Brisbane in trouble
After a week of whinging and whining, the smile on Graham Arnold’s face after the game said it all. Sydney FC struggled against Brisbane Roar last season: losing two, drawing one and conceding 10 goals in the process. So to beat Brisbane at Lang Park and keep a clean sheet was a great result for a club that played three games in seven days. Meanwhile, Brisbane are in trouble. The defending champions looked listless on Friday night, and the stand-in goalkeeper Jamie Young did the home side no favours. With Western Sydney Wanderers in Saudi Arabia for the second leg of their Asian Champions League over the weekend, Brisbane have until next Wednesday to prepare for their next match. It’s not time for Mike Mulvey to panic just yet, but having lost their first three games of the season, it’s not looking good for the defending champions.
No joy for Melbourne City
First it was confirmed that star striker David Villa would leave for New York after Round 4, much earlier than expected. As a few journalists noted, Villa never guaranteed he would stay for ten matches, but in truth that matters little. Melbourne City pumped up their membership campaign through Villa, and made plenty of noise about his ‘ten game’ guest stint. Perception is everything in football, and Villa leaving early doesn’t look good. That Robert Koren won’t be fit until Christmas only added to the depressing news. But for a brief moment on Saturday night, it looked as if Melbourne City’s horror week might have finished on a positive note. After taking the lead twice in the first half, City only have themselves to blame for their loss against Melbourne Victory. Sloppy defending once again cost them dearly, and although it might be a new-look Melbourne derby, the Victory are still the top club in town.
A night to remember in Parramatta
Fox Sports commentator Simon Hill put it best when he referred to Saturday night as the biggest night for club football in Australia. Over 40,000 fans at the Melbourne derby at Etihad Stadium, and a capacity crowd at Parramatta Stadium for the biggest game in Western Sydney Wanderers history. Once again, the two biggest cities drove the interest in Australian soccer. With the Asian Cup just 74 days away, the Wanderers run to the Asian Champions League final couldn’t come at a better time. No doubt the Local Organising Committee, who have been working tirelessly to promote the Asian Cup, will be pleased that the Wanderers have done so well in one of their most important target markets.
After a few early scares, the Wanderers did exactly as they set out to achieve - to score a goal at home and to keep a clean sheet. It was Antony Golec and Tomi Juric - two ex-Sydney United boys - who combined for the only goal of the match, but it was goalkeeper Ante Covic who was the hero of the night. The fact the entire team went over to congratulate him immediately after the final whistle shows how important that clean sheet is. Incredibly, the Wanderers are just 90 minutes away from winning the biggest prize in Asia. What a club.
Good promotion for the W-League
Drawing crowds is a perennial problem for the W-League. There’s only so much football people want to consume each weekend, and the women’s game is always an afterthought to the A-League. The biggest attendance before this weekend was the Sydney derby in round three as a record crowd of 3,000 people showed up, thanks largely to the efforts of a certain Wanderers media manager cold-calling local clubs and associations and inviting them along. But on Saturday night that record was smashed as 14,000 people were on hand to see Melbourne Victory lose 1-0 to Canberra United at Etihad Stadium. Sure, the stadium was near-empty at the beginning and most fans filed in only for the second half, but the double header was still a good way of reminding people that football goes beyond the A-League. With Lisa De Vanna and Steph Catley playing for Melbourne, they have two of the best female footballers in the country at the moment, and hopefully this will be an incentive for Victory fans to attend W-League games in future.
In praise of Besart Berisha
With Marc Janko, Tomi Juric and Nathan Burns all scoring important goals, it was a weekend where the strikers stood tall. But none is of the same quality as Besart Berisha. Say what you will about Berisha - and many opposing players and fans do - he is clearly the most fearsome striker in the competition. His first goal on Saturday night was a classic striker’s finish - the right place, the right time and with one touch he had scored his 50th A-League goal. The angry Albanian still has his moments of madness - witness his wild challenge on Damien Duff in the first half - but he’s the newest hero at Melbourne Victory. His hat-trick shows just how important he is in big games. Is it just coincidence that Melbourne are flying high and Berisha’s former club Brisbane Roar are yet to win a game? What a difference a striker makes.
