On the pitch. For once that’s where all the focus should be as the A-League conjures a penultimate round of real significance for all ten clubs.
Tomorrow marks 713 days since John Aloisi stood on the touchline, arms crossed and ashen-faced, and watched his Brisbane Roar give up a 3-0 lead to lose 5-4 to the Western Sydney Wanderers in the last ever A-League game at the old Parramatta Stadium.
“You couldn’t make this up!” bellowed Simon Hill as an exquisite Jamie Maclaren chip arced over Andrew Redmayne’s despairing hand to give the Roar a three-goal lead midway through the first half of their 5-4 semi-final defeat to the Wanderers.
Much has changed since. Redmayne is now the undisputed number one at table-toppers Sydney FC; Maclaren, who hails from a Hearts-supporting family, now plays for Hibs; the Wanderers need a new home; and the Roar have just signed an old Henrique.
But Aloisi is still there. That 2015-16 campaign was his first as Brisbane coach, and how different might his reputation be if the Roar had managed to win that semi-final?
Yet this is an Aloisi made of stern stuff. He’ll forever be remembered as the man who scored the decisive penalty to take Australia to its first World Cup in 32 years, but on his peripatetic jaunt through European club football he was relegated no less than four times.
He was sacked by Melbourne Heart after a 17-game winless streak. And as an Adelaide-born, one-time Sydney FC player he remains largely unloved by a section of the Brisbane Roar support.
So has he had 713 sleepless nights since that infamous evening in Parramatta? Probably not.
But if football is as much about redemption as it is making new records, Aloisi will be itching to stick the knife in and end Western Sydney’s season once and for all at Homebush on Saturday afternoon.
As for the rest of the round, have the Newcastle Jets peaked too soon? Will they put much stock into tonight’s performance against Perth Glory?
Since recording a fortunate 1-0 win over Wellington Phoenix in Auckland, the Jets have lost twice and conceded eight goals in back-to-back defeats to Adelaide United and Melbourne City.
Melbourne City, meanwhile, are coming off back-to-back 3-0 wins. And you wouldn’t put it past them racking up a similar scoreline against the beleaguered Central Coast Mariners on Saturday night.
It’s a shame, though, that City’s game at AAMI Park – and not the Wanderers do-or-die clash with the Roar – is the free-to-air TV clash.
Not that anyone seems to watch it on One, mind you, but perhaps Football Federation Australia would be better off having some kind of inbuilt ability to schedule the final few rounds a little bit later in the season.
David Gallop should be familiar with the concept – he was in charge of the NRL when they did it for years.
Meanwhile, Melbourne Victory were on the receiving end of a tennis scoreline in South Korea in midweek as they went down 6-2 to Ulsan Hyundai.
(AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy)
It’s been rocks and diamonds for the Victory all season, who looked imperious in their 3-1 win over Western Sydney last weekend, only to turn into an absolute rabble at Munsu Stadium on Wednesday night.
Fortunately for Kevin Muscat’s side, they’re playing a Wellington Phoenix fighting for their A-League future by playing like their extinction is a foregone conclusion. They’ve won four games and conceded 52 goals all season. Get rid of them.
Marco Kurz? Here’s hoping for Adelaide fans’ sake he doesn’t take a liking to Bondi Beach, lest he ends up in Sky Blue next season. The Reds’ clash with Sydney FC on Sunday night should be one of the games of the round.
And for once some old scores should be settled not on the back pages or in the comments section, but where it really counts.
On the pitch.
LuckyEddie
Guest
I'll answer my own comment, how sad it that. The reason no one commented would be that every one here has FOX and really do not care about FTA coverage. They get to see United or the Arsenal, or Barca etc. so they are happy in their world. Unfortunately there are a minority and those that choose not to pay for ads or cannot afford it are left in the cold. I'm good with that but why would someone use what spare money they have to be a HAL member when they will only basically see their team at home. QUESTION: Would any product take off when it is only going to 25% of it's possible audience. ANSWER: No/never.
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
Shouldn't be that bad a trip. Lots of direct flights to Seoul and from there the KTX (speed train) gets from Seoul to Ulsan in about 3 hours. Worse than that and they must be locked in to a deal with an airline that's seriously dampening their ability to compete. That's still 15 hrs of travel midweek to then play in front of less than 1k people though. Must be anti climatic for the players.
LuckyEddie
Guest
Shame with the FTA coverage. The WSW v. Roar ,if ten bothered to promote football with ads, could actually draw a big viewing crowd in both Syd and Bris. Problem is it will only be going out to the small minority who have payTV. What is on FTA, well a 'cracker' Melb City v Central Coast. It would actually be better for football if that was not on FTA. For one no one cares about this game and two it's an insult when Roar v WSW would be good viewing.
Neil
Guest
Though I have always had a soft for the Kiwis, I have come to the conclusion some what reluctantly the Phoenix add no value to the A League that another Australian franchise could not offer. I think it is time to be hard nose about this and be selfish about putting Australian football first.
Lionheart
Guest
of course what you say makes sense Ian, fans must expect the bad with the good, usually more the former. But Aloisi has changed the fundamentals at Roar, markedly so with the cutting of Broich but also with a number of others and their replacement signings. The Ricky signing for me was the last straw, a desperate move to win back some fans I thought. Is he and Oxborrow or Gameiro any better than the youngsters on the bench, or those he's released? He's taken us from a youthful club to aged care, only plays youth when forced to by injury (he's done that all along, not just this year) and has changed our fair play culture. The first choice squad are top class, but most are not up to 90 minutes plus, they're slow and score fewer goals. And he's only got a few locals left, probably even fewer local starters next year, which is a bad state for any Queensland team.
Ian
Guest
I don't put too much focus on parts of The Den singing those types of chants to be honest. Having a crap first half of the season only brings that out. That happens with many areas though.......when Jamie Young started he got it piled on him for having a couple of bad games straight up like the one against Sydney where Janko scored from distance. JA has signed on, so some fans need to get used to it. If he had two bad seasons in a row, yes, but I was willing to ride through this season because we had two good seasons prior. No matter how much I support the team I don't expect to win every year. Anyway - I'm looking forward to a big game tomorrow. and one win out of the next two games should get us into the finals.
Cousin Claudio
Roar Guru
Its pretty close, the final Finals make up might not be settled till the final round. SFC and Wanderers finish with 2 home games.
Cousin Claudio
Roar Guru
Isn't home ground advantage something to play for Pip?
Kangajets
Guest
The roar will have to finish 5 th for them to play Newcastle in a grand final qualifyier , otherwise when the roar knock city then Sydney FC out , they play the jets in the GF
Waz
Roar Rookie
“We must be in different sections of the fans then” ... that was kinda of my point, there’s no unanimous view for or against Aloisi ... some are for, some against, some neutral, some indifferent; It’s clear though a large group (not necessarily the largest) are against him - you can see comments on line regularly against Aloisi including some in this very article, you see it on twitter, and you hear it in the crowd with the “Aloisi Out” chants a section of the Den try to get going.
Newie
Guest
Ernie is playing a longer game than you think! I'd much rather a Jets vs Roar home final in Newcastle, than facing Melbourne City, who are peaking right now.
Kangajets
Guest
You’re on waz. Newcastle brown Ale
Ian
Guest
Large sections of the fans haven't ever taken to him? We must be in different sections of the fans then. We finished 3rd twice and one Matt McKay left foot away from winning a premiership. A lot of wins in that culture in the first two years. .
Waz
Roar Rookie
Good luck with that Kanga, I’ll be cheering you on. Jets v Roar final in Newcastle coming up; you’re buying the beers if I’m correct ?
Waz
Roar Rookie
@ Lee The competition generated around $80m in revenues each year of which around a third is given back to the clubs. If most of it was given to the clubs, which is their right and clearly protected by FIFA, then the competition is extremely profitable and can afford to expand.
Kangajets
Guest
It’s the time tonight for Newcastle to ruthlessly year Perth Glory apart . It better be a 5-1 massacre or I will be concerned the Jets bubble has burst O Donovan hatrick Champness Hoffman Taggart to score for Perth
lesterlike
Guest
"perhaps Football Federation Australia would be better off having some kind of inbuilt ability to schedule the final few rounds a little bit later in the season. David Gallop should be familiar with the concept – he was in charge of the NRL when they did it for years." If you remember that then you should also remember how blatantly unpopular with fans because they couldn't plan for away games or found out they had avoidable clashes with home games when the second part of the schedule was released.
Waz
Roar Rookie
All good apparently. Saw him training the other day - think he just needs some game time.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Pretty much the same. In fact I think most of the resentment aimed at John is really aimed at Ross. I think with JA bring such an inexperienced A league coache to go and pick an inexperienced assistance was a mistake and shows up in results, recruitment, team selection etc
Nemesis
Guest
"The league will be bankrupt in five years of expansion goes ahead." Excellent. Hope you are right. Will save me a lot of money & time each weekend from October to May. Fingers crossed you are right.