Here’s a stat for you, Andrew Howe. Of the 54 goals scored in the A-League to date, 21 of them – or just over 38 per cent – have been slotted home by players aged 23 or younger.
Valentino Yuel may not be in that age bracket, but the 26-year-old continued the trend of exciting new talent getting on the scoresheet when he angled home the opener in Newcastle’s 2-1 win over Wellington Phoenix in Wollongong yesterday.
Yuel is the nascent A-League campaign’s joint top scorer alongside 21-year-old Perth youngster Carlo Armiento and his 22-year-old attacking teammate Nick D’Agostino.
And while the Jets were always going to break their losing streak – they’d played well enough without enjoying much luck until yesterday – the most exciting part of their gameplay has been the development of entertaining attackers like Yuel and Ramy Najjarine.
Yuel still had plenty to do when he was released by an excellent ball on the break by Roy O’Donovan at WIN Stadium, but having outpaced 22-year-old Aussie defender Joshua Laws, the former Western United winger arrowed an unerring strike across the face of Stefan Marinovic’s goal and in off the post.
It was Yuel’s third goal in as many games, and the veteran of just 14 A-League appearances in total – mostly off the bench – wasn’t done yet.
When Nikolai Topor-Stanley blocked Ulises Davila’s shot shortly after the halftime interval, it was Yuel who raced in from near the halfway line to shepherd the ball away from Phoenix midfielder Cam Devlin before cleverly finding Steven Ugarkovic with some neat footwork.
Ugarkovic’s perfectly weighted through ball found Roy O’Donovan and when Marinovic raced out into no-man’s-land, the Irish striker only had to stroke the ball around the Phoenix keeper and into an empty neat.
In doing so O’Donovan became just the 14th player in A-League history to chalk up 50 goals. For all the talk around whether visa players add the requisite value to the competition, you can hardly argue O’Donovan hasn’t proved his worth.
Roy O’Donovan (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Players like O’Donovan, Davila and Perth’s talismanic Uruguayan striker Bruno Fornaroli add plenty to the competition, and the A-League would be vastly diminished by their absence.
But it’s interesting to note that of the current top ten goal scorers for the season – albeit from a shallow pool of games – only Yuel, Fornaroli and Melbourne Victory’s 29-year-old English import Callum McManaman are over the age of 23.
What that means is that for the first time in years young players are increasingly being relied upon to win games of football in the A-League. And it’s working.
Mark Rudan might have warned us about putting too much pressure on youngsters this season, but it was his introduction of 20-year-old Dylan Pierias off the bench that changed the game in Western United’s favour in Saturday’s crazy 5-4 win over Perth in Geelong.
The hosts had just conceded back-to-back goals when Pierias headed home the equaliser to make it 2-2 with his first touch of the ball before the former Melbourne City youngster went one better with a superb volley from the excellent Tomoki Imai’s cross soon after.
As with on-loan Newcastle midfielder Najjarine, Pierias could hardly get a game at City. However, both have benefited from moving to rival clubs.
And the biggest impact of the weekend was enjoyed by the youngest player of all, with Adelaide’s 16-year-old wunderkind Mohamed Toure sliding home an inch-perfect finish in United’s 1-0 win over Melbourne Victory.
Toure and his older brother Al Hassan are rare talents, and without wishing to heap additional pressure on the pair, it’s not hard to see international call-ups for Mohamed in the future. But for now we should just enjoy his electrifying talent.
It’s been an outstanding start to the new campaign. And without making light of a global pandemic, maybe COVID-19 forcing coaches to look closer to home has been the circuit breaker the A-League needed.
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
Thanks Grem. I agree an interesting read, no harm in calling a spade and bloody shovel when the circumstances warrant it.
Grem
Roar Rookie
A very interesting article by Simon.
Grem
Roar Rookie
https://www.sportingnews.com/au/football/news/i-was-removed-simon-hill-explains-dramatic-fox-sports-exit-as-he-slams-a-league-coverage/bgd9udxs5w721d3di6xzg69nt
chris
Guest
Well done Ellie Carpenter. Asian player of the year. At just 20yo, the females have also got a lot of young talent coming through.
Nick Symonds
Guest
The injury has set him back badly. At the moment, FC Utrecht are placed 8th and are the first team on the ladder with a negative goal difference, of -1. On top of that they've only won 5 of their 18 matches so far. But Arzani has only made four league appearances since joining them. The manager didn't mention his injury in his comments, so maybe he's also trying to shift blame to his players if he's under pressure. But it is worth noting that Arzani only scored twice from 24 matches at Melbourne City, so maybe the he wants someone who's more of a goal threat. As well as a possible move back to the A-League, he's also had interest from AGF Aarhus in the Danish Superliga where Zach Duncan and Alex Gersbach play and where Mustafa Amini was previously. There's also reports of possible interest from Xanthi FC in the Greek second division, who were recently taken over by the owner of Sydney Olympic as a stepping stone into Europe for Australian players.
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
I think you'll find that at the time he was told he could look at other options the whole country was in a lock down and totally uncertain when a game would be played. So as a father would say to a son [or daughter] times are tough here, if you can find work elsewhere then leave home and go make your fortune.
AndyAdelaide
Roar Rookie
Dukuly is a 10 not a 11!!!!!
AndyAdelaide
Roar Rookie
There's a lot more to this then reported, only people close to the inner sanctum of the club know the truth. Definitely not what media reported
Punter
Roar Rookie
Imagine how good Toure (M) can be if he had a creative midfielder in Adelaide.
Waz
Roar Rookie
No such thing as “family” in football; it’s a cut-throat business .... and you don’t sell family to the highest bidder or tell them they’re surplus to requirements and should find a new family as Adelaide did to Troisi.
pete4
Guest
Yes very unfortunate situation for Arzani upon being loaned to Celtic then suffered season ending injury and struggled since
NoMates
Guest
Wellington have been doing it for years, way before the pandemic. However we have now at least a team with 3 to 4 kids in the starting line up/bench.
Nick Symonds
Guest
MORE GOOD NEWS 20-year-old defender Ellie Carpenter has been named the Asian Football Confederation's best Women's player for 2020.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Simon is a qualified journalist and his close relative Michael goes OK too, a mistake I made a while ago and I couldn't even blame auto correct!
AndyAdelaide
Roar Rookie
doesnt that make you ynroh (backwards)? lol that front 3 alone could play for the socceroos
AndyAdelaide
Roar Rookie
no comment on who im implying are the teams lol :laughing:
Nick Symonds
Guest
"If true it would mean that Tasmania has a similar player base to Canberra." - CANBERRA Registered players : 31,000 Football community: 80,000 https://www.facebook.com/ALeagueCapitalRegion/?ref=page_internal
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
@Dennis - Agreed they have only played one decent side in the Jets, but they have already out performed most peoples, except their most die hard supporters, expectations for them. It is way too early to start writing about who will or won't fill out the top 6 positions come June, but like most everyone else outside of Sydney we are enjoying their ride.
Nick Symonds
Guest
"I just hope he doesn’t do what Daniel Arzani did and go too early." - Arzani's manager at FC Utrecht Rene Heke has lashed him saying: "It’s clear that he doesn’t meet our expectations. Yes, he has been (disappointing). I think I can expect more of him in all ways.” Graham Arnold has now urged him to return to the A-League and he is reported to be linked with a return to Melbourne City.
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
The only thing that has disappointed me with this year's season is that I haven't managed to get to a "Wollongong" Phoenix home game yet as I live in the Gong. I'll definitely get to some though.