- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
For all the myriad festivities across the country, wasn’t it great to see a couple of A-League blockbusters played on Australia Day?
On a day rife with symbolism, it was fantastic to see the world game play its part in the celebrations.
You could hardly pick a better example to sum up what an inclusive society ours aims to be, than the fact it was Serbian striker Ranko Despotovic who opened the scoring in Sydney FC’s stunning 5-0 win over Melbourne Victory at Etihad Stadium yesterday.
Without a club and seemingly without much hope of finding his way back into the big time, the hulking Serb was thrown a lifeline by Frank Farina and a Sky Blues side looking to add some depth to its squad.
And hasn’t Despotovic repaid the faith and then some, with the deceptively mobile striker utterly terrorising the Victory defence over the opening quarter of an hour in Melbourne.
Despotovic only scored one league goal in total during his time at Japanese giants Urawa Reds, so it’s safe to say the peripatetic front man is enjoying a renaissance in the harbour city.
The same could be said for Alessandro Del Piero – at least judging by his form yesterday.
The World Cup winner has oddly been written off by some sections of the Sydney FC faithful, but allowed acres of space by an admittedly dreadful Victory defence, the ageing veteran turned in a masterclass of attacking football.
What does it say about the A-League’s place in Australian society that two of the best players on the pitch at Etihad Stadium were an unheralded Serb and a much-vaunted Italian?
Hopefully it suggests that football, for all its faults, truly is a sport which brings together people from all over the world.
That’s arguably something Kevin Muscat will be desperate to do over the coming days, because at the moment his side looks like a total rabble.
Victory’s defence has been shambolic all season, but conceding back-to-back 5-0 defeats to two of the most unfancied outfits in the league hardly bodes well for Muscat’s immediate future.
Several Victory players are wretchedly out of form – even goalkeeper Nathan Coe turned in a shocker against the Sky Blues – and unless Victory can rediscover some defensive steel, they’re likely to be smashed come finals time.
Western Sydney Wanderers might well be hopeful of doing the smashing after they saw off Perth Glory at Parramatta Stadium in the second Australia Day fixture, with coach Tony Popovic likely to continue his tactical tinkering given the AFC Champions League campaign just around the corner.
The Wanderers have been in patch form of late, with Brisbane Roar still the team to beat after their come-from-behind 2-1 win over Wellington Phoenix.
Devante Clut was the story of the round for the Roar, after the 18-year-old crashed home a stunning goal on debut to drag the hosts back into the match.
Coupled with Luke Brattan’s equally eye-catching strike, the Roar thoroughly deserved their comeback win over the otherwise plucky Phoenix.
The latter certainly look in better form than the Newcastle Jets, who simply can’t buy a trick after their dismal 3-0 derby defeat to Central Coast Mariners.
The Novocastrians are another side whose defence has simply been all over the place this season, so perhaps they need to draft in someone with a bit of experience like the much-travelled Eddy Bosnar.
Bosnar trained with Sydney FC last week and the off-contract stopper is keen to finish his career in the A-League, following a lengthy career in Europe and Asia.
That Bosnar is eager to return to his homeland says much about the sway this country still holds on those who choose to move overseas.
And with the A-League playing its rightful part in the Australian sporting landscape, here’s hoping the competition continues to do its bit for multiculturalism now, and well into the future.