Was that the most entertaining and exciting round of A-League ever? With an average of 4.5 goals a game, it probably was. And it was a round that was all about the foreigners, as well as some established local stars.
Queensland v Adelaide
For the Roar, the three foreigners combined to score an exquisite, and highly technical, team goal. Seo drifted in and played the ball to van Dijk who flicked, or back-heeled, the ball at an angle across the Adelaide box. Miller tucked away the finish into the corner to make it two goals in two games. You can question his weight but there is no question over the Scotsman’s footballing brain as well as technique. Mind you, Andy Reid is showing that a wide waist doesn’t prevent you from performing and staring at the top level with his performances for Sunderland. Despite the positive impact of the imports, the Roar is suffering the same old problems of being unable to convert dominant home performances into goals and wins.
As for their opponents, Adelaide was excellent defensively, which they had to be given their lack of possession. Despite the Roar having all the ball, the Reds restricted the Queenslanders to half chances and were very solid down the centre with Ognenovski and Costanzo. For them, the foreigners also played a big part with Cristiano winning the penalty which Dodd converted while Alemao looked very solid at full-back. Scott Jamieson was also impressive playing down the left and given Australia’s lack of quality left-footed players, this kid could be one to watch.
Central Coast v Sydney
These two teams are really resisting the trend of importing foreign talent. The only foreigner was McFlynn although Caceres was born in Argentina. It was an amazing start with three goals in the first 15 minutes. It was again some familiar names on the score sheet with Brosque setting up Corica for two goals. Petrovski pegged back Sydney on each occasion. With Musialki sent off for tackling Porter from behind and with the game locked at 2-2, the Mariners should have at least got a draw.
Instead, Shannon Cole secured all three points for Sydney with the now famous free-kick. It was a well directed shot into the bottom corner which the sprawling Vukovic couldn’t keep out. Like Jamison, Cole is another left-footed player that we can keep our eyes on. And a dead-ball specialist is something that Australia has lacked for years.
Musialik’s send-off will prove costly as no doubt Kosmina wants to start to shape his team around his midfield play-maker.
Perth v Newcastle
Read the match report. This was definitely a game for the foreigners with Dadi, Amaral, Song and Trindad all having a field day. Unfortunately, the game also provided some comical pieces of defending. As for the local lads, Joel Griffiths bagged a goal while Rukavytsya is also off the mark.
Pre-season, it was widely predicted that Perth would collect the wooden spoon or come close to it. There were questions raised over the signing of ‘old guys’ in Dadi and Amaral. Both had sensational games and it was actually the younger players trying to keep up with them. A game doesn’t make a season and Perth still hasn’t solved their old persistent problem of stupid defensive lapses costing them games.
Wellington v Melbourne
I didn’t watch the game but looking at the goals, it seems that Wellington, like Perth, is yet to solve its problem of preventing defensive lapses and having proper marking in the box. To continue the theme the impact of foreigners, Fabiano is off the mark while Hernandez won a penalty.
Looking at the performances so far, I have been most impressed with Melbourne based on their performance and control of the game against Sydney. I thought they would give other teams the run-around if they converted their chances which proved to be the case against Wellington, despite the pouring rain.
A few teams are still dealing with old issues, despite the turn-over of players.
2 Comments
August 27, 2008 at 1:44 pm
cole, whilst being basically unable to defend, isn`t just left-footed. he`s a natural righty who is comfortable on the left. (i think i read that at 442). a genuine 2 footed aussie player.
for me, the highlight of cole`s performance wasn`t the freekick (as good as it was). it was seeing him near the left corner flag, fake heading for the byline, spin back and send in a very very nice cross … with his right foot.
as for queensland. i think a lack of tactical flexibility leads to all these “dominant but not winning” performances. first half, good work queensland. patient probing play. then some changes at half time, and the goal comes. again, fine. but then AU brings on salley and changes its shape, and queensland comes to a halt. frank doesn`t know when to change something that isn`t working … i hope that he is still open to developing as a coach, cos he could be a good one.
clayton
August 28, 2008 at 9:23 am
Thanks for the correction, now I remember Cole’s goal bring taken with the right foot into the bottom left corner.