By Adrian Musolino
January 1st 2010 @ 2:42am
Ten things to look out for in 2010, Part One
Australia's Harry Kewell takes control of the ball from Ghana's Eric Addo as Kewell's team mate Joel Griffiths offers support during their friendly match at the Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, Friday, May 23, 2008. AAP Image/Dean Lewins
Welcome to 2010! No doubt you’re reading this column through the impaired vision of a New Years Eve hangover. But once your mind kicks into gear you can look forward to a huge year of sport in 2010.
In the first part of a two-part series we look forward to ten things to watch out for in 2010.
The first five are:
The World Cup. 2010 will be the year of the World Cup. How will the Socceroos perform in the challenging Group D against Germany, Ghana and Serbia? Will the scenes from 2006 be replicated in pubs and clubs across Australia, and how will those punters and the mainstream media judge the Socceroos’ performance?
Following on from the World Cup, will the A-League be able to ride the wave of national interest in the round ball game to reverse the downward crowd trend? And what impact will Melbourne Heart have on the competition?
Then in December, the big announcement – will Australia be awarded either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup? How will the bidding process have progressed up until that point and what factors will win or lose us the right to stage the tournament?
Make no mistake, 2010 is a massive year for Australian football, perhaps a defining one for its future trajectory.
The logjam at the top of the AFL ladder. Let’s take it as a given that last season’s finalists, Geelong and St Kilda, are all but certain top four candidates in 2010.
Throw into the mix last season’s fellow top four occupants, Collingwood – in Mike Malthouse’s swansong season – and a Western Bulldogs now equipped with a key forward in Barry Hall, and it seems you’ve got a top four.
But what of Brisbane Lions, with Coleman medalist Brendan Fevola paired with Jonathon Brown in a fearsome forward line-up? What of the Adelaide Crows, the surprise-packet of last year and a team that has such an exciting blend of promising youth and premiership-winning experience? Or Hawthorn, keen to make amends for their 2009 fall from grace, still equipped with the talent that took them to the 2008 flag.
The AFL isn’t short of contenders in 2010.
Aussies ruling the motorsport world. Mark Webber’s two Grand Prix victories were only the icing on the very rich cake that was Australia’s motorsport year, with Ryan Briscoe almost snatching the Indy Car title, Casey Stoner rattling of more MotoGP wins, David Brabham winning at Le Mans, Daniel Ricciardo winning the prestigious British Formula 3 series and Marcos Ambrose’s rise in NASCAR.
Those Aussies lead the charge in 2010, and there is a chance that Australians could win the Formula 1 and MotoGP world championships, the Indy 500, Le Mans 24 hours, Daytona 500 and more. Bring it on!
Star-studded cycling. Lance Armstrong’s 2009 comeback and rivalry with Astana teammate Alberto Contador added much intrigue to Le Tour de France.
Having left Astana to create his own shop, Team RadioShack, taking Johan Bruyneel and several key riders with him, the stage is set for Armstrong to engage in a titanic battle with Contador at Le Tour in 2010.
With the Schleck brothers (Andy and Frank) growing in stature, and Cadel Evans at greener pastures with the BMC Racing Team, bolstered by having the experienced George Hincapie as teammate, professional cycling has not had so much depth at the front end of the peleton since the days of Armstrong, Marco Pantani and Jan Ullrich.
Best of all, for us Aussies at least, the cycling season kicks off in Adelaide, with Evans joining the returning Armstrong at the Tour Down Under in January, and ends in Melbourne with Evans defending his road racing world championship crown on home soil.
Comebacks. The aforementioned Lance Armstrong and US Open winner Kim Clijsters were the comeback stories of 2009. In 2010, all eyes will be on Michael Schumacher. At 41-years of age, Schumacher will be pit himself against the generation that replaced him – Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and co. How the seven-time world champion matches-up against drivers almost half his age will be fascinating to see.
And what of Tiger Woods? How will be received by the fans and media should he re-emerge from his self-imposed break from golf in 2010?
Justine Henin is another great who returns from retirement, hoping to follow compatriot Clijsters’ example and claim a Grand Slam in her comeback.
The second half of the ten things to look out for in 2010 will be here on The Roar in the coming days.
What are you most looking forward to in 2010?
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(32)
Mr cheese said | January 1st 2010 @ 8:59am | Report comment
Professional cycling has more strength in its peloton of today than it did in those days.
Jan Ullrich would pile on the pounds so he wasn’t always a great competitor.
Anyways, not many people over here fancy the convicts’ chances of getting out of their World Cup group ( with Serbia, Ghana and Germany being tough opponents ). What is the view down in the colony ? ? ? ?
Jeb said | January 1st 2010 @ 12:07pm | Report comment
Cheesy, first things first – good to see they’ve still got a good man keeping an eye on our opinions in your penal colonies.
Re world cup – general opinion is that it’ll be tough. Stating the obvious I know, but can’t sense much genuine positism. Seems like most who back us to get out of the group are trying to convince themselves. Which is what I’ll attempt to do now:
We’ve got similar team to last time, 4 more years playing together under dutch regime. If we get a result against germany then a bonus. Ghana is a must-win game. Beat them last outing (friendly and we got totally outplayed by them). By serbia game then a draw should do it. That’s the way we did it last time against Croatia after all. Last time only slightly easier group so not scarred of anyone. And big incentive is that if we get to the second round we’ll probably be facing algeria, slovakia or usa so quarters are foreseeable.
Mr cheese said | January 2nd 2010 @ 9:15am | Report comment
Jebediah,
if you get to the second round, young man, you will be facing your Freudian nemesis i.e. the English.
It would be fun to watch. The Australian attitude to the mother country seems to be similar to that of Norman Bates: very complex. You may not dress us up as Englishmen and head straight for the shower, but you get my point.
It is my ( uninformed ) view that the convicts’ group is a lot tougher this time around. I ain’t convinced that the Serbs or Ghana will be wiped out by Tim Cahill et al.
Still………………bonne chance. It will be fun to hear that song about “the vegemite sandwich”.
Senor queso
Mr cheese said | January 2nd 2010 @ 9:31am | Report comment
That’s meant to say
“you may not dress up as Englishmen and head straight for the shower…”
It was meant to be a reference to Psycho. I was suggesting that the convicts have a Norman Bates-like relationship with their mothers.
My apologies…..
Mister Football said | January 1st 2010 @ 10:04am | Report comment
In relation to the World Cup bid, never mind December, the next two months should tell the story, this is the time period set by Ellis for her task force of public servants to fix up the FFA’s mess and incompetence.
Key question:
1. Why has the original government appropriation of $46 million to pay for the bid, already ballooned out to $100+ million? Where is our Auditor-General when we need him most?
2. Will Melbourne even be able to nominate a single stadium for the World Cup?
3. If Melbourne, Canberra and one of either Adelaide or Perth are out as host cities – where does that leave our bid? Do we have sufficient host cities, let alone sufficient stadiums? Are we already scraping the barrell?
4. Compared to the amount of information the English FA have provided to the public, complete with every possible detail – why have all Australians been denied the same details from our own FA. What kind of information has own Government provided? I’ll tell you what – sweet FA!!
Jeb said | January 1st 2010 @ 11:46am | Report comment
@ Mister Football – all the questions you raise are valid. And they point to one thing – we’re up against it. A rational analysis would have to say that the aussie bid has many, many unknowns. Certainly we’ll have to work harder than other bidders such as england or spain that can host a wc tomorrow. But this is not to say that we couldn’t put on a great world cup.
For the life of me, I don’t know why you need everything explained to you right now. There are a lot of unanswered questions even now about south africa and there’s a lot of concerns for a football nation like brazil. It’s indulgent to speculate, but I’d say we’d have less question marks from fifa’s viewpoint. With all your questions, I’d say that a modicrum of trust should be put in the government/s, and the administrators of all codes to come up with the best solutions in due course. We’ve got the track record of pulling off successfull sporting events and we’ve got the resources to put on a good world cup, despite the current concerns. Don’t confuse the current bid information with long-term ability.
Do you think that should you personally not hold the bid to account then everything will go to pot? And at the end of the day isn’t that what this all comes down to – what we personally want to happen. I’m interested in what you mf want to happen.
I’d be honest and say that if the nrl stopped for 8 weeks in the middle of their season I’d care. I’d also care if rugby league suffered damage (financial or otherwise) due to the world cup. Both these events are foreseeable. But I wouldn’t care anywhere near enough not to want the world cup here.
Mister Football said | January 1st 2010 @ 12:19pm | Report comment
LIke you, I do not want to see damage to either the NRL or the AFL.
My view is that the FFA has not earned the right to try and host a World Cup, basically relying on other codes to do it for them.
Jeb said | January 1st 2010 @ 12:39pm | Report comment
So your opposition is about what the ffa deserve? childish, no? You’d put aside the biggest event ever held here, the biggest event in the world that most of the general population would love to see because you don’t like the preliminary conduct of the administrators. right.
For all the ffa’s faults, they did revolutionise a sport in this country in a very short period of time. They got us into asia, created the a-league, did the groundwork that got us to and be successfull at the world cup etc… They really are terrible.
Mister Football said | January 1st 2010 @ 2:09pm | Report comment
Australia is estimated to have a population of 38 million by 2050.
I see that as a good year to aim to host the world cup.
By then, the FFA might actually control half a dozen decent stadiums because they have managed to do so through their own operations.
Punter said | January 1st 2010 @ 4:35pm | Report comment
Yawn, you are very boring.
GenQ said | January 1st 2010 @ 11:55pm | Report comment
We won one game at the world cup and most australians still dont know what you mean when you say that they got us ‘into asia’.
Jeb said | January 2nd 2010 @ 5:40pm | Report comment
But was it not a successful world cup for you GenQ?
I love it when people think they know what “most australians” know (or don’t). You don’t give people much credit GenQ. I’d disagree and say that I think most casual sports fans know that we are now part of the AFC hence our qualification route.
jimbo said | January 1st 2010 @ 11:59pm | Report comment
Nonsense Pip and you know it.
The FFA can run a WC in AUstralia without using any Melbourne AFL parks.
MV Dave said | January 1st 2010 @ 1:54pm | Report comment
MF
Broken record…have you nothing else to do in your life but whinge about a friggin WC bid that if comes to fruition wont be here for 8-12 years. Hopefully with all the whinging you’ve done about this bid if Oz is successful you have the grace to leave the country when it is on.
jimbo said | January 1st 2010 @ 11:57pm | Report comment
Pip,
give your anti-football blogging a rest.
This article is about what to look forward to in 2010.
For football, the glass is half full.
You know the answers to your questions already and all will be revealed in due time and the best thing to emerge out of recent discussions is that the WC can be held in Australia without playing any games in Melbourne – Sydney will get the opening ceremony and the final and possibly one of the semis.
Great news.
Australian Football said | January 1st 2010 @ 10:26am | Report comment
There is only one event that counts in 2010 and that will be the FIFA 2010 World Cup and how the Australian National Football team will perform in it…. Can we go one better then in 2006…?? Yes we can into the quarter finals…
“Then in December, the big announcement – will Australia be awarded either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup? How will the bidding process have progressed up until that point and what factors will win or lose us the right to stage the tournament?”
And to this queston… Yes indeed we can win the WC bid for 2018
~~~~~~
AF
Al said | January 3rd 2010 @ 3:05pm | Report comment
Surely you jest? The centrepiece will of course be a Fremantle Dockers vs Melbourne Demons match of “real” football, what is this World Cup gibberish that you speak off???
Australian Football said | January 3rd 2010 @ 6:12pm | Report comment
Ha ha Al, yes of course tis your Briitish sense of hurmour….
you had me going there—-real meat and vege soup out of a Heinz soup tin can.
~~~~~~~~
AF
James said | January 1st 2010 @ 1:36pm | Report comment
Focus of 2010 is the World Cup. When you look at what’s happening in 2010 – South Africa WC, announcement of 2018/2022 World Cup hosts, Melbourne Heart coming into the A-League, shows how big a year it is for the game in this country.
Also looking forward to F1 with the Schu back, NBA playoffs will be huge, Vancouver Olympics will be cool (although I’m not paying extra for it, Foxtel!) and seeing whether England show up for the Comm Games and give us a run for our money.
Rob said | January 1st 2010 @ 10:46pm | Report comment
Im hoping Schumi will continue to dress as the Stig in F1
Marshall said | January 1st 2010 @ 3:20pm | Report comment
Looking forward to seeing if Federer can hold onto to #1 and more great battles with Nadal.
Also very interested to see how the Heart to supporter wise. Lucky they got the WC before they come in.
hazza said | January 1st 2010 @ 10:38pm | Report comment
In order. Sydney v Melbourne Grand final to take the domestic game to a new level. World Cup in June.Melbourne Victory to make it final of champions league. World Cup bid in December.
Westy said | January 1st 2010 @ 10:48pm | Report comment
dont mind your idea hazza, as long as melbourne wins all of those
and i agree with james, 2010 is going to be the biggest year for australian football, except maybe 2018 or 2022, if we get either of those. But 2010 is definately going to be a defining year in australian football.
my guess about the world cup bids for 2018 and 2022 are england for ‘18 and australia for ‘22. Hope australia gets at least one of those…
whatever happens, if we get a world cup or not, we will look back on 2010 and think,” gee, that year was huge”
westy said | January 1st 2010 @ 11:30pm | Report comment
I think I got here before you.
Alex Moore said | January 2nd 2010 @ 12:00am | Report comment
World Cup will definitely dominate the headlines as will our bid.
Do we not have an Ashes campaign coming also??
On a more specific ‘niche’-type level the NBA is coming up to it’s biggest Free Agent market in decades. LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Joe Johnson, Amare Stoudemire and Chris Bosh may all enter the market.
James said | January 2nd 2010 @ 12:10am | Report comment
LeBron to the Knicks? Fingers crossed. If any franchise needs a player like LeBron it’s New York.
TinHat said | January 2nd 2010 @ 1:36am | Report comment
Seems like a pretty dull year for me. I don’t find football, cycling or motorsports even remotely interesting.
James said | January 2nd 2010 @ 1:49am | Report comment
Guess you will have to wait and see Part II
TinHat said | January 2nd 2010 @ 6:52am | Report comment
haha I suppose I will. I can’t think of much else on though.
Mr cheese said | January 2nd 2010 @ 12:14pm | Report comment
Dude,
you’re right to find motorsports as interesting as a wet weekend spent in Scarborough.
However, your criticism of football and cycling is a little peculiar: these two sports are as sweet as a nut.
May I ask which sports you do watch ? I guess you’re a fan of one of the versions of egg-chasing.
None of them is as good as football or cycling, surely ?!?!?!
“a los osados ayuda la fortuna”
Paul said | January 3rd 2010 @ 9:51am | Report comment
Listen everyone it’s about time you look in rugby league it’s the best sport ever
pH said | January 3rd 2010 @ 11:32am | Report comment
Looks like the WC bid will dominate until it is sorted.
I think Mister Football’s concerns are valid, I independently shared them when I first heard the details of the bid. So clearly also did the AFL as Gerard Whateley (highly respected both Australian Football and Soccer commentator) reported in a key article everyone should read: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/14/2770679.htm?site=sport§ion=football
The NRL also have a lot of concerns: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/soccers-plan-to-displace-nrl/story-e6frexnr-1225808419104 and http://www.cowboys.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=21608
Jimbo – can you explain what “recent discussions” mean the WC can be staged in Australia without any Melbourne stadia? The bid is scrounging for stadia as it is, which is why the FFA turned around and said they wanted Etihad stadium when they’d previously said they could get by without (hoping to use the Swan St Stadium instead).
That turn around by the FFA with poor negotiating (sounds like they really left the AFL in the dark over Etihad) was the spark for all the ruckus.
Hopefully the Federal Govt with control over the bid will sort all out. The problem is the sorting out is going to cost big-time. When those costs finally become public – the bid will definitely be the biggest story of the year.