- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Twas the night before Christmas, or at least the night before, and if there’s one thing A-League fans might wish for from tonight’s grand final rematch at Parramatta Stadium, it’s some entertainment.
What a round of football it has been.
Sandwiched between a pumping, pulsating Melbourne derby were three encounters of varying degrees of dullness – from the pair-your-socks boredom of Newcastle’s win over Brisbane to a “turmoil derby” so dreary you’d be forgiven for giving up on football altogether and starting your own sock-knitting business.
It’s safe to say Friday night’s encounter between the Roar and a plucky Newcastle Jets didn’t exactly go to plan for Mike Mulvey and his league-leading Brisbane, although one might reasonably assume Mulvey hadn’t anticipated sending his team out onto a cow paddock.
The Roar were living on a prayer the second they took to the pitch, after last week’s Bon Jovi concert left vast sections of the Suncorp Stadium turf looking as rutted as a donkey track.
Bon Jovi, Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen – where does it end?
A-League teams continue to play second fiddle despite being on-going stadium tenants, and having decided not to move Friday night’s clash to Ballymore, it’d be interesting to see if the Roar made the same decision were they given the chance again.
At least Friday’s encounter produced a modicum of entertainment, which is perhaps more than can be said for another Sunday afternoon borefest at Westpac Stadium.
All credit to Wellington Phoenix for belatedly getting off the mark, and it was nice to see Stein Huysegems get on the scoresheet after a couple of poor performances in front of goal.
That said though, is there another team in the league which flatters to deceive quite like Sydney FC?
Watching them go around on Sunday, it seems an absolute miracle the Sky Blues have somehow recorded six wins thus far.
The hit-and-hope tactics are transparent at the best of times, but when Alessandro Del Piero is absent, the Sky Blues look about as sharp as a spoon at the point of attack.
And yet somehow Sunday’s trans-Tasman snorefest wasn’t even the dreariest game of the round.
That dubious honour goes to Perth Glory’s coma-inducing scoreless draw with regional rivals Adelaide United – an encounter so tedious to watch on television, it left me begging for the Yuletide schmaltz of Love Actually to start.
“Perhaps they should let Jeronimo do some advertising, maybe in a few underwear catalogues?” was my girlfriend’s not-entirely-helpful marketing suggestion when I pointed out the empty seats, though you’d forgive anyone for averting their gaze from the actual football on display.
It’s yet to reach epidemic proportions, but several games this season have been far more bust than bell-ringer, and the lack of entertainment on offer makes it difficult to attract new fans.
Which makes Saturday night’s thrumming Melbourne derby all the more indicative of the best the A-League has to offer.
The major talking point, of course, was the dismissal of Heart defender Patrick Kisnorbo. Whether or not a red card was harsh, surely a player of his quality and experience should know that diving in on the edge of the box is risky business.
Was Connor Pain guilty of the same offence barely a few minutes later? Perhaps. But Pain stayed on the pitch and an early Christmas present from Heart goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne helped propel crosstown rivals Victory to a stunning 3-1 derby win.
It’s hard to see where Heart coach John Aloisi goes from here, and what the former Socceroo wouldn’t do for a slice of luck.
His erstwhile Australia teammate Tony Popovic may wish for the same thing tonight as the Wanderers host Central Coast in a blockbuster grand final rematch to end the round.
It’s the start of a hectic festive season of football and one which hopefully keeps us all entertained, as the A-League looks to end the year with a bang.