The last time Javi Lopez scored any goal of note, his Espanyol team was well on the way to finishing dead last and ending an unbroken 25-year run in Spain’s ultra-competitive La Liga.
Back then Lopez’s goal came in Europe on a hot August night on the outskirts of Barcelona, when he skippered the Catalans to a laboured 3-1 win over Ukrainian minnows FC Zorya Luhansk in Europa League qualifying in 2019.
Espanyol enjoyed a decent European run that season, slogging their way through the qualifiers and finishing top of their Europa League group, before ultimately going out to a rampant Wolves in the knock-out stage.
It’s a long way from a packed Molineux to the more sedate confines of Coopers Stadium, but the fact is a player of Lopez’s pedigree probably wouldn’t be playing in Australia if it wasn’t for COVID-19.
(Photo by Sarah Reed/Getty Images)
It’s easy to forget with all the doom and gloom around the world just how lucky we are to be still watching football.
And it’s even easier to remember, given the spate of postponements across the A-Leagues, just how quickly this can all be taken away from us.
So there was something refreshing about watching Adelaide United dish out an old-fashioned 4-0 thrashing to Wellington Phoenix on Saturday night, even if the sight of visiting coach Ufuk Talay clashing repeatedly with officials was something we’ve seen before.
And Talay was justified in at least some of his complaints, not least after VAR intervened to award Adelaide a penalty seconds after Michael Jakobsen appeared to foul Phoenix striker Oskar van Hattum at the other end.
Referee Daniel Elder originally waved play on shortly after halftime, but video assistant Shaun Evans decided Tim Payne’s challenge on George Blackwood was worthy of a spot kick and the contest was pretty much done and dusted after that.
Adelaide secured a second penalty soon after – that one was cut and dried – but what was notable about Craig Goodwin’s two expertly-dispatched spot kicks was his stuttering run-up.
If you watch a replay of both goals, Goodwin just about continues moving his non-striking foot towards the ball at the end of his run-up – but only just.
There’s not a whole lot of forward momentum from the Adelaide attacker when he practically stops and waits for the goalkeeper to move, even if he’s undoubtedly an excellent penalty taker.
Nothing will happen with Goodwin’s run-up, of course, although something should probably be done about the effects microphones being placed so close to the technical areas on match days.
I’m all for a decent rant – and goodness knows the likes of Talay and Carl Veart can provide them – but the steady stream of audible invective aimed at officials from coaching staff is a bad look for the game.
(Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
But the reason it happens is the same reason nothing will ever get done about it, because that’s the way the A-Leagues has always done things and presumably will continue to do so until the end of time.
There have been a few encouraging steps taken in the A-Leagues 2.0 era, but if we’re being perfectly honest, there has been lots that looks exactly the same as it did under the previous regime.
That’s a minor quibble in the grand scheme of things, given how difficult it is to even schedule football in these COVID-plagued times.
The Australian Professional Leagues deserve credit for keeping the men’s and women’s leagues going in the face of this unrelenting pandemic, even if plenty of fixtures have recently been postponed.
They may ultimately end up having to curtail the season just to fit everything in.
Here’s hoping it doesn’t come to that, even if things are looking rather bleak right now.
Because if Saturday night proved anything, it’s that we all just want to watch some football.
Let’s hope 2022 provides a lot more of that, with a few additional collector’s items from Javi Lopez thrown in.
Jordan Sports Fan
Roar Rookie
NFL are not using all of those 1000 employees to edit matches down to minis and highlights packages solely, they generate all kinds of content constantly (all TDs for a round, best plays etc). So your point would be valid if I was expecting APL/C10/P+ to develop the amount of content NFL does in their entirety, with their limited media team which to be a tiny fraction of the NFL. That isn't what I said though. What I said was P+ are much too slow getting their mini-matches/highlights up. It takes them hours and indeed days in some examples. NFL take half an hour. Utd v Wolves had finished at around 6am yesterday morning and their mini was uploaded by 6:50am. PL would have a similarly huge media team. The market doesn't really care about resources behind the scenes though, they care about the product they get for their subscription dollars. Industry leaders like the NFL and PL have demonstrated consistently the possible turnaround times for content generation to consumers. If P+ can't get close to meeting that with what resources, they are a lame duck in their industry. However, you can compare examples closer to home and see that Kayo and Stan upload their full replays instantly with no delay whereas P+ take two hours. Is that a better comparison for you? As far as what I deem to be a reasonable expectation for P+? Instant upload for full replays and within two hours for minis and highlights. This would be double the length of time it takes PL and four times the length of time it takes the NFL. More than reasonable I hope you agree but currently not being close to be met.
AGO74
Guest
You cannot be seriously comparing the A-League with the nfl which has arguably the slickest media production team in the world. And when I say team that is putting it mildly as it has almost 1,000 employees.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
QLD is the state that locked up Perth Glory stop trying to dodge the issue, NSW had to shoulder the burden of the majority of international quarantine. The flow on effect from being imprisoned in QLD meant matches elsewhere were cancelled. Brisbane Heat multiple cases yet they have only got a one day delay. There needs to be a complete investigation into the Perth Glory imprisonment by the QLD government.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
I went to the Keep Up website because I was expecting a lot of Sydney FC coverage from your description. Then all I see is articles on Euro clubs, this website is a joke is the APL are behind why are they covering Euro football they need to make it exclusively A-league, and why would anyone think these articles are produced by the website they just seem the standard copied from else where. Someone needs to stop smoking pot.
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
The Reds never fail on providing an interesting game that's why and kudos to them
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
I'm hoping so
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
I think the difference was 13k.
Nick Symonds
Guest
"the threat China poses" - We always hear that the CCP maintains its authority only if GDP growth continues at a high level, but much of this growth since 2008 has come from debt. Furthermore, if the CCP have been inflating their GDP figures then their debt to GDP ratio might be higher than it officially is and they might actually be in a lot of trouble. If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
I meant the 20m transfer, you claimed that a cap stops clubs getting big transfer fees. This proves that is wrong. The MLS also has some weird American stuff like a draft etc, and who knows what they have between MLS clubs is it transfers or trades and could not care less. In the MLS they dont have the same gang of older players they have here, Milligan and Wilkshire saying Isaias should play for the Socceroos before the Adelaide match. Isaias is mid 30's and he got a 3 year contract. Thats what stopping these clubs getting transfer fees they only sign up the oldies.
Waz
Roar Rookie
“ MLS has a cap , why can they do it” To discourage transfer fees between A League clubs the initial set-up makes it so a transfer fee paid counts under the ALM salary cap. That means if Club A pays $100k to Club B, then Club A’s salary cap is reduced by that $100k. Change that part (of what is a complex) salary cap would be a good start.
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
There are a lot of occasions that I disagree with you and your points of view FIL, but here I stand with you 100%. I won't go into personalities but the quality of some of our officials is, to say the least, 'disappointing'. I know everyone will tell us that over the course of a season things balance out, you get some very soft free kicks [penalties] and give away same. But it shouldn't be that way. Taking a leaf out of the English broadcasters that Optus show, where every controversial decision is reviewed by a well known and respected Ex Referee and his opinion is given. Mind you on most occasions the players on the panel and the referee rarely agree. But how do we get our officials to improve? I wish I had the answer.
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
The Bulls are a complete mystery as to why they believe they think their product is so much better than any of the other clubs. FYI MacArthur here are the ticket prices for the United vs Victory FFA Cup Quarter Final on Wednesday night - remember this is the original rivalry. Below are the discounted member prices for this FFA Cup match: Adult - $15.00 Concession - $12.00 Youth - $10.00 Child - $8.00 Family of 4 (2A, 2J) - $38.00 That is how you price a game of football. Mind you i think the youth and child prices are a tad on the high side.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
MLS has a cap , why can they do it, they can sell to any club in the world anyone really think A-league clubs are going to outbid overseas clubs for talent . The truth is they cant hold onto to young players because they dont pay them, Brisbane and Adelaide the money and game time has gone to the old guys, so the young guys leave.
Nick Symonds
Guest
QATAR SECURITY CONCERNS 1 - Number of terrorists globally is now 3 to 4 times higher than in 2001 2 – Regional instability is bad 3 – Fall of Afghanistan has created further complications and risks 4 – Qatar is home to a US airbase, it's largest in the region (not popular with terrorists) 5 – Bulk of security is being provided by poorly paid and overworked guards 6 – Higher end security provided by Pakistan Commandos (SSG) 7 - FIFA ignored its own security report on Qatar prior to host selection
NoMates
Roar Rookie
I find it amazing that AU vs Nix out rated the Melb Derby by 30k, It just goes to show people are watching the smaller clubs then the big names now.
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
The Qataris took their passports, put the foreign labourers on a food ration, put them in appalling accommodation, had them beaten if they didn’t work hard enough. How this WC is going ahead is beyond me. It gives a direct indication of whose legacy it is……a quality individual like Blatter
Jordan Sports Fan
Roar Rookie
KEEPUP now have a YouTube channel and I can see that the ALW mini match between City v Vic was uploaded 8 minutes ago at time of this posting. For a game that was staged on 26 Dec! Why would anyone care about this content a week after the fact, seriously? 24 hours since Roar v Vic, still no video uploaded. The ball being dropped by APL is there for all to see when it comes to content generation.
Waz
Roar Rookie
“Exceptional Circumstances” would get them out of trouble - a bit like withdrawing from last years ACL without kicking a ball
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
halloran is a devastating blow - hes a player that gets you several goals and assists every season. if you remember in early december i broke the news that he wants out the club, before the media ran with it - There were disagreements between the board and the coaching staff whether to let him go - he was on one of the highest wages and contracts at the club the club is still in the process of being sold, now that a third interested party (one of the biggest property developers in the eastern states is interested) its complicated matters. lets go some quick transfer updates: couple of really good signings from the NPL as well - asad kasumovic is a forward from adelaide city that i recommended to the club several years ago in his early teen years, very happy the club has signed him. lachlan barr i've spoken on here before about, also from adelaide city and is in the top 3 centrebacks at NPL level (i personally rank him at #2) hes had plenty of interest from a league clubs over the years but none have ever pulled the trigger, 100% deserves his chance in the big leagues. club is also very close to signing a VISA player - nahuel bonada who has looked excellent in training. incredibly talented player with a lot of flair, was a revelation in the SA & VIC NPL and also had a trial at the mariners as well as being continually monitored by western united. roy o donovan has been sounded out again as an injury replacement for yengi (club looked at him in the off season) as well as diego castro, club tabled an offer to him very late in the off season before he left australia - his agent has now officially come back to adelaide to see if they are still interested - i dont see it happening as the club has no money
Zircon
Guest
I've read that the demographic of the ALs is younger than most sports and the general consensus is we've seriously stuffed up with active support in the past.signs are things are on the improve in that area but we won't know if its too little too late until crowds feel safe to return to live games. With this in mind I can't for the life of me understand why the Bulls are pricing kids out of attending their games when they should be enticing younger folk with ticket pricing as close to free entry as possible.