The Outsiders' Edge

Welcome home to the Edge. In this entry our man Con gives us the latest news and notes on the A-League. Not to be confused with the A-Team.

Hannibal Smith was a great man and a true American.

One of the best things about your team getting a win when they play badly is the reaction of the losing coach.

Having to front a press conference after watching your team out- play the opposition is bound to make the coach say some crazy things.

So it was no surprise that ex Sydney FC boss Branko Culina marched to the front of the pack in the A League Coaches Sore Loser Award:
“I don’t care what their coach says and the fact that he’s on $500,000 and I’m on 50 bucks or whatever it is, but if that’s what the foreigners are going to bring to this game, let’s have more local coaches.”
“There was only one team that really deserved to win that game, but we can only blame ourselves, we can’t blame anyone else.”
John Kosmina has usually taken out the award every year and he even managed to win it when he took a year off from coaching.
Isn’t it time to move away from the most boring debate in Australian Football? The overseas coach’s vs local coaches debate makes me yawn and say things like oh dear.

So to the action on the bumpy SFS surface. If you take out Mark Bridge’s goal (that by the way was deceivingly brilliant because he got a friendly SFS bobble that usually sees the ball land in the middle of bay 23 next to deadpool who holds the megaphone) and Corica’s excellent taken penalty the performance by Sydney FC to quote Jorge Valdano “was like watching shit on a stick”.
One of the positives apart from winning was seeing Stuart “Disco Stu” Musalik play in midfield again; he is one of my favourites. Simon Colisimo had another good game; but the performances of his teammates are making him look good.

The decision to rest Karol Kisel, Stephen Keller and John Aloisi due to injury or otherwise at least showed that Sydney FC has some depth. The performance of Musalik Sebastian Ryall and Mark Bridge means that all three veterans will have to work harder at training this week, it might be tough to get back in the starting line up since the instruction by Lavicka all season has been “quicker, play quicker!”

Alex Brosque hasn’t scored a goal yet but he was won three penalties. Memo to his teammates: Just give Brosque the ball when he is in the box running towards the by-line. Like bees to honey and flies to shit A League keepers are attracted to the option of bringing him down when there is no apparent danger.
So forget about watching a slick passing team that will play exhilarating football. Sydney FC will win games because they hard to beat. Branko and all the other local coaches may have a right to be jealous at the huge salary our Bohemian maestro is getting. However if the Czech delivers the precious things that us Sydney FC fans covets then there certainly will not be any trouble here!

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Sydney FC Go back Top

If round six was dominated by the imports then round seven was owned by the locals. Sydney FC’s Mark Bridge, Perth Glory’s Wayne Shjroj and Melbourne Victory’s Nick Ward dropped some bombs this week, even if not all of them reached their intended targets.
Round seven of the A League also saw the reigning champions (Melbourne Victory) the wannabe champions (Sydney FC) and the most criticised team in the A League (Central Coast Mariners) announce that they will be a force to be reckoned with.
Perth Glory had a rare away victory and for once didn’t through away a winning position, while Wellington did


Friday night football in Adelaide kicked off round seven, 15 000 Reds fan filled Hindmarsh stadium hoping to get a win over their most bitter rivals Melbourne Victory. Bleak city welcomed back influential skipper Kevin Muscat who had an excellent game and a 2-0 away win seems like Melbourne has started to begin life without veteran Striker Danny Allsop.
It was Allsop’s replacement Nick Ward who had an immediate impact, scoring the opening goal and possibly the biggest the fluke of the A League so far. A run down the right saw Ward fire in ball toward goal, at first glance it looked like a cross. Instead the ball flew past Eugene Galekovic and into the back of the net from an acute angle that stunned the home crowd. It’s one of those goals only the most talented and freakishly of talented players score once in their lives, not someone like Nick Ward.

The Saturday evening fixture in Gosford saw Central Coast Mariners win the battle of the Coastal cities beating the league leaders Gold Coast by three goals to nil. The Mariners cool Britannia trio of Chris Doig, Michael McGlinchey and Nicky Travis shone for the home team. Mat Simon gave a nice ball to Travis and the Englishman finished well to open the scoring for the home team.

Gold Coast United Goal keeper Jess Van Stratten played his first game for his new club and the Central Coast junior did not have a happy homecoming, he was embarrassingly beaten at his near post by Mat Simon who made the score 2-0.
The Gold Coast looked rather ordinary.  The White Shoe Brigade’s most influential players so far this season Jason Culina and Shane Smeltz were kept quiet and the latter was sent off by Mathew Breeze for suggesting the assistant referee should invest in some glasses.

Gold Coast United: Australia's biggest fail since the Crocodile Hunter

A Sunday afternoon kick off and a crowd of just over 10 000 witnessed a hart fought contest between Sydney FC and the Newcastle Jets.
Sydney FC coach Vitezslav Lavcika made some big calls by dropping John Aloisi, Karol Kisel and Stephan Keller and it worked as the Sky blues enjoyed a 2-1 win over the Jets.

Alex Brosque and Mark Bridge played up front while Sebastian Ryall left his off field dramas behind him to start his first game of the season for the Sky Blues.

The game was full of drama especially the first half. Sydney FC were lucky they were not down 1-0 nil after Fabio Vignarioli needed no invitation to fall down in the box after the Jets Italian Marquee had his shirt tugged absurdly by Stuart  “Disco Stu” Musalik. Mat Thomson the Newcastle Jets captain had his weak spot kick saved by Clint Bolton. It was the Sydney keepers’ second penalty save of the season.

A few moments later two Jets players combined to give Sydney FC the lead. Mark Bridge scored a fantastic solo goal for the Sky blues after being fed by Stuart Musalik, Bridge turned the Jets defence and found some space to shoot just outside the box. As Bridge lined up the shot he received a friendly SFS bobble, instead of the ball heading into the stand the ball curved into the Jets goal, while Ben Kennedy stood like a mime statue in Circular Quay.

AC-DC: International rock icons and unfortunately the starting back line for the Newcastle Jets

One of the craziest games of the A League finished off round seven. Perth Glory was thankful that the Roar gifted them three goals in a rare away victory that finished with a bizarre 4-2 score line.

Looks like the A League shuffle is in full swing as no one team is dominating proceedings. The Gold Coast doesn’t seem to like the quiet life much after suffering losses in Newcastle and Gosford, while Sydney and Perth looked unconvincing in their victories. After three and a bit seasons Wellington still don’t know how hold on for a win; the more things change the more they stay the same in the A League.


A League Import Watch: Chris Doig, Michael McGlinchey and Nicky Travis impressed for the Central Coast and so did Surat Sukha for Melbourne Victory.  Brisbane Roar pocket dynamo Henrique was one of the few imports that provided any spark in attack. The Jets unleashed Iraq International Ali Abbas and his 20 minute cameo against Sydney FC has me thinking that his name will appear in this section more often in the future.
A-League Socceroo Watch: Pim’s spies would have reported that Simon Colisimo had another good game for Sydney FC and the Mariners Mat Simon did well also.
Hot Spot: Are you a local? Even though this is a not a  local League for local people only, the locals outshone the imports this round. About time the Aussie boys started to represent.
Odd Spot: Mathew “Hallmark” Breeze sent off Shane Smeltz for gesturing to the linesman he should get glasses. Haven’t you learnt that around “Hallmark” these kinds of Shenanigans will not be tolerated?
Quotes of the Week: “I’ve been practicing them after training, it was a half shot, half cross,”   Melbourne Victory attacker Nick Ward said when questioned about his fluky goal.
“I remember watching Nick Ward when he played for QPR (Queens Park Rangers) and I can tell you that he never meant that shot,” Ex- Manchester United defender and Fox Sports pundit Scott Parker suggesting that Nick Ward may have meant to cross it rather than shoot it. I concur with the ex -Red Devil great.
Goal of the Week: Mark Bridge just loves scoring at the Sydney Football Stadium against the Jets.
Nutmeg Of the Season: Kaz Patafta is finally getting some consistent game time this season, and not before time. His nutmeg on Byun not only embarrassed the Sydney FC left back but it led to an equalising goal.
Miss of the Season: The Wellington Phoenix attacker Daniel leads the candidates for miss of the season when he literally nutmeged himself from only three only yards out.
Team of the Week: GK:Bolton (SYD), LB:Sukha(MELB)CB:Muscat(MELB), CB:Colisimo(SYD), RB:Kemp(MELB), LM:Travis(CENT)  CM:Shroj(Perth) CM:Hutchinson(CENT), RM:Pondejlak(MELB), FW:Bridge(SYD), FW:Simon(CENT)

(To read more of Con’s work visit his website at http://afootballstory.blogspot.com/ or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ConStamocostas