Football is for everyone
Maybe we already knew this. But we were reminded again of it this week.
After the tragic events in New Zealand the A-League came together to mourn the victims of the horrific terrorist attack and support their families.
Money was raised, minutes of silence were held and goal celebrations paid tribute.
Sadly, it’s pointless to deny that hate and division does exist in this world.
But if you went to an A-League game you probably saw what we all see when we go to A-League matches, that every ‘group’ is represented.
Muslims attend matches, Jewish people attend matches, Christians, Catholics, Atheists, Hindus and any other religion that is represented in Australian society can be found at the football.
And not just in the crowd, but on the field - both the professional and the amateur.
Gay people sit next to straight people and argue about the VAR, and the value of possession-based football.
Old men tell stories from yesteryear of the great Pele, Maradona or George Best as young girls look up Youtube videos of Sam Kerr and Lionel Messi.
The sport is amazing because anyone, from anywhere, can get addicted to it.
And the fact that every day, people from all sections of our very diverse community come together and play football, and watch football and argue about football is surely what makes this the beautiful game, or to quote Les Murray ‘the world game’.
Perfectionist Popa wants Perth to punish teams
They have scored more goals than anyone else (47) and have the best chance conversion rate in the league (21%), but Perth Glory coach Tony Popovic wants more.
"There is always room for improvement," he said after the 2-0 victory against Adelaide.
"You need to punish teams when you're on top and you get clear opportunities.
"And (against Adelaide) we had numerous chances in the box ... to really put the game away and we didn't."
If there is any hope of stopping Perth’s run to a maiden A-League championship, the remaining contenders for the A-League will have to find a way to shut down the creativity of Diego Castro, the passing of Neil Kilkenny and in doing so limit the number of chances the likes of Andy Keogh receive. Easier typed out than done.
New manager bounce gives Mariners hope
It was one of the craziest F3 derbies in history.
New Central Coast coach Alen Stajcic admitted he’d only “been here five minutes”, but whatever he did in those minutes unlocked some type of magic. Even if it was just say to his side, “Hi guys, I’m not Mike Mulvey.”
The Mariners went 1-0 up against the run of play. And then just 16 minutes later it was 3-0.
This team? Up by three goals? Away from home? Football will always surprise us. But the twists and turns didn’t end there.
At 3-2 up Mariners keeper Ben Kennedy had to - twice - face an injury-time penalty to earn his side the win. Twice he dived low to his left, twice he saved it, twice the rebound fell to Newcastle’s Daniel Georgievski.
But thanks to a combination of the VAR’s correct intervention on the first and Georgievski’s miss on the second, the Mariners went back down the highway with all three points.
A week is a long time in football.
Wellington have the wind in their sails and it might just save the Nix
Have Wellington fans ever had as much reason to be proud of their club as they do now?
There was so much to love about how the Nix carried themselves on Sunday.
The match started with both the Phoenix and Wanderers players arm-in-arm as a display of unity and solidarity with the victims of the Christchurch attack.
Twelve minutes in Roy Krishna continued his incredible form with his 15th goal of the season, as he took the out-right lead in the golden boot race. Like Kosta Barbarouses against Brisbane Roar, he capped his goal by bowing down in prayer to the victims of the attack.
No doubt the entire stadium’s collective heart was warmed by that gesture, and no doubt that same heart was pumping when Mandi hit a stunning free-kick from distance 11 minutes later.
It was only one-third through the match when David Williams finished off a great team move to make it 3-0.
They conceded one goal late, but the Nix are on track to equal their best-ever finish in 4th position on the ladder. An incredible turnaround from 9th last season, one point above the Mariners.
And to top it all off, the way Mark Rudan spoke post-match was exactly what you want from your leader, from the spokesperson of your team. A class act all round. Why would you want to get rid of this team from your league now?
Sydney FC’s cracks are beginning to show
Sydney FC played Melbourne City at home and didn’t manage a single shot on target. They’ve only managed four on target in their last three matches. All of which, they didn’t score in.
The Sky Blues had two massive departures in the off-season with Bobo and Adrian Mierzejewski leaving. They replaced Bobo’s goals more or less with Adam LeFondre but Mierzejewski’s creativity and ruthlessness has not been replaced.
The creative burden increasingly falls on Milos Ninkovic, and if he is either marked out of the game or just out of form Sydney have real problems.
They’ve tried Daniel de Silva out wide, it hasn’t worked. Anthony Caceres has come in but so far not been at his best.
Somewhat ironically, they could use a player like Steve Corica. An intelligent, efficient, creative player to ease the load on Ninkovic.
It’s unlikely that they’ll find it, so we’ll have to see if Corica can be as creative with his tactics as he was with the ball.
