues who were not up to standard. He thought about seven and a maximum of ten of his current squad would survive the revamp of the Knights’ staff which is about to take place.
(An edited version appeared in the Geelong Advertiser, Monday 6 February 2006, p. 36).
Banners at Olympic Park
Seven month off-season Shame FFA. (But only six if Victory had made the finals)
Sack Desira.
Kitz thanks for the memories.
Go home Merrick we want a real coach. From PM and MN
Saturday Knights Fever
Boogie Knights Brockie
Enough is enough Merrick out. m 7 c
Andy Capp made a come back on a MVFC banner
Has football got lessons for how to deal with globalisation?
By Roy Hay
Football is and has been for more than a generation the global sport par excellence. There are more members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) than there are of the United Nations and the World Cup is a greater sporting extravaganza than the Olympic Games. Now a World Bank economist, Branko Milanovic, has produced a study of ‘how forces of efficiency but also inequality unleashed by globalisation can be harnessed by the existence of global institutions to help improve the outcome for the poor countries’.
Milanovic has applied economic analysis to confirm what has been known to most people connected with the sport that recent developments, particularly following the Bosman judgment, have resulted in a concentration of talent in rich clubs in a few countries in Europe. Jean-Marc Bosman, a Belgian player, took his case to the European Court in 1995, arguing that his club FC Liege had no right to a transfer fee after his contract expired. The court found in his favour and also declared that limiting the number of ‘foreign’ players from other European Union countries was contrary to European law. Freedom of labour movement in football followed and talented players now gravitated towards the leading clubs in Italy, Spain, Germany and England.
The consequence, according to Milanovic, is that the chances of a club outside this elite reaching the final stages of the major European competition, the Champions League, or winning the league title in one of these countries has been sharply reduced in the last decade or so. In the European Cup, now renamed and reorganised as the European Champions League, from the 1950s to the late 1980s around 28 to 30 teams reached the quarter-final stages out of a possible 40 in any five-year period. In 1998–2002 that number dropped to 22. Milanovic is aware of the change in the structure of the competition which originally included one club per country to one in which the leading countries have up to four places in the competition, while the minnows have to compete in pre-qualifying matches for a very limited number of places in the qualifying rounds.
In Italy the gap between rich and poor has widened. For example, from the 1950s until 2000 there were on average three or four teams from the southern parts of the country, traditionally the poorest part, in the top division, Serie A. Teams like Napoli and Cagliari won the Scudetto, the Italian championship. Now, he argues, there is only one or none at all. While that may have been true at the time he completed his research, it is no longer so, with Palermo and Messina from Sicily, Reggina from Calabria and Cagliari representing the south in 2005–06. Representation from the region is set to increase even further next year with Catania from Sicily on top of the Serie B. It is true that none is in the running for the Scudetto, and the poorer clubs have just challenged the leading group for a fairer distribution of the income from television, currently biased heavily in favour of the Turin and Milan clubs. Had Milanovic looked at other countries such as Scotland, Portugal, Uruguay and Holland he would have observed that concentration of talent in two or three top clubs and the marginalisation of provincial teams was of long standing and had little to do with globalisation.
On the other hand, when it comes to the World Cup, players may not change their allegiance (with very limited exceptions) and have to represent the country of their birth or parentage. Good players from poor countries who are attracted to the top European leagues improve their performance and hence have the ability to carry that back into the World Cup qualification for their countries. So there is greater evenness of competition in World Cup qualification and in the final tournament. In the four latest World Cups there have been at least two ‘newcomers’among the top eight finalists. For example when the cup was played in Korea/Japan in 2002, South Korea, Senegal, Turkey and the USA reached the quarter-finals (last eight).
In addition, the goal difference between teams competing in World Cup finals is decreasing, suggesting to Milanovic more even competition. Since the number of goals per game has been decreasing as well, it is perhaps less surprising that differentials have narrowed and, as Milanovic appreciates, the number of countries taking part in World Cup finals has increased from16 in 1978 to 32 since 1998, thus giving greater chances for lesser countries to take part in the final competition.
Milanovic concludes that the free circulation of labour has led to an increase in the quality of the top-level football competitions but a greater inequality between teams. For the fans improved communication means that they can watch top-level competition around the world, though their local team has little chance of winning anything or even playing in the premier league. However, when it comes to national competitions the poorer countries have a chance to do better. They can draw on a cadre of players who have experience of playing in the top leagues once every four years for the World Cup and sometimes more often for regional competitions. So in Australia we have Mark Viduka and Harry Kewell, for example, and now Archie Thompson of Melbourne Victory on his way to PSV Eindhoven, the club of Australian national coach Guus Hiddink.
Milanovic warns that the rich clubs chafe even under the mild redistribution of resources implied in the selection of their players for their country of birth in the World Cup and fears that the powerful clubs may gang up on FIFA in the form of a breakaway by the G14, a self-selected group of rich European clubs. Similar breakaways have occurred in the past; some successful, others not so. Milanovic suggests that the football model illustrates some of the benefits and many of the hazards implicit in globalisation and the fragility of rules and institutions designed to curb unfettered competition in the market. While some of its economic analysis may be a little daunting, this is the type of article anyone interested in the future of the game ought to read. It is published in the Review of International Political Economy.
Branko Milanovic, ‘Globalisation and goals: Does soccer show the way?’ Review of International Political Economy, volume 12, number 5, December 2005, pp. 829–850.
This article appeared on the Football Federation of Victoria website on 16 January 2006 at http://www.footballfedvic.com.au/ An edited version appeared in the Geelong Advertiser on Thursday 2 February 2006, p. 40 under the headline 'Soccer shows the way to the world'.
Review of the football year 2005
By Roy Hay
The year 2005 was dominated by the qualification campaigns for the World Cup in Germany in June 2006 and by parts of two superb seasons of European Champions League football. The latter competition is now generally regarded as the best in the world, though Sao Paolo of Brazil was able to claim the title of World Club champion with a somewhat fortuitous win over Liverpool, the European champion club, in Japan in December. More of that later.
Among the leagues the English Premier League continued to claim the most attention, though the standard of football may not have been higher than that in Italy, Spain or Argentina. However, the resources which poured into the English game in past years showed signs of drying up despite Roman Abramovich’s continued underwriting of large losses by Chelsea and the take-over of Manchester United by the American Malcolm Glazer. This latter move was highly leveraged and United is now saddled with debts which may well be unserviceable in future, particularly if they do not perform well in European competition.
Australia’s move from the Oceania to the Asian Confederation of FIFA, which will take place on 1 January 2006 may well turn out to be the most significant international football event affecting this country. Even more than the stunning World Cup qualification secured in a gut-wrenching penalty shoot-out victory over Uruguay at the Telstra Stadium in Sydney in November. For the future Australia will play in national and club competitions at a high standard which attract huge fan support both at the grounds and on television which will have important implications for the finance of the game in this country. The successful start of the domestic A-League, which has attracted above expected attendances and some significant sponsorship, is another good sign for the game.
Australia’s reputation was somewhat tarnished by Multiplex’s problems with new Wembley Stadium which it is building. This will end up costing local investors, and may not be ready in time for 2006 FA Cup Final. The Football Association have booked the Millennium Stadium at Cardiff as a back-up.
The Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho has come of age this year winning both World and European player of the year awards by a huge margin from some excellent players like Frank Lampard, Steve Gerrard and Thierry Henry. Even the Real Madrid crowd gave him a standing ovation when he destroyed Real with its Galacticos including David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane at the Bernabeu in November. Barcelona also have one to watch for the future in Lionel Messi, star of the World Youth Cup who is already cutting it in the Primera Liga. The young Argentine is so good he is not being described as the next Maradona but the first Lionel Messi. In England Wayne Rooney has had a mercurial year with some stunning performances for club and country, but he could not help Manchester United qualify for the knock-out stages of the Champions League.
By late November the 32 places in the World Cup draw had been settled. The surprise packets this year included Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, led by the ever smiling Dwight Yorke, who has had an excellent season with Sydney FC in the new Australian A-League, and three of the African qualifiers, Togo, Angola and the Ivory Coast. Ghana was more expected, but the absence of Nigeria, Cameroon and South Africa was not. Australia is drawn in Group F along with defending champion Brazil, Asian champion Japan and Croatia. Qualification owes a great deal to Dutch coach Guus Hiddink and a fair slice of luck this time, making up for some raw deals in the past. Can Australia qualify from this group? It will need something special against three more fancied teams, but it is possible given a good start against Japan. Expect to see changes in the Australian line-up by June as Hiddink will pick players he thinks can do a job for him, not reputations. It is hard to go past Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Italy as winner, but if you want a dark horse then perhaps Ukraine led by Andriy Shevchenko might be worth a bet. England fancies its chances but will do well to get to the semi-finals.
The Champions League has now settled down as what is almost a European league with the G14 clubs dominating. The G14 is a self-selected group of top clubs from the major European Leagues who have set themselves up as a pressure group to try to obtain a larger share of the revenue accruing to the world game. Another of their recent initiatives is an attempt to force national associations to compensate them for injuries incurred by their players when representing their country. In this season’s Champions League, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Ajaxm Barcelona, Werder Bremen, Villareal, Benfica, Chelsea, Liverpool, AC Milan, Hiddink’s PSV, Lyon, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Rangers got through the qualifying rounds, with only the last of these being unexpected. Lyon has an excellent side and is predicted to do well, while Chelsea and Barcelona have been drawn to meet in a replay of last year’s epic clash. The UEFA Cup looks like it is going the way of the Cup-Winners Cup as a consolation prize for the also rans. It may well be that a two-tier format of a European league will be formalised in the next few years to head off a breakaway by the leading clubs.
National competitions remain interesting with the emphasis shifting towards European qualification, especially if the top spot is predetermined by the end of the calendar year as is the case in several countries. Chelsea, Barcelona, Lyon, Juventus and Celtic can probably put their feet up domestically and still win their respective leagues, though Osasuna have made a bold challenge in Spain. In England, Tottenham Hotspur under Martin Jol look threatening to Manchester United, Liverpool and a fading Arsenal for the European places, while Hearts challenge in Scotland has stalled since Valery Romanov replaced the excellent George Burley with Graham Rix, who is still under a cloud for earlier sexual misdemeanours. Burley has just been appointed head coach at Southampton in the English Championship where he will work with Sir Clive Woodward as Director of Football. Woodward was better known for coaching the English rugby union team to the last World Rugby Cup.
FIFA’s egregious president Sepp Blatter continues to produce contradictory plans for the world game. His World Club championship adds fixtures to an already congested calendar and yet produces a final in which the leading European team will play the South American champion with the rest making up the numbers (except that Manchester United let everyone down last time). Sao Paolo got an early breakaway goal against Liverpool and held on to win as Liverpool had three goals chalked off and missed a barrow-load of chances. While the Australian press thought that Sydney FC did well to finish in 5th place, the overseas writers were highly condemnatory of the standard of the also-rans in the ersatz tournament, which is not really going to develop the game in any meaningful way.
So what will be my memories of the world game in 2005? The brilliance of Ronaldinho, and the precocious talent of young Messi and the game of two halves which was last season’s Champions League final, when Liverpool recovered from a mauling by AC Milan to gain a draw and then held on by the skin of its teeth for penalties which it won. Then there was Australia’s similar exercise against Uruguay and the irony that Mark Schwarzer should have been watching Zeljko Kalac in goal for the ultimate shoot-out instead of saving the penalties that allowed John Aloisi to fulfil his and all our dreams with the final kick. The downside was the capitulation of Celtic to a young Australian called Scott McDonald, who scored not once but twice for Motherwell in the last few minutes of the final match of the season in Scotland to deny the Hoops a league championship it had dominated. Oh, and my home town club Ayr United going through another season without anything to show for it. A bit like Geelong in the footy. The year 2005 was not a great year, but a good one. Let’s hope 2006 is even better.
(This was broadcast on FM94.7 The Pulse at 1.30 pm on Saturday, 24 December 2005 on the Soccer Show with Tonci Prusac, Liam Tench and James Muir. An edited version appeared in the Geelong Advertiser on Friday 30 December 2005, p. 39.)