The season Western Sydney Wanderers had to have?
It was an odd game on Wednesday night – a grand final rematch from last season that also happened to be between two teams at the foot of the A-League ladder. A catch up game from round four, Brisbane Roar won 1-0 in Western Sydney. On Saturday night, things got even worse for the Wanderers as Adelaide United absolutely annihilated them at Hindmarsh Stadium. Nine games without a win, finals football is now looking increasingly unlikely for the Wanderers. As Ange Postecoglou said on Offsiders on Sunday morning, the Club World Cup can affect performances at home. When he took South Melbourne to the tournament in 2000, their performances in the National Soccer League was poor. “A lot of it was because of conversations we were having behind closed doors that had nothing to do with… the weekend’s game,” said Postecoglou.
Worse still, on Saturday night it emerged that the players are in a pay dispute with the club over a share of the profits from the Club World Cup. We can only wonder the extent to which this has affected the on-field performance of the players, but it is already known that some players have been frustrated at a lack of game time. The club is well and truly in trouble, and worse, they’ve lost their aura at Parramatta Stadium. This season is looming as the first major headache for the club since its inception, and how the owners, management, players and fans deal with the slump will be interesting to see. After two seasons of bliss, reality is starting to sink in.
Nightmare at North Sydney Oval
“Football has gone back 20 years” Kevin Muscat said after the match, blasting the cricket pitch at North Sydney Oval. Close, Kevin. In fact it went back 16 years to the days of Northern Spirit, and like last season when the Mariners played at North Sydney Oval, there was a small gaggle of Spirit fans to give the night that back to the future feel. There is something totally bizarre about A-League games at North Sydney Oval – there seemed as many jerseys of local association clubs as there were A-League jerseys. The faded green roofs, the huge fig tree, the old-school bleachers – for those with an eye for aesthetics it’s a beautiful place to watch football, but unfortunately for Mike Charlesworth almost everything went wrong. First, a huge storm tore through Sydney before kick-off, and embarrassingly the covers had to be brought out to protect the cricket pitch. Back at home, viewers were left stranded as a power outage momentarily stopped the broadcast, while the “Yellow Army” unfurled banners demanding an end to the North Sydney experiment. One read HOME with an arrow pointed vaguely in the direction of the Central Coast, in the style of those novelty “I’m with stupid” T-shirts. Despite plenty of ticket giveaways throughout the area, a little over 7,000 fans turned up, which is hardly a ringing endorsement for Charlesworth’s plans. To cap it off, the Mariners were awful for the 3-0 loss, and even Phil Moss conceded “there’s no getting away from the fact there is a cricket pitch there”. Perhaps the game at Brookvale Oval early next year will be a little more successful.
David Carney is back, baby
David Carney has never looked like a footballer, let alone a winger. Those shorts that never seem to fit right, that pasty skin that should never be exposed to the sun – the former Everton youth player became a hero at Sydney FC in Season 1 of the A-League, before returning to England to sign with Sheffield United. Thus began The Lost Years of David Carney – between 2007 to 2013 he wandered from Sheffield to Norwich, Norwich to FC Twente, back to Blackpool, and then from AD Alcorcón in Spain to Bunyodkor in Uzbekistan to New York Red Bulls in the United States. He barely played for any of these clubs, and we can only speculate as to what he did with all the down time. Earlier this year he signed with Newcastle Jets, and as is customary for Australians returning from a long overseas bender, he came back a little paunchier, with a sleeve tattoo, and hair that is growing thinner by the day.
And yet this season he has been one of the few shining lights in an ultimately dismal side. Sure, bringing out his former New York Red Bulls teammate Johnny Steele – the man with a ready-made porn-star name – wasn’t a success, but whether at left fullback or on the right wing Carney has been in wonderful form. Now 31 years of age, he has the spring in his step of a much younger man, and his build up play for Newcastle’s first goal on Saturday evening was classic Carney. A driving run down the flank, some clever footwork to create space and a lofted cross to the back post found Andrew Hoole who laid it on a plate for Joel Griffiths. Not long after, Carney almost scored his first A-League goal in eight years from a set piece, his swinging shot cannoning off the crossbar. It is a shame, of course, that Newcastle are heading backwards fast, but to see Carney back to his best is a slight glimmer of hope.
Nathan Burns for the Socceroos
Like Carney, Nathan Burns is a classic example of a player who made all the wrong decisions. The man from Blayney in country New South Wales burst onto the scene for Adelaide United in 2006, and inevitably looked for a big move abroad. Five quiet years in Greece and then South Korea meant that he dropped off the map for the national team, and he came home on a loan deal for Newcastle Jets last season. Strangely he wasn’t signed permanently for the Jets, which chief executive Robbie Middleby admitted was a mistake earlier this week. “In hindsight and looking at the way Nathan has been going for Wellington, unfortunately we got it wrong,” said Middleby, and Burns rubbed it in on Saturday evening by scoring the equaliser and playing a part in Wellington’s second goal. Forming a dangerous attacking combination with Michael McGlinchey, Roly Bonevacia and Roy Krishna, Burns must be a chance for the upcoming Asian Cup. His hat-trick last week was Wellington’s first in their short history, and it came after the tributes to Phillip Hughes, who Burns played country cricket with as a kid. Still just 26 years of age, and with the Socceroos lacking quality attacking options apart from Tim Cahill, Burns should have done enough to earn a recall.
Top half breakaway
The A-League ladder is becoming increasingly split. The top five – Perth Glory, Melbourne Victory, Adelaide United, Sydney FC and Wellington Phoenix – are way out in front, while the teams at the bottom half of the table are struggling. There is a nice mix of teams at the top: Victory, Adelaide and Wellington are all genuinely entertaining to watch while Perth and Sydney are efficient without being spectacular. It is nice to see a resurgent Perth Glory at the top of the ladder, while the football Adelaide United plays is simply awe-inspiring. Yet with a top-six finals series, no team is out of the running yet. Indeed Melbourne City, who have been god-awful for the most of this season, have won just two games for their sixth spot. It is ridiculous that our version of a “relegation battle” is actually the run to the top six. We all like a level playing field, but this is an embarrassing and unjust reward for mediocrity.
