Roar Rookie
Joined July 2013
6k
Views
7
Published
20
Comments
Soccer blogger and former North Sydney Bears fan.
Published
Comments
This year Broadmeadow Magic are lining up for their second shot at the FFA Cup. After bowing out in the Round of 32 in…
Tonight Brisbane Roar face Beijing Guoan in China for their Asian Champions League group stage fixture. The Queenslanders go into the match needing points…
After a World Cup tournament that saw the Socceroos exceed expectations, the mood around the national team was notably positive. But there are plenty…
The little club that won't go away has arrived in Japan for Match Day 6 of their 2014 Asian Champions League tilt. As if…
He's Australia's most celebrated soccer player. And though many wouldn't have believed it in 2001 it looks as though Harry Kewell will play in…
Central Coast Mariners are currently fourth on the A-League ladder, with a host of teams within striking distance. The defending champions have long been…
Melbourne Heart have sacked manager John Aloisi after a miserable run of 16 matches without a league win, but the former Socceroo stalwart's sacking…
Noticed the same about Taggart’s effort in Brazil. Sad, because he did show a goal poaching quality that is rare in Australia, or anywhere. I agree 100% that we won’t seem again under the reign of Ange. He wants pressure from the forward line to the back.
Where have all our strikers gone?
You have to say that FOX themselves have stifled the Cup’s growth with the minimalist coverage. First week: great, with the big ‘hoo haa’ of what the FFA Cup offered & promised coupled with some coverage, but a month later, it’s fourth in line of the Wednesday morning sports bulletin on FOX Sport News. They’re a strange beast.
FFA Cup hiccups will take time to cure
There should be plenty of travelling Guangzhou fans. I remember watching them at Gosford in 2013. I’m not exaggerating when I say there were more Guangzhou fans than Mariners fans. Anyway, they’ll fill a few bays and the latest weather says 16 degrees and fine. Tigers of the south to get home comfortably. As their defence isn’t exactly rock solid, I’ll be brave and predict 3-1.
Wanderers prepare to face Asian giants
Agree with Craig on this one. Whether they like it or not, sportsmen and sports women are role models. They’re in the public eye regularly, and what they do and say will no doubt influence us in some way.
Athletes are artists, not role models
I love the new attitude the team has, and that seems to come as part of the deal with Ange, but ‘World Cup experience’ doesn’t guarantee success next time around. It was far from a failure but far from a success too.
Was the Socceroos' campaign a success?
Nice to hear stories like this. Maybe overly positive with the assessment of his quick adaption to Ange’s Way. I actually felt that along with Neill, Mile struggled to play the Ange Way in the friendly at the SFS against Costa Rica. Good luck to him and the team, and I know that they will be given plenty of time.
No-frills Socceroos skipper Jedinak symbolises a return to a team ethos
Parramatta’s gritty first half and then second half demolition of StGeorge Illawarra has confirmed their premiership credentials.
[VIDEO] Parramatta Eels vs St George Illawarra Dragons: preview
Yo is right about tactical trends coming and going. Italy conquered the world in 2006 but since then Spain have taken attacking football to another level, what will happen in Brazil 2014? Anyway, TheMagnificent11 I agree with your comment about football in Europe. Here in Australia I think we’re heading towards the same destination, hopefully. See WSW for evidence.
There is no right or wrong way to play football
Not his biggest fan, but he and Andy Harper are soccer’s answer to rugby league’s Phil Gould. Sometimes painfully exaggerated, but mostly positive.
Deconstructing Craig Foster
That should read “WSW wouldn’t have to travel to Japan after their GF with Brisbane Roar.”
Mariners arrive in Japan with a bag of excuses
Exactly Whites. As long as they’re not like me and find it impossible to sleep on a plane they shouldn’t be feeling it that bad. To be honest FFA shouldn’t run the comp this far into the NRL season (I know this yr is Brazil 2014 etc). The fields are suffering, which means quality of play suffers too.
Ratings and cash shouldn't be FFA's only priorities
Amateur mistake by me with the game day from last Saturday. Apologies for that, but I’ve got a really demanding schedule. On a serious note – you’re right about the Mariners coming out smelling like roses no matter the result. I actually had my fingers crossed and $5 riding on the draw last night. That result would have meant WSW wouldn’t travel to Japan in the lead up to their GF with Brisbane Roar, and again we’d see Wanderers and Mariners going head to head. In the end they were unlucky.
Mariners arrive in Japan with a bag of excuses
Diving is rife in rugby league these days but the fans are still being convinced of its existence. Every weekend I’m pointing out diving incidents to fellow league fans (you can like both) hoping they’ll recognise the prevalence of this ‘evil scourge’.
Anyway, I think there’s an algorithm that measures prevalence of diving alongside potential financial gain for an individual or team. The more money floating around in sports like league and AFL the more likely someone is to dive.
Unfortunately the quaint old notion that diving is un-Australian will soon be obsolete – kind of a measure of our ‘progress’.
Football fans must support the Asian Champions League
Spot on from the above. If the Mariners had finished in the top two they wouldn’t be the desperate crew of a ship that’s taking on water (sorry). Also the FFA would be off their faces wasting tickets on Mariners fans as they just don’t show (9000 odd at last week’s do or die final v Adelaide).
But on tonight’s match against Hiroshima, I don’t think they’re out of their depth and a draw may suffice, as long as FC Seoul draw or win against Beijing. Not a big ask when considering FC Seoul are at home and went all the way to the ACL Final last year.
Mariners can achieve unlikely double: Moss
Too right about this season’s standard. It really has stagnated. The Japanese have done amazingly with their league in such a short time and youth academies are something we’re working on here so maybe there is hope. But being a regular traveller to Japan and speaking with many ‘in the know’, there still remains a mindset amongst the locals that their league doesn’t rate. RE: kids aren’t fanatically wearing Urawa Reds jerseys or Yokohama F Marinos jerseys. Eurosnobbery is with us and will be until the ‘a#$e’ end truly falls out of the European economy.
Look to J-League if A-League's sun is to rise
Hiding the game on SBS was a massive mistake. The point was to gain mainstream exposure. Check the ratings of any SBS program; they simply don’t rate. So the A-League is on free to air, but on the channel most of us ignore unless there is a soccer game on (which we are aware of because we are already fans).
SBS need to lift their game on A-League coverage
Nice one. This is a massive topic. I’ve been watching loyalty and its waning importance in the eyes of fans and society in general. I’m still on the side of loyalty and as The Bear (above) coined it, I’m also a ‘sports romantic’. Yes, there are exceptional circumstances where players can’t be blamed for heading off. If like many A-League players the youngster is jetting off to a higher profile league, kudos to him. But even this move has a condition attached: what if the player’s team is on the cusp of the semi-finals and he legs it without a thought for the fans, or the club that nurtured him. Not good. Loyalty can’t be sold down the river with that line, “he’s only got a ten year career, he’s gotta take the money.” What’s the message for the kids, “money really does rule the world, so don’t worry about anyone, or anything else.” We could go on forever here, but I’m leaving coz I’ve got to get up early for work tomorrow.
What price for loyalty in modern sport?
Yes, Roar are back! I just wish it was this season that they could be representing Australia in the ACL. Mulvey has defied the anti-Brit union of pundits (think SBS panellist), with his sexy brand of soccer. But I have to pull you up on some of the adjectives you have assigned to Mitch Nichols. I am an admirer, but ‘energetic’ and ‘industrious’, is just too kind. I and many other A-League lovers would say that energy/industry is the part of his game that is sometimes lacking.
Roar the team to beat after performance of the season
I like what Franko and Kasey said. A flare isn’t so dangerous and it adds some colour (literally) to the game. It’s raw, the smell of acrid smoke – surely we can have an allotted ‘safe area’. But I’ve got to say the sounds that I heard on the FoxSports telecast in the recent Wests v MVictory match were concerning. Three maybe four explosions. If you had your kids there, you’d be worried.
It's time to kick anti-social A-League behaviour out
Wow! Out of town over the weekend and shocked to read that Broadmeadow lost to struggling South Cardiff. On a bright note, the Magic have NNSW NPL leading goalscorer, and I do fancy a team with an in-form striker.
$6.50 is hard to resist when you consider ‘the bergers’ are actually in the same 2nd tier (NPL) of Australian football.
Odds stacked against Broadmeadow in FFA Cup