Entries Tagged 'Queensland Roar' ↓

Adelaide put some demons to rest on Saturday night as it beat Queensland Roar 1-0. Disappointing for Queensland fans, and a surprising finish for many who wrote off Adelaide after the hiding in Melbourne and Aurelio Vidmar’s rant. Adelaide now get a chance for redemption.

I thought I’d take the occasion to compile a bunch of interesting/meaningless statistics.

• Only one team has ever reached the Grand Final after finishing outside the top 2. That was Central Coast Mariners in season one of the A-League.
• No team finishing outside the top 2 has ever won the Grand Final.
• Adelaide United has qualified for the Asian Champions League three times in four years.
• Two out of three times, the team with the home ground advantage in the Grand Final has won. The one time this wasn’t the case was last year, when the Mariners “hosted” Newcastle in Sydney.
• No team has ever won the Pre-season Cup, topped the ladder and won the Grand Final in the same season.
• Melbourne Victory is the only team to ever win the Pre-season Cup and then top the ladder.
• Only one current Melbourne Victory player has scored in a Grand Final (Archie Thompson x 5)
• Only one current Adelaide United player has scored in a Grand Final (Kristian Sarkies x 1, when he played for Melbourne against Adelaide)
• Since the start of season 4, Adelaide and Melbourne have played each other 5 times. The score is 11-2 in Melbourne’s favour.
• Of the eight goals ever scored in a Grand Final, Melbourne scored six. Archie Thompson scored five.

If 2008 ended with a bang, 2009 began with a dull thud. Melbourne Victory rose to the top of the table, albeit only for a night, with a 2-1 win over the Queensland Roar, but it wasn’t pretty.

Queensland and Melbourne, ranked second and third on the ladder before this round started, were as evenly balanced as their ranking suggested. That is, they both had chances and bungled them. Both had, overall, a poor night. It’s just that Melbourne turned it on for fifteen, maybe twenty minutes, took a two-goal lead and was able to keep the Roar from getting two back in the remaining twenty something minutes.

Archie Thompson in particular had a frustrating night, with no less than four attempts on goal gone astray in the last twenty minutes. And let’s not forget his outburst after Carlos Hernández opted to take a shot himself, rather than passing it to Archie. Nevermind that Archie had done the same thing minutes before. Nevermind. To be fair, Archie did produce the pass setting up Danny Allsopp’s opener.

It wasn’t just Archie though. Compared to the week before, the Victory played with minimal intensity. Too many beers on New Year’s Eve perhaps? The exception to the rule was Carlos Hernández, who seemed to be moving quicker than he has before. A positive sign to be sure.

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Adelaide United won their game against Sydney FC on Saturday night, putting them back at the top of the table and forcing John Kosmina to admit his side’s season is over. It also sets up a brilliant top-of-the-table encounter between Melbourne and Adelaide on Tuesday, which will go some way to determining who grasps the Minor Premiership this year.

Meanwhile, Wellington Phoenix have kept their season alive with an emphatic 3-0 win over the Newcastle Jets. They’re a point down from Queensland Roar (who have played a game less) and three points down from the Central Coast Mariners. Whether they manage to oust one of the Aussie teams will be one of the most interesting stories to watch over the next three weeks.

The Melbourne Victory hosts the Queensland Roar tonight, in what is a critical juncture of the A-League season.

The Roar sit on equal points with Melbourne, but edge us out on goal difference. A win tonight for either side would go a long way to ensuring their finals aspirations.

The Central Coast Mariners have already played their game this round, beating the Perth Glory 1-0 on New Year’s Eve. That’s put the Mariners at the top of the table temporarily, but that’s unlikely to remain so, with Adelaide United, Queensland and Melbourne all able to overtake the Mariners.

Ernie Merrick indicated that he plans to do very little to change the squad that overcame Sydney FC last week, suggesting that Grant Brebner and Jose Luis Lopez may once again have to watch from the sidelines. Surely it is a sign of the depth of Melbourne’s squad that a hero from season 2 and a Costa Rican international are unable to make it into the squad?

The pitch is a cause for concern, as the Telstra Dome was used for New Year’s Eve festivities. The club and Dome are apparently clashing heads over it. Ernie Merrick even said: “As coach of Melbourne Victory, I find working with Telstra Dome management and preparing for a game is very difficult. That’s all I’ll say at this stage.” Enough said Ernie. We know what you mean. Telstra Dome are pains in the arses.

My tips for the weekend:

• Melbourne to shatter Queensland: Maybe not by much – Queensland have a strong defence – but if Melbourne play with the intensity they had against Sydney FC, they can win this.
• Adelaide United to beat Sydney FC: Only the bravest of punters would tip otherwise at the moment. Adelaide are riding high at the top of the table, while Sydney are tumbling down. I expect the trend to continue.
• Wellington Phoenix to beat Newcastle Jets: I suppose I could have saved time and just said I expect the home teams to win this weekend. Newcastle have nothing but pride left to play for, while a win for Wellington is essential for the finals chances.

It was shaping up to be a rather woeful performance by the Melbourne Victory, until Carlos Hernandez picked up a second yellow in the 57th minute. Down to ten men for the third week in the row, and the Victory suddenly kicks it up half a dozen notches.

This time there was no narrow victory or lucky escape at the death. Queensland’s young subs, Tahj Minniecon and Michael Zullo, silenced Melbourne with two goals in the last ten minutes.

The Roar deserved the three points. The A-League scoreboard for the game shows a single attempt on target by Melbourne, compared with Queensland’s seven. For the vast majority of the game, the visitors were dominant. Melbourne only looked like creating something when it went down to ten men.

Speaking of which, I am yet to comprehend why Carlos Hernandez was sent off. A rather poor video on YouTube shows the incident. I see a Queensland Roar player with a hand raised, holding Hernandez back; I see Hernandez going down. Simulation is the only possible explanation for the yellow card, but it’s an incredibly soft yellow. Did Ben Williams even realize he was giving Hernandez a red when he pulled out the yellow card? He certainly took his time to show the red card.

Ok, time to stop ranting.

The loss does not affect Melbourne’s position at the top of the ladder (not bad for a team that’s finished half its games with a man down), but it does allow Adelaide United, the Central Coast Mariner and the Queensland Roar to step within striking distance of the top. Sydney FC retain second spot after losing to the Wellington Phoenix.

This weekend’s clash against the Perth Glory will be a major test of the quality of Melbourne’s depth. As the Herald Sun pointed out yesterday, Melbourne have just sixteen fit players from which to pick their squad. Trying times ahead.

The Melbourne Victory and Queensland Roar youth teams met this afternoon in Green Gully Reserve for the opening match of the A-League National Youth League. It was the visitors who went home with the points, with Queensland’s Joshua McVey and Mitch Nichols giving the Roar a 2-0 win.

Melbourne’s performance was promising but frustrating. Our overage players – Steve Pantelidis, Steven Pace and Daniel Vasilevski – shored up the defence, along with Robert Wynne and Cameron Drake, two solid centre-backs. Matthew Theodore gave a convincing performance as an attacking midfielder, but was rarely able to connect with the front pairing of Nathan Elasi and Dimitri Hatzimouratis. Nor was Ante Cicak, who worked the left flank but was unable to find the precision needed in the final third.

Nathan Elasi had Melbourne’s best chance with an opportunistic volley in the 38th minute. It beat Griffen McMaster, but hit the post, landing for Steven Pace, whose shot was stopped by McMaster. Beyond that excellent attempt, the Victory struggled to make a real impression in attack, only managing a handful of shots from distance, which were easily stopped by McMaster and his replacement, Luke Muir.

Queensland looked the more dangerous side at the start, but were kept quiet by a strong Victory defence. Josh McVey quickly made an impression after he was subbed on at the start of the second half, with a lovely strike putting his side in front after 48 minutes. 15 minutes later, Mitch Nichols took advantage of a goalkeeper mistake, beating Mijo Marinovic to give the Roar a strong lead. Isaka Cernak, from the senior team, looked incisive in midfield when he came on for the final half hour.

The game’s lowest point came in the final ten minutes, when Queensland’s Ben Griffin received a straight red card for pushing Milos Lujic in the face. What that suspension will do to his chances of playing in the A-League, I’m not sure, but it was sad to see one of the overage players acting so unprofessionally.

Melbourne Victory host the Queensland Roar on Sunday, as they try to maintain their hold on the top spot.

The Victory will be buoyed after their come-from-behind draw in Gosford last week, but they will have to meet Queensland without Michael Theoklitos and Ney Fabiano, who are both on suspension.

Lou Acevski comes into the squad as a back-up goalkeeper, as Mitch Langerak takes his place between the sticks.

It’s going to be a tough game for Langerak, with Queensland boasting a dangerous offence. Charlie Miller has scored in all but one game this season, while Reinaldo and Sergio van Dijk seem to be combining well up front. And with just one win so far this season, Frank Farina’s men need a win desperately.

My tips for the weekend:

• Central Coast Mariners to win at home against the Perth Glory. Perth got their first win last week, while the Mariners had victory snatched away from them by Archie Thompson. Home ground advantage will help the Mariners get the full three points this week.
• Adelaide United to lose to Newcastle Jets. The Newcastle Jets also picked up their first win last week, while Adelaide United have lost their past two A-League matches. Adelaide may be riding high after reaching the ACL semi-finals; but I think Newcastle will take advantage of their tired legs and steal an away win.
• Wellington Phoenix to draw with Sydney FC. There’s more hope than expectation behind this tip: most pundits are tipping a Sydney win, and it’s make or break time for the Phoenix, who are yet to win a game. Here’s hoping they snatch a draw or, even better, a win.
• Melbourne Victory to secure three points against Queensland Roar. It’ll be a fiery affair, but hopefully Melbourne will be able to finish the game with 11 men this week. If Vargas, Thwaite and Muscat can contain the Queensland attack, Melbourne will win this.

Queensland Roar 1, Melbourne Victory 2

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExEGDlajGJ0[/youtube]

The Melbourne Victory meets the first placed team for the second week in a row on Saturday night. Queensland Roar hit the top of the ladder after beating Perth 4 – 1 and watching the Victory wreak havoc on the Central Coast Mariners.

The Roar may be first, but they’re far from secure. Goal difference is all that sets them above the Mariners, who meet the Perth Glory this weekend. Meanwhile, Sydney FC is trailing by just three points.

Queensland need to come away from Saturday’s match with full points.

But they’ll have to deal with the Victory, who came alive on Monday in a confidence-building performance against Central Coast. Continue reading →

With the A-League starting its final 7 rounds this week, it’s a good time to take a look at how Melbourne’s fate is panning out alongside its competitors. I’ve heard plenty of pessimistic talk from Melbourne fans recently, but a cursory look at how other teams are performing should give Victory supporters plenty of cause for hope.

It’s a very tight league.

1. Central Coast Mariners
Four points separate Central Coast from the Queensland Roar. It’s a strong, but breakable, lead. From a strictly statistical point of view, the Mariners’ strength has been their defense, which has let through only 9 goals this season. But with strikers like John Aloisi and Sasho Petrovski, and scoring midfielders like Tom Pondeljak, Adam Kwasnik and John Hutchinson, opposition teams will have their work cut for them all across the park. The Mariners are a lethal team at the moment and I would not bet against them finishing top of the ladder. Continue reading →

“We simply were not at the races” Victory’s stand-in captain Grant Brebner said. Sad, but true.
Another disappointing match and one that comes at time when many fans will start to feel the season is fast moving beyond reach. The loss to Central Coast could be disregarded as an unfortunate series of events. Last week’s match against Sydney was tight and by all accounts one that we just as easily could/(should?) have won. But this one just never looked right. It was the chance to get right back into the thick of it and everything fell apart. Where has it all gone wrong? Continue reading →