Young excellence, promotion battles, and a happy farewell: The Australian team of the week from players around the globe
Even though St.Pauli ultimately lost a high-scoring affair, Jackson Irvine was a standout, as well as scoring a late goal.
Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory have been forced to share the spoils for the third time on the bounce after playing out a 1-1 A-League Men draw.
Despite only landing back in Australia on Thursday after being knocked out of the Asian Champions League in extra time by Japan’s Visell Kobe, Victory largely contained City’s high-powered attack on Saturday and took the lead through Marco Rojas in the 19th minute.
But City levelled through Curtis Good on the stroke of halftime and moved back to the top of the ALM table after Western United were soundly beaten by Sydney FC following a simultaneous kick-off.
Dropping to sixth thanks to Sydney’s win, Victory host Western United in another derby on Wednesday, while City travel to face Brisbane the same night.
After a cagey opening, Victory struck first when Ben Folami played a one-two with Jake Brimmer, sprinted into City’s half and slid a pass behind their defensive line for Rojas to finish.
City controlled the stat sheet as the half progressed but struggled to fashion notable chances – needing to be mindful of Victory’s desire to attack on the counter.
But in such circumstances set pieces can provide a safety net.
And this proved the case for the defending champions when Good met a short-corner routine and sent a glancing header across the face of goalkeeper Ivan Kelava and inside the far post.
Victory responded well and began to become bolder in their forays forward in the second stanza; Josh Brillante just denied a go-ahead goal in the 66th when Nuno Reis desperately stuck a boot in to deflect his close-range shot from Folami’s cutback.
City’s Jamie Maclaren, Stefan Colakovski, and Good had chances to win the game with a late flurry – the latter hitting the post – but couldn’t convert as the sides extended a run of draws in their clashes stretching back to last season.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Even though St.Pauli ultimately lost a high-scoring affair, Jackson Irvine was a standout, as well as scoring a late goal.
Mathew Leckie played a pivotal part in Melbourne City claiming an 8-nil win; playing a role in several of his team's goals.
The loser of the Sydney Derby will be under immense pressure entering the final three matches of the season.
Anthony Caceres is a player with immense talent and has a fantastic work rate, broke the deadlock against the Mariners in the 74th minute.
Under-pressure Western Sydney coach Marko Rudan has failed to front up for his post-match press conference after a 7-0 thrashing from Melbourne City, the…
Round 19 was an interesting weekend of football with no draws, 19 goals in six matches, two five-goal games on Sunday and for the…