Given very little separated Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory throughout the regular and post seasons, it was perhaps fitting last night’s A-League championship decider went to penalties, and perhaps even more fitting it went to the team that finished first past the post.

A hundred and twenty minutes of attritional, confrontational, energy sapping football ultimately couldn’t find us a winner.

So it was off to the penalty spot, where Clint Bolton and Sung Hwan Byun added their names to the list of penalty spot heroes, while Kevin Muscat and Marvin Angulo joined the list of those to have suffered the penalty shootout curse.

Played on a patch-work of a pitch, which was nowhere near what was promised, let alone the standard required, the match failed to reach any dizzy heights.

But it was tense, tight and often spiteful, with would-be referees on both sides making Strebre Delovski’s job of controlling the match almost impossible.

The fact he managed to keep 22 players on the field is a credit to him.

In a mental and physical battle of will, neither side was prepared to give an inch, with every pass and loose ball contested with ferocity. At times x-rated, it was unrelenting.

Much of it seemed quite personal, particularly the battle between the captains.

Perhaps it was ironic then that the penalty spot, with no opportunity for a crunching challenge, was needed to separate the protagonists.

Something had to give, and the surprise is it was the A-League’s king of mental disintegration, as Steve Waugh would describe it, that failed at the penalty spot and handed the advantage to the visitors.

Sydney stood toe to toe with Kevin Muscat, refusing to yield to his attempts to sway proceedings, and came out on top.

Ultimately they did it the way they have done it all season, with discipline, hard work and purpose the hallmarks of their successful campaign.

The game-plan from Vitezslav Lavicka was clear when he choose Sebastian Ryall over Shannon Cole at right back.

Choosing the better defender made it obvious that Sydney would be playing the role of spoiler, a task they had performed so admirably in a 0-0 draw at Etihad before Christmas.

The plan was clear; keep things compact and narrow, defend deep, pressure the man on the ball by getting in his face or back, win the ball and look to spring forward and hurt Melbourne in transition, through the pace of Alex Brosque, Chris Payne and Mark Bridge.

Lavicka had spent much of the pre-season flogging his men, in the nicest way possible. It was this attention to detail that allowed Sydney to play such a consistent and concise pressing game, built on nullifying space to Melbourne’s ball-players.

Obviously the early injury to Archie Thompson helped, but Sydney still had to deal with the tricky feet and movement of substitute Angulo.

But it was the collective work on Carlos Hernandez, rarely giving him space to turn and construct, that ultimately lead to success.

If it wasn’t Stuart Musialik, the player that I felt deserved the Joe Marston medal, it was Stephan Keller, stepping out of his defensive line to place pressure on the Victory’s pivot.

When Hernandez drifted wide of central, to look for space, there were Ryall and Karol Kisel on one side, and Byun and Terry McFlynn on the other, double teaming him.

Melbourne couldn’t find space, let alone fluidity, and when Bridge’s goal came from a classic counter attack, it looked like the Lavicka game-plan had worked a treat.

For the next 15 or so minutes Brosque, Bridge and Payne were causing all sorts of problems for the Melbourne rearguard, and might have sealed the title had Payne taken a golden chance.

Melbourne looked shot, short of ideas, until another quickly taken Muscat set piece with just over ten minutes left shifted the momentum their way.

From then till full time it was the charge of the navy blue brigade as the Victory flashed home. The match had finally awoken, and the stands were rocking.

Somehow Sydney survived, and with the Victory’s momentum halted by the break ahead of extra time, the stalemate was back on during the additional 30 minutes.

Then came the drama from the penalty spot, for the first time in an A-League grand final, and it was Bolton, the man headed for the Melbourne Heart, who produced the decisive save from Angulo to shatter Melbourne hearts.

Join Tony on this post at 8.30pm tonight for a live post grand final debate. Leave your thoughts and questions here in the meantime, and be sure to bookmark this page and revisit tonight.

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There was a fair bit made by Ricki Herbert about Chris Payne’s hand-ball goal on Saturday night, and how it changed the game. He obviously had a point, but I felt that focus deflected the attention away from some serious errors in the Wellington game-plan.

Watching the early going from my vantage point at the SFS, I was surprised to see Wellington sitting back so deep and playing such a conservative game built on containment.

Any time you see Tim Brown and Vince Lia sitting deep alongside Manny Muscat, refusing to bomb-on, you know Wellington are looking only to frustrate.

And with Chris Greenacre, Paul Ifill and Leo Bertos dropping off, letting Sydney knock it around in their own half, you knew Wellington were looking for a smash-and-grab.

But it was clear, very early on, that it wasn’t going to work, and it would be only a matter of time before Alex Brosque and Mark Bridge would unlock the Phoenix back-line, despite it being so miserly of late.

When Chris Payne came on early for a ham-strung John Aloisi, adding more mobility to Sydney’s forward line, it was almost inevitable the ‘Nix would crack, especially with the two fullbacks, Troy Hearfield and Tony Lochhead, struggling to stay compact in the face of Sydney’s wide-play.

When Sydney are in the mood, at home, and can stretch opposition defences, they inevitably create space in the middle for the classy feet of Karol Kisel, Bridge and Brosque to take full advantage.

Even watching it live I felt Wellington had erred and that the game-plan would rely on a lot of luck, and some outstanding performances from Liam Reddy, Andrew Durante and Jon McKain.

While the trio have been producing it consistently for much of the past few months, I felt Wellington’s best hope was to come out and have a go at Sydney.

In Ifill and Bertos they have two outstanding attackers, and in Brown and Lia they have two guys with an ability to ghost into the box late when they’re on the front foot.

And with the momentum built up recently, a healthy contingent of travelling fans, and the groundswell of goodwill both here and across the ditch, Wellington, I felt, had to get on the front foot.

Throw into the mix a Sydney side that must have had its confidence dented by the major semi final loss to Melbourne, and you expected Herbert to come to Sydney and have a real go at Vitezslav Lavicka. They had nothing to lose.

The fact they came out and started playing as soon as they went behind only confirmed they had the ability to take it to Sydney.

Obviously Payne’s controversial goal, coming so soon after Durante scored his first A-League goal, halted whatever momentum the Phoenix had just built through the equaliser, and calmed Sydney’s nerves.

After the break, as Durante pointed out in the post match press conference, Wellington had no choice but to come out and play with a high line, and this obviously played right into Brosque, Bridge and Payne’s hands (no pun intended).

Perhaps the pace of Brosque, in particular, was the reason Herbert was reluctant to start with a high line, but Phoenix fans will be left wondering what Ifill, Brown and Bertos might have been able to do if Wellington got forward and had a go from the start.

As an advertisement for the A-League and for finals football, you can hardly ask for a better five or six hours than we saw yesterday, with two games, across two countries, going the distance.

We got colour, crowds, cracking goals and class, in abundance.

After a wonderful Wellington crowd and some typical wizardry from Paul Ifill saw the Phoenix continue their imposing home record with an extra time win over the Jets, it was over to the second leg of the major semi final, and what a fantastic game those of us at the SFS were dished up.

While 98% of the almost 24,000 crowd left disappointed as Melbourne sealed grand final hosting rights for the third time in four seasons, it was hard not to have enjoyed this classic.

It was gripping throughout, as the play and the pendulum swung from one team to the other and back again.

Talk about a game living on a knife’s edge.

In the end Melbourne had the bigger guns to bring off the bench, able to draw upon the class of Archie Thompson and Marvin Angulo, and the legs of Evan Berger.

The introduction of Thompson and Berger, midway through the second period, and Angulo a short time later, swung the momentum back in Melbourne’s favour at a time when Sydney were threatening to run away with the game.

Credit then to Ernie Merrick for taking the gamble, and to the Melbourne Victory medical staff for even getting Thompson back on the pitch so soon.

Given the tie was locked at 3-3 on aggregate after Mark Bridge’s breathtaking piece of work on the edge of the box early in the second half, Merrick could have been forgiven for waiting to make his substitutions, but he correctly sensed something need to be done.

Sydney were all over his side, and the Victory looked to be struggling to make any impression in the front third as Robbie Kruse, who had an excellent first period, capped by an outstanding solo strike, became isolated in the early part of the second.

By introducing Thompson, suddenly Melbourne had fresh legs and a threat in the front third, and against a tiring Sydney side, they started asking questions again.

Fortunately for Sydney, Clint Bolton was in fine form.

While Sydney dominated the possession and territory in the first period by a staggering ratio of 67% to 33%, the Victory had looked a real threat on the counter attack.

Merrick’s game plan was obvious. Melbourne were happy to sit back, soak it up and look to hit Carols Hernandez as the first outlet. His job was to spin and hit Kruse, who was always looking to find space wide and beyond Sydney’s backline.

While Sydney dealt with most things, they backed off Kruse and gave him enough space to shoot in the 15th minute, and some strike it was.

Vitezslav Lavicka’s men had started the game very upbeat, with Stuart Musialik dictating the tempo and Alex Brosque and Mark Bridge looking to combine in the front third and cause headaches for Kevin Muscat, Adrian Leijer and Rody Vargas.

While Lavicka had pledged patience throughout the week, he started with a very offensive formation, with Bridge and Brosque joined by John Aloisi in a three pronged attack.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Ryall and Sung Hwan Byun were pressing forward on the flanks at every opportunity and pinning back Melbourne’s wing-backs, Surat Sukha and Leigh Broxham.

But Kruse’s wonder strike rocked the hosts, who had to now prove they could come from behind for only the second time this season.

It looked a tough ask, but they got down to work, and had a touch of luck when Strebre Delovski awarded them what looked a soft penalty.

From there Sydney got on top, and in front, and it was only the depth at Merrick’s disposal that shifted the momentum back to the visitors.

Even before extra time Sydney looked to be struggling, but in almost customary Lavicka style, he stuck with the status quo.

Clearly he didn’t have the cattle at his disposal that Merrick did, but surely his team could have done with the fresh legs of Chris Payne and Brendan Gan a lot earlier.

Brosque, especially, was limping around with what looked a tight hamstring, for some time.

Perhaps Lavicka was trying to nurse him to the penalty spot, and perhaps his defence was thinking about penalties when Thompson caught them out, getting on the end of a rapidly taken Muscat fee-kick to silence the SFS.

Needing two goals, Sydney had no time and no legs.

Now Melbourne go on to host yet another grand final, and given their imposing home form this season, and how crucial home form has been in the second half of this season, they are now clear favourites to lift the golden toilet seat for the third time.

When Frank Lowy managed to convince Asia to accept Australia into the region more than four years ago, it promised to produce regular clutch matches, often. Tomorrow night’s Asian Cup qualifier against Indonesia, in Brisbane, is one of those moments.

With the Socceroos second on goal difference behind Kuwait, a point ahead of Oman, the Socceroos need a point against our bottom-placed neighbours in order to be assured of a place in Qatar next year.

A loss and we’re relying on Bader Al Mutwa and his Kuwaiti mates to do us a favour in Muscat a few hours later.

On the surface, against a team that can’t qualify, a result looks a given, but scratch beneath the surface and it’s no sure thing.

Indeed, in football, at this level, there are no such guarantees.

In Maman Abdurahman and Charis Yulianto, Indonesia have a very formidable central defensive pair, and in Bambang Pamungkas and Budi Sudarsono, they have enough quality to cause the odd threat at the other end.

We saw this in 2007, at the most recent continental showpiece.

Even in Jakarta, 13 months ago, the Socceroos struggled to grab a point as Indonesia sat deep and denied any opportunity for Archie Thompson and Danny Allsopp to get in behind.

Pim Verbeek famously described the strikers’ efforts that night as “absolutely hopeless”, but of course that drew some attention away from the efforts of Yulianto and Abdurahman.

Look closely at Indonesia’s results in this phase of qualifying and they have been far from a soft touch.

Three draws, two clean sheets, two loses by the odd goal and only five goals conceded from their fives games suggests Benny Dollo’s men will take a bit of beating.

Their manager has already been on the record saying a draw would be a decent enough result, and while Verbeek says the Socceroos are playing for a win, there’s little doubt he would sign for a draw right now.

That is especially so given that his starting 11 is likely to comprise a number of A-Leaguers, guys who have yet to set the world on fire at this level.

Couple that with the departure of father-to-be Alex Brosque yesterday and it appears the Socceroos lack a bit of a cutting edge in the front third.

Fortunately there are a few first team regulars on the scene, the likes of Jason Culina, Luke Wilkshire and Josh Kennedy, to add a sense of stability.

Let’s hope that doesn’t lead to complacency, from the manager, his players, the city of Brisbane, or the country.

Put it this way, if the unthinkable happens, and the Socceroos do lose, and Oman and Kuwait go through, the post-mortem will be long, painful and pointed, especially with Verbeek, Graham Arnold and Henk Duut unlikely to be the brains trust come Qatar (Arnold, we already know, won’t be there).

In that respect, and given, for once, some very reasonable ticket prices (the most expensive adult ticket is $50, the cheapest is $25, with a family able to attend for $65), nothing short of a 25,000 crowd should be considered satisfactory. Even with rain on the horizon.

While there is no Kewell, Neill, Cahill, Bresciano, Emerton or Schwarzer, there is still a valuable point to be had, so this match looms as a real litmus test for Brisbane and its surrounds.

This season’s A-League was meant to be all about the Sunshine State with the addition of two new teams and the Brisbane Roar meant to be challenging for honours, but for so many reasons it was an abject failure north of the Tweed.

Crowds, particularly in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast, were a big part of that failure.

Questions, in some quarters, have been raised about just how much the round ball game means to Brisbane, particularly when the superstars don’t come out to play.

A big crowd was on hand at Suncorp Stadium in 2006 for a fitting farewell to Zeljko Kalac, Tony Popovic, Tony Vidmar and Stan Lazaridis, and again for two World Cup qualifiers in the second half of 2008, but that was to witness mainly full strength Socceroos outfits.

Now, having not seen the green and gold’s for over 16 months, and with plenty at stake, it’s time for the city to show its true colours by getting behind the Roos and providing an appropriate atmosphere in this crucial clash.

It’s all aboard the Red Rattlers once again. Just over 15 months since wowing the nation with a wonderful run all the way to the Asian Champions League final, Adelaide United were back to their continental best last night, dishing up a dazzling display in seeing off the defending ACL champs from South Korea.

There’s just something about the ACL that transforms the Reds from mere mortals domestically into Asian giant-killers, and it was on full display against the Pohang Steelers.

Last time around they were also doing it on the back of a terrible domestic season, and Aurelio Vidmar turned it around by building from the back through the likes of Sash Ognenovski.

This time around they finished bottom in the A-League, hardly the most convincing preparation.

But a closer inspection shows they were building for this just nicely, with some decent performances towards the end of the season and some of their kids and veterans making favourable impressions.

I’m talking about players like Mathew Leckie, Michael Marrone, Scott Jamieson, Lucas Pantelis and Travis Dodd, who all finished the season in decent form.

No doubt about it, they were a team on the rise, even if the results didn’t always confirm this.

Couple that with some very astute recruitment in Sergio Van Dijk, Marcos Flores and Adam Griffiths, and you actually have a squad, worthy of the word.

Indeed, any Australian team that can afford to start a game with Fabian Barbiero, a player I have admired since that wonderful ACL campaign, is one to be respected.

The reason Vidmar could afford to start Barbiero off the bench here is because, in Marrone and Flores, he has two out-and-out guns in midfield.

For the past couple of months I have been scratching my head, trying to work out what on earth prompted Adelaide to let Marrone disappear to North Queensland for next season.

Neat and purposeful on the ball, he has shown strength, positional awareness and drive, and sound distribution from the holding midfield role, and I am delighted Pim Verbeek recognised his recent contributions with a call-up for the Indonesian game.

As for Flores, what a find!

When I texted a friend, enamoured with Argentine football, expressing my delight at his 30 minute cameo on debut earlier this month, he wondering if Adelaide had finally found a replacement for Diego. ‘Spot on’, I replied.

While Barbiero has done the job on occasions, he is a different player to Flores, who is more a ball to feet man who can see a pass and pick it out early.

Barbiero is a slightly deeper player, who can get forward and get on the end of the things.

Flores is more a classic number 10, looking to get in the hole and link, and here he put on an exemplary performance. His ability to hit a target with a one-touch ball was a joy to watch, and long may it continue.

Long also may Leckie’s impact on football continue, all the way to South Africa, and beyond.

Ross Aloisi did his best to hose-down calls, led by this correspondent, for Leckie to be considered a South African bolter, but his display here only served to reinforce why I believe he is such a great option for Verbeek.

Undoubtedly unknown to the Steelers hierarchy, he was able to slip under the radar and have a massive influence on the outcome here.

His solo goal, demonstrating sharpness, cunning and awareness, was exactly the reason why I believe he would suit Verbeek’s want to counter attack, and as an unknown joker off the bench, he has a role to play.

Certainly, he works as hard and as smart as any attacker around, and if he can make an impact against Indonesia, and keep this level up throughout the group phase here, anything is possible.

As Vidmar keeps reminding us, “he isn’t afraid of playing against anyone”.

As for the two veterans, Pantelis and Dodd, they were full of mobility and desire here, and always posed a threat feeding off the leadership provided by van Dijk.

Whereas Ognenovski was the fulcrum of the last campaign, this time it is another big man from Brisbane, van Dijk, who is set to be the key.

While he didn’t really threaten to find the back of the net on this night, his general link up play and strength proved a hand-full and provided space for the likes of Leckie, Flores, Pantelis and Dodd.

Credit too to Vidmar, unlicensed, but pulling the strings. He had an offensive formation and attitude here, always looking to get men forward, around and beyond van Dijk. It worked a treat.

The Reds are back is Asia, back where they belong. Let’s hope the run is just as fun.

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The news that filtered through yesterday that former Socceroos defender and midfielder, Ian Gray, had passed away under ‘suspicious circumstances’ at his home in Sydney on Monday night, at the age of 46, is a bitter one that many in the football community are struggling to deal with.

While I never had the fortune to meet ‘Iggy’, as he was affectionately known, I have vivid memories of watching him run around in the National Soccer League and for the national team.

Indeed, Gray was on the Parramatta Stadium pitch, representing Marconi, in my first ever national league game, the 1989 grand final against Sydney Olympic, and my memories are that of a leader, with a knack for finding the back of the net.

Whether he was playing at the back, or in the midfield, Gray had a real presence on the pitch.

Evidently it was the same off the pitch.

Speaking last night on Fox Sports FC, Mike Cockerill and former teammates Paul Trimboli (country) and Andy Harper (club), spoke very highly of Gray, as a leader, as a funny-man, as an all-round great guy and as a fierce competitor who was the heart and soul of the teams he represented.

Meanwhile, David Zdrilic, speaking on Channel 10, spoke of how he had grown up watching Gray, and later become a close friend and fellow football coach.

Former Marconi goalkeeper and teammate Bob Catlin told News Ltd;

“I have known Ian since I was 15 years old … it’s a great loss of a very good man. He was a great player, probably one of the best this country has ever seen. Everyone is just devastated.”

Yesterday the FFA put out a warm press release, in which Frank Lowy spoke of the football community’s shock and sadness at the news.

The governing body, often accused of ignoring its past, was forthcoming with the following details about Gray’s career:

“He was born on 22nd July 1963 and came up through the Manly Vale and Western Suburbs ranks.

An experienced defender or midfielder, he commenced a 12 year national representative career in 1981 when selected in an Australian under 20 team to play in a tournament in China.

He was first chosen for the senior Australian side in the 1984 World Series tournament, and later that year joined the Socceroos on an extensive world tour encompassing matches in China, England, Scotland and Italy.

He played in first stage qualifying matches for the 1986 and 1994 world cups, and took part in the Presidents Cup in 1991 (in South Korea) and 1992 (Indonesia).

He scored six goals in the 1984 National Soccer League (NSL) season, his last season at APIA Leichhardt, as the inner-Sydney club went as far as the northern division preliminary final.

After then transferring to Marconi he played in finals series in 1985 (reaching the northern division grand final) and 1986 (northern division minor semi), and from 1988 to 1990 he took part in three consecutive grand finals; he was on the winning grand final team in 1988 (on penalties over Sydney United) and 1989 (1-0 over Sydney Olympic).

After suffering an injury early in a round 25 match against West Adelaide in 1992/93 he was out of action for six weeks, returning to play in Marconi’s 1-0 grand final victory over Adelaide City – his third NSL championship medal.

Upon playing in the 1993/94 finals series, he became the first player to play in nine NSL finals series. He stands as the player with the second-most number of NSL appearances for Marconi, just two matches behind Tom McCulloch.

Although playing predominantly in defence throughout his career, he scored some vital goals for Marconi, including an 80th minute strike in a 2-1 win over South Melbourne in the 1988 minor semi final, and a headed goal in the 1991 elimination semi, which Marconi won over Parramatta Eagles on penalties following a 3-3 draw.

Since leaving the professional football ranks, Ian continued to play at an amateur level for his beloved Maccabi Masters and Team Bondi but mainly turned his attention to coaching and in particular mentoring junior football players.

In 2004 Ian was inducted into the FFA Hall of Fame – Award of Distinction. Ian was also a member of the FFA Appeals committee.

Details regarding Ian’s funeral arrangements will be announced at a later date.”

Ian Gray
Born: 22.7.63, Sydney, NSW
Position: Defender/Midfielder

Socceroo honours:
35 appearances (6 goals) [1984-1992]
14 A internationals (3 goals) / 21 non–A internationals (3 goals)

Other Australian representative honours:
U-20 – 1981 U-20 World Cup train-on squad

Club Career:
1980 – APIA Leichhardt (Australia) 1 appearance (0 goals)
1981 – APIA Leichhardt (Australia) 14a (0g)
1982 – APIA Leichhardt (Australia) 16a (1g)
1983 – APIA Leichhardt (Australia) 25a (2g)
1984 – APIA Leichhardt (Australia) 29a (6g)
1985 – Marconi Stallions (Australia) 23a (4g)
1986 – Marconi Stallions (Australia) 24a (3g)
1987 – Marconi Stallions (Australia) 16a (0g)
1988 – Marconi Stallions (Australia) 26a (6g)
1989 – Marconi Stallions (Australia) 26a (8g)
89/90 – Marconi Stallions (Australia) 23a (5g)
90/91 – Marconi Stallions (Australia) 22a (3g)
91/92 – Marconi Stallions (Australia) 21a (1g)
92/93 – Marconi Stallions (Australia) 22a (2g)
93/94 – Marconi Stallions (Australia) 26a (5g)
94/95 – Marconi Stallions (Australia) 15a (1g)

TOTAL NSL APPEARANCES (GOALS): 329 appearances (47 goals)

When I touched base with Sydney FC a short time ago enquiring about the results from Steve Corica’s test yesterday, I wasn’t expecting to hear the news that his career is over.

The confirmation that Corica tore the hamstring off his bone within the first 10 minutes of Sunday night’s big win over the Melbourne Victory is a shattering blow to not only the club and its chances of turning its premiership into a championship, but it the cruelest way for this legend of the local game to bow out.

For neutral fans who have enjoyed the quality that Corica has brought to the local game it is also a loss.

Announcing his retirement last week, the plan was to go out on his own terms, at the top, with a premiership and championship medal dangled around his neck. Mike Cockerill pieced this fitting tribute at the time.

But such is the cruel fate of sport that injury has intervened.

Fittingly, and fortunately, Corica has gone out a winner, and while he wasn’t on field for much of Sunday’s exhilarating occasion, there was little doubt in the post match celebrations just how much the Sydney skipper means to his teammates.

Even yesterday, at the launch of the A-League finals in Sydney, the skipper was at his understated best, admitting he had requested to fly to Melbourne for Thursday’s first leg of the major semi final. He wanted to be there with, and for, his teammates.

Little wonder he is so popular in the dressing room, and beyond.

Many long time fans of the local game might remember the teenager who burst into the Marconi starting 11 and scored an incredible solo goal in a semi final at Parramatta Stadium when he went on a mazy run from half-way.

Fittingly, his last ever goal came at the same venue 10 days ago, when he converted a penalty against Perth Glory.

In the ensuing days, weeks and months, Corica’s attention will turn to nurturing the brightest talent at Sydney FC’s disposal, and there is little doubt he will instill the same positive, go-forward mentality he had throughout his playing days.

As I noted in my team of the season piece earlier this week, there have been some absolute star performers this season, especially in the decisive front third. Never before in the short history of our new national league have so many guns, both local and imported, fired at the same time.

Tonight, at the annual A-League awards night at Ivy in Sydney (which is likely to be drowned out by the Allan Border medal), the best will be honoured with the Johnny Warren medal, and the great man himself, a proponent of positive, attacking football, would have been delighted so many skilful and inventive front third technicians are vying for the award.

While past seasons have given us stand-out candidates like Nick Carle and Joel Griffiths, this season there are at least seven players who could legitimately lay claim to the award, such has been the quality at the top of the competition.

There is not much between them, especially the first four, but here I run the rule over the contenders:

Jason Culina; while he had a dip around the time of the Clive Palmer crowd-cap saga, his form at the start of the season, and at the end, has been inspirational, and so easy on the eye. Culina has had a license to roam where he wants, but his energy, drive and will to win has been brilliant to watch. Meanwhile, his ability to draw defenders and then shift the emphasis of the attack with a long diagonal switch of play has created time and space for his teammates, while his work out on the right, delivering inch-perfect crosses for the likes of Shane Smeltz, proves he can be a potent attacking influence. While he currently sits top of the assists charts, perhaps the one thing missing is the goals that the next bloke has provided in abundance.

Carlos Hernandez; the Costa Rican had an influential last season, earning himself a full time deal this season, which was sealed with an A-League record transfer fee. While he’s been good previously, this season he has taken his game to another level, and is among the leading men in both the goals (12) and assists (9) tables. Not only is he lethal from the set piece, he has been ghosting into the box, or to the edge of the box, and thumping some absolute bombs from distance. The one in round two, in the 3-3 draw at Etihad against Brisbane, and the one in round eight, in the 3-2 away win over the Gold Coast, spring to mind. Hernandez’s strength to hold the ball up, find space and invariably take the right option has been a joy to behold.

Paul Ifill; the last time I saw this guy live was just short of 12 months ago, at Selhurst Park in South London, but it was only for a brief cameo off the bench as Neil Warnock kept him and Carle away from the action for too long (at least Ifill got off the bench in a 0-0 draw with Reading). Fortunately for fans of the A-League, Ifill left Warnock, and has been able to express his wonderful gifts for 90 minutes every week. His strength, deceptive movement and pace and ability beat men with a quick drop of the shoulder and shift of the ball have been brilliant to watch. He gives defenders and goalkeepers alike nightmares anywhere around the box because he can comfortably glide by them, or shoot from distance, and some shot it is.

Alex Brosque; Even in the pre-season it was obvious this bloke was onto a big one, threatening to take Sydney’s main-man mantle and make it his own. Fortunately, for Sydney fans and Vitezslav Lavicka, he has lived up to the promise, for Sydney are a completely different side when he is no there. While the start was slow, at least from a goals perspective, he has been untouchable for large parts of the campaign, with his pace, touch and sharpness causing constant headaches, whether he drifts out wide or through the middle. Some of his link up play, with both Mark Bridge and Steve Corica has been a joy to watch, while his work as the first line in Sydney’s defence has been breathtakingly consistent. Energy and influence are words now synonymous with the Brosque game.

Steve Corica; Last season John Kosmina managed to convince most that Corica was no longer a 90 minute player. Indeed, there were many questions marks about whether the veteran could still handle the physical demands of the A-League, but, with a bit of faith from Lavicka, and his own self belief, Corica has been able to have arguable his most consistent and influential season for the Sky Blues. His ability to constantly find space in between the midfield and defensive lines, drive at the opposition, and combine with his front men has been a lesson in how to control a game from the front third. In past seasons he has had periods where his form has dipped, but this season he has been up for it every week. Will be sorely missed.

Archie Thompson; when Danny Allsopp left for the Middle East early in the campaign, it looked like Melbourne’s season could unravel. But up stepped Thompson, who along with Hernandez, he kept the Victory flowing in the front third, and he has been able to combine effortlessly with the likes of Robbie Kruse, Mate Dugandzic and Nick Ward. Stung by a couple of omissions from the national team, Thompson has been a man a mission, and his hunger and energy throughout the middle third of the season earnt him a recall.

Shane Smeltz; fortunately for last season’s Johnny Warren winner, he isn’t the only man at his new club, but the Gold Coast have still relied on his lethal finishing to be where they are. What makes Smeltz such an effective player at this level is that he is equally adept on the ball, outside the box, as he is inside the box, where he uses his heading ability, strength and cunning to get on the end of the things. The other thing I enjoy about watching Smeltz is his composure in an around the box. The beauty about his season is that he has been able to back up last season, and it would be great for the A-League, if not for the Gold Coast, if he can make an impression at the World Cup.

While there has been much disappointment from this correspondent about the lack of off-field growth from the A-League this season, if anyone needed a measure of the growing on-field quality, then try picking your team of the season. It’s no easy task, let me tell you.

For observers of the quality of the league, always seeking improvement, that’s a very good thing.

A bit was made a couple of weeks ago about the physicality of the league, after one particular weekend in which the natives got a little restless.

I actually enjoyed the passion that round. For mine, it demonstrated a bit of raw desperation to make the finals.

Let me tell you, the league is far less physical today then it has ever been.

In my opinion, many of the off-field problems the league is encountering today are a manifestation of the over-physicality of the league in seasons one to four.

But the league has moved on. This season the story is very different, particularly in the top half of the table.

The problem is the message isn’t being delivered to the wider masses, let alone the football market.

I, and others like Mike Cockerill and Simon Hill have been trying to spread the message through our respective forums, but overall, it is not sinking in, particularly when mass newspaper and online space is dedicated to the problems, rather than the successes.

Couple that with the FFA either lacking the football know-how or having its focus elsewhere, and the perception is not where it should be.

But if you want another measure of the on-field improvement this season, try picking your version five all-star team, and let me know how you go about fitting all the stars of the campaign in it.

In a nutshell, I’ve been finalising mine for the past few weeks, trying to fit 12 into 11, and more precisely, seven attackers into the front third.

I have finally settled on it, but at the expense of players of the quality of Robbie Fowler, Archie Thompson, Andy Todd, Fabio Vignaroli, Michael Bridges, Andrew Durante, Stephan Keller, Leo Bertos, Dean Heffernan, Zenon Caravella, Adama Traore, Tommy Oar, Mathew Leckie, Henrique, Sergio van Dijk, Jin-Hyung Song, and many others.

Such is the lot of a manager, the hard choices.

In picking my 11, I tried to make it as functional as possible, which has meant a couple of players slotting in in non-preferred roles, and a bit of front third largesse.

Let’s start between the sticks.

Clint Bolton has had his best season in years, Danny Vukovic is at least back, if not quite back to his best, and Jess Vanstratten is finally showing some quality after an indifferent start.

The one keeper that has consistently produced the goods, backing up last season, is Eugene Galekovic. While I was disappointed with his effort in Kuwait, in the A-League he has been first class, for the second season running.

Now to my back four, and while I toyed with the idea of a back three, in order to give me more options in the front third, I reasoned that I would still need wingbacks, who were likely to be my fullbacks in a back four anyway.

Left back was particularly competitive, with Naum Sekulovski, Dean Heffernan, Sung-Hwan Byun and Adama Trarore all impressing, but I went for the adaptable Matt Thompson, who will leave Newcastle after another typically consistent season.

On the right-hand side, there was only one real option, the dynamic Matthew Kemp, who has improved his touch and final ball to go with his considerable engine.

In the centre of defence, the leaner and meaner Simon Colosimo was the most obvious choice. His partner Keller is unlucky, and the same could be said about Todd and Durante. Bas van den Brink and Krisitian Rees improved as the season went on, but it is their teammate Michael Thwaite who gets the gig alongside Colosimo in this team.

While he ostensibly played in the holding midfield role and at right back, his versatility and the need to stack the midfield with quality means Thwaite starts at the back.

While Thwaite was arguably the best performing holding midfielder in the league (special mention to Vignaroli when he played there), it was only because his skipper, Jason Culina, the best screener in the league, was playing higher up the pitch and owning games.

But for the purpose of this team, and playing a couple of gun attacking midfielders ahead of him, Culina bosses this team from the screening position. Oh, and he gets the skipper’s armband.

The job of who to play in the attacking midfield spots wasn’t made easy by the great form from the likes of Song, Caravella and Nicky Travis (who I felt shaded teammate Michael McGlinchey), but two number 10’s who made all the difference were Carlos Hernandez and Steve Corica, so I’ve made room for both of them here.

They had stellar campaigns, Hernandez justifying his mega (at least by A-League standards) transfer figure, Corica, who confirmed yesterday that this will be his last season, at times irresistible.

Their ability to find space, keep the ball and carve out chances has been thrilling to watch.

It’s a star studded trio in midfield, even if it does border on the offensive.

That leaves the front three, and particularly, how to fit four into three.

Many could stake a claim, including van Dijk, Bridges, Fowler and Joel Porter, but I narrowed it down to four; Archie Thompson, Paul Ifill, Shane Smeltz and Alex Brosque.

Someone had to miss out and it wasn’t going to be either Ifill or Brosque, who have both had outstanding campaigns, proving hard to handle every time they are on the ball. Capable of playing centrally, they’re deployed on the flanks here.

So the final spot was a choice between the two finishers, Thompson and Smeltz, and by sheer weight of goals, I went for the Kiwi.

So here it is, the A-League Team of the Season (in 4-3-3)

————————-Galekovic—————————–

——————————————————————

Kemp———Thwaite——-Colosimo—–M. Thompson

——————————————————————

—————————Culina——————————-

————-Hernandez—————Corica—————–

——————————————————————

——-Ifill————————————–Brosque——

————————-Smeltz——————————–

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When the A-League’s Young Footballer of the Year is announced at the annual awards night a week from today, it should be a decision between the two outstanding youngsters of season five, Tommy Oar and Mathew Leckie.

As was the case on Saturday night at Hindmarsh Stadium, I would expect the Adelaide flier to come out on top, but not by a great deal.

But before that can happen, the FFA has the not so clear-cut matter of confirming that Leckie will be the January nomination for the best under 21s player of the month.

Amazingly, the Adelaide flier has yet to be nominated as one of the five monthly award winners, but if order is restored, based on his stirring efforts throughout what has been a dismal campaign for the Reds, that should be confirmed some time this week.

The five nominees to date have been Kofi Danning (August), Leigh Broxham (September), Oar (October), Rostyn Griffiths (November) and Ben Kantarovski (December).

The anomaly in the monthly nomination process is that there are some mighty fine performers, especially in the second half of the season, who will miss out on a nomination.

Provided Leckie does receive the January gong, check out this list of rising stars unlucky not to figure in the selection panel’s final deliberations:

Mitchell Langerak
Robbie Kruse
Luke DeVere
Sean Rooney
Adam Sarota

The most unlucky of those would be Kruse, whose form in January, and since, has been excellent.

Despite Kruse’s claims, it would be a tragedy if Leckie missed out on one of the monthly awards, thus ruling him out of the overall prize. I made my thoughts on Leckie’s impact this season clear in a previous article on The Roar.

Others who may have had a sniff of a monthly nomination throughout the season included Mate Dugandzic, David Williams and Michael Zullo.

All up, there has been some sound development among Australia’s emerging talent, and that’s not even factoring in guys like Michael Marrone, Tarek Elrich, Ivan Franjic and Andrija Jukic, who don’t quite make the under 21s cut-off.

But if you were to list a field of the best six under 21s performers of the season, four of the five monthly nominees to date would be lucky to sneak in. My six would be;

Mathew Leckie
Tommy Oar
Robbie Kruse
Mitchell Langerak
Sean Rooney
Luke DeVere

That’s to take nothing away from someone like Broxham, who has had a very consistent season and finally cemented his spot in the Melbourne Victory 11, or a Kantarovski, who I feel has a massive future, but it is more a reflection on the need to look at the overall governance of this award.

To my mind, the current model of a single monthly nominee over six months isn’t quite the best solution to identifying all the kids that have emerged throughout the season.

Certainly, it gives the award and its sponsor monthly “space” throughout the season, but from a purely footballing perspective, it means kids like Kruse, Langerak, Rooney, Sarota and DeVere miss out on some recognition, when they deserve it.

One solution, for next year and beyond, might be to adopt the AFL’s Rising Star model, where one player is nominated every round, from which the selection panel pick the overall winner.

If there are not enough emerging youngsters in the A-League to warrant a weekly nominee (remembering that there are less teams and less players on the pitch compared with the AFL), then another option might be to select three or four nominees at the end of every third of the season.

That would have given us nine or 12 total nominations this season, which most likely would have captured the likes of Kruse, Langerak, Rooney, DeVere, Sarota Dugandzic, Williams and Zullo.

This season’s selection panel, consisting of Pim Verbeek (when he has been available to watch the games of that voting month), Young Socceroos coach Jan Versleijen, national technical director Han Berger, assistant national technical director Alistair Edwards, Fox’s Andy Harper, plus a writer from Fairfax and News Ltd, have painted themselves into a corner a touch by having to choose between Leckie and Kruse in January.

But having a more flexible agenda next season will certainly help the panel, and our emerging talent.

If anyone needed a reminder of just how important Alex Brosque is to Sydney’s title aspirations, then they got it in a big way on Sunday evening.

For the second week in a row the competition leaders were missing their season’s front third inspiration and for the second week in a row they were totally devoid of spark or penetration.

Just how much of a difference does Brosque make to this Sydney outfit?

Before this game I would have said 20 to 30 percent.

Now, try 40 or 50 percent, at least.

Certainly Vitezslav Lavicka had the demeanour of a shot man in the post match press conference, seemingly bereft of ideas and solutions to his front third ills.

The reality? Minus Brosque, there aren’t many solutions, and John Aloisi and Mark Bridge again failed to offer anything like the requisite movement and command required to maintain Sydney’s status at the head of the table.

There was a bit made of Aloisi’s “hard work” after this match, but the reality is he is not paid the big dollars to work hard and put himself about.

Lavicka has been nursing him through the last year of his contract, but surely now the claims of youngsters like Chris Payne and Kerem Bulut, the Youth League’s leading scorer, are becoming harder to ignore.

Bridge, meanwhile, is proving enigmatic and might need another public rocket from John Kosmina.

When I asked Lavicka about his front third solutions, he couldn’t offer much, admitting time and time again that “we missed Alex”.

When I asked about Bulut, the inference was he wasn’t quite ready.

Certainly Lavicka’s use of Hayden Foxe as a late make-shift striker just about summed up his issues.

Undoubtedly it is why he thought long and hard about risking Brosque for this one.

Certainly Miron Bleiberg, understandably upbeat post match, made no secret of his admiration for the missing Sydney striker, mentioning him almost as often as he took a jovial swipe at the assembled scribes.

Indeed, Bleiberg claimed that he changed his tactics only at the last minute, when he realised Brosque wouldn’t be playing.

He claimed he hadn’t planned to start Dino Djulbic at right back, but only decided to do so because “three defenders would be better at defending Aloisi in the air than two”.

Despite having beaten Sydney in all three games this season, he stopped short of describing the clean sweep as “game, set and match”, the line he famously used after the Gold Coast has swept aside Brisbane Roar for the third time on Boxing Day.

The reason?

He had too much respect for a Sydney side they had only managed to beat by the odd goal in all three games, and he knew that they could easily meet again, on a bigger stage, with Brosque in toe.

Bleiberg would also have been philosophical enough to realise that taking Jason Culina out of his starting line up would likely have had the same effect on his side.

Culina, like Brosque for Sydney, like Carlos Hernandez for Melbourne, is the spark that ignites his side, and the Socceroos midfielder gave yet another performance of complete domination here.

“Passionate” was how Bleiberg described it.

Another word would be “breathtaking”.

Cajoling and rousing his team, pestering referee Ben Williams in a Muscat-esque performance, inciting the SFS crowd with a wink and a smile, spending too much time on the floor, Culina was everywhere, demonstrating the kind of non-stop movement that should be watched over and over again by everyone involved in the A-League.

His long switches of play, hitting their mark like Michael Diamond hits his clays, were the stuff of legend.

At half-time I managed to catch up with Mike Salter of The Football Tragic, who made the accurate observation about the lack of off the ball movement in the A-League whenever a team is in possession.

Players of the quality of Brosque and Culina provide this mobility in abundance, and its effectiveness is in its relentlessness.

Undoubtedly Culina has been given the license to roam and do as he wishes by Bleiberg, but watching him, evoking memories of his days as a kid in the NSL, I can’t help but keep thinking how nice it would be for Pim Verbeek to release him of his straight-jacket duties for the Roos.

Certainly, Culina’s performances this season are driving on the rest of this Gold Coast United team, and here there were accomplished displays across the pitch, from Michael Thwaite and Zenon Caravella in midfield, to Bas van den Brink at the back.

Meanwhile, Bleiberg sprung another surprise on the left, starting Tahj Minniecon for James Brown, while Joel Porter got a start in place of Charlie Miller.

The two combined beautifully for the winner, Minniecon ducking in from the left and splitting the right side of Sydney’s defence, an area of weakness I alluded to in my tactical preview. Porter did the rest.

Sure enough, Gold Coast were able to stretch Sydney throughout the game, and break them down, and their constant switching of the play exposed Sydney’s lack of natural width.

Gold Coast are flying, and looking forward to pitting themselves against the Melbourne Victory on January 29, but even the manager admitted that they struggle against direct, physical sides like the Central Coast Mariners, who are their next opponents.

Sydney, meanwhile, will be desperate for Brosque to return and ignite his side.

There have been a couple of times this season when I have questioned Miron Bleiberg’s tactical acumen, but I have to say, I was really impressed with the way he dismantled the Brisbane Roar on Boxing Day.

The weekend prior to Christmas I was at Bluetongue Stadium to see the Roar beat the Central Coast thanks to Matt McKay’s injury time winner.

But throughout the game the Mariners managed to expose Brisbane’s Michael Zullo, getting in behind him on a few occasions, only to waste all the good work.

Zullo had only just been converted to a left back by Ange Postecoglou, and had had a couple of blinders, but the Mariners managed to find a bit of a chink, with Brad Porter and Nicky Travis getting the better of him a few times.

Of course, Brisbane’s win meant no media heat was applied on Zullo after that game.

But no doubt Bleiberg was watching, and promptly decided to target the youngster a few days later, sending the likes of Jason Culina, Zenon Caravella and Joel Porter his way. Shane Smeltz profited, bagging a hat-trick.

Now, on Sunday, in the much-anticipated blockbuster in Sydney, the Gold Coast manager may get another chance to target an expose an inexperienced fullback.

Last season there was a lot of hype around Shannon Cole, who caught the eye with his work on the ball, but a closer look showed some obvious deficiencies in his defensive game.

But this season, I feel his defensive game has come a long way. With Vitezslav Lavicka perhaps recognising he doesn’t have the pace to play as a wide midfielder, Cole has become the number one right back at the club, and has been doing a good job for much of the season.

That was until a couple of days before Christmas, when Dean Heffernan took Cole to the cleaners as the Mariners bombed-on in search of an equaliser.

Then, on the weekend, Perth Glory also targeted him, with plenty of success, minus some poor finishing from Jamie Coyne and Jamie Harnwell.

At full strength, right back remains the one area where Sydney look vulnerable, and it will be interesting to see what, if anything, Bleiberg does to try and expose Cole.

On Wednesday night, in the impressive 2-0 win over Newcastle, Bleiberg sprung a surprise by starting Joel Porter on the bench and starting youngster James Brown on the left.

He had a great game, exposing the quick Tarek Elrich for much of the first half, and combing beautifully with Culina for the second.

Whether Bleiberg goes with Brown again, or reverts back to Porter, Cole is up for a challenge, and must lift.

Cole may have had some pressure on his spot had Sebastian Ryall not succumb to injury, but given the five straight clean sheets for Sydney, he is likely to retain his spot.

The Gold Coast play a wide game. They are good at stretching teams, and forcing the fullbacks out.

They like to overload one of the flanks, sending Culina, Caravella and now Charlie Miller there, where they play their keep ball games until something opens up.

Usually this is down the right, but Sung-Hwan Byun and Terry McFlynn are a formidable defensive combination, even more reason to seek out Cole’s side.

Sydney, meanwhile, like to keep things narrow and compact when defending. The battle to see if the Gold Coast can stretch and open up Sydney will be fascinating.

There are other great battles to look forward to.

Both sides have worked incredibly hard on their transition game this season.

It has been the hallmark of Sydney’s game under Lavicka, the ability to funnel men quickly behind the ball when they lose it. The idea is to squeeze teams early, and win the ball back quickly.

When Alex Brosque is playing, Sydney are also great at springing forward with pace and numbers, and, if he is fit and ready, the striker is likely to prove a handful for Bas van den Brink and Kristian Rees.

Meanwhile, Steve Pantelidis could be back into the starting 11 to “look-after” Steve Corica, who has been in great form.

That might mean Michael Thwaite reverts to right back, which will help Bleiberg’s team carry the ball forward.

While the Gold Coast’s defensive transition hasn’t been quite as impressive as Sydney’s, their attacking transition sure has caught the eye, with Jess Vanstrattan often the springboard.

One, two, three quick passes and suddenly Gold Coast are down the other end, threatening before the opposition have tracked back into position.

A few weeks ago I wrote on The Roar about how the Gold Coast managed to expose the Mariners by countering swiftly. The Mariners haven’t been the same side since.

In the ensuing weeks, Bleiberg’s modus operandi has only become more evident.

No doubt Lavicka will have recognised it, and devised a plan to counter it, by keeping Vanstrattan away from the ball, slowing him down, putting pressure on whoever the outlet is and holding up the Gold Coast.

Given each team’s ability to transition so well, there is the possibility both sides could cancel each other out.

Jason Culina, after some poor body language a couple of months ago, is firmly back in the mood, owning the game on Wednesday, and how Sydney deal with him will be crucial.

Given Sydney’s propensity to keep a structured diamond midfield, Culina will look to the flanks for space, as he has done so often this season. His delivery from wide has been top shelf, and Sydney will try to double up on him and deny him space to deliver.

That could create space for Miller and Caravella. United have a bevy of influential front third players.

While Sydney are fresher, and playing at home, where they have been on fire, one senses that Gold Coast have the bigger guns, and if they are physically and mentally up for it, will take some stopping. Can they make it a hat-trick of wins over Sydney?

Whatever transpires, this is shaping up as one of the games of the season, so bring it on.

Yesterday, in part one of my look at how the A-League clubs are travelling just over a month out from the finals, I cast an eye over the teams struggling to break out of the bottom five.

Today I look at the top five, and while Sydney FC, with a four point lead, are in pole position to finish first past the post, that could change if the Gold Coast United win their next two games, at home to Newcastle tonight, followed by what is shaping up as a cracker in Sydney on Sunday.

But, while the defending champions Melbourne Victory go through a dip, others are circling, including the Jets and the Wellington Phoenix, which is where I start;

Wellington Phoenix, 28 points (21 games)
Ricki Herbert’s men were brilliant at home against Brisbane on Saturday, as they have been for much of the season.

The addition of Eugene Dadi looks a good one, at least with the rest of this season in mind, and will give Paul Ifill the freedom to buzz about and influence, as he has been doing all season.

Meanwhile, Manny Muscat has slotted in beautifully in the holding role, allowing both Vince Lia and Tim Brown to bomb-on and influence in the front third, while skipper Andrew Durante is leading from the back.

Troy Hearfield has been converted into an attacking fullback, Liam Reddy has been another great pick up, and the team will only strengthen with the return of Ben Sigmund.

Meanwhile, Ricki Herbert has plenty of impact off the bench through the likes of Adrian Caceres and Costa Barbarouses, and the squad is as deep as any in the league.

While they only have two games left at their fortress, Westpac Stadium, they have enough front third quality to give any team a contest before and during the finals. Watch out.

Newcastle Jets, 31 (21)
Another super home performance and another comfortable win over Melbourne, who the Jets historically measure up well against. That is now eight wins in 15 against the Victory, who will be hoping to avoid them in the finals.

Branko Culina’s men are smoking, with six wins from their past eight games, and have had some wonderful performers, especially in the front third.

The likes of Michael Bridges, Labinot Haliti, Sean Rooney and Jin-Hyung Song have been combining brilliantly, and scoring some cracking goals to boot.

A few weeks ago, when the unfortunate Fabio Vignaroli limped out for the season, it was important that Matt Thompson, Jobe Wheelhouse and Adam D’Apuzzo stepped up and maintained the marquee attitude. They have done just that.

Meanwhile, Neil Young is doing well between the sticks and Nikolai Topor-Stanley has been immense in front of him.

Now and again they have a brain-fade, as they did in Perth, and must look to improve their away form in the run-in to the finals, starting tonight.

With four of their remaining six games on the road, Culina has a big job to keep his men playing the quality football they have been, while picking up away points.

If he succeeds, the Jets will go into the finals with much confidence.

Gold Coast United, 34 (21)
After a poor middle third of the season, things have really picked up at Robina, with the inclusion of Charlie Miller and the return of Zenon Caravella and Joel Porter taking plenty of the pressure off Jason Culina and Shane Smeltz.

Culina and Smeltz are flying again, and the team is starting to look more balanced in the front third, with Culina and Caravella free to roam knowing that Miller will be supporting the front two.

There are still a few issues at the back, with only one clean sheet in their past seven games, but at least Jess Vanstrattan is finally playing with some confidence.

Losing Adama Traore, again, is a big blow, and Miron Bleiberg really needs to short things out at the back with some big games coming up against some potent attacks in Newcastle, Sydney, Melbourne and Wellington.

It is a tough finish to the campaign, and if they can start keeping clean sheets, it will give them much confidence for the finals.

Melbourne Victory, 35 (21)
After eight wins in 10 games in the middle of the season, the Victory have only won one of their past five, and that was a 3-0 win away to the struggling Mariners.

Undoubtedly Ernie Merrick’s men are going through a dip, and the worrying thing is the form of the backline, where the likes of Kevin Muscat, Adrian Leijer and Rody Vargas are being exposed far too often.

Merrick looks to be struggling to find the right way to use the three central defenders, with Muscat is being caught drifting into midfield.

Meanwhile, Merrick has problems elsewhere, chopping and changing things in central midfielder and the front third, and seemingly struggling to find a workable solution.

However, the draw might help the Victory, one senses. Three home games on the spin, four in total, and two tasty away trips to Robina and Sydney, have the potential to get the team focussed and flowing in time for the finals.

Sydney FC, 39 (22)
After three losses on the spin in November, Vitezslav Lavicka’s men have now gone six games without defeat, including maximum points from three home games, and one win and two 0-0 draws on the road.

As I noted in my piece on The Roar just over a week ago, they are ticking over like a machine, and have now kept five clean sheets in a row.

The formula has been a football classic, with the performances coming at home and the grind coming on the road, as evidenced in all three recent away trips to New Zealand, Melbourne and Perth.

The latest away performance was messy, but missing key players in Alex Brosque and Simon Colosimo, Sydney again scrabbled superbly, the sign of a desperate team, doing all the little things that lead to success.

At home, Sydney have been irresistible of late.

The key to the rest of the season will be to keep Lavicka’s preferred starting 11 together.

In particular he can’t afford to be without Brosque for too long, for John Aloisi proved again on the weekend that he just isn’t coping at this level. Indeed, right now, Chris Payne looks the next best option after an eye-catching display off the bench.

Missing Sebastian Ryall for a long period may also hurt the Sky Blues, for Ryall may have been able to put some pressure on Shannon Cole at right back.

Apart from a lack of depth and the fact young midfielders Brendan Gan and Ryan Grant aren’t keeping enough pressure on the established midfielders, right-back looks the one major weakness for Sydney, with Cole again exposed against Perth, as he was by Dean Heffernan just before Christmas.

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In the first of a two part series looking at how all the A-League teams are shaping up a month or so out from the finals, I take at look at the bottom five, and, I have to say, it’s going to take something special for any of them to make an impression, even if they sneak into the finals.

At least there are bright points, like the form of Mathew Leckie in Adelaide and the fact kids like Adam Sarota, Tommy Oar and Michael Zullo are getting valuable development in Brisbane.

Adelaide United, 22 points (21 games)
Very unlucky not to take all three points away to the Gold Coast on Saturday, this was Adelaide’s best performance in a very long time.

They would need to produce the same energy and effort in every remaining game to have any chance of making the six, but their form has been scratchy all season, and it would be a minor miracle if they could sustain Saturday’s form the rest of the season.

A couple of recent shining lights have been the form of Michael Marrone in the holding midfield role, the return to regular football of Fabian Barbiero and the outgoing eye-catching development of Mathew Leckie.

Leckie was outstanding against the Gold Coast, both in attack and defence. On one occasion he made an 80 metre sprint to make a last-ditch challenge on Jason Culina, who looked certain to score. Inspirational stuff.

Soon after he was sprinting the other way, giving Bas van den Brink and co. headaches, and his heads-up play to suck-in Anderson and tee-up to Travis Dodd’s goal was something to behold.

Some player, and on this form is comfortably Socceroos material, even now.

A bolter for the Cup? Call me crazy, but, with breathtaking pace and power the likes of which we don’t have elsewhere, he certainly suits Pim Verbeek’s preferred counter-attacking style, causes panic every time he is one the pitch, and would be an unknown joker off the bench.

North Queensland Fury, 25 (22)
Good to see Jeremy Brockie back in a bit of form. Must be something to do with the World Cup on the horizon.

The rest of it is pretty grim for Ian Ferguson, so grim in fact that even Beau Busch has been featuring.

Robbie Fowler has gone off the boil, but the Fury are only two points outside the six, and have been impressive at home lately.

The pity is their away form, with Saturday night’s point in Gosford their first on the road since October.

Central Coast Mariners, 25 (22)
Saturday night’s home draw with the Fury was the most dour game of round 22 and one of the worst of the season, but at least the Mariners put the five losses in December behind them by picking up their first point since November.

Lawrie McKinna has been an angry man of late, and the squad look to be under immense pressure, and unhappy.

Perhaps more than ever the affable Scot is under pressure to remain at the helm, but his biggest problems remains a lack of creativity, the poor form of Matt Simon and a return to the troubles at the back that plagued his side 12 months ago.

Brits Michael McGlinchey and Nick Travis looked to have solved the creativity issue midway through the season, but have gone off the boil, while only three goals in seven weeks sums up the overall problems.

McKinna has chopped and changed, but it’s not coming together.

Brisbane Roar, 26 (22)
Successive wins against the Fury and Mariners suggested things were improving under Ange Postecoglou, but the Craig Moore situation looks to have rocked things in a big way.

Even before he left the Roar were leaking goals, with 10 goals now conceded in three games. Pieter Collen, as Andrew Durante points out at the bottom of this piece, has big shoes to fill.

Meanwhile, Tommy Oar is finding out that the most difficult thing in football is to maintain consistency, while Adam Sarota and Michael Zullo are also finding life tougher after a promising few weeks.

Still a chance of making the finals, but Collen would need to hit the ground running for that to happen, you sense.

In any case, the club has drawn a line in the sand, and you sense this year’s finals aren’t the only thing on the radar. This club is being shaken-up with the next couple of seasons in mind.

Perth Glory, 27 (21)
Played very well against Sydney on Sunday, and were unlucky not to bag a few, but the performance just about summed up their season so far, with Jamie Coyne and Jamie Harnwell missing a succession of chances.

The Glory have been promising to deliver, but only one win in their past six games suggests the distraction around whether their three Socceroos will stay or go in January is having an effect.

It hasn’t been well-managed by the club, and these things tend to infect the squad. Things looks disjointed, with players coming and going all over the place.

David Mitchell looks to be struggling to control it all.

In part two, I take a look at the teams more likely to be pressing for honours this season.

If any fringe player pushed his case for inclusion in Pim Verbeek’s 23 man World Cup squad in appalling conditions in Kuwait City yesterday morning (our time), it was Nurnberg wide-man Dario Vidosic.

Make no mistake, this was a difficult game against very good opposition, played on a terrible surface.

The Socceroos went to the Middle East early and had an excellent preparation, geared around playing possession-based football.

But with all the resources in the world, why didn’t anyone know anything about the state of the pitch till 24 hours prior? A question that needs to be asked.

Given all that, and the fact Verbeek’s team featured seven A-Leaguers and three Europeans who haven’t had a game for over a month (Luke Wilkshire, Nick Carle and Vidosic), the Socceroos did very well to earn a share of the points.

It leaves them in a good position to qualify for Qatar. A draw against Indonesia in Brisbane in March will do, but it shouldn’t be taken for granted.

While Indonesia only have three points, and no chance of progressing, the fact they have drawn three of their five games, lost the other two by only one goal, and held the Socceroos to a scoreless draw a year ago, suggests they are no easy-beats.

Hopefully the surface at Suncorp will be better than the one dished up here.

It made for a scrappy affair, gripping though it was thanks to some constant shifts in momentum.

The Socceroos bossed the early proceedings, bagging two early strikes after reacting first to the fall of the ball at a pair of set pieces.

Scrappy, but effective, the goals summed up life under Verbeek.

It was a fantasy five minutes, calming the nerves and giving the midfield duo of Wilkshire and Mile Jedinak the confidence to go about their job of running the game.

Jedinak, in particular was at his destructive best, and the Kuwaitis couldn’t live with him for the first half hour or so.

But Kuwait manager Goran Tufegdzic played an early card, bringing on an extra attacker in Hamad Al Enezi to partner Yousef Nasser and the little gem, Bader Al Mutwa.

Suddenly the Kuwaitis started going long, and early.

The plan was clear and two-fold; to bypass Jedinak and Wilkshire, and try and expose the Socceroos defence through the pace of Al Enezi and Al Mutwa.

Tufegdzic targeted both the centre of defence, where Simon Colosimo and Craig Moore made errors to allow Al Enezi in for the first, and both Socceroos fullbacks, Dean Heffernan and Matthew Kemp, who are inexperienced at this level.

It is an area I had alluded to as a Socceroos weakness on Wednesday, and the Kuwaitis were bright enough to identify it and, even better, exploit it.

For the second goal, Al Mutwa took up a position in behind Dean Heffernan, got on the end of another long ball, ducked inside and teed up a delightful diagonal ball in behind Kemp. Nasser pounced.

Eugene Galekovic was slow to react for both goals.

The Socceroos were shaky, and the early part of the second period promised more.

Fortunately they were able to survive some dicey moments, and gradually exerted control over the second half, without every really threatening in the front third.

Vidosic caught the eye, taming the tricky surface with some good dribbling and movement infield, but the rest of the front third will be disappointed about an opportunity missed, and will spend endless nights wondering whether Verbeek will given them another one.

Archie Thompson tried as hard as he ever has in green and gold, but was often left isolated and unsure about his touch.

Carle kept receiving the ball with his back to goal and a Kuwaiti midfielder applying the heat from behind, but was never able to turn and face the goal, and I can’t remember one moment when he combined decisively with Thompson or his wide men.

Instead, he seemed content to get the ball, control it under difficult circumstances, and release it backwards. It is hard to remember such a conservative Carle performance.

On the positive front, he did win and provide the set piece that lead to Heffernan’s goal, and at least showed he could control the ball consistently on this surface.

Meanwhile, Mile Sterjovski was anonymous.

Given the surface and Thompson’s isolation from the rest of the team, it was a mystery was why Bruce Djite, a robust striker, wasn’t introduced earlier than two minutes into stoppage time.

The other ongoing worry for Verbeek is the recent form of Moore, who has much on his mind, admitting he is yet to sign any release from the Brisbane Roar.

A point keeps the Asian Cup dream alive, but there remains much to ponder in the upcoming months.

The word from Kuwait City is that Pim Verbeek will take an attacking 4-2-3-1 into Thursday morning’s (our time) Asian Cup qualifier against Kuwait, which may see Alex Brosque nestled in behind Archie Thompson in something resembling a two-man forward line, which would be a Socceroos collector’s item.

According to the trusty Fox Sports observers, Andy Harper and Simon Hill, who have been on the ground keeping an eye on things at training, the formation will look something like this;

————————Galekovic———————

———————————————————–

Kemp———Moore——Colosimo——-Heffernan

————————————————————-

——————Wilkshire—–Jedinak—————-

————————————————————

—Sterjovski————Brosque———–Vidosic—-

————————————————————–

————————-A Thompson———————–

If true, it’s a well balanced outfit, offering plenty of cut and thrust going forward and a very solid central defensive spine, with two key men in Luke Wilkshire and Mile Jedinak screening Craig Moore and Simon Colosimo.

Eugene Galekovic is the right option between the sticks.

The experienced central defenders need no introduction to each other, having been a part of the Socceroos team that set a world record in 2001 when they thumped American Samoa 31-0 in Coffs Harbour.

Of course, Archie Thompson was the major story that night, bagging 13 of his own, but as I noted in this recent piece, February 2006 was the A-League greats last goal in green and gold; four long years.

Thompson has looked a very hungry player since missing out on a couple of Verbeek’s recent squads, and knows more than anyone that he must seize this chance if he is to figure going forward.

Thompson would do well to not only focus his attention on making Verbeek’s World Cup 23, but on giving the manager something to think about in the front third stakes. No done deals in that area, it would appear.

Club coach Ernie Merrick has been boasting about the strikers renewed ability to defend from the front, and if Verbeek is seeing the same thing at training, then Thompson will have made an impression.

Verbeek loves nothing more than a front four that can start the teams defence, and that is among the reasons Brosque looks a sound option in behind Thompson.

Had Nick Carle been playing more regularly at Crystal Palace then he might have had a mortgage on the “number 10”, but as it is Neil Warnock thinks more highly of a hack like Shaun Derry, and Carle hasn’t been off the bench since the 5th of December.

Meanwhile, the Sydney FC striker, if he is given a license to roam from this central attacking midfield spot, can be a real headache for Kuwait, getting forward and beyond Thompson in the dynamic, driving style that Verbeek tends to adore.

With his finishing ability, he even has the opportunity to prove he is a better option that Brett Holman.

Brosque has made no secret of his desire to play centrally, and, like Thompson, must play with the confidence he has been exuding in the domestic league.

Foremost, these two must do their job for the team. Thereafter, the other pieces will fall into place.

Dario Vidosic was seen limping a couple of days ago, but may have done enough with his limited opportunities so far to get a start. The modern wide player, he knows his job is to offer something in attack and funnel back quickly when without the ball.

It is a role he is familiar with at Nurnberg, despite not having featured since late November.

On the other side, Mile Sterjovski knows the scene, knows what is expected of him, and has been hitting his straps at Perth.

It looks a mobile and quick front four, and the hope is they can combine well and stretch the Kuwaitis.

All the while they will be fed by the boss of the midfield, Wilkshire, who will look to set the tempo with his simple and efficient game.

If Jason Culina had made the trip, Wilkshire might have best been utilised on the right side of defence, but with Culina pulling out, the Dynamo Moscow man had to play in central midfield.

Mile Jedinak has been getting forward and getting goals in Turkey, but among his key roles here will be to ensure the supply to the dangerous Bader Al Mutwa, one of this correspondent’s favourite Asian players, is minimised.

Otherwise, the tormenter of the Socceroos on more than one occasion might get a chance to get at Moore on the ground, and that could spell trouble.

Our best bet is if Colosimo, with his extra pace, looks after Al Mutwa whenever he ventures centrally into the front third.

But he is a very clever mover, a footballer, venturing deep and out wide to pick up the ball, so it must be a concentrated team effort to keep him out. Especially out wide.

Perhaps the biggest chink in the Socceroos armour, and the area Al Mutwa may look to exploit, is in the fullback spots. All the options are raw at this level.

If I was choosing, it would be Heffernan on the left and Matt Thompson on the right.

Heffernan has been terrific for much of this season and had a good-one against Sydney in his most recent game.

Matthew Kemp has had a terrific season and deserves his spot in the squad, but I do worry about his technical ability and finishing at this level. His final ball has improved vastly this season, but is it yet up to international level?

Matt Thompson felt his way though his first two caps, but one senses he is ready for the step up.

He would be my only obvious addition to the nominated team above, with Carle coming in centrally for Vidosic in the unlikely event he succumbs to injury, forcing Brosque out wide.

Otherwise, the preparation has looked good, and the mood appears about right; not too cocky, with plenty needing to prove a point.

Not much has been heard about the hosts this time around, but if the Socceroos remain focussed and can keep their cool, they should at least come away from Kuwait with a share of the points, hopefully more.

In the most recent pre-season I was desperate to get out and see a few Sydney FC games. Not only was I needing my live football fix, but I wanted to see what had prompted the club, so often the laughing stock of the A-League, to go to Eastern Europe and hire a largely unknown Czech named Vitezslav Lavicka.

I was suitably impressed, not only by Lavicka’s methodical and detailed work, but the manner in which the players were responding.

Spending a little time with him after one of the pre-season wins only emphasised what a shrewd operator he was.

There have been times throughout the season proper when things have looked a touch shaky, particularly throughout a three game losing streak in November.

In the main though, Sydney have looked a well-oiled machine capable of winning its first premiership and qualifying for the 2011 Asian Champions League, the prizes awarded to the team that finishes the regular season on top.

That was only emphasised over the festive period, when Sydney strung together an impressive set of performances over a nine day stretch which saw them go away to the defending champions before picking up maximum points in two home games.

After the scoreless draw in Melbourne, much of the talk was about how the Victory had firmed in to title favouritism on the back of an aggressive and up-beat display.

But I was equally as impressed with the Sydney effort, feeling they came away from Docklands with the psychological edge.

Ernie Merrick’s men threw everything at Sydney, who refused to crack, finishing strongly.

Yes, Melbourne had dominated possession, and controlled much of the tempo, but I sensed Lavicka was more than happy to set the stall out deep and nullify the space in behind, forcing Archie Thompson to play in front of his back four.

Effectively he and his men were happy to play for the draw, not a bad strategy away from home and against a team that was flying.

Note also that Lavicka was missing his main defender Simon Colosimo on that night, with Stephan Keller and Sebastian Ryall stepping up with great displays. For all Melbourne’s efforts, Clint Bolton was left to focus on organising his defence.

All the while Sydney offered a threat on the counter, and in the dying moments just about made it a classic smash-and-grab.

Four days later I was at the SFS to see Lavicka’s men all but put the cleaners through their northern rival, the Central Coast Mariners.

Yes, Sydney only won thanks to Alex Brosque’s wonderful first-time first half strike, but in truth they were a two or three goal better team on the night, such was their domination in every third.

Surely they couldn’t sustain this type of methodical control four days later, when Adelaide came to town? Surely, after two intense mental and physical efforts, they were due for a let-down?

Not a chance.

Once again Lavicka’s men produced a professional performance full of poise and purpose, with the 1-0 scoreline not reflecting their domination.

Adelaide were shot, bereft of any control and short on ideas. As Aurelio Vidmar admitted after, “Sydney were very slick and very, very good.”

It is the type of European professionalism we have hitherto yet to see in the A-League and perhaps not since the days of Zoran Matic and Adelaide City, and you sense Lavicka has been building the team to peak about now, in the run-in to the finals.

In the early part of the season it was all about getting the back third functioning.

Then the attack started flourishing, with Alex Brosque and Mark Bridge offering constant pace, mobility and some super technical combination, ably supported by the evergreen Steve Corica, in some of the best form of his career.

No defence has able to get any rest with these three guys flying around the front third.

Now the diamond midfield is functioning beautifully, with Stuart Musialik pulling the strings from deep, Terry McFlynn adapting on the left, and Karol Kisel offering some wonderful energy and attitude from the right.

The Slovak took a while to get going, but his performances of late have been top-shelf, justifying Lavicka’s faith and eye for a player.

Sydney have been a work in progress, but Lavicka and his assistants, Michal Zach and Tony Popovic, have built a machine.

In recent times they have resembled a Melbourne Cup stayer, effortlessly put to sleep early before bursting to life in the home stretch.

Sydney, the city, has never seen anything like it, season one included.

Their team is watch-able, very, very watch-able.

The pity is that not enough is being done to sell this message.

Yes, the three new imports aren’t big names, but in Keller, Kisel and the unsung Sung-Hwan Byun, Sydney have picked up three winners, whose performances are getting better with the season.

The Korean has been a revelation, not always for his attacking work, but importantly for his defensive work.

Sitting alongside Colosimo, he has excellent positional sense, good coverage on the ground, and a decent leap, emphasised by some handy aerial work on Matt Simon and Co. recently.

Meanwhile, the Swiss central defender has been brilliant. The bigger the game, the more dependable he appears.

The form of all of these key men says much about Lavicka’s shrewd work, and the FC board would do well to lock the Czech in long term.

Melbourne may have a game in hand, but right now, and provided injuries don’t hit, you’d be game to back against the Sky Blues finishing the season first past the post for the first time.

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The confirmation yesterday that the Newcastle Jets’ marquee, Fabio Vignaroli, has torn his ACL and may well have played his last game in Australia is a hammer blow to not only the player and the his club, but to the A-League.

In a season that has been notable for the quality of the imports, right across the league, Vignaroli has demonstrated an on-field professionalism and attitude that should be used as a benchmark for all signings.

Even on Sunday, before he twisted his knee in an innocuous incident against the Gold Coast (he had jarred it in a challenge with Steve Panteldis ten minutes earlier), he was at his disruptive best, buzzing around the midfield in the manner of man possessed.

It has been his way throughout the season.

Even when the Jets were down in the dumps a few weeks ago, struggling to get off the foot of the table, it was the Italian who was setting the team’s tempo with his immense workrate, and simple and efficient passing game.

Said to be a creative playmaker upon his arrival, it has been his work as a deep-lying holding midfielder that has caught the eye.

In round 17, in the Jets’ 2-0 win in Adelaide, Vignaroli threatened to become that number ten with a couple of delightful final balls, but in the main it has been his ball-winning and simple use of it that has helped the Jets to play some decent stuff this season.

Indeed, in his 14 A-League games before Sunday, Vignaroli had made 74 effective tackles, over five a game. Impressive figures.

Little doubt some of his defensive work was on the edge, evidenced by his five yellow cards, but he was always in the opposition’s face, looking to disrupt their rhythm and get the ball flowing for the Jets.

There has been a fair bit of debate about whether the Italian fits the billing of a marquee player.

My view is that a marquee player should not only come with Vignaroli’s excellent on-field attitude, but with an extra quality to consistently influence a team in the attacking third and put bums on seats.

But the Italian, along with another excellent import in Michael Bridges, has played a big part in lifting the Jets into its current fourth place.

By setting the right example throughout, Vignaroli and Bridges have demanded this from the rest of the squad, and the result has been a purposeful and upbeat Jets team, building neat momentum ahead of the finals.

Witness the work of Lubjo Milicevic, who has been noticeably quiet, going about his work effectively on the pitch. Witness also the work of the skipper Matt Thompson, who, since signing for the Melbourne Heart, has even increased his output.

What about the work of the two young guns in attack, Labinot Haliti and Sean Rooney, who have been combining beautifully with Bridges and the midfield, and developing all the time.

What about the ongoing attitude of future leader Tarek Elrich, who touched so many with this heartfelt story in the Newcastle Herald last month?

Indeed, everywhere you look there have been massive gains across the Jets roster; Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Jobe Wheelhouse, Jin-Hyung Song, Ben Kantarovski, Adam D’Apuzzo, Neil Young. Even Kaz Patafta has been playing his part.

Undoubtedly Branko Culina and his coaching staff have played a big part in demanding high standards, but there is also little doubt about the influence of the two senior imports.

While Vignaroli won’t be on the field to see out the season, the Jets can still heed his example, with the likes of Wheelhouse and Thompson showing signs they can maintain the standard. The key will be to do it every week.

For a club that has failed on so many occasions to get its marquee option right, Newcastle should at least take comfort in the fact it signed a winner in Vignaroli. Undoubtedly a step in the right direction.

Even if he never again dons the gold of Newcastle, or any other A-League strip, he has done his bit for Australian football, and for that we should all be grateful.

Every team has been scratching around, looking for a way to break down the Central Coast Mariners, who up until Saturday night’s 2-1 loss to Gold Coast had only conceded nine goals in 16 games.

After a disastrous end to season four and an equally porous ACL campaign, Lawrie McKinna’s men have built their success this season from the back. They have set the stall deep, been defending in numbers, and scrabbling beautifully.

Alex Wilkinson, after a poor season four, has been living up to the hype that has surrounded him over past few years. Dean Heffernan has been in career best form, while Nigel Boogaard has seamlessly been switching between right back and central defence, as required.

Paul Doig, when he has been fit, has looked a leader.

In front of them the midfield and front men have been working the house down, defending from the front by disrupting the opposition high up the pitch, and never allowing opponents to build up any passing momentum.

Meanwhile, in the last line, Danny Vukovic is almost back to the form he was showing prior to that grand final indiscretion.

The yellow and blue brick wall has just about been impenetrable, evidenced by a clean sheet every two games. Some platform.

However, on Saturday, Gold Coast United may well have found the way to unlock the door, demonstrating, in a breathtaking second half display, that the Mariners might be susceptible to a rapid counter attack.

Twice in the second half Gold Coast launched rapid raids on the Mariners’ goal, and on both occasions it came as they were defending Mariners set pieces deep in their own half.

On each occasions they got numbers forward very quickly and exposed a retreating Mariners rearguard. Danny Vukovic and Co. had a flood of yellow shirts bearing down on their goal, and just couldn’t deal with it, despite the keeper’s efforts.

The first occasion resulted in a disallowed goal after Shane Smeltz tucked away a neat Zenon Caravella first time ball, only to be deemed offside.

Of course replays proved the decision was incorrect, with Heffernan, sitting on the six yard box, playing Smeltz on-side. Interestingly, a replay of this incident appeared inside the stadium, triggering a chorus of boos around Skilled Park.

Was this in contravention of the league’s rules? Certainly you don’t see replays in most A-League stadiums.

Was this the latest piece of defiance from the new club, who have been running a bit of a battle with FFA this season? Perhaps that’s a subject for another day.

But back to the point of this piece. The disallowed goal came after a lightning attack involving Smeltz, Jason Culina, Caravella and the impressive substitute Andrew Barisic, who struck the low left-foot shot which Vukovic parried into the path of Caravella.

Perhaps fuelled by the success of this counter, United continued to use the tactic, and after Culina busted a gut to get himself forward from a corner Gold Coast were defending, he ducked inside and aimed a shot towards the far post.

Vukovic got to it, but could only deflect it into Barisic’s path. United had its winner.

The main thing that allowed the Gold Coast to launch these counter attacks was the connection of the front third in the second period.

Undoubtedly the trigger for this connection was the introduction of Barisic, an out-and-out striker who immediately got on the ball and linked up with Smeltz, Culina and Caravella.

Prior to that Tahj Minniecon was up front, supposedly alongside Smeltz, but he was often found drifting out wide, especially to his favourite channel, on the right.

Smeltz was left isolated and everyone looked to be playing by themselves. There was a clear disconnect, with Culina growing increasingly frustrated by the lack of fluidity.

In truth, in the first period, he was a big part of this disconnect, playing far too deep.

Culina looks a far better player and United look a far better team when the skipper is higher up the pitch, influencing things in the front third, just as he did in the two above mentioned attacks.

It has taken a while, but perhaps Gold Coast have found a chink in the Mariners rearguard.

Watching how McKinna’s men respond, and whether any other team can have similar success, should make for interesting viewing.

Casting an eye over the Socceroos group for South Africa (Germany, Australia, Serbia and Ghana) after this morning’s draw and the things that stand out are the strong defences, physicality and the impressive qualification run by all four teams.

Germany conceded only five goals in qualifying, Serbia and Ghana only eight.

Throw in the Socceroos, who only concede one goal in the final phase (four in total) of qualifying, and one could argue group D is the Group of Defence.

Germany isn’t a defensive side but they have certainly plugged a defence that leaked goals ahead of the World Cup last time around.

At home three years ago they surprised and impressed the world by offering a very forward thinking style under Jurgen Klinsmann. He was one of the rare managers to play a 4-4-2, perhaps realising his defence wasn’t up for holding teams out.

They have carried that on under Joachim Loew, with the likes of Lukas Podolski, Mario Gomez and Miroslav Klose getting able support from Michael Ballack, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mesut Ozil from deep.

But it’s the work of the likes of Heiko Westermann and Per Mertesacker at the back which has improved, evidenced by one five goals conceded.

Germany will be strong at set pieces and physical all over the place, but they’re characteristics that should suit the mentally strong Socceroos, who would prefer to have them first up.

It will give Pim Verbeek time to plan, but he must ensure that free-kicks around the box are kept to a minimum. The Socceroos must perform in the first game. A draw would be wonderful, instilling confidence and easing a bit of pressure ahead of the second game against Ghana.

A loss and the pressure is on.

Certainly, Germany will be up for it, and Loew has already said “we must win the first game against Australia”.

Certainly, Verbeek’s counter-attacking strategy could come to the fore in this game, and he will look for the likes of Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton to break forward quickly and try and expose Germany’s big defenders.

The complete opposite of Germany, Serbia, or at least what was formerly known as Yugoslavia, had a reputation for being mentally susceptible.

No doubting their technical attributes over the years, but in-fighting has often blighted their performances in the big tournaments.

But in Radi Antic they have a man who looks to have sorted that out. The fact they qualified above France not only tells of Raymond Domenech’s lack of quality, but it tells of a united and purposeful Serbia.

With experienced EPL defenders in Nemanja Vidic and Branislav Ivanovic, and La Liga’s Ivica Dragutinovic, you sense they have the mental toughness and experience to deal with things this time around.

Of course, many will remember that the team then known as Serbia and Montenegro went to Germany having conceded only one goal in 10 qualifiers, only to cop 10 in the tournament, including a 6-0 hiding against Argentina.

But I’d be surprised if that happened again. And in Dejan Stankovic, Nikola Zigic and Milan Jovanovic, they do have some potency in attack.

Again though, it is an even match-up that will please Verbeek, and, coupled with the Germany, should ensure Verbeek focuses on central defenders who are very strong in the air.

Patrick Kisnorbo is now right in the mix, and Chris Coyne could even get another look-in after missing the past few squads. Defenders like this would relish clashes against Zigic, Klose and Gonzalez.

Ghana, of course, isn’t known for its defensive prowess or for playing for set pieces, but, they too, had an impressive qualification campaign.

The midfield is their biggest asset, with Chelsea’s Michael Essien joined by Stephen Appiah and Sulley Muntari in a powerful and skilful middle line.

They will offer power and penetration, and the Socceroos will need all their organisational strength to deal with the movement and ability on the ball. We got a glimpse into just well the Black Stars keep the ball in this game in Sydney last year.

But again, as against Germany, there might be a few chances for Verbeek on the counter.

Let’s hope the focus of Ghana’s Serbia manager Milovan Rajevac is on the first game against his country, or on dealing with the some of the egos that can often pervade the Ghana squad.

The other question is whether the manager will temper Ghana’s natural inclination to get forward and attack?

The Socceroos certainly aren’t without a hope in this group, but it’s bound to be tight and often physical one, and goals may be at a premium.

No doubt one of the most discussed areas in the lead up to the announcement of Pim Verbeek’s 23 man squad for next year’s World Cup will be the composition of his front-third, and specifically just how many strikers he will take?

Suffice to say, short of Michael Bridges or Sergio van Dijk being naturalised and FIFA suddenly shifting its eligibility boundaries, it’s unlikely Verbeek will take too many out-and-out strikers to South Africa.

That conclusion is based on the make-up of his recent squads, the defensive way he has gone about his time at the helm of the Socceroos and the lack of strikers putting a hand up.

Two? Perhaps three? Maybe one?

Either way, it is likely to be at least a couple less than the four out-and-out strikers (Mark Viduka, John Aloisi, Josh Kennedy and Archie Thompson) who went to Germany.

Throw in Mile Sterjovski and Harry Kewell, who were ostensibly wide attackers under Guus Hiddink, and one could argue we were almost spoilt for front third options in Kaiserslautern, Munich and Stuttgart; certainly in comparison to what we can expect next year.

All the 2006 front-men, except for Thompson, got game time in Germany. His most memorable display came in the half an hour or so after the Croatia game in Stuttgart, when he dazzled the gold masses in the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadium, this correspondent among them, with his best impersonation of Angus Young.

While the memories from that post-match performance still send chills down the spine, sadly, Thompson’s efforts in the green and gold have never quite matched his effort that night, his 13 goals against American Samoa in 2001 included.

For a player who has seemingly been an ever-present on the fringes of the national team, there’s only ever been two goals against non-Pacific nations, and they came against Jamaica in 2005 and Bahrain in February 2006, which was Thompson’s most recent Roos goal.

The feeling, at least for this long time observer, is that Thompson hasn’t quite grabbed his opportunities in the green and gold. Indeed, one’s often been left to ponder whether Thompson has been happy enough simply being a part of things at national level.

There’s little doubt about his popularity within the squad, but as Andrew Symonds would attest, popularity in the dressing room can only get you so far. Ultimately, it’s performances that count.

Perhaps only in Montevideo, in 2005, could Thompson truly have been classed a first 11 Socceroo, and even then it was a surprise move from Hiddink, designed to capitalise on his pace in the hope he could pinch something on the counter.

Generally, his roles have been bit-part, mostly when others haven’t been around.

Perhaps the most glaring recent example was in the opening two Asian Cup qualifiers of the current campaign, in Indonesia and Canberra (against Kuwait), when Thompson was entrusted with the responsibility of leading the line, and had shockers in both.

There’s no doubt, in the absence of the established Euro-stars, Verbeek was crying out for Thompson to lead his attack. Famously, he described Thompson’s performance in the 0-0 draw in Indonesia as “absolutely hopeless”, issuing a challenge, perhaps an ultimatum, ahead of the matchday-two clash with Kuwait.

Once again Thompson failed, out-shone by Kuwait’s livewire Bader Al-Mutwa.

Even as an over-aged Olympian in Athens, last year, Thompson failed to make in impression as the Graham Arnold led side bowed out in the first round.

Now it’s question of whether Thompson’s card has permanently been marked by Verbeek and Co.?

Certainly, on the evidence of his performances over the past couple of months, in the wake of being left out of a few recent squads, Thompson looks to have been stung in a big way.

Again, on the weekend, he was dynamic, bagging two more quality strikes to take his tally to 52 in 92 games. Undoubtedly he’s been the player of the A-League, full stop.

But is his stunning domestic form enough to get him back in Verbeek’s plans?

If you cast an eye over the front third shoe-in’s, right now you could only argue with certainty that Kewell will be on the plane, and even then he’s hardly an out-and-out striker.

However, on the evidence of his goal every two games ratio in Turkey, right now he looks our most likely avenue to goal from the front line.

Josh Kennedy is the next most likely, as much for his pinch-hitting ability to get on the end of crosses, but as we’ve seen in recent times, he is less effective as a starter and our front third tends not to be so fluent when he is named to start.

Beyond this, who else is begging to be picked?

Scott McDonald bagged another one in green and white on the weekend, but has hitherto yet to register in gold. And, like Kennedy, the feeling is the Verbeek system doesn’t quick correlate with his game.

Of the others, there’s not enough consistency, both in terms of games and goals, from the younger brigade, the likes of Bruce Djite and Nikita Rukavytsya.

Meanwhile, the other A-League contenders, Joel Porter, Alex Brosque and Mark Bridge have been a little up and down.

No sooner had their names been mentioned by Verbeek than they melted, struggling, it seems, to handle the spotlight. The same could be said of other “interesting” local candidates, Simon Colosimo and Michael Thwaite.

As for Thompson, he’ll be desperate for one last shot in the next Asian Cup qualifier away to Kuwait in the new year, but whether Verbeek is as desperate to give him one last shot remains to be seen.

Perhaps a softish draw on Saturday, if there can be such a thing at this international showpiece, might be Thompson’s best hope of forcing Verbeek to sacrifice one of his myriad of midfielders for another out-an-out striker, but on the evidence of what we’ve seen so far, I wouldn’t be betting on it.

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Take a deep breath Australia. Not only are our hopes of qualifying for the 2011 Asian Cup back on track, but there were signs early yesterday in Muscat of a more functional front third as Pim Verbeek tries to manage the dual role of planning for South Africa and trying to get the Socceroos to Qatar.

Down a goal and a man very early, exposed down the left hand side by the pace of Qasim Saeed on a few too many occasions, under the pump for much of the second period, a team made of lesser stuff (or is it lesser luck?) may have crumbled.

But almost every time Pim Verbeek calls upon his big guns they deliver, and this was at least a more cohesive and controlled display than we have seen of late.

There has been much conjecture about the make-up of the front third, and the signs in this game were that Harry Kewell may indeed be Verbeek’s best option, especially in games where Australia aren’t expected to be predominately on the front foot.

And, let’s face it, that’s likely to be most of the time in South Africa.

Certainly, make no mistake about the importance of Mark Bresciano to the functioning of Australia’s front third. It’s no coincidence the Socceroos were so ineffective when Bresciano wasn’t available against Holland and Oman last month.

So often he has delivered in the important games, and again he was instrumental, not only in setting up Luke Wilkshire’s equaliser with a sublime turn and cross, but his set pieces, general movement and link-up with Tim Cahill and Kewell were good.

He is a tight wide player, meaning he doesn’t hug the sidelines. Rather, he tucks in and looks to link with teammates, and Australia’s front third was more in-touch here, despite Brett Emerton having to be withdrawn to right back early after Rhys Williams’ red card.

This Socceroos front third, without a natural target-man or traditional striker, was built more to counter attack, and we saw this particularly in the second half, when Brett Holman replaced Cahill and looked to link with Kewell.

After such disappointment up front of late, at least the signs were better here. At least we had bodies getting forward, and in touch.

But let’s not get too carried away. On another night, against a team more clinical in the front third, Mark Schwarzer may have been picking the ball out of his net on more than one occasion.

Most worrying was the defensive work of Scott Chipperfield, who continues to look a shadow of the defender Guus Hiddink converted him into in Germany.

Back then his most endearing feature was his pace, which allowed Hiddink to turn him into a left-sided stopper in a three-man defence.

Knowing he had the insurance of Chipperfield’s pace at the back, it allowed Hiddink to play a high-risk offensive game.

But that pace has gone. These days, in a back four, he is being exposed too often, constantly looking out of position when called upon to defend.

Fortunately, as I intimated earlier, Oman weren’t able to capitalise on all the good work and space.

Only once did they profit, and in truth Chipperfield was fairly blameless for the build up that led to the Omani penalty and goal.

From a Socceroos free kick, deep on the left hand side, Neill played an aimless long ball up the middle. One header out of defence, a chest and nod-on header in the midfield, and one delightful in-step volley in behind a static Neill, who had barely moved from his spot after the taking the set piece, and suddenly Saeed was in behind the Socceroos skipper.

Chipperfield was up the field for the free kick and could hardly be blamed for the lack of quality on the set piece and lack of pressure on the second ball in midfield. Australia’s defensive transition was poor and they got stung.

Otherwise, Chipperfield had three men to thank. Had it not been for some wonderful covering work from Neill and some equally re-assuring defending from Craig Moore, Schwarzer may have had even more work to do than he did.

The big man was exemplary again between the sticks, helped in no small part by some woefully Omani finishing and a lack of mental strength from the hosts.

Claude Le Roy’s men had bossed many periods of both games, but came up with absolutely nothing. When the heat was on, they melted.

Not the Socceroos. Even a goal and a man down, they believed, got lucky (not least the lack of an offside flag against David Carney in the build-up to Emerton’s winner!) and got their win.

A job well done, if not always done well.

This was a weekend for all the brights; golds, yellows and the orange of the Brisbane Roar, just to emphasise how unpredictable this tightest of seasons is, now past its half-way point.

So much for the sky and navy blues romping away with the crucial first and second spots.

Now there are only 10 points between top and bottom, two points between bottom and sixth, while first placed Sydney and bottom placed North Queensland have each lost five times. Crazy stuff.

Ange Postecoglou’s Roar kicked things off with a crucial win at Hindmarsh, and now look to have turned the corner.

The manager appears to be making his mark and getting everyone on his page. The mentality of the team looked strong here, emphasised by a dominant second half display.

Sergio van Dijk was terrific, especially in the second half. Meanwhile, Mitch Nichols had his best game in a very long time, while the Roar defence looked more organised and desperate than it has of late.

Adelaide, meanwhile, still look a stressed and tense outfit, and their finishing reflected this mindset. Frustration.

The Jekyll and Hyde side of the A-League, the Central Coast Mariners, once again produced their best in Melbourne, turning on a powerful display full of running, ferocious tackling and excellent defensive organisation.

It has been the Mariners way this season; a brilliant performance every few weeks, nestled in between some less impressive work.

Lawrie McKinna’s men were clearly up for this one, and while Carlos Hernandez had more influence here than he did in the opening round, the Mariners did a wonderful job of shutting down the Victory front third, especially the flanks, where Melbourne have been most productive of late.

Dean Heffernan, in particular, owned Mate Dugandzic and Nathan Elasi, while on the other flank, Sutee Suksomkit vanished.

The Victory couldn’t live with the Mariners’ physicality and Rody Vargas was right to suggest the Mariners had bullied the defending champions.

It wasn’t a dirty form of bullying, rather an intimidating and ferocious imposition, best emphasised by the bite in the challenge from the likes of John Hutchinson and the willingness of Pedj Bojic and Heffernan to continuously get forward.

And don’t think there wasn’t any class from the Mariners. Nicky Travis continues to produce some wonderful work on the ball, while Bojic looked as subtle as he ever has. Matthew Lewis also did a couple of neat things, including one lovely volley.

Perhaps the most anticipated clash of the weekend was at Robina, where Frank Lowy and Ben Buckley where on hand to “see for themselves” what all the fuss was about on the glitter strip.

The cap lifted, the crowd nudging back over the 5,000 mark, the mood in the stands seemingly upbeat, it was over to the players, and they responded with their most effervescent performance in some time.

It looked like being a great contest early, with the competition leaders stroking the ball around in the manner of a team flowing with confidence, but once Steve Corica limped off, midway through the first period, Gold Coast took control, with Jason Culina back to his best.

Playing higher up the pitch, where he was so effective early in the season, he left it for Michael Thwaite and Steve Pantelidis to do the dirty work, and ensured he influenced things in the front third.

Shane Smeltz, Joel Porter and Zenon Caravella certainly benefited from his presence.

Minus Corica, Sydney was short on ideas, and resorted to route one at the end. Neither John Aloisi nor Stephan Keller were able to provide the impact.

Meanwhile, Terry McFlynn, shifted to the head of the diamond when Corica limped off, had his least influential game in a very long time, while Brendan Gan struggled as his replacement on the left.

Onto yesterday, and the yellow and blacks stormed home to not only grab a point at home to Perth, but should have just about had all three. Really, it would have been no less than the Phoenix deserved.

While neither side hit the heights, Wellington were able to bring on the likes of Leo Bertos and Adrian Caceres late, and combined with Paul Ifill, Daniel and the central midfield drive of Tim Brown and Vince Lia, the finish was thrilling.

And finally, it was a crucial win for the gold of Newcastle against the Fury, and while the Jets made tough work of it, only sealing it with a late penalty, they were invariably in control.

With Lubjo Milicevic and Nikolai Topor-Stanley looking after Daniel McBreen, Fabio Vignaroli controlling the midfield with his accurate distribution and Matt Thompson breaking forward to support the front three, it was only a matter of time.

But time and time again the Jets were denied by their own wastefulness and some excellent work from Paul Henderson.

But eventually Michael Bridges got it right, and, for once, the Fury had no answer.

With a fortnight before we go around again, things are tight, as they have been for much of the season, giving every team an opportunity to take a breath and plot their run-in to the finals.

Casting an eye over the A-League over the past month or two, what is becoming abundantly clear is that the teams that are using technique and mobility in the front third are the ones playing the most fluid and effective football.

You only have to look at the top of the table to see how effective this combination has been for the top two, Sydney and Melbourne.

The Vitezslav Lavicka-led Sydney have won five of their past seven, largely on the back of the maturing combination between Alex Brosque and Mark Bridge, who have bagged seven of Sydney’s 11 goals during this run.

Lavicka is finally getting the best out of both of these hitherto enigmatic strikers, and his template, built on rapid transition from defence to attack, and visa versa, is undoubtedly suiting both of these fit and dynamic runners.

Contrast it with Sydney’s static front-third earlier in the season, when John Aloisi led the line.

Aloisi, these days, is a through-the-middle-striker, meaning he essentially plays up and down the central third of the pitch, rarely venturing out wide.

When the ball was being targeted at him, Sydney’s forward play essentially came to halt as Aloisi attempted to hold the ball and hold off his marker. Every time he touched the ball it was a scrappy, slow contest, and Sydney’s play was pedestrian as a result.

Brosque and Bridge, since, have been moving all over the place and using their pace and first touch to turn, face the goal and link with their on-rushing midfielders. It has made for some very fluid front-third play.

Meanwhile, south of the Yarra, Melbourne first attempted to replace Danny Allsopp with the equally large Ney Fabiano, but the Brazilian is an altogether different player. He has the size, but not the mobility, and Melbourne were very static in round 11 when Sydney came to town and thumped them.

It wasn’t until Ernie Merrick replaced Fabiano with Mate Dugandzic at half time in the following game, away to Newcastle, that Melbourne finally started flowing.

In the past couple of weeks, the mobile and neat Sutee Suksomkit has joined both Dugandzic and Archie Thompson, and, with Carlos Hernandez drifting in from deep, the Victory look to have found a mobile solution to the loss of Allsopp.

Even Nathan Elasi did well off the bench last week in Perth, and Thompson appears to be relishing playing alongside some willing runners who can use the ball.

Further down the table and the bottom placed Newcastle Jets have been looking very effective with the pairing of Labinot Haliti and Michael Bridges, both blessed with pace, excellent movement and some very impressive work on the ball.

Even on Wednesday night, in a poor Jets display in Wellington, Haliti and Bridges created some chances, only to be thwarted by some desperate defending by the in-form Phoenix skipper Andrew Durante.

The Phoenix, meanwhile, have also been producing some very neat front-third play, with Paul Ifill continuing to catch the eye with his movement, pace, crossing and shooting ability, while he has been supported by a number of technically gifted attackers in Daniel and Leo Bertos.

Even Costa Barbarouses, who came into the 11 for Bertos on Wednesday, had a blinder, combining excellent pace and movement with a couple of lovely touches, including one delightful reverse-flick into the path of Chris Greenacre.

Of the in form teams, perhaps only the North Queensland Fury haven’t relied on the combination of mobility and technique to send them up the ladder.

Undefeated in five games, with only one loss in their past 10, the men leading the charge up front have been the technical Robbie Fowler, who has been a model of consistent finishing and football-smarts, and the industrious Daniel McBreen, who has been one of the few big-men making an impression so far this season.

Two teams, by contrast, who have relied on big men and are struggling in the front third are Adelaide and the Central Coast Mariners.

Indeed, their forward lines, at times, are probably best described as battering-ram attacks.

Up until recently Aurelio Vidmar was relying heavily on Lloyd Owusu to lead his line, but the United strategy with Owusu in the team was often very one-dimensional.

In the past three weeks Cristiano has been leading the line with support from Matthew Leckie and Travis Dodd, suggesting Vidmar is attempting to add more subtlety to the attack.

The problem is that while Cristiano has the technique, he doesn’t have the pace and mobility and is struggling to brake the shackles.

Meanwhile, the Mariners have been really ineffective in the front line, evidenced by only one win in their past six games, with only two goals in that run other than the three they bagged against the hapless Brisbane Roar in round 11.

Only five of the Mariners’ 13 goals this season have come from strikers, four of them from Matt Simon.

Simon puts himself about, Adam Kwasnik has a bit of pace, but neither of them, nor Dylan Macallister, has provided the requisite technique and mobility.

Even the Roar, which have relied on the goals of Sergio van Dijk for the past 12 months, have been looking less fluid of late, despite the efforts of Tommy Oar.

Van Dijk undoubtedly has the muscle and technique, and has been holding the ball up well, but the Roar is another side seemingly being left behind by this shift to having more mobility and movement in the front third.

No doubt the injury to Henrique played a big part in this, but right now a first choice combination of Van Dijk and Reinaldo looks more direct then dynamic.

The recent trend towards a more mobile and skilful front third has been a fascinating one, and is certainly worth watching.

It really is a funny old game this football. For six straight games, Branko Culina and his Newcastle Jets played with a back four, dished up some delightful football, and had very little to show for it.

At times, like against Melbourne in round 11, the football was top shelf, with Labinot Haliti and Michael Bridges forging a nice mobile combination up front and Fabio Vignaroli proving to be an excellent dictator of the tempo from deep.

All the while Jin-Hyung Song has been catching the eye with his ability to keep his feet and integrate with his front-men.

At the back Nikolai Topor-Stanley had been doing well, while Adam D’Apuzzo had been alternating between central midfield and left back and doing an admirable job at both.

But in six games the Jets were only able to muster two points.

Much of the blame, according to Culina, was apportioned to the lack of communication between the back three of Ben Kennedy, Topor-Stanley and Ben Kantarovski.

Neither, according to Culina, is a great talker, and, for all the good football, the odd lapse in organisation had undoubtedly resulted in a number of dropped points.

The classic example came in the above-mentioned Victory game, where Archie Thompson and Carlos Hernandez caught out the defence with a couple of rapid sucker-punches.

So last week, in the F3 Derby against the Central Coast Mariners, it was back to basics, with Angelo Costanzo coming into the heart of a three-man-defence, with Topor-Stanley to his left and Kantarovski to his right.

The logic was that Costanzo would be the organiser, responsible for running the team from his deep vantage point.

It has been a strange 12 months for Costanzo. For much of the regular season last year, he was a key fixture in the heart of the Adelaide United defence alongside Sash Ognenovski, and I felt he had both been doing very well.

Suddenly, in the midst of the dramatic and tumultuous end to the season for Adelaide, he was benched, deemed surplus to requirements. Seemingly something was simmering beneath the surface.

In the wash-up to another Adelaide grand final loss, he was released and moved to Newcastle, in time for the Asian Champions League campaign. But even here he has been bit-part at best, both under Garry van Egmond and Culina.

Seemingly, his best days were behind him and he would have to make do with the odd fill-in job.

But with Lubjo Milicevic seemingly on the outer again and Culina in desperate need of some experience and organisation, Costanzo was the man, and had a blinder against the Mariners as the Jets ditched the flowing football for a more rugged and direct approach built on organisation and determination.

As Culina said in the post-match dissection of the win over the Mariners, it was a throw-back to the “old days”, when a sweeper was par for the course.

Indeed, many of Culina’s successful NSL sides featured such a system, and he often found himself struggling to the break-down Adelaide City and Marconi defences marshalled by Costanzo.

Again, last night, in the Jets’ 1-1 draw in Brisbane, Costanzo was outstanding, teaming up with the equally brilliant Topor-Stanley and Kantarovski to shut-out both Sergio van Dijk and Mitch Nichols for all but the equalising spot-kick.

It was far from a classic game and far from a classic performance from either side, but given the dire position both sides found themselves in, and Brisbane’s desperation for points after four straight losses, it was hardly a surprise.

The Roar, now under Ange Postecoglou, showed signs of a neat counter-attacking game last week in Sydney, but without Reinaldo for this one, they were short up front, with Mitch Nichols and Isaka Cernak struggling to get forward and provide the requisite support to van Dijk.

Time after time Tommy Oar whipped in a delightful cross, only for it to be dealt with by Costanzo and Co.

Effective, if not always pretty, the Jets have now picked up four points from six, emphasising again just what a crazy game this football can be.

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Flicking through the latest football news filtering through the wires last night, I came across the following headlines to the same Australian Associated Press story: A-League is ‘boring’, Rudan and ‘Boring’ A-league lacks character, Rudan.

Opening it, I was expecting to read Mark Rudan’s take on how the A-League was failing to live up to on-field expectations.

Given their form this season, Rudan and his side might indeed be construed as boring, but that could hardly be said of the entire league, I felt.

Surely he didn’t say that, I was thinking.

Instead, what we got from Adelaide’s central defender is a fair assessment on the calming of hostilities between Adelaide and Sydney over the past couple of seasons.

Many fans will remember the early days and the tinderbox that surrounded games between these two sides, with firebrands like John Kosmina, Sasho Petrovski, Pierre Littbarski, Angelo Costanzo, Ross Aloisi and Carl Veart often ensuring an edge to proceedings.

Personally, I always found the niggle a bit boring, and much preferred the odd moments when Dwight Yorke, Steve Corica and Shengqing Qu were on the ball.

This was Rudan’s take ahead of tonight’s clash at Hindmarsh;

“I wish it hadn’t (lost some edge) because it was always good for the game. It was always good when I was wearing the blue shirt playing against Adelaide and Melbourne and some of the comments that used to come out of both camps I thought was brilliant. It’s really been timid and a little bit boring (since), there’s not enough characters in the game. I’ve been away (overseas) for a couple of years and this season there haven’t been any outrageous comments or anything like that to give you a good laugh.”

From that, apparently the A-League is “boring” and needs characters, so the headline writers say.

Talk about taking comments out of context.

Sorry, but the game had and continues to have characters. People of the ilk of John Kosmina, Terry Butcher, Frank Farina, Danny Tiatto and Miron Bleiberg, and what exactly has that produced?

The odd headlines maybe, an appeal to the larrikin perhaps, but is it really what the game needs?

Or does it need more of the all-round football quality produced by Vitezslav Lavicka and his men last week in Melbourne? And more discussion about the actual football?

Rudan himself later acknowledged this with the following complement of his former team, and it was pleasing to see this make the AAP copy;

“They’re leading the competition for a reason, they’re playing fantastic football, well-drilled, well-coached, a lot of discipline in that side this year, and they’re a joy to watch I must admit. I really do enjoy watching Sydney play, and it’s a big test for us tomorrow night.”

When Branko Culina let fly in a post match press conference a few weeks ago, Lavicka refused to bite, letting it slide through to the keeper.

While it remains to be seen if Lavicka can continue to produce the football he did last week, starting tonight, I’ve hitherto found it refreshing not seeing him get caught up in the banter Rudan is talking about.

What the game in this country needs is less about character and mis-leading headlines, and more about quality and accuracy.

Losing may not have been an option according to the marketers, but for much of the first half last night, Omani attacking midfielder Fawzi Basheer threatened to shift Australia’s planning post-South Africa from Qatar to Brazil.

Had Hassan Rabea taken the chance that Basheer delightfully teed up for him midway through the half, and had Mark Schwarzer not got his gloves to Basheer’s effort from the byline a couple of minutes earlier, losing may well have been the only option.

As it was, the Socceroos survived the first period, upped the tempo in the second, and ultimately did enough to deliver the killer blow, which came from the usual source.

It was an intriguing match, right from the start, with the Socceroos delivering on their promise to get at Oman and try and grab an early goal that would settle a nervous and expectant nation.

Kewell did some lovely early one-on-one work down the left, but the route to goal was more obvious; get it wide, especially to Brett Emerton and Luke Wilkshire down the right, and get it in to Josh Kennedy and Tim Cahill.

A direct header, knock-down or some second-ball-scraps, whatever it would took, that would be the mode. It is the Pim Verbeek attacking template.

Despite some good aerial outlet from Kennedy and Cahill, the ball just didn’t drop. That and some excellent aerial work from giant goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi.

Early the Socceroos defence, which has had many question raised about its age and subsequent lack of toe, kept a high line, even trapping Oman offside on one occasion.

But then, on 20 minutes, Basheer released the quick Amad Al Hossani down the right. He sped past Lucas Neill, drew Craig Moore across, only to miss his target in the middle.

That warning, the pace of Rabea and Al Hossani, and the trickery of Basheer forced the Socceroos back. For the next 25 minutes, the Socceroos were in retreat mode, a common trait under Verbeek.

The centre backs dropped off, the holding midfielders started treading on their toes, and the gap between defence and attack grew wider.

There was the odd bit of encouragement in attack, but, generally, heads were being shaken and quizzical looks were being exchanged, on the field and off it.

It is at times like this where eye-brows are raised about just whether there are enough legs in the starting 11 to compete at the top level. Whether Verbeek has refreshed the starting 11 enough since Germany?

Certainly there remains an air of predictability not only about the start 11, but much of Verbeek’s tactics.

Refreshingly, Dario Vidosic offered a little bit off the bench, but even Verbeek will admit there is still much to do to get this team ticking in the front third.

There were better signs in the second period as Jason Culina lifted his game and lifted himself higher up the pitch, and the Socceroos started to get a little more joy down the flanks.

Scott Chipperfield and Neill were battered in the first period, but showed they are made of stern stuff by bouncing back to influence late on, while Cahill and Kennedy kept offering themselves, eventually jagging a winner.

Surviving what looked a fair shout for a penalty, it finally looked like Australia’s night. Suddenly, job down, pressure released, the football came out.

On one occasion they even knocked a delightful 20 or so passes.

But it was a tense up until then, confirming Verbeek has much work to do.

Commercially, Cahill’s rescue-acts are priceless, for they allows the FFA to sign their Hugo Boss deals, crucial to the ongoing development of the game, but between now and June 2010, the focus should primarily be on ensuring the team suits-up on the field.

A reality check against the Dutch and a nervous night at Etihad should at least ensure that heads remain level ahead of South Africa, and that mightn’t be the worse thing.

Many long time fans of the European game will remember Ruud Hesp as the Barcelona custodian during the Louis van Gaal era in the late 1990s, when the Dutchmen teamed-up to win back-to-back La Liga titles and a Copa del Rey.

Hesp also featured in the Dutch national squad in a couple of major championships, at Euro ’96 and France ’98, but as the third choice keeper, he lived in the shadow of both Edwin van der Sar and Ed de Goej.

Sadly, Hesp never won an Oranje cap.

These days though Hesp is van Marwijk’s goalkeeping coach, helping nurture the latest batch of Dutch shot-stoppers, including the trio on this tour, Maarten Stekelenburg, Michel Vorn and Piet Velthuizen.

On Saturday night he was at the SFS, sitting just to my right, alongside two of Bert van Marwijk’s more high profile assistant coaches, Philip Cocu and Dick Voorn.

The other assistant is Frank de Boer, who like Hesp and Cocu was also at Barcelona under van Gaal. De Boer sat next to van Marwijk in the dugout, while the other three were hard at it in the stand, scribbling away as their side dominated proceedings.

In truth though, Hesp didn’t have too much to write during the first half, with Stekelenburg barely touching the ball.

But at half-time I managed to engage Hesp in an impromptu technical dissection of the first period, and he was happy to chat.

Not surprisingly, it was an instructive conversation.

I started by expressing how impressed I’d been with the position of the Netherlands three-man central midfield, both in terms of their starting position and how high up the pitch they were.

AZ Alkmar’s Stijin Schaars was the deepest of the three, playing slightly left of central. Slightly advanced of him, and to his right, was Ajax’s diminutive Demy de Zeeuw. Further advanced of de Zeeuw, to his left, was the chief playmaker, Wesley Sneijder.

It was a midfield three, but they were all in contact and scattered across three lines, in the shape of a forward arrow (>). It meant the Dutch could play angled forward passes, thus allowing them to circulate the ball and boss the game.

Contrast it with the Socceroos central midfield.

It featured two sitters, Jason Culina and Vince Grella (until he limped off, replaced by equally defensive minded Carl Valeri), and an attacking shadow-striker in Tim Cahill.

Cahill seemed intent to get forward and close to Josh Kennedy, ensuring the striker wasn’t isolated.

What that did though was isolate Cahill from his two holding midfielders, who often looked like they were sitting right on top their central defenders.

What was so impressive about the Dutch midfield was their willingness to not only circulate the ball, but to pass it and move, to get forward and offer an option.

De Zeeuw, for example, linked beautifully with Dirk Kuyt and Khalid Boulahrouz down the right, while Schaars and Sneijder combined on the left.

When a Dutch player had the ball at his feet, he generally had a forward diagonal option, left and right.

The logic in the midfield shape, according to Hesp, was to alternate position. When De Zeeuw goes, Schaars sits in. When Schaars advances, De Zeeuw drops offs and fills the hole.

It’s Futsal-esque, and looked seamless enough here. It certainly allowed for some neat combinations in the front third, and the Dutch should have had at least a one goal lead at the break.

Contrast this with the Socceroos forward structure in the first period.

With the holding midfielders deep and playing in straight line, focussed on defence, the only options were square passes.

“We know Pim Verbeek and the way he plays,” Hesp said.

“He likes to set the team out in straight lines, and sit back, so our idea before the game was to look for space in between the lines.”

I think you’ll agree they succeeded, with the Socceroos unable to handle the movement of Schaars, De Zeeuw and Sneijder.

Pinned back, it was little wonder Verbeek’s men weren’t able to get the ball out, let alone make it stick in the front third.

With wide men Harry Kewell and Brett Holman offering little, Australia’s play was predictably one-dimensional, with a clipped ball into the head of Cahill or Kennedy the only outlet, seemingly looking for a flick-on and a second ball.

The team, to me, looked like it had been set-up to control at least some periods of the play, but with Holland in total control of the possession, Cahill and Kennedy’s strength, their ability to attack crosses, was wasted.

Verbeek at least recognised this at the break and re-jigged the forward formation into a counter-attack one, with Kewell and Holman deployed through the middle and the quick Dario Vidosic and Brett Emerton on the flanks.

It looked far more effective than the first period, with the front four at least offering plenty of mobility and the odd piece of link-up. Emerton and Vidosic did well, and Kewell showed he still has a lovely touch.

But the front four were still far too isolated from the rest of the unit.

That was because Verbeek wouldn’t cast aside his “twin-holders” mantra.

When Valeri was replaced late, who did Verbeek introduce? Yes, another sitter in Mile Jedinak, instead of showing a bit of enterprise and playing a half-and-half type midfielder like Nick Carle.

One the evidence of this, if the Socceroos are fortunate they may well grind out a point or two in South Africa, but unless Verbeek is prepared to brake the shackles and release one of his holding midfielders, it is unlikely to be enough to get out of the group.

First we had Super June, now it’s the Octoberfest of Football, with the FFA overseeing over 200 games and more than 18,000 minutes of action this month.

Admittedly the vast majority of the games will take place at the national youth championship for our best under 14s and 15s boys, currently being held Coffs Harbour, but they’re mind-blowing numbers nonetheless.

If all 204 matches were played back-to-back, it would take almost two full weeks. Not even the maddest of us could keep up.

In that respect, it’s probably fair to say the FFA needed a dispute with the Players Football Association over conditions for the Socceroos like Frank Farina needs to see another yellow card issued to one of his old guard (not that many of them are available this week).

Speaking of Farina, his team host the Gold Coast on Sunday. In round one, it was a must-see and much-hyped grudge match.

Now, in the midst of all that is going on around it, and minus stars of the ilk of Gold Coast’s Smeltz and Culina, and all of the Roar’s Ms, Moore, McKay, Murdocca and Miller, some of the lustre has gone.

But it’s still a vital game for both sides, and I’m particularly looking forward to seeing how returning schemers Caravella and McKay influence their sides, whether Miron Bleiberg’s side can relax and play again, and how the returning Young Socceroos DeVere, Oar and Nichols shape up mentally.

The latter, in particular, will need to be nurtured by Farina after an indifferent start to the season and a lacklustre tournament in Egypt.

But before the south Queensland derby there are two blockbusters, tonight’s A-League clash in Melbourne, predicted to attract some 30,000 fans, and tomorrow’s international at the SFS, which should be nudging 40,000.

I’ll be at the latter and can hardly wait, but let’s start with the Melbourne vs Sydney Etihad clash.

Featuring arguably the competition’s two in-form sides, it promises much: Sydney’s discipline, organisation and transition into attack, against the flair of Hernandez, Thompson and Kruse, and overall renewed aggression.

While much was made of their stylistic performance against the Mariners on Monday, particularly the first half display, to my mind the signs were there the week before, where the excellent movement from Brosque and Bridge against Brisbane was only undone by some lax finishing from the latter.

It was no surprise to see Sydney carry on from this round 8 performance, and particularly pleasing for Lavicka would have been the form of the front six. Musialik pulled the strings, McFlynn upped the tempo and Sydney really should have won by a margin of two or more.

The Victory meanwhile are flying. Broxham is doing well in the midfield, the defence, since Muscat came back in, looks in-synch, and Hernandez and Thompson are certainly in the mood, perhaps keen to prove a point to their respective national coaches.

If and how Lavicka deals with Hernandez will be the key in this one, for he undoubtedly has the ability to unlock the tight FC defence with a thunderbolt from deep.

Then there’s Adelaide’s crucial trip to Perth, which features the long-awaited return of Barbiero. The opposition also have a change in central midfield, where Burns is suspended, paving the way for Jamie Coyne to move into the engine.

Fast forward 24 hours and Netherlands friendly promises to be a beauty.

Injuries and impending births may have deprived us of the likes of Van Persie, Affelay, Robben and de Jong, but there’s still plenty of star quality in the likes Sneijder, Babel, Huntelaar, Kuyt, De Zeeuw, Engelaar, Van der Vaart, and young sensation Eljero Elia, who made such an impression as a goal-scoring substitute in the recent qualifier in Scotland.

And with places in South Africa up for grabs, opportunity knocks for those second and third in the pecking order, a point skipper van Bronkhorst emphasised on arrival.

I was fortunate enough to get out to Homebush on Wednesday night for the Oranje’s training session, and the one-touch tempo was excellent. Kuyt was the only player being nursed, and when I asked Liverpool’s marathon man if he would be running out tomorrow, he offered an “I hope so”. So do we Dirk.

As for the first choice Socceroos, with the early focus seemingly around improving their lot off the field, let’s hope Pim Verbeek has got their minds back on the job over the past 24 hours.

With so many off field engagements over the past couple of days, one could be forgiven for forgetting why the Socceroos are home.

There’s little doubt the Dutch friendly provides vital preparation for the more critical Oman Asian Cup qualifier next Wednesday. As regular reader Peter Kandy noted earlier in the week, if our full strength side can’t beat Oman comfortably, then we have some serious problems.

Certainly experienced Frenchman Claude Le Roy will be plotting a Kuwait-style ambush, and any Socceroos slip-up means that by the time of the return trip to Muscat on matchday 4, the gap might be hefty.

With three points a must, it’ll be an anxious time for Socceroos fans in the build up to next Wednesday night, but with plenty of great football in the interim, it should be a brilliant week.

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A third of the way in, the AFL and NRL seasons over, the shadow punching done, the ladder as tight as ever, the national under 20s campaign prematurely over, Danny Tiatto back in the headlines the only way he knows how, and Sydney hitting top spot for the first time in what seems an eternity.

Then there’s Kevin Muscat propelling Melbourne to second on the back of three straight wins, better signs on the crowd front in most places this week (Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney), a top of the table blockbuster in three days time.

It’s tempting to say that A-League season five is finally up and running.

Better late than never, one might say.

I’ve noted it previously, but for all the off-field disappointment about crowds and the lack of positive noise around the season so far, the on field standard is far better than it has ever been.

If only that point had more mainstream support.

One way to measure this improvement is to try and pick your team of the season at any one point, and cast an eye over the quality of the players that you can’t fit in.

So for those of you yet to take in any A-League action this season, and the rest of you who can’t quite get enough, here’s a formation that has caught the eye in the opening nine rounds;

The goalkeeper
It’s great to see Vukovic back in the mood at Gosford. Ditto down the F3, where Bolton, after a nervy start, is displaying some of the consistency that has been missing for the past two seasons. Slow starts for Henderson, Vanstratten and Moss, but they are warming up nicely.

Meanwhile, in a poorly performing team, Galekovic has been dynamite, rescuing so many points for Adelaide. A natural selection here.

The fullbacks
On the right, Cole has developed into a handy defender under Lavicka, Sukha has taken to life in Australia nicely, Fitzsimmons did a super job in the first few rounds, while Nigel Boogaard has moved seamlessly between right back and central defence.

Middleby’s experience has helped the Fury. The left side has been even better, featuring a couple of star defenders in Traore and Heffernan, while Kemp has also caught the eye.

Byun has also had some solid displays, while Sekulovski is in career-best form. Heffernan and Sekulovski are the unluckiest to miss out, with Traore just shading them thanks to some neat integration with his attack.

On the other side, I’ve tinkered by shifting the adaptable Thwaite from midfield, mainly to accommodate the bevy of brilliant attackers.

The central defenders
Every team has strengthened in this area, and there have been some brilliant defensive displays so far. Muscat has come back into the Melbourne team and, along with Leijer, has turned the team around. Colosimo and Keller have been very solid for the league leaders, the former on the ground, Keller in the air.

Meanwhile Wilkinson, Doig and Boogaard have plugged the gaps that were so evident for the Mariners earlier this year, while Todd and Chris Coyne are building a lovely partnership out west.

Hard to leave Keller and Leijer out of this selection, but it’s Todd and Colosimo for now.

The holding midfielder
Bojic might need to refine his passing, but there’s no doubt he’s added steel to the Mariners defensive shape and made a reasonable fist at filling the Jedinak role. Meanwhile, Tiatto may be nuts, but makes it difficult for Farina to leave him out by doing a job.

McFlynn, when he is in, makes such a difference for Sydney, while Broxham and Musialik have shown better signs of late.

Talay got the Fury firing and instantly struck a rapport with Fowler, Burns has been busy at Perth and Adam D’Apuzzo has been neat for the Jets.

Thwaite though has been the best holder to date, but has been moved to right back in this team in order to accommodate team-mate Culina.

The attacking central midfielders
This is the area which highlights just how difficult it is to fit all the excellent performers into the team. Hernandez, for his set pieces and general class, has to be in the team.

The same could be argued for Miller, who has been exceptional at finding space and linking with Henrique, but that would mean that I would have to leave out Song.

I can’t.

The little Korean, whether playing wide or more central, has finally adapted to the physicality of the league, and is fulfilling the potential he showed in his early days.

Patafta has also done some nice things, while another little fella, Caravella, caught the eye before injury beset. Meanwhile, in Gosford, a pair of British schemers have been impressing, McGlinchey and Travis adding much-needed subtlety.

Srhoj has also had plenty of good moments in Perth.

The wide attackers
Like the central attackers, it has been difficult the narrow the cast down to two. Ifill, for example, has added much quality to the Wellington attack, while Abbas and Leckie have shown good signs in the past few weeks.

But it is impossible not to have both Bertos and Henrique in the mix, even if it means shaping up with only one striker. The pity is that we won’t be seeing much of Henrique in the second third of the season.

The striker
Again, there are some unlucky players, including Porter, Fowler, McBreen and van Dijk, who have all been doing a great job. Others like Thompson, Haliti and Jelic deserve a mention, but so far Smeltz has been the stand-out finisher, despite a couple of recent quiet ones.

Here is my team of the season at the end of round nine, in 4-3-3:

————————–Galekovic————————-

—————————————————————-

Thwaite———–Todd——–Colosimo———-Traore

—————————————————————–

—————————–Culina——————————

—————Hernandez————Song———————

——————————————————————-

Bertos————————————————Henrique

—————————–Smeltz—————————–