Kevin Muscat just won the J. League, Mitch Langerak is the best goalkeeper in Japan and Garang Kuol is going to the World Cup, so perhaps it’s time to admit our football is not so bad after all.
The biggest story in Australian football this week is not whether Cristian Volpato throws his lot in with the Socceroos or whether Jason Cummings is on the plane to Qatar, it’s former Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat winning the J. League in charge of Yokohama F. Marinos.
Let’s be honest – Muscat doesn’t get the plaudits he deserves as a coach because many fans believe he was once a dirty player, and because anyone who doesn’t support Melbourne Victory is loath to applaud an accomplishment from one of their former greats.
But after taking just six points from the first five games of the season, Muscat winning the J. League is one of the greatest success stories of our times.
Kevin Muscat. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
And he did it in a league where Nagoya Grampus shot-stopper Mitch Langerak has been far and away the competition’s best goalkeeper for the past few seasons.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, it’ll be a relief to see the Socceroos squad announced on Tuesday morning just so we can put the ‘will he, won’t he’ saga surrounding Cristian Volpato to bed.
The Roma midfielder is a precocious talent and his attacking flair would be a welcome addition to a Socceroos squad lacking in creativity.
But Volpato plays for Italy – or their underage sides, at least – and so far the Sydney-born midfielder has given no indication whatsoever that he wants to play for Australia.
If he chooses to watch the World Cup from his living room in Rome, so be it. Better to pick players who actually want to wear the green and gold.
But will one of those be Jason Cummings? The Scottish-born striker is one of the A-League Men’s stand-out talents and he brings a genuine X-factor to his Central Coast Mariners side.
The problem for Cummings is that Socceroos coach Graham Arnold tends to favour his incumbents – one of whom is a very different type of player to the Mariners man.
Adam Taggart wasn’t even in the Cerezo Osaka squad to face Nagoya Grampus on Saturday and the former Suwon Bluewings striker endured a patchy campaign at best in Japan.
Yet there’s no doubt Arnold rates Taggart’s physical presence, and with Mitch Duke almost certain to start up front in Australia’s World Cup opener against France, Taggart is likely to act as Duke’s understudy.
With in-form Melbourne City striker Jamie Maclaren likely to nab the archetypal fox-in-the-box role, it would appear there’s no room left for Cummings – despite how popular he is with the fans on social media.
Cummings impressed once again in Central Coast’s 3-0 thumping of Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday night, but it was Garang Kuol who sealed his seat on the plane to Doha with another virtuoso performance off the bench.
The 18-year-old plays with no fear and his latest eye-catching cameo was enough to ensure his name will be read out on Tuesday.
Mitchell Langerak (Photo by Masashi Hara/Getty Images)
It was an unhappy night for Marko Rudan and his Wanderers side – whose only consolation was the fact Sydney FC were likewise thumped 3-1 by Brisbane Roar heading into the Sydney Derby.
The Sky Blues walked straight into an ambush in Redcliffe as they deservedly found themselves two goals down inside the opening 12 minutes on Sunday afternoon.
Quite why they were so surprised by the Roar’s intensity remains a mystery, but the reality is Warren Moon’s team is nowhere near as bad as many would have you believe.
That’s true of much in Australian football – although the less said about broadcaster Paramount’s diabolical weekend, the better – and quite frankly those who are paid to administer the game have allowed negative narratives to dictate for far too long.
But in a week in which the Socceroos squad and Sydney Derby will dominate the headlines, perhaps it’s time to acknowledge that football is doing better than we care to admit.
Jaime Espinosa
Guest
As always a biased article from a so called expert. One day you may arealise there are other players outside your small Sydney and Melbourne world. There is much more football in Australia. But you just ignore it....pobre articulo como siempre
Steve
Guest
Now let's talk up the sydney derby..with milos ninkovic wearing the red and black that spices thing up and the atmosphere will be electric!
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
yeah, see that is how you do it. The kids in the crowd identify with that and boom, Charlie Austin is there hero
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
good man, you have to plant the seed to make it grow.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
I watched a replay. Crazy game. The MLS Cup almost always is.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
No way Celtic will bring in a former Rangers player as manager.
jbinnie
Guest
Lionheart - Let me clarify something. If you have players on the bench who you know won't last 90 minutes then you, as a coach, are putting your team at risk if, not withstanding, you should lose a player in the first 5 minutes of a game. I am not assuming an endless supply of players but remember ALM clubs have to register 23 players at season's start so, provided that has been done properly, injuries should not come into the equation. Jack Hingert has been more than a good servant to Roar but to ask a man of his age to play an attacking wingback role is a bit much as it is probably the most demanding position in the modern game, and this is showing as he is being substituted game after game after starting. Jack, because of his age and experience, would be an excellent "bench man" fully capable of filling any of the back 5 positions. You ask me a question about the youngster Kuol but I am the wrong person to ask, maybe Papas has the answer to that poser. Let me finish by saying that in my mind the Roar has the makings of a very competitive team but after 5 rounds there are still selection conditions that leaves the observer wondering Cheers jb.
coolncold
Roar Rookie
Could not watch BR vs Syd FC on my old iphone yesterday. But, there are words saying you can watch through 10 play. Then I watched on 10 Play. Interesting!
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
after that howler last week, when he was man handled to the ground but was not awarded a penalty, I don't blame him.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
football’s fun. We gave our grandsons in England LFC kits for their birthdays, names and numbers. The 3 year old thinks he’s Mo Salah, runs around at 8 year old’s games in it (a couple of sizes too big for him, makes him look the part). After the match at Dolphins, Charlie Austin kicked a ball around with some kids (his and other players sons I guess) into the goal after they finished with the Den.
Grem
Roar Rookie
It’s certainly good to talk football. The funny thing is I talk a lot of my football at work - with the primary school children I teach. There’s a lot of potential followers and followers at the school I work at.
Grem
Roar Rookie
No dead rats either! I did like the snakes they threw at Vedran a few years ago. It’s interesting - I have no animosity towards Milos - he made a personal/financial? decision like all of us do when it comes to employment.
Waz
Roar Rookie
I only saw it once on the mini-match with the commentator saying “minimal contact”. If you’ve watched it multiple times and say there’s no contact I’ll take your word for it
Garry
Roar Rookie
"Kisnorbo confirmed he planned for his international players to turn out as normal in next Saturday's away clash with Newcastle before departing for Qatar."
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
Grem, we should organise you, Punter, Lionheart and any one else who wants to make a dill of themselves and turn up to an A-League match with a banner stating that we are the football faithful, agnostic of a particular club. Of course cleansing beverages and in depth discussion post match
Garry
Roar Rookie
so no rotten tomatoes then? :stoked:
Grem
Roar Rookie
And it looks like the derby is tracking for a near sell out. How good would it be to get back to the near 40000 crowds again. Apparently a few requests to bring in certain objects has been denied. There might be a few bag searches on entry on Saturday night.
Grem
Roar Rookie
I wonder how many people actually exist now you wrote that? I can understand setting up a different name to go in another code’s article, but not a few within the one code.
Marcel
Guest
G...Im not sure if youve seen the footage, but its hard to imagine anything could be more clear and obvious than the way A-A pushes Sess in the back
Sheffield WesDay
Roar Rookie
I am still a little unsure of Muscat. He followed Ange at Victory and also followed him at Yokohama. Much like Mulvey, has he simply benefitted from the foundations laid by Ange before him?? But stands to reason if we are going by pattern of behaviour he will be at Celtic when Ange moves to the Prem next year surely.