The Roar
The Roar

Football
Advertisement

My A-League All Star team to face Manchester United
Matt Bungard
Roar Guru
13th December, 2012
8
Join the conversation
Advertisement
Write for The Roar

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

Matt Bungard
Roar Guru
13th December, 2012
8

A couple of days ago I ruffled a few feathers with my views on the Manchester United juggernaut gracing our shores next winter.

Some humour has already come out of this, with my Facebook feed littered with folks sooking about not getting tickets and venting their hatred towards scalpers.

One already described today as “The worst day of my life.” It’s hard to see why anyone would pay the exorbitant prices the scalpers are demanding when it would almost be cheaper to fly to Manchester and see the Red Devils play a game which actually means something.

Still, the sell-out is great news for FFA who will make a tidy profit from the venture. And, as I said the other day, let’s not get fooled into thinking this game serves any purpose other than that.

Although I did mention that the process of voting for an all-star team would be fun, and I stand by that. Let’s give it a go, assuming a standard 4-4-2…

Goalkeeper
Matt Ryan (Central Coast Mariners)
Is there any other choice, really? Ryan has been consistently linked with moves away from the A-League for the better part of the last two seasons and the only thing I can think of that stops him being an absolute slam-dunk selection is if he does indeed move overseas, or gets injured. Not a whole lot else to say here.

Alternate: Ante Covic (Wanderers FC)

Left Back
Aziz Behich (Melbourne Heart)
A year ago, Cassio would’ve been the obvious choice – but a couple of guys have gone miles ahead of him as they’ve improved and the Brazilian has regressed. Behich gets the start here after a strong season so far with the Heart, culminating in some appearances for the national team. Plus, anyone that gets sent off against the Victory is alright with me.

Advertisement

Alternate: Scott Jamieson (Perth Glory)

Centre Backs
Patrick Zwaanswijk (Central Coast Mariners)
Impossible to go past. My pick for the player of the year last season, he hasn’t had that knack for scoring goals so far in 2012-13, but with the resurgence of a couple of other blokes in blue and yellow, he hasn’t needed to. A great leader and a guy I’ve dreaded coming up against when watching as a Sydney fan. That free-kick from last year still gives me nightmares.

Andrew Durante (Wellington Phoenix)
There’s probably not a more deserving selection than Durante – a total warhorse, who has racked up an astonishing 6000 minutes of game time since the start of the 2010-11 season. His partner in crime Ben Sigmund made an equally strong case, but Durante gets the nod here due to his on-field presence and the sheer amount of effort he puts in.

Alternates: Matt Smith (Brisbane Roar) and Pascal Bosschaart (Sydney FC)

Right Back
Ivan Franjic (Brisbane Roar)
Possibly the weakest position in the league – not to take anything away from Franjic, who’s won two grand finals and scored a couple of cracking goals along the way, but he almost got the nod here by default. There’s a real dearth of right backs, plus I wouldn’t feel right not having any of the Roar’s backline in here after the last two seasons.

Alternate: Pedj Bojic (Central Coast Mariners)

Left Midfield
Thomas Broich (Brisbane Roar)
An absolute no contest. The German journeyman has been a total joy to watch play football in the past two and half seasons. The Johnny Warren medallist, who has only been in Australia since 2010, has already accumulated more bling than a gangsta rapper. An awards list a mile long, a two time A-League champion and an inspiration to shaggy-haired left footed blokes everywhere. Like myself. We salute you, oh great one.

Advertisement

Alternate: Oliver Bozanic (Central Coast Mariners)

Central Midfield
Aaron Mooy (Wanderers FC)
Probably the hardest choice to make, given the excellent form of Paartalu in the last few years. But I’ve gone with the young Wanderers starlet after the scintillating start to the season he’s had, with a couple of screamers for the national team along the way. I said a month or so ago that within five years Mooy would be the best player Australia had to offer. Nothing I’ve seen since has changed my mind on that. The only way he’s not picked for this team is if Real Madrid have already swooped in with a $50 million bid.

Alternate: Erik Paartalu (Brisbane Roar) or Terry McFlynn (For the lolz)

Attacking Midfield
Alessandro Del Piero (Sydney FC)
The best player I’ve ever had the privilege to watch live. But that’s probably only because I never got to see Dyron Daal play. He will be the first name picked and probably the captain. Let’s just hope this meaningless friendly doesn’t see Sydney’s marquee player go down injured, as it did last time when Juninho limped off at half-time against the Galaxy.

Alternate: Tom Rogić (Central Coast Mariners) or Jerónimo Neumann (Adelaide United)

Right Midfield
Marco Rojas (Melbourne Victory)
We all know the story by now – local boy gets bankrolled into a trial with the Phoenix by their fanatical fan-base, captures the hearts of the league with a handful of sharp performances… and immediately gets snapped up by the Evil Empire. Phoenix fans are still booing his every touch, 18 months after his departure. And with good reason – he and Finkler have been the only shining lights in a dire Victory team. At least the Wellington fans can comfort themselves in the fact that Australia can’t poach him from the All Whites.

Alternate: Richie Garcia (Melbourne Heart)

Advertisement

Strikers
Besart Berisha (Brisbane Roar)
Like him or hate him (I’d say those of a non-orange affiliation will almost certainly lean towards ‘hate him’) you can’t argue his impact on the league since arriving. Scoring for fun, starting fights and genuinely at the stage where he’s like a wrestling heel on the rest of the league – but you need characters like him, just like wrestling always needed Chris Jericho or Edge. Because although they’re bad guys you love to hate, they’re damn good at what they do. And the Albanian is a goal-scoring machine.

Emile Heskey (Newcastle Jets)
From running internet joke to genuinely decent player in the A-League, Heskey has surprised a lot of people with not only his play but the fact that it looks like he genuinely wants to be here and isn’t just another over-30 striker looking for one last payday (That’s you, Mario Jardel and Robbie Fowler). Plus, even if he wasn’t playing well, there’s simply no chance he doesn’t get voted in any way.

Alternates: Daniel McBreen (Central Coast Mariners) and Jeremy Brockie (Wellington Phoenix)

Bench (which I’m assuming is going to be the seven United would be used to):
Covic – been a rock for the league’s newest franchise.
Smith – two time premiership winner and captain of the best team in the league’s history is nothing to scoff at.
Jamieson – has really come on since leaving Sydney, played well for the Socceroos.
Paartalu – really unlucky to not get a starting spot.
Rogic – see above.
Neumann – can you imagine him against Ashley Young in a dive-off? Wow.
McBreen – where did all these goals come from? He was the worst player in the league a year ago, a remarkable progression.

So that’s my team. Obviously this won’t please everyone and I’m sure a couple of these guys will be off on international duty in the East Asian Cup, but we’ll worry about that in a few months’ time.

Over to you Roarers – what does your A-League All-Star side look like?

Follow Matt on Twitter @TheMattBungard

Advertisement
8
Join the conversation

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

Related Posts

close