Carlos Hernandez of Melbourne Victory in action during the round one A-League match between Sydney FC and the Melbourne Victory in Sydney on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2008. AAP Image/Jason McCawley
With all the hullabaloo surrounding Australia’s bid to host the World Cup, it’s been easy to overlook the burgeoning A-League title race. But with Melbourne Victory hosting Sydney FC next weekend, it’s time to put league action back in the spotlight.
The clash of the titans is one of the A-League’s genuine blockbusters, and Victory officials will hope to see fans pour through the Etihad Stadium turnstiles in season-high numbers.
Melbourne will be burning for revenge after Sydney dished out a 3-0 win at the same venue back in Round 10, and Victory are currently in form.
Since an uncharacteristic 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Central Coast Mariners in Round 14, Ernie Merrick’s men have taken ten points from their subsequent four games and scored nine goals in the process.
Sydney have been less conspicuous, recently snapping a recent three-game losing streak with back-to-back wins over North Queensland and Wellington Phoenix, although they’ve won the same number of games as Melbourne this season.
They haven’t always done it in quite the same cavalier style as the free-flowing Victory, but Vitezslav Lavicka’s team have shown that when the going gets tough, they’re capable of grinding out results.
Undoubtedly one of their best displays came in the thumping of Melbourne back in October, but their two-goal hero from that game Mark Bridge is still under an injury cloud.
The Sky Blues will also appeal the red card handed out to Simon Colosimo in the win over Wellington last weekend, but should the veteran defender miss out, former Victory man Sebastian Ryall could line up against his old club.
There are plenty of other intriguing match-ups, not the least the head-to-head duel between evergreen combatants Kevin Muscat and Steve Corica.
The latter has been in superb form this season, so much so that Fox commentator Robbie Slater recently claimed the harbour city side rely too heavily on the 36-year-old.
It’s not hard to see why, with Corica in sparkling form of late, and Sydney fans will hope to see the popular midfielder reprise his sterling efforts in the heart of enemy territory.
Now that Football Federation Australia has officially submitted documents to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup, there’s no better time for a crowd of more than 30,000 fans to turn out for this high-profile encounter.
There’ll be fewer fans inside Energy Australia Stadium the following afternoon for Newcastle’s meeting with North Queensland Fury, but bizarrely Branko Culina’s side could conceivably move into third – despite having languished near the bottom of the table for most of the season so far.
It’s testament to just how tight the finals race is, with sixth placed Perth Glory now looking nervously over their shoulders – not least because Chris Coyne, Jacob Burns and Mile Sterjovski could all head out on loan in January.
Meanwhile Central Coast Mariners will be looking to put struggling Brisbane Roar to the sword at Bluetongue Stadium, as the Gosford side look to put behind them their recent defeat to Melbourne.
But this weekend is all about another must-see clash between Melbourne and their old foes Sydney, with the bubbling animosity between Australia’s two largest cities set to overflow against the backdrop of one of the A-League’s biggest grudge matches.
My money is on Sydney to do the double over Melbourne in their own backyard, although that probably has more to do with my place of birth than any non-partisan analysis!
Whatever the outcome, it should be a cracker – as the A-League gets set to shake to the sounds of its own version of ‘El Clásico.’
Gweeds
Guest
Thanks Redb
Redb
Roar Guru
Gweeds, nice blog site. Your views as a moderate are to be applauded. cheers Redb
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
Comparing in season results to finished season results doesn’t get you far. And this year because there are more games and new teams you cant really compare round 18 to round 18 of last year….. last year Round 18 was only 3 rounds to go until the finals! End of season figures vs end of season figures is the way to go. No doubt their has been a dip but like Ernie Merrick says "nothing grows along a gradient" We have gone from 6/8 teams being in capitals to 6/10 being in capitals and thier are very obvious factors for Roar and the Jets decline as well as GCU being a non event.
Michael C
Roar Guru
V3 to V4 was the huge concern, when only one club - Perth Glory registered a rise on the previous season (+5%) - illustrating that ladder position wasn't a factor. % wise so far this year: (year on year figures to Rnd 18 - noting of course this season will progress longer and allows 60% entry into finals vs 50%) UP: PG +22% AdUtd + 12% WPx +5% Down: SFC -8% MVFC -17% CCM -21% Bris -27% NJs -43% comparing Rnd 18 this year to last years end of season totals: UP: PG +19% AdUtd + 8% WPx +3% Down: SFC -2% MVFC -18% CCM -23% Bris -34% NJs -41% What really remains to be seen from the predictive perspective is what happens in this extended season from here on. Given that 6 teams make the finals. And as Art correctly points out - the introduction of NQ and GC has certainly not helped overall attendances. However, re on field success - the most concerning trend might be MVFC who has dropped since V2, : -19%, -6%, -17% : from a 32,444 average at Docklands to now just over 20,000......still clearly the best supported and most successful side in the 'young' league thus far and Hearts still to come. SO, there's concerns. The more you hear people claiming there aren't really concerns - - you know there are!!!!!
Michael C
Roar Guru
I've done an article just 10 mins ago - that is more North Melbourne that Majak Daw specifically (I went the 'club' twist rather than the individual) - - so, feel free to do one on Daw, or even Yoshuira up in Brissie!!!
Redb
Roar Guru
re Majak Daw article - MC, if you dont hurry up I will. You'll be happy to know the BBC thinks your club is one of the most famous in the AFL. :shock: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8415988.stm
Gweeds
Guest
Anyway, we don't call the Melbourne - Sydney match blackbuster here in Melbourne. We call it the Superclásico.
GenQ
Guest
That is all very well and good. However, those crowd numbers are pretty menaingless when you consider that they are sometimes being played in 45 - 50,000 seat stadiums.The atmosphere at the FC matches I have been to has been pretty poor - although I am sure it is different if you spend your time with the FC supporter groups although I am there to watch the game and not sing poorly. Move the matches to smaller gounds and the atmoshpere will improve significantly
Art Sapphire
Guest
Sorry Chris, my mistake. Sometimes its hard to distinguish which code the "soccer" bashing troll follows. I actually follow AFL and most AFL fans would agree with my facts I presented above. Let me twist your astute observation around a bit. "That said, given the NRL is an order of magnitude bigger than the A-League I defy you to find any demographic that does not contain more NRL supporters than A-League supporters." Ok here goes - 1) There less vegetarian NRL fans then there are vegetarian A-League fans. 2) There less gay NRL fans then there are gay A-League fans. 3) There less Hybrid driving NRL fans than there are Hybrid driving A-League fans. There - are you happy now. What was that you said about about troglodytes?? That's right they only like - league, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars :)
Chris
Guest
Art S. As I barely watch the AFL and have absolutely no affection for it, these "facts" don't bother me at all (nor should they both an AFL fan either). That said, given the AFL is an order of magnitude bigger than the A-League I defy you to find any demographic that does not contain more AFL supporters than A-League supporters. Like most NRL fans I will immediately put aside my usual dislike of AFL if it means bagging soccer.
Robbo
Guest
and so it should be. After all England is three times larger than Australia. In per capita terms both the AFL and NRL shred the EPL apart. Of course - the EPL has absolutely zilch to do with the A-League so its irrelevant anyway.
Art Sapphire
Guest
Smoky - you have to look at the big picture. Crowds are up for some clubs and down for others. No need to be alarmist. As you can see from the list below the problems teams are in regional NSW and Qld. Teams whose attendance have gone up or are the same as last season (last season in brackets) Sydney FC - 12,075 (12,375) Adelaide United 11,433 (11,712) Perth Glory - 9,419 (7,942) Wellington Phoenix - 7,368 (7,193) Teams whose attendances have declined and have their own separate issues that they need to address: Brisbane Roar - 8,573 (12,995) Central Coast Mariners - 7,706 (10,465) Newcastle Jets - 5,764 (9,729) Expansion clubs that have come in this season North Queensland Fury - 6,676 Gold Coast United - 5,044 Team that will finish with over double the A-League average Melbourne Victory - 20,089 (24,516) should get 25 - 30k on the weekend
Smokygrayson
Guest
For goodness sake can you people stop cross-code bashing? As football/soccer fans, we need to step back from an arrogant attitude. AFL and NRL purists can be happy with their sport, that's fine, why do we need to criticise those sports and compare? Meantime, the A-League DOES need to do something about crowds, because crowds reflect community support. The non-soccer codes are played at different times of the year largely, so the A-League needs to encourage fans of other codes to enjoy football as well as AFL and NRL. Many soccer fans in my home city also support the local NRL team and that's great. Perhaps some cross-code ticket deals between members might help both codes? FFA needs to step up to address the low AL crowds. They may be thinking that crowds will return as the end of season draws closer. They may be prepared to wait for the boost from the World Cup next year. But that would be lazy, IMO.
Midfielder
Guest
It is hard for me to put the teams I hate the most... my top four in order. Sydney Newcastle Fold Coast Tards
Michael C
Roar Guru
Art - Good question especially re Majak Daw, I have noted an absence of any articles on him, even the 'red' column articles on the left, If I get time (no certainty presently), there's a couple of rookie related articles I'd love to do. However - when I saw a place that I could add value to this thread via providing factual stats to clarify a misleading statement, I thought it my (Roarvic) civic duty to provide that clarification. After all - on theRoar - one thing we all seem good at is shooting down overly grand statements!!!! ;-) (is it Xmas yet????)
Springs
Roar Guru
My point was in response to ESL being in competition with EPL when the NRL is in competition with AFL which has bigger average crowds, proving that the NRL is the most popular club rugby comp in the world. It was not about whether the AFL is more popular than the EPL, I don't care about that.
Art Sapphire
Guest
Hang on a sec, Michael - I noticed an AFL article that was posted today on AFL rules for next season. http://www.theroar.com.au/2009/12/16/afl-plans-holding-the-ball-changes-but-nothing-else/ Why are you spending your time on this thread when you should be giving us your take on AFL rules. Also, why don't you write a piece on Majak Daw being drafted to your club. Now there's a good news story regardless of which code or codes people follow.
MV Dave
Guest
You dont seriously want to get into an argument about which is the more popular the EPL or the AFL? Before responding just compare the overseas TV payments for the 2 competitions. BTW My point was in response to Springs above yours.
Michael C
Roar Guru
worst in history - rnd 3 V2 - 23,588 rnd 14 V1 - 29,105 V3 never dropped below 40K for a round. The 30,849 is just worse than V5 rnd 8 at 30,992 to claim the 3rd worst result yet.
Michael C
Roar Guru
"Do football supporters go to the AFL and Rugby threads and troll writing negative things about their codes?" short answer - - yes.