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Joined September 2018
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With both Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo enjoying high-profile competitive streaks, it’s hard to believe anything but a fierce and fascinating rivalry is due to emerge in Italy in the next nine months.
The final Saturday of September 2020 saw the first of the State NPL grand finals being played, with ACT being the first federation to conclude its 2020 competition.
The recent news announcing the creation of the Championship – a national second tier in Australia – is long overdue.
Much of the discussion over the last weeks and months has been centred around Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
If you are the kind of person who groaned at the end of last season when Munich and Juventus won their seventh and eighth respective league titles, then this weekend’s Serie A action would have had you cowering behind your sofa.
Almost two months have passed since the K League became the first major football competition to kick off post-COVID, and while the Bundesliga came next, it has now closed its curtain on the 2019-20 season.
When Jurgen Klopp left Dortmund on April 15, 2015, it was a seismic shift in terms of what he had built at the club.
On Tuesday night (Wednesday morning in Australia) the two biggest clubs in Germany go head to head in a game that has been given the tagline of ‘Der Klassiker’, but has only really recently developed into a fierce rivalry.
The Pohang Steelers side in tonight’s K League clash against FC Seoul features an Australian A-League champion and Socceroo.
Last Friday night saw the K League put in front of a global audience for the first time.
Tonight eyes all over the globe will be tuning in to the K League, and hopefully the folks in South Korea will put on a show.
According to the stats, this Melbourne Victory side are the worst in club history.
It finished 4-3 in soggy conditions but it is unlikely that many will remember Sunday’s game.
Wondering why Unai Emery needs to go? The answer is in the headline.
After the joys of an injury-time winner against Hume City FC in the quarter-finals of the FFA Cup, the Gosford faithful came crashing back down with a crushing defeat to Adelaide in the semi-finals.
Something tells me that this won’t be the unexplained departure between now and that start of the season
Wanderers mysteriously move on Jean-Paul de Marigny as pre-season looms
It’s very disappointing about Saliba.
Even if he’s still raw, I’d rather watch him than Kolasinac.
When playing for St Etienne he looked like the new Rio Ferdinand! But the talk is he’s homesick.
Hopefully his personal issues sort themselves out and he can feature in the Europa League
A strong start for Arteta's Arsenal
Sydney will of course remain strong, simply because they’re the best ran club from top to bottom.
However – there is no reason why a City, Adelaide, Wellington, Western United, Jets, and dare I say it – Melbourne Victory – cannot put a run together.
The Wellington border issue may be interesting though
Australian football edges towards the 'new normal' while the EPL goes bonkers!
This is true, the cross pollination is often what causes players to decide to come.
Indian Super League: An improving competition and A-League threat
Good summary
Arsenal are in the right direction, but the basic errors like Bellerins two foul throws and Pepes pathetic corners just highlighted the small details that Arteta needs to focus on. Liverpool simply wouldn’t make these kind of errors.
Felt for Lacazette as he ran his socks off, but ultimately should have scored two goals
Signs still strong for Arsenal despite Liverpool drubbing
Great article, love the connection drawn between the two coaches.
Now that 42% of A league teams are based within a two hour radius of the Sydney urban area, a few random Derby’s will emerge…why not this one!
The A-League’s newest derby: Bulls and Mariners
That would be a great outcome. Belconnen, Olympic and Monaro that you mentioned all have an interesting history, along with these two, and would provide an interesting addition onto the championship.
I agree with you, why not play off to enter it on sporting merit rather than ‘doing deals’?
As @pete4 mentioned, you would expect they have access to GIO for the big games
The NPL grand final in Canberra
Most of it is televised on YouTube.
Some of these leagues have some rich history which was slightly pushed aside by the A league’s franchise model.
The NPL grand final in Canberra
There are many Croatian linked clubs in Australia, the two main ones in WA are Gwelup and the Western Knights. The Knights are historically more successful, even recently playing in the FFA cup, but got relegated a few seasons ago.
Gwelup have emerged recently as the states premier Croatian-linked side
The excitement of the NPL WA
I see the positives and a lot of opportunity. Sure a lot of talent has gone, but there are a certain amount of exprts every yerar and it doesn’t seem disproportionate to any other year. Silvera is a loss, as similar to Aranzi, he’s barely had a chance to break out and shine.
From an imports perspective, the start of last season was hardly flooding with marquees, Diamanti aside, and he is staying next year.
Just to name a few, the Toures at Adelaide and D’Agostino are certain crowd draws
A few more emerging talented Aussies could attract even more.
Also completely agree with the talent in the NPL, there could be some ‘nuggets’ as you say, especially as they lost their chance to showcase in the FFA cup this year.
Why 2021 is about to put the A back in the A-League
This has been a great read, more enjoyable than the actual match.
I thought that last years GF was a battle of the wing-backs, particularly Grant vs Davidson, and this year was similar. But the way you break down the Grant vs Atkinson battle, and introduce the complexity of it with the players movement around them is impressive.
I think you were kind to McClaren though, it really wasn’t his best game, but as you point out, he faded and was guilty of not tracking back for the goal. But as you also pointed out, Wilkinson, Brattan & McGowan did a fantastic smothering job on him.
It would be interesting to see City with a different play-maker, a Terry Antonis type of player
A-League grand final analysis: Sydney FC 1, Melbourne City 0
And now they’ve screwed up again! Juve dropped 5 points and Lazio cannot even beat Leece and Sassuolo! Game over
Five things we need for a Scudetto race
I agree with you Roberto, I think it’s done!
Massive opportunity missed by Lazio this morning!
Five things we need for a Scudetto race
D’Agostino Is one of the most talented players in the league
Each club's state of affairs before the A-League restart: Perth Glory
I imagine the Australian referees will be pleased, he spent most of his time complaining to them
Brisbane Roar and Robbie Fowler part ways
A nice tribute
For me both Simon Hill and Daniel Garbs were the most interesting, the most knowledgeable and the most passionate. It’s a shame that they’ve been cut
My favourite Simon Hill commentary moments
I recently watched The highlights of when Thierry Henry and Arsenal dismantled this side in 06.
It’s crazy that all the names you mentioned were all playing and yet they didn’t score past a defence with Eboue, Senderos and Flamini at left back
How the Galacticos became the greatest football team ever assembled
Haha , it’s a good read, but I definitely don’t agree that they are the best ever assembled.
Not even the third best Madrid side, as you allude to 98-02 won more, 14-18 won four in five (although arguably Galacticos were better on the eye) and the Puskas lot as Jbinnie points out were not short of trophies.
Milan 88-94 were up there with their homegrown talent and expensive imports.
How the Galacticos became the greatest football team ever assembled
If any comment sums up the argument, then it’s this one ‘it wasn’t like this in my day’ ????
NSL dinosaurs need to ease off the contemporary Australian footballer
I think he’s been unfortunate.
He played for Dortmund during Klopp’s worst season, when he by his own admission was ‘running out of ideas’.
Then he led the line for the first Italy side to not qualify for a World Cup since 1958.
As Brian points out, he’s only done it in Serie A, and at the moment can only be mentioned in the same breath as Di Natale and Higuain. However if he was to get Lazio over the line this year, fire them into the latter stages of the CL and score 4+ goals in the Euros next year he will be able to command the respect of the , Neymars and the Mbappes of the world.
Ciro Immobile is the most disrespected scorer in Europe
He never looks phased by the big occasion, decent summary of him.
Definitely the game of the weekend vs Leverkusen
Marcus Thuram: A clinical striker destined for success
It’s a good point that Australia may be able to hold onto its talent for a little longer.
The season ending in August and then starting again in October, won’t necessarily be so bad given a) the rest they will have had
b) it’s not too different to the time European leagues get if their players feature in the latter stages of an international tournament.
But as you mention the mayhem might be ‘fun’
Should the A-League be worried considering its players can’t go anywhere?
The ‘form sides’
Should the A-League be worried considering its players can’t go anywhere?
It has to be success this year.
He declined the chance to build for the future by letting Tonali go to Milan, and instead signed players like Vidal and Kolarov, who would fetch higher wages than younger prospects.
Therefore he’s putting all his eggs in success this season, anything but a Serie A title will be a failure.
Will a silverware-less season spell the end for Antonio Conte at Inter?