The Roar
The Roar

Football
Advertisement

Hyundai A-League Round 3 preview
A-League: News & Match Updates new author
Roar Rookie
20th October, 2016
1
Join the conversation
Advertisement
Write for The Roar

Anyone can contribute to The Roar and have their work featured alongside some of Australia’s most prominent sports journalists.

Jamie Maclaren has been called up to the Socceroos squad. (AAP Image/Dan Peled)
A-League: News & Match Updates new author
Roar Rookie
20th October, 2016
1

It’s that time of the week again, where football becomes the first thing on the agenda for many Australians.

Round 2 was another winner for A-League fans. We were treated to a stack of goals with Tim Cahill’s wonder strike going viral. An obvious contender for goal of the season.

Melbourne City and Sydney FC have emerged as the early pacesetters but will have their credentials tested this week with Sydney facing a gruelling away trip to Wellington, and City up against another early premiership favourite, Perth Glory.

Melbourne City FC v Perth Glory
AAMI Park, Melbourne
Kick-Off: Friday, 21 October 2016, 7:50PM

Melbourne City must be extremely confident based on how they have started the season. They are playing dangerous attacking football with intent and have been solid in defence.

Despite dropping two points against the Mariners, Perth Glory showed the league they aren’t to be trifled with by conquering a quality Phoenix outfit 2-0. However, the stats don’t lie. Kenny Lowe’s team don’t like visiting Melbourne, as City remain undefeated against Perth in their past seven outings at home.

There’s plenty to prove for the men in purple who have lost three Friday night games on the trot.

Players to watch: Brendan (City), Brattan (City), Castro (Perth), Griffiths (Glory)

Advertisement

Melbourne City FC: 1.Thomas SORENSEN (gk), 2.Manny MUSCAT, 3.Josh ROSE, 4.Connor CHAPMAN, 6.Osama MALIK, 8.Neil KILKENNY, 9.Nicolas COLAZO, 10.Anthony CACERES, 11.Bruce KAMAU, 12.Nick FITZGERALD, 17.Tim CAHILL, 18.Paulo RETRE, 20.Dean BOUZANIS (gk), 21.Ruon TONGYIK, 22.Michael JAKOBSEN, 23.Bruno FORNAROLI, 26.Luke BRATTAN, 27.Fernando BRANDAN
Perth Glory: 2.Alex GRANT, 3.Marc WARREN, 5.Rhys WILLIAMS, 6.Dino DJULBIC, 7.Joel CHIANESE, 8.Rostyn GRIFFITHS (c), 9.Andy KEOGH, 10.Nebojsa MARINKOVIC, 13.Nicholas FEELY (gk), 14.Chris HAROLD, 15.Brandon WILSON, 16.Joe MILLS, 17.Diego CASTRO, 18.Mitch OXBORROW, 19.Josh RISDON, 21.Jamal REINERS, 24.Milan SMILJANIC, 33.Liam REDDY (gk)

Central Coast Mariners v Brisbane Roar FC
Central Coast Stadium, Gosford
Kick-Off: Saturday, 22 October 2016, 5:35PM

Rocks or diamonds sums up the fortunes of both clubs. First round results were encouraging, but both teams will be looking for retribution after being hammered 4-0 in Round 2.

The Mariners are currently in the middle of a 12-game winless streak, and Central Coast Stadium has typically been a happy hunting ground for the Roar. However, Brisbane has lost their past two matches against teams based in New South Wales so anything could happen.

Matt McKay will be a welcome addition to the Roar after his one-week suspension and Fabio Ferriera’s return for the Mariners is a significant boost. Expect an exciting contest.

Players to watch: Montgomery (Mariners), Powell (Mariners), McKay (Roar), McLaren (Roar)

Central Coast Mariners: 1.Ivan NECEVSKI (gk), 2.Storm ROUX, 6.Blake POWELL, 7.Fabio FERREIRA, 8.Nick MONTGOMERY (c), 9.Roy O’DONOVAN, 10.Mickael TAVARES, 11.Connor PAIN, 12.Trent BUHAGIAR, 13.Kwabena APPIAH, 14.Adam BERRY, 15.Brad McDONALD, 17.Josh BINGHAM, 19.Jacques FATY, 20.Paul IZZO (gk), 21.Michael NEILL, 22.Jake McGING, 25.Ryan PETERSON
Brisbane Roar FC: 1.Michael THEO (gk), 3.Luke DEVERE, 4.Daniel BOWLES, 5.Corey BROWN, 7.Thomas KRISTENSEN, 8.Jacob PEPPER, 9.Jamie MACLAREN, 10.Brett HOLMAN, 11.Tommy OAR, 13.Jade NORTH, 16.Nathan KONSTANDOPOULOS, 17.Matt MCKAY (c), 19.Jack HINGERT, 21.Jamie YOUNG (gk), 22.Thomas BROICH, 26.Nicholas D’AGOSTINO, 28.Brandon BORRELLO, 33.Joey KATEBIAN

Advertisement

Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory
Coopers Stadium, Adelaide
Kick-Off: Saturday, 22 October 2016, 7:20PM (Local) (7:50PM (AEDT))

Both Victory and reigning premiers United go into this match with a point to prove having picked up just two points from as many rounds.

It’s not panic stations just yet, but consistency is emerging as a problem for both sides early. The Victory struggle to find such a thing when visiting Adelaide with no recorded wins in their last eight visits. Both teams are lacking cohesion and are missing key personnel but will bring plenty of emotion into this match.

Players to watch: Guardiola (Adelaide), Galekovic (Adelaide), Rojas (Victory), Valeri (Victory)

Adelaide United: 1.Eugene GALEKOVIC (gk) (c), 3.Iacopo LA ROCCA, 4.Dylan McGOWAN, 5.Taylor REGAN, 7.HENRIQUE, 8.ISAÍAS, 9.Sergi GUARDIOLA, 14.George MELLS, 15.Ben WARLAND, 16.Jesse MAKAROUNAS, 18.Riley McGREE, 19.Ben GARUCCIO, 20.John A-LeagueL (gk), 21.Tarek ELRICH, 22.Ryan KITTO, 24.Jordan O’DOHERTY, 25.James HOLLAND, 45.Danny CHOI
Melbourne Victory: 2.Jason GERIA, 4.Nick ANSELL, 5.Daniel GEORGIEVSKI, 6.Leigh BROXHAM, 7.Marco ROJAS, 8.Besart BERISHA, 11.Mitch AUSTIN, 13.Oliver BOZANIC, 14.Fahid BEN KA-LeagueFALLAH, 15.Alan BARO, 16.Rashid MAHAZI, 17.James DONACHIE, 20.Lawrence THOMAS (gk), 21.Carl VALERI (c), 22.Stefan NIGRO, 23.Jai INGHAM, 25.Sebastian PASQUALI, 27.Alastair BRAY (gk)

Wellington Phoenix v Sydney FC
Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Kick-Off: Sunday, 23 October 2016, 7:00PM (Local) (5:00PM (AEDT)

Without a doubt, this is the match of the round.

Advertisement

Sydney has the opportunity to send a statement to the rest of the league, while Wellington gets a massive boost with all of their first team internationals fit and ready to play in front of their home crowd.

The Phoenix have it all to prove after losing six in a row. While the Phoenix are the only team yet to score this season, they have bested the Sky Blue’s in their last three clashes.

Sydney is riding high following back to back 4-0 victories in the A-League in conjunction with advancing to the FFA Cup Final after defeating Canberra Olympic midweek.

The biggest hurdle Sydney will have to overcome is a short four-day turnaround that has been exacerbated by a stack of travel lately.

Players to watch: Krishna (Phoenix), Finkler (Phoenix), Vukovic (Sydney FC), Holosko (Sydney FC)

Wellington Phoenix: 1.Glen MOSS (gk), 2.Jacob TRATT, 4.Roly BONEVACIA, 5.Ryan LOWRY, 7.Gui FINKLER, 9.Kosta BARBAROUSES, 10.Michael MCGLINCHEY, 11.Hamish WATSON, 12.Adam PARKHOUSE, 13.Marco ROSSI, 14.Alex RUFER, 16.Louis FENTON, 17.Vince LIA, 19.Tom DOYLE, 20.Lewis ITALIANO (gk), 21.Roy KRISHNA, 22.Andrew DURANTE (c), 23.Matthew RIDENTON
Sydney FC: 1.Vedran JANJETOVIC (gk), 3.Riley WOODCOCK, 4.Alex WILKINSON, 5.Matt JURMAN, 6.Joshua BRILLANTE, 7.Michael ZULLO, 8.Milos DIMITRIJEVIC, 9.Bobô, 10.Milos NINKOVIC, 11.Bernie IBINI, 13.Brandon O’NEILL, 14.Alex BROSQUE (c), 17.David CARNEY, 18.Matt SIMON, 20.Danny VUKOVIC (gk), 21.Filip HOLOSKO, 22.Sebastian RYALL, 23.Rhyan GRANT

Western Sydney Wanderers FC v Newcastle Jets
Spotless Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park
Kick-Off: Sunday, 23 October 2016, 7:00PM

Advertisement

The final game of the round takes us to the Wanderers’ temporary new home stadium where they welcome surprise package Newcastle. After a strong pre-season, the Jets have carried their form over which was highlighted by their 4-0 destruction of Brisbane last week.

The Wanderers bounced back from a poor first round showing to defeat Adelaide in somewhat controversial circumstances in Round 2. They welcome back Artiz Borda from suspension which is a big boost to a leaky defence that has conceded five goals in two games.

The Jets are up against it having lost to the Wanderers in their past three meetings, but they have proved they have class and if they keep performing like they did last week, expect to see them in the finals race come February.

Players to watch: Borda (Wanderers) Santalab (Wanderers), Nabbout (Jets), Clut (Jets)

Western Sydney Wanderers FC: 1.Jerrad TYSON (gk), 3.Jack CLISBY, 5.Brendan HAMILL, 6.Mitch NICHOLS, 7.Steve LUSTICA, 8.Dimas (c), 9.Kerem BULUT, 10.Nicolás MARTÍNEZ, 11.Brendon SANTALAB, 12.Scott NEVILLE, 13.Bruno PIÑATARES, 14.Jumpei KUSUKAMI, 15.Kearyn BACCUS, 17.Artiz BORDA, 18.Robbie CORNTHWAITE, 19.Jacob MELLING, 20.Andrew REDMAYNE (gk), 22.Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITIS
Newcastle Jets: 3.Jason HOFFMAN, 4.Nigel BOOGAARD (c), 5.Ben KANTAROVSKI, 6.Steven UGARKOVIC, 7.Andrew HOOLE, 8.Mateo POLJAK, 10.Wayne BROWN, 11.Labinot A-LeagueITI, 13.Ivan VUJICA, 14.Mitch COOPER, 15.Andrew NABBOUT, 16.Nicholas COWBURN, 19.Morten NORDSTRAND, 20.Jack DUNCAN (gk), 22.Lachlan JACKSON, 23.Devante CLUT, 30.Pierce CLARK (gk)

Predictions:
City 3 Glory 2
Mariners 2 Roar 1
Adelaide 1 Victory 1
Nix 3 Sydney 2
Wanderers 1 Jets 3

1
Join the conversation

Are you the ultimate team manager?  Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars.  Imagine what you could be buying instead.  Set a deposit limit.

Related Posts

close