The opening match of season thirteen of the A-League sees Melbourne City face Brisbane Roar at AAMI Park. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 7:50pm (AEDT).
The mysteries surrounding the opening rounds of sporting competitions will never be more evident than at AAMI Park tonight as Melbourne City and Brisbane Roar do battle in round one of the A-League.
With key additions to both teams and little to write home about from their pre-season performances, both squads may take a month or two before they hit their straps.
Melbourne City welcome Ross McCormack, Bart Schenkeveld, Marcin Budzinski and Marcelo Carrusca and it will be fascinating to see how new manager, Warren Joyce sets up his troops.
With Fernando Brandan and Bruno Fornaroli still to return from injury and Tim Cahill absent on international duty, City will not lack talent this season.
Brisbane have been one of the most interesting stories of the pre-season. The debut of Massimo Maccarone in an already experienced squad and new signing Fahid Ben Kalfallah will add much to the Roar attack.
Much has been made of their age, however, experience is a valuable thing and John Aloisi has great faith in the team he has assembled.
It is great to have football back for the summer months and this clash is a wonderful way to whet the appetite of fans.
Prediction
In what is a tough game to unravel due to the anticipated lack of fluency both teams may experience, I cannot split them.
There is more than enough talent on the pitch for goals to be found and the most likely outcome will be a low scoring draw.
Melbourne City 1, Brisbane 1.
Catch all the action on The Roar live coverage from 7:50pm (AEDT).
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
Fox ratings for Friday night: Fri STV #ALeague #FoxSports #MCYvBRI 100k
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
He started poorly (as most did), his 1st goal was well taken, no doubt, although his 2nd goal took an almightly deflection, but at least he was there to get the shot away. Still, any player scoring both goals in a 2-nil win is going to go a long way towards getting best player.
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
Yes, I'm aware the ground announced 9,589, but if the governing body itself is reporting 9,089....
Nemesis
Guest
Ultimate ALeague also has 9,589 as the crowd. Based on past behavior, I'd be inclined to believe the Ground Announcer and Ultimate Aleague and willing to believer the FFA/A-League intern who updates the website made a typo.
Lionheart
Guest
at the ground they announced 9589
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
I'm going off the A-League website: https://www.a-league.com.au/match/melbourne-city-fc-v-brisbane-roar-fc-a-league-06-10-2017/927942#!/stats it definitely says 9,089.
JJ
Guest
That was the worst 2 goal performance by a player I've seen. How did he get man of the match from Fox Sports over Fitzgerald. Crazy Stuff.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
9589 last night.
Midfielder
Guest
The Wheeler's may be in for a difficult season .... to early to make a call through...
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
Solid start to the season with 9,089 at AAMI last night, that's about 500 more than attended this fixture in February.
Realist
Guest
Very Aloisi like though
Stuart Thomas
Expert
In something far less than a classic game of football, Melbourne City have defeated Brisbane Roar in the season opener of the A-League for 2017/18. In a game where there was much jostling for position between teams struggling for fluency and connectedness, City were a little too classy for a willing yet unconvincing Brisbane. The first half took some time to take shape before the dominance of possession by Melbourne City finally resulted in scoreboard pressure, when Bruce Kamau found the back of the net after some excellent team build up. Despite looking awkward and out of touch early, Kamau slowly worked his way into the game and became the dominant figure. Brisbane saw a few chances vanish and D’Agostino’s effort that clattered off the left upright could have reshaped the game. Unfortunately, the dominance in the midfield continued for City after the break and the Roar were unable to halt the trend. Kamau struck again in the second half with City repelling some consistent pressure from Brisbane and the game was done and dusted at that point. For the home team, they will be pleased in what was a much improved performance from the one we saw in their exit from the FFA Cup. For Brisbane, they will need to rethink for next week and find a way to connect their mids and forwards in order to create more chances for Maccarone and co who suffered from the lack of quality service. Final Score Melbourne City 2 Brisbane Roar 0
TK
Guest
Maybe you called that right Stuart? But under-rating Kamau has come back to bite you ! Thanks for the call - disappointed the roar couldn't start the season a bit more brightly. Well there's aways next week - at least Kamau won't be lining up for the Reds again!
Stuart Thomas
Expert
Match report to follow in ten minutes. Thanks for being on board. Great to have football back.
Stuart Thomas
Expert
Full-time City 2 Roar 0
Stuart Thomas
Expert
'94 Corner City and this one is just about done.
Stuart Thomas
Expert
The air has gone out of this game, City are happy with their lead.
Stuart Thomas
Expert
'93 corner City.
Red Block
Guest
Very un-Roar like performance. Could well end up in the bottom half of the table.
Stuart Thomas
Expert
'93 City dominating the last few minutes in front of the Brisbane goal.