The 2017-18 Hyundai A-League Wallpaper Collection Is Here.

The 2017-18 Hyundai A-League Wallpaper Collection is here. For 1920 x 1080 high resolution monitors. Featuring all 10 teams in the competitions.

Click here!

Adelaide United: 2015-16 A-League Champions

ADELAIDE United has lost its third high-profile player less than a week after its thrilling grand final win over the Wanderers at Adelaide Oval.

The club yesterday announced it had parted ways with Pablo Sanchez — the Spanish super-sub who scored the final goal in the 3-1 win.

He joins club champion Craig Goodwin — who has already flown out to join Dutch club Sparta Rotterdam — and Bruce Kamau who also scored in the grand final and who has signed with Melbourne City.

The 33-year-old Sanchez, who played 25 games this year but only started in eight, said he will always treasure his time at United.

“Scoring in the grand final was the icing on the cake for me and I will always remember this moment,” Sanchez said.

“I will never forget Adelaide and I want to come back one day, to enjoy the club and the people here, that I love.”

It is believed that Adelaide’s desire to maximise the output from their allotted five imports was the reason he wasn’t offered a new contract.

Adelaide will take part in the Asian Champions League next season — where only three non-Asian imports can play — putting more pressure on imported players.

United now must rebuild its squad with an eye on playing in three competitions next season — the A-League, Champions League and FFA Cup.

Reds’ general manager of football Ante Kovacevic said the club needed to increase its depth.

“We do have to plan for that and we need a bigger squad size than we had during the season,” Kovacevic said.

Stopper Dylan McGowan is in discussions to be re-signed, while striker Eli Babalj has been sent back to his parent club AZ for ongoing rehabilitation on a debilitating knee injury. With Mate Dugandzic also off-contract, Kovacevic does have to make some key decisions before the start of the new season.

It’s understood former Birkalla and ex-Newcastle Jet Ryan Kitto could return home while contracted pair Central Coast’s Mitch Austin and Melbourne City’s Ben Garuccio are candidates for Reds contracts.

City’s young striker Marc Marino is also a possibility for Adelaide.

And there is talk of former Reds midfielder Jacob Melling also returning from the Melbourne millionaires.

Op-Ed: An Open Letter To Central Coast Mariners Membership

Dear Central Coast Mariners Membership:

The Webster's Dictionary defines the term "petulance" as "the quality of being childishly sulky or bad-tempered." Such is the case of all of you as a supporter group. Now, this past weekend, Mark Rudan, who I have respect for as a broadcaster and expert on the game of soccer in Australia, is, to put in vulgar terms, "taking the piss" for a hot take on the sending off of Nick Montgomery during the Western Sydney Wanderers' 2-1 win over your side. The Telegraph had this to write on the matter...

THE sending off of Mariners captain Nick Montgomery has sparked an angry row between the Central Coast and A-League broadcasters Fox Sports, with the club making a formal complaint about comments made in the wake of Saturday’s defeat to Western Sydney.

Montgomery was dismissed late in the game for an ugly, studs-up tackle on Wanderers winger Golgol Mebrahtu, a challenge described as a “terrible tackle” by Western Sydney coach Tony Popovic after the game.

Though Mebrahtu wasn’t badly injured, Fox analyst Mark Rudan said during the post-game broadcast that it was “about as bad a tackle as you will see, especially against a fellow professional who’s just come back from a long-term injury”.

Asked on air if Montgomery would know about Mebrahtu’s injury history, Rudan replied: “Absolutely he would.”

So, here is the response from you, and I quote...

On behalf of our Members, players and staff the Central Coast Mariners have today issued a formal complaint to Fox Sports Australia and Football Federation Australia in regards to inappropriate comments against our Club and players following our most recent match against Western Sydney Wanderers.

The Mariners have been inundated with Members expressing their concerns and demanding that the Club takes appropriate steps to ensure that the integrity of the Mariners and its players are protected against unwarranted and totally unfounded comments.

This was also raised officially by the Club’s supporter groups who recently held meetings with Mariners Chairman, Mike Charlesworth.

The Mariners will be updating our Members on any formal response we receive from Fox Sports Australia or Football Federation Australia on the matter.

Any Member wishing to express their views are encouraged to contact the club via email on memberships@ccmariners.com.au so we can contact you directly to discuss your concerns.

Here's my thoughts on this: Mark Rudan's hot take on Montgomery's tackle on Mebrahtu is the last thing you should worry about, Central Coast. You mates are at the bottom of the A-League ladder, facing a Wellington Phoenix team that is desperate to stay in the race for Finals Series football. I strongly recommend you focus on this week's match and leave Mark Rudan out of this.

Mark Rudan is not Rebecca Wilson, a journalist that I personally give you clearance to go after. This petulance from you and the entire Mariners organization is wasted energy that will diminish you as a relevant organization in the country going forward. This is where you should just let the media do their job because in this instance, they aren't going after you. They're going after a harsh challenge that resulted in a well-deserved red card. In short, a football play.

So, drop your complaints, on behalf of The Stoppage Time, Central Coast and steady on. Wellington will love a distracted team because that's akin to going upstream on a semi-inflated raft without a paddle. Don't pay the price for your petulance. Worry about the trip to Christchurch, or, quite frankly, dare I say it, you will be feeling the aftershocks of another defeat away all the way from the South Island of New Zealand, to the cozy confines of Gosford. Just so you know...and that, mates, is the bottom line.

Signed,

Jo-Ryan Salazar, columnist, The Stoppage Time.

Melbourne Victory: 2015 FFA Cup Champions

Melbourne Victory have added to the A-League’s biggest trophy collection in grand style, downing Perth Glory 2-0 in the FFA Cup final.

The Victory were dominant in the first half of Saturday night’s decider as they became the first side to concurrently hold all three domestic titles, having won a third A-League premiership-championship double in 2014-15.

The only down-side for them was the disappointing crowd of 15,098, with high ticket prices blamed for a half-full AAMI Park. Melbourne were well deserving of their two-goal halftime lead, following an opening 45 minutes played at a tempo worthy of a cup final.

The home side had the ball in the back of net as early as the 16th minute courtesy of a powerhouse strike by in-firm New Zealand international Kosta Barbarouses, although that effort was correctly disallowed as Victory defender Matthieu Delpierre was clearly offside.

Victory went ahead in the 35th minute, when Oliver Bozanic was on hand to lash the ball home after a good build up down the right from Jason Geria and Barbarouses. Melbourne doubled their advantage seven minutes later. Captain Carl Valeri played a perfect through-ball into the path of striker Besart Berisha, whose first touch took him past the final defender.

The Albanian goal-poacher then fired a brilliant strike across Glory keeper Ante Covic and inside the left post. Glory looked dangerous at times on the counter-attack although Brazilian striker Sidnei Sciola was mostly well held by Delpierre. Perth started the second half brightly and almost halved the deficit within four minutes when Diogo Ferreira slammed a shot into the right-hand upright.

In the 61st minute, Glory captain Richard Garcia’s first-time effort flew over the crossbar. The visitors had most of the best scoring chances in the second half without being able to convert any of them.

Victory were forced to play the last eight minutes with 10 men after Valeri was sent off for a second bookable offence - a heavy foul on Dino Djulbic. The same fate befell Valeri in the A-League grand final against Sydney FC earlier this year, although his team held on to win both matches in comfortable fashion.

Perth were unable to consider several important players due to injury on Saturday night including Chris Harold and import Gyorgy Sandor. The two-goal defeat meant Glory are still to win any silverware in the A-League era, having lost last year’s inaugural FFA Cup final to Adelaide United and the 2011-12 A-League grand final to Brisbane Roar.

Western Sydney Wanderers: 2014 AFC Champions League Champions

"The Western Sydney Wanderers!", they said!

They've changed the sporting landscape, they said! Their success in beating that team from Saudi Arabia to win the Asian Championship is the harbinger of a new age, they said, where football – yes, FOOTBALL, you knuckle-dragging Neanderthals – is finally going to rise up and take its place at the forefront of the Australian sporting codes!

By any measure, the success of the Wanderers, just a couple of years after being established, is staggering. 

I have one thing to say to all you smarty-pants who've been writing such emails to me, you narks, you sharks, you whingers, you whiners, you know-all blow-hards. Just one thing to say:

I think you might be right.

By any measure, the success of the Wanderers, just a couple of years after being established, is staggering.

Firstly, their success in the A-League. For who knew that that comp could be so successful? Not this little black duck, who has uttered sneers for years that soccer would never take off in this country. But you only had to see the crowds at A-League Wanderers matches – whole battalions of them standing on their seats, all in red, and seemingly allsmoking the same thing – to know that something fundamental has changed. Such enthusiasm! Such passion! So many of the boogers!

And then for them to be crowned the kings of all Asia?

A phenomenal achievement, and congratulations to them. Let the record show, the sleeping giant of Australian sport,  will likely soon be dancing for the pleasure of hundreds of thousands.

The question is, which other sports is this going to impact on?

My email inbox is filled with predictions that it will finish off rugby union – at least from those generous enough to acknowledge that rugby is not already dead.

I don't think so. Rugby has major problems right now, and it really is under threat from a variety of forces and factors – not least self-mutilation – but the growing of soccer doesn't show up on my radar as one of them. For that to be the case, there would need to have been a migration from the Waratahs and Wallaby support base to soccer and, anecdotally at least, I have no evidence of that. I further note that the one ace-in-the-hole that Australian rugby has is precisely the same one that Australian soccer is so demonstrably benefiting from – the growing global pull of their game. In that sense, soccer and rugby are allies not competitors. 

Rugby league then? A bit. The Wanderers are at their strongest in the very heartland of the Parramatta Eels, and though the A-League is a summer comp, it has been hard to miss the fact that Western Sydney seems to be right behind the Wanderers the way they used to be behind the Eels.

Ditto the Western Sydney Giants. In the competition to win the hearts and minds of the people, and turn those into bums on seats, there is no way around the fact that the Giants and Wanderers have come along at much the same time . . . and it is the Wanderers breaking all the records and getting all the headlines, all while the Swans have been making the running in the AFL all the way to the grand final.

But the sport that should be loosening its collar right now is, oddly enough, cricket. Both the A-League and cricket are on at much the same time, and are going after much the same people. Can I put it to you that if you like watching T-20 matches, it is not such a massive leap to go to a Wanderers or Sydney FC match instead, or even pay to watch it on the tube? And all this at a time when Australian cricket is struggling.

So we'll see. How it is all going to play out will become clearer as the summer progresses, but my pound to your peanut says that as the share price of soccer rises, so too will the share price of cricket drop. You heard it here first.

I haven't been wrong before, have I?

Oh, do shut up, Buddy.

Twitter: @Peter_Fitz 

Wanderers head into the unknown

Western Sydney goalkeeper Ante Covic has declared the Wanderers won’t be intimidated, even if Al-Hilal fans resort to dirty tricks on and off the field when the team arrives in Riyadh for the second leg of their Asian Champions League decider.

The Wanderers were subjected to disruptive and potentially dangerous behaviour in Guangzhou, China for their ACL quarter-final, when locals deliberately caused car crashes with the team bus and shined laser pointers into players’ faces during training and the match.

Covic had a laser shined directly at him when saving a penalty early in the tie-clinching match against Guangzhou Evergrande, and said he and the Wanderers are expecting similar shenanigans from the passionate Saudi Arabian supporters.

Laser pointers were first used at Saudi venues back in 2006, and King Fahd Stadium with its capacity of 65,000, is known for being a gauntlet for opposition supporters.

The veteran shot-stopper said if Al-Hilal try to disrupt the Wanderers, they will live to regret it.

“We’re not going to be intimidated,” said Covic.

“We’re not going to care what they’re going to throw at us.

“We were in China with 50,000-odd people throwing bottles and yelling at us. We couldn’t even walk off the field without security coming to get us, so that’s not going to faze us.

“They can do what they want.

“We’re going there with the mindset that something probably will happen.

“(But) if they’re thinking of throwing any tricks, they’re going to be doing it to the wrong team.”

In Guangzhou, the Wanderers say they were spurred on by the outrageous tactics of the locals.

From dogs being set loose during training sessions to intruders door-knocking and prank-calling the team hotel at 2am the morning of the match, the Wanderers thought they’d seen it all.

That was until the trip to the ground, where the team bus was hit from the front and rammed from the back, forcing the players to change vehicles.

Then within minutes, two cars suspiciously crashed into each other directly in front of the new bus, attempting to delay the Wanderers’ journey to the ground.

Western Sydney lost 2-1, but the away goal was enough to guarantee their path to the semi-finals.

“It was a very, very suss bus crash. The boys were looking at each other going, `alright, this is what you’ve got for us.’

“It really fired us up more than anything.

“That’s the nature of our team.

“Throw anything at us and we’ll come back at you twice as hard.”

Covic said one thing the players weren’t going to worry about was the officiating.

“That’s out of our hands,” he said.

“The only thing we can be worried about is what we can control.

“If they want to try little things like (50-50 calls going to Al-Hilal), that’s something we have to deal with in a professional manner.

“We’re going to be disciplined on the field and do everything we can do to win the game.”

Morwell City: Insipid as ever.

Former Melbourne Heart boss John Aloisi has bought into the controversy surrounding David Villa, suggesting the Spanish striker may not be happy in the A-League.

Villa leaves Australia after Friday night’s match for Melbourne City against Adelaide United – just four matches into an expected 10-game stint – and City bosses are yet to negotiate his return.

A combination of football, family and marketing reasons are thought to be behind his departure.

Villa’s family has been settling in New York while he plays in Melbourne, with his next club – New York City FC – expecting him to fulfil football and promotional obligations ahead of the US Major League Soccer (MLS) season starting in March.

But no one understands why Villa or Melbourne City have not guaranteed his return.

It’s a delicate situation for the club, not helped by their winless start to the league season.

Aloisi, the man who preceded John van `t Schip as coach of the since-rebadged club, believes something is not quite right.

“If he’s missing his family you would think that they would just fly the family out,” Aloisi told Fox Sports.

“If they’re saying he needs to promote New York City (FC) over there, you would have thought they would have announced that beforehand.

“Reading in between the lines, I think there’s something else.

“I don’t know if he’s totally happy or if they’ve already planned he was only going to be here for four games.”

Aloisi was relieved of his duties as coach of the then Melbourne Heart less than a month before the announcement of the club’s takeover.

The oil-rich Abu Dhabi owners set in train an off-season transformation of the club.

The biggest on-field statement was the arrival of Villa, who as a guest player can play for up to 10 games.

The official announcement of Villa’s arrival from June this year said Villa would play for “a period” of the season.

“Villa … will play, train and contribute to Melbourne City FC’s Hyundai A-League campaign between October and December 2014 prior to the commencement of the MLS season in the United States,” Melbourne City’s statement reads.

With nowhere else to play competitive football between now and the MLS season in March, Villa’s one-way ticket out of Australia is a mystery yet to be solved.

David Villa: The Greatest A-League Scam Since Harry Kewell

“The circus comes to town and then leaves.” So said Scott Munn, the chief executive of the club then known as Melbourne Heart, more than three years ago.

He was referring to Harry Kewell, who at the time had just signed with crosstown rivals Melbourne Victory in one of the biggest coups the A-League had seen.

Thanks largely to the hardball tactics of agent Bernie Mandic, it was the competition’s first proper transfer saga. Victory’s courtship of Kewell went for an eternity as Mandic and the number-crunchers at both the club and FFA tried to come up with a contract that suited all parties. When it happened, there was as much relief as celebration.

No part of this “circus” impressed Munn, who scoffed at it all, but those prophetic words came back to haunt him. Two years later, the big top rolled back into Melbourne, Kewell was wearing red and white, and the Heart was scrambling after performing a backflip that wouldn’t have looked out of place in Cirque du Soleil.

Yesterday, we learned the David Villa circus has just two weeks left before it packs up and moves to New York City. Assuming he does not return after next weekend’s home clash against Adelaide United – and, let’s face it, suggestions that he might come back feel like a Larry David-style empty gesture – Villa will leave having played the same number of A-League games as Romario.

It’s disappointing to say the least. New York City, the club which owns his contract, can do what they like. Football is a business, and after seeing their other prized recruit Frank Lampard stretchered off against Tottenham while playing for Manchester City at the weekend, you could forgive them for wanting to wrap their star Spaniard in cotton wool until the new MLS season kicks off.

Melbourne City are powerless, which says much about their ranking in the City Football Group food chain.

Fans have a right to feel disappointed, and they have a right to ask questions. And not just Melbourne City fans. When a club brings a big name to the A-League, they have a responsibility to share the love.

Sydney FC away games over the last two years became events purely because of the presence of Alessandro Del Piero. He gave the competition a lift, and so has Villa, only nobody expected him to bail so soon. It’s not a good look.

While loan deals are cancelled prematurely as a matter of course in football, this is not your ordinary loan. For one, Melbourne and New York share 80 per cent of the same corporate DNA. And it’s not like Villa is going back to his parent club to play games, or even train – pre-season doesn’t start until late January, and NYC won’t play their first game until March. That’s why the full quota of games were expected from him – what else was he going to do with himself until then? The calendars matched up perfectly in a rare win-win.

Thus he became the first face of Melbourne City. It was not by accident that the club announced his guest stint at the exact same time as they unveiled their new name, logo and colours. Villa has been their leverage, the human realisation of the petrodollars that now power them.

That’s no disrespect to Damien Duff, but as I wrote two weeks ago, he’s not a headline act. Neither is Robi Koren, who has clearly been struck by the same unfortunate injury curse as Orlando Engelaar. Memberships and merchandise have been sold on the premise that Villa would be playing 10 games in the A-League.

That any ‘promotional’ work in New York is considered more important to the City Football Group than building a fan-base in Melbourne feels a little disrespectful. There is more money to be made in New York, but there is more work to do in Melbourne. The stench of the Heart still lingers with every game City dominates and fails to win. Everyone wants this reborn club to stick the landing, and having Villa on deck until Christmas would go a long way to ensuring that.

Just four games? Not enough. Villa is entitled to go back and check on his family, if that’s what he wants to do – and man, it must be tough settling into a place like New York on a World Cup winner’s wage. However, if the Melbourne arm of the sky blue empire knew all along that he would go back this early, even if it’s only temporary, they should have been clear and let their fans know it was on the cards.

Honesty is always the best policy, and in this instance, it would have placed an even greater importance upon each of his appearances. By holding this information back, by speaking in maybes and possibilities, the club has used up some of its goodwill, and many fans have been left with a bad taste in their mouths.

In the meantime, Munn will be crossing his fingers, hoping the circus comes back into town once more.

Must Be The Victory Coming...

It was a fitting way to open the A-League’s 10th season. The biggest club in the land, Melbourne Victory, trouncing the new pretenders the Western Sydney Wanderers in front of 30,083 boisterous fans at Etihad Stadium.

Nine seasons ago, the match between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory was the talking point of round one as a new state-based rivalry was born. But as the Wanderers fans filed into the stadium to fill their allocation, there was a feeling that this fixture might become the biggest in the competition. The colour and the noise that these two clubs generate reverberates around the country.

The first goal came inside 10 minutes, the second within 20 and the third before the half-hour mark. Melbourne Victory, who haven’t won an opening game since 2006, could hardly have hoped for a better start.

With Matthew Spiranovic and Nikolai Topor-Stanley out of action for Wanderers, there was always going to be questions over the visitors’ threadbare back-line, and it was a horror start for the stand-in centre-half pairing of Antony Golec and Brendan Hammill. If the Wanderers are the masters at parking the bus, this was more reminiscent of Otto at the steering wheel after a few too many brekky bongs.

But while the Wanderers were awful, the Victory were clinical in front of goal with a new look front three featuring Kosta Barbarouses, Archie Thompson and marquee man Besart Berisha. On this evidence alone, Kevin Muscat looks to be onto a winner with his new formation.

Gui Finkler and Barbarouses combined well down the right, and the Wanderers stand-in left back Shannon Cole was under enormous pressure from the very start. Indeed the first goal came after just eight minutes after some tidy build up play between Finkler and Barberouses. New Victory signing Matthieu Delpierre found himself free just six yards out, and there was little Ante Covic could do in the Wanderers goal.

On 19 minutes, Golec handled the ball in the box, and up stepped Berisha. In his first A-League game for the Victory, he was never going to disappoint. A quick look up to pick his spot, a no nonsense run up and Berisha was soon saluting the fans.

Confidence was sky-high for the home side, and even the humble Leigh Broxham wanted to get in on the action. After a couple of attempts from range, Broxham popped up for the Victory’s third goal on 28 minutes. Again it was Barbarouses who bamboozled Cole down the right channel in the build up, and after his shot was blocked, Broxham blazed the ball through the crowded defence into the back of the net.

Mark Bridge pulled one back for the visitors before half-time, but it meant little in the context of the match. The Wanderers, who have built their game around defensive cohesion, looked dazed and confused.

Perhaps this was best summed up by Victory’s fourth and final goal. Under no pressure at all, Golec gave away possession cheaply, and with the defence woefully out of position, Berisha fed Thompson who made no mistake in front of goal.

The Wanderers might put this uncharacteristic performance down to missing players and the distraction of their Asian Champions League commitments, but regardless, the rest of the competition are on notice. This Victory side looks balanced, creative and menacing.

Who Do We Sing For!? We Sing For Wanderers!!!

Western Sydney Wanderers are going to great lengths to ensure their supporters can travel to Saudi Arabia for the final of the Asian Champions League but there is no guarantee female and Jewish supporters will be granted entry visas.

The Wanderers face Al-Hilal in Riyadh on November 1 in the second leg of the continental decider but a section of their supporters may be denied a chance to witness a potential Asian title due to their gender, race or religious background.

The club is in the process of arranging travel packages with the support of Al-Hilal and the Saudi Arabian Football Federation but it will not be known until the end of the week whether unaccompanied females and Jewish supporters will be able to travel due to the strict laws of the nation.

The club has received over 200 enquiries for away tickets and is finalising the travel package – which will cater for match tickets, travel, accommodation and visas – with the blessing of relevant authorities. It is hoped the tour will allow for female supporters to attend but there is still no indication it will be sufficient enough to allow entry for supporters of Jewish background.

Due to conservative legislation, women face difficulties in obtaining tourist visas for Saudi Arabia while those of Jewish heritage, Israelis or even those who have visited Israel, are not permitted entry.

While AFC regulations state a club's fans must be allowed access without prejudice, their stature does not overrule state legislation.

"There needs to be an invitation. We are working with the FFA [Football Federation of Australia], AFC [Asian Football Confederation], the Saudi Arabian Football Federation and Al-Hilal to obtain an invitation for our supporters to travel," a Wanderers spokesman said.

Single women must be in the company of a male relative or their husband and travel with marriage certificates to obtain a tourist visa, or must be escorted at all times as part of a supervised tourism group.

Saudi football has a long history of banning women from attending games. The nation allowed females to attend matches only last year, and under harsh restricitions.

Only selected stadiums cater for segregated sections, which prevent male and female supporters standing next to each other. Under pressure from international organisations, the Saudi Arabian domestic league allowed a number of women to attend the games in reserved sections of the stadium, as per the custom of many public events.

There are also concerns that should female Wanderers fans be granted visas, they will also be seggregated once within King Fahd Stadium. One of the proposed options for the tour is to station supporters in a nearby Gulf nation before the match and fly them into Riyadh for game day, to ensure a safe passage to and from the stadium and in and out of Saudi Arabia.

The club has not yet received any advice for homosexual Wanderers supporters wishing to travel to the second leg, but the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trading states: "Homosexual activity is illegal and penalties include the death penalty."

It is understood Wanderers are working with the AFC to arrange a way for their chairman, Paul Lederer to attend the match under arrangements often reserved for diplomats.

Lederer, who is Jewish, is understood to be keen to attend the match, but faces difficulty in obtaining a visa. 

The club hopes Lederer can bypass those laws under unspecified arrangements as an invited special guest of the AFC. Competition regulations state: "Hosting Club and its National Association must guarantee and ensure that access to the stadium will be granted to the AFC delegation, officials and players of the visiting club, sponsors, travelling fans and media without any discrimination of gender, race or nationality."

On the road toward the A-League Grand Final

In a few hours, the Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United Football Clubs will converge at the Telstra Dome for the 2009 Hyundai A-League Grand Final. In these types of one-off matches, it's all or nothing. Here, I will post a few srticles on the match.

Applied science

Michael Lynch
February 27, 2009

Ernie Merrick has copped his fair share of flak for his lack of joy when his team scores a goal or does something good.
Photo: Getty Images

IT'S all about logic, not emotion. Ernie Merrick — the closest thing in Australian soccer coaching ranks to a computer geek — likes to take the passion out of the game whenever he can.

He once remarked: "I hate it when people say they are passionate about the game. They think it gives them the excuse to say anything they like and just criticise and attack people."

Give him the choice of function, process and cool detachment over spontaneity and spur-of-the-moment inspiration and he invariably will opt for the former.

It's all about controlling things as much as possible. If a team can stamp its system, style and structure on a match, not panic and believe in its processes and tactical stratagems, it will win, more often than not.

Merrick has copped his fair share of flak for his lack of joy when his team scores a goal or does something good.

After Melbourne's 6-0 grand final win over Adelaide two years ago he barely raised a smile, evoking comments that compared his capacity for emotional engagement with an Easter Island statue. The truth is that he is a person who finds it easiest to operate in an environment where he takes emotion out of the equation.

That doesn't mean he avoids players with flair, after all, he has employed the A-League's most dangerous player, Archie Thompson, for four years and signed Carlos Hernandez, the charismatic Costa Rican, two years ago.

Both players have been crucial during Melbourne's run to the premiership plate and Hernandez in particular was outstanding in the 4-0 humiliation of Adelaide two weeks ago in the major semi-final.

He has also put his trust for all of his A-League coaching career in the most passionate player to have donned a Victory shirt in captain Kevin Muscat. It is almost as though the coach singles out for critical roles players who are the antithesis of his own character.

His assistant coach, Aaron Healey, yesterday revealed that so well thought out is the Merrick regime that sessions and training plans are worked out up to a year in advance.

"We're getting into the sports science here," Healey said. "It's just basically planning throughout the year. We know weeks, months — even 12 months — in advance what our training schedule is going to be, what we're doing, where we're headed, so it's just basically a good solid plan where you'd like to go throughout the season.

"You're always going to have individual differences within that, but you've got to structure a plan in place and you work to that."

Merrick came to coach Victory after more than a decade at the Victoria Institute of Sport. There he mixed with leading coaches from other disciplines and absorbed plenty of lessons.

Healey, who was at the Victorian Institute of Sport with Merrick, shares the coach's philosophy and belief in a collaborative approach and calm detachment.

"Sports medicine, sports science, strength and conditioning, everyone has an input," Healey said. "So it's been a group effort all the way through, not only the 16 players in the squad, but it's important to acknowledge the six players who miss out as well.

"Everyone has had an input to where we are at the moment and everyone has played a major part in getting us here. It's a collaboration."

Anita Pedrana, the club's sports scientist, is another who spent five years working with Merrick at the VIS.

"Ernie trusts us and gives us the flexibility to be able to assess all the players individually, pull them out when they need a rest and make recommendations individually," Pedrana said yesterday.

"Collectively we sit down at the start of the season. Each of us in our three areas — myself, Adam Basil, strength and conditioning, and Dan Jones, our physio — put together a program that we think will suit the way we will play throughout the year and have them (the players) tailored so we peak at the right time. We present that and discuss it with the coaches, they have their feedback and we work it out.

"Ernie is a fantastic coach to have because he lets us do our job and appreciates how important our input is.

"It's very much a consensual approach. He doesn't tell us what to do, we don't tell him what to do."

Merrick has kept a low profile in the lead-up to Saturday's grand final at the Telstra Dome, speaking to television and radio this week but refusing to be interviewed for this article.

Merrick did, however, offer a window to his approach on the ABC program Stateline in an interview to be screened this evening in which he outlined how he approaches his role.

"I think the days of stick your hands up in the air and rah rah rah and that short term inspirational stuff is long gone.

"Because of the consistency of having been there for four years now and having the freedom to get on with my job I think that consistency has been a great benefit for us.

"We're not chopping and changing staff or profiles of players we have or the way we develop players. The players know what is expected of them and it's developed really well over a period of time."

This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2009/02/26/1235237834125.html

How Melbourne Victory can be denied

Michael Lynch
February 28, 2009

Game on: Adelaide has nothing to lose against the Victory.
Photo: Digitally altered: Phil Smith

MELBOURNE Victory has the evil eye on Adelaide United.

The fans know it and the media never stops mentioning it. It would hardly be surprising if even the players and coaches of both teams didn't believe it, such is the recent run of success that Victory has enjoyed over the Reds.

Five times these teams have met this season and five times Melbourne has come out on top, most recently by a 6-0 aggregate in the two legged major semi-final.

But soccer, as we are so often reminded from luminaries such as Alex Ferguson down to the bloke directing traffic at the local club's car park, can be a funny game.

A grand final is a one-off fixture where history can count for nothing. It's 90 minutes (plus extra-time and penalties if necessary) and when referee Matthew Breeze blows his whistle to start proceedings at Telstra Dome tonight, both sides begin on level terms and the soccer gods of fate and chance may yet decide to have their sport.

Victory goes into the match as overwhelming favourite - Sportsbet Australia has Victory at $1.75 to lift the championship trophy after 90 minutes while Adelaide is at $4.35 - but the gap between the two teams may not be as large as those prices suggest.

Melbourne can be beaten - it actually lost seven of the 21 games it played during the regular season. The Newcastle Jets, coached by last year's coach-of-the-season Gary Van Egmond, and Perth Glory, headed by David Mitchell, each beat Victory twice this season, with Perth twice scoring three goals against it and Newcastle bagging four in one of its wins.

Gold Coast United comes into the league next year and its outspoken boss Miron Bleiberg has already been doing his homework on to how to take apart Ernie Merrick's side in the 2009-10 campaign.

The trio explain how Adelaide coach Aurelio Vidmar can tackle Melbourne's psychological dominance, shuffle the players at his disposal and refine his tactics to pull off an unexpected triumph this evening.

PERSONNEL:
MIRON BLEIBERG: I will give Adelaide a 45-55 chance in this match.

I think the best way to win is to stick to the same line-up and system that they played against the Roar (when they won last week's preliminary final 1-0).

When they lost 4-0 against Melbourne they played Cassio, Alemao, and Lucas Pantelis in the midfield. None of them are renowned for their defensive work.

They allowed Carlos Hernandez and his mates to terrorise the midfield. Fabian Barbiero is a much better athlete than Hernandez and with him and Jonas Salley in there they will fill the space in the midfield defensively much better.

GARY VAN EGMOND: I don't think either side will change much although I would utilise Travis Dodd more centrally and use his pace to run off and move Kevin Muscat around. When Muscat has to concentrate more on defensive work it prevents him stepping into midfield and stops him organising and marshalling the back half, which he does very well and is very important for Melbourne.

DAVID MITCHELL: I would think Adelaide would not change that much. They got the result last week and played better with a different line-up.

PSYCHOLOGICALLY:
MITCHELL: From a mentality point of view everyone thinks Melbourne is going to win, so that's a big tick in Adelaide's box.

The fact that everything looks to be in Melbourne's favour - that they have beaten them regularly, that they are playing at home in front of a big crowd, that they have had a week off - it all takes the pressure off Adelaide.

There are no expectations. I would be telling the players that the past does not dictate the future. What happened has happened. This game will be totally different. There's a different referee, different circumstances, there could be three or four players who are different this time.

History and patterns are not always predictive and this is a different game. I would remind the players of their previous achievements. Their wins, the successful record of this club, their performances in the Asian Champions League.

I would tell them that at the end of the day it's the two best teams who are in the final and they are there because they are the most consistent.

VAN EGMOND: It's a difficult one. The most important thing is for the Adelaide team to know what it means for them individually. It's something the Adelaide side needs to share with each other.

For us last year Jado (Jets skipper Jade North, who led Newcastle to grand final victory after it had lost the major semi-final to Central Coast Mariners) got all the boys together before we played the Mariners in the final and asked them what it meant to them.

It got quite emotional and it achieved a hell of a lot. As outspoken as Viddy was the week before (when he blasted his team after the horrific loss to Melbourne) it was probably the best thing he did.

Losing in the major semi-final helped us. We would never have beaten the Mariners in the grand final if we had gone straight through.

After that loss we needed a few home truths to be spoken about. I think it was a positive for Adelaide to have a cleansing process and now there's no reason why they can't win.

BLEIBERG: You tell them that every one expects you to lose. But you tell your players that they are much better players than the last time they played Melbourne and lost 4-0, and that this is a different team.

You tell them that they must go out and enjoy the match, the occasion, the game, and do their work as professionals.

You tell them you trust them to do it. You tell them that every statistic or record is there to be broken and today is your day.

You remind them that Melbourne is not invincible, you show them that Melbourne lost seven games during the regular season, two more than you, and that they conceded a lot more goals than you did.

TACTICS
VAN EGMOND: Essentially Melbourne play counter-attacking football. They don't really press and Archie (Thompson) is not usually one to track back and pick up runners. He cheats a bit, so does Carlos Hernandez.

You have to try and move Hernandez about and keep changing the point of the attack. Your two defensive midfielders and two centre-backs have to be comfortable on the ball and play to switch it to the full-backs to drag them around.

Melbourne are the most narrow team in the league. They play a 3-5-2 or a 4-4-2 and they switch around. If they play a back three, I like to play three up front against them and drag them around.

It's also imperative to keep the ball. Hernandez won't try to chase. (Billy) Celeski is nice on the ball, but it would be smart to try and run him around defensively, to not let him play with any comfort.

We would stay compact and not chase lost causes.

Parking the bus (stacking the defence) is the last thing you would want to do. You don't want to drop off too much and give them easy possession because they will play around you if you give them too much time.

It's really important to keep the ball, to stretch their midfielders and disrupt the triangle at the heart of their defence — Muskat, (Rody) Vargas and Celeski. You have to go wide because a lot of their good play comes through the middle. When they have it you try to make them play down one side.

Archie and (Danny) Allsopp will go wide to try and draw your centre-backs, so you have to be wary of that.

Melbourne will hurt you if you can't keep possession and frustrate them, and if you don't close it down, frustrate them and keep possession, they will get a chance to play.

Adelaide needs to slow everything down, take the crowd out of things. Walk to free kicks, walk to corners, take the pace and heat out of the game.

Adelaide has another big advantage on set pieces. There's a lot more height in the Adelaide side, they have two big central defenders and other tall players. They do have every chance of causing an upset because it's a one-off game.

MITCHELL: I don't think Melbourne will change much about the way they play. They play a little bit narrow, they play a lot of long balls.

Their two strikers are often a handful and they defend with numbers and rely on getting quick service to the two strikers and for them to cause havoc with the midfielders getting up and forward to support them. Adelaide may defend a bit deeper and not let Melbourne in behind them and then hit Melbourne on the break. If Adelaide open up too much Melbourne might get a lot of room to play in.

I think you can attack Melbourne out in wide areas and have success there. We (Perth Glory) also attacked them from set pieces and scored off a couple. Adelaide have got some big lads who can create a lot of trouble from free kicks and corners.

BLEIBERG: It worked much better for them last week because they brought in Jonas Salley and Barbiero and had energy in the midfield, and it's important to try and get on top there. Paul Reid is important for Adelaide to control the midfield. If they can cut the supply line, prevent Melbourne playing through to their strikers through the middle, then they have a chance. Even Napoleon could not conquer Russia when his supply line was cut.

Also they have a chance if they break at speed. The Victory defence is not the most mobile or fastest in the league. We saw how Michael Zullo and Tahj Minniecon caused them so many problems when Queensland Roar came down and won 2-0 here earlier in the season. If Melbourne are shut down in the midfield and have to resort to the long ball, that will be music to the ears of Robert Cornthwaite and Sasa Ognenovski.

If Adelaide score first Vidmar should have a player like Angelo Costanzo on the bench because they would need to close the game down by taking off a striker or attacking midfielder and bringing him in and using him to bolster the defence. If they are in front they will have to retain possession and try to frustrate Melbourne, and there's no better player in defence for doing that than Costanzo.

If they go 1-0 down in the first half, try to keep the score at that until half-time. In the second half they will have to change things up by adding another striker. If it's scoreless at half-time and Melbourne score in the second period, then you change things immediately, move Lucas Pantelis and Dodd out to the wings and (Paul) Agostino and Cristiano up front, because it is a grand final, there is no other game, and you have to try and get something out of it. I would probably go three at the back in this situation, take Daniel Mullen off.

The more it gets closer to extra-time or into extra-time, if there is no score or it is level, it all depends on the confidence of the coach and how he feels the game is going. If Vidmar is feeling he is getting the upper hand, then he may try to win the game. If not, then he may want to try and shut the match down and play for penalties. At least that gives them a 50-50 chance, which is better than how I think they are starting at 45-55.

This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2009/02/27/1235237923507.html

And so the plate is raised.

The countdown to the Grand Final is on down in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. From the Age. Wahey!

Big brother asserts pecking order

Dan Silkstone
February 15, 2009

It isn't easy being a younger brother. You go out into the world, trying to make a name for yourself — and you succeed, you really do. You play out of your skin but whatever you do, wherever you go, big brother is always waiting to deliver a dead arm.

And then — suddenly — you are back at mum and dad's for Christmas dinner. You made a million dollars last year, you hit the big time overseas and there's a glamorous girl on your arm. But none of that achievement, that globetrotting glory, counts for anything. The natural order is painfully imposed.

Adelaide — little old Adelaide United — had every reason to throw everything at Melbourne last night. Down two goals after a disastrous home leg and with a grand final spot up for grabs, the running was theirs to make. The pride earned during a barnstorming year in which richer and more exotic opponents had been dealt with and a spot secured as the second best team in Asia was under threat from a rival who knew them much, much better.

You wouldn't have known it from the way they played. From the opening whistle, the Victory imposed themselves — the men in red meekly submitted, strangely accepting of their allotted role. Chances were fashioned from the earliest seconds, a goal came after just ten minutes, Archie Thompson, put through by Carlos Hernandez, sprung the trap and steered it past the hand of Eugene Galekovic. Thirty seconds later Allsopp scuffed a shot that could easily have burst the net. Adelaide was gone.

Two years ago, on this ground, they had been cut open and made foolish in a six nil Grand Final rout. That sort of result left not so much scars as fault lines. For all that they had achieved this year — and it had been plenty — they found themselves back here. Back there. Quaking.

Melbourne should have had four in the first 20 minutes, Ward spurned a chance , Pondeljak netted from an Allsopp through ball instantly ruled offside. It didn't matter, chances were not going to be in short supply. Adelaide was simply absent, Melbourne partied without them. You wondered whether South Australian minds were already trained on the upcoming match against the Queensland Roar. You saw them wondering how, playing so listlessly, they could possibly win it. Would they want to if the prize was a trip back into this?

Few expected Hernandez to start — if they'd thought about Ernie Merrick they should have. The Victory were — as they had been all year — settled. The best 11 played and each of them played in his best position. Hernandez might not have had 90 minutes in him. The way he started, his team was never going to need that much.

The second was his — on 24 minutes — after an irresistable exchange of passes between an inspired Tommy Pondeljak, Ward and Hernandez — the latter picking his spot and smashing it into the roof of the net. The options then for Adelaide were embarrassment or humiliation. With cheap fouls and a red card in an anti-climactic second half, they opted for the latter. The crowd resorted to the Mexican wave.

It wasn't just that they played without energy, they played without sense. Defending high up the park and square at the back, it was like a manual for how not to set up aganist a team determined to hit you fast on the break. These men had earned things in 2009 and now they counted for nothing. Eugene Galekovic, the goalkeeper of the year and newly-capped Socceroo was simply a Victory discard, picking the ball out of his own net.

The fourth goal was just a joke. Pondeljak spread it to Hernandez and kept on running, the Costa Rican curled a perfect ball to the far post where Pondeljak volleyed home.

By the end, Victory fans — wary of Queensland's vigour — would have paid money to play these guys in the grand final. After all, who does not enjoy the occasional wrestle with their little brother?

Cornthwaite and Jamieson, Mullen and Barbiero, Adelaide had impressed with their youth in Asia. By the time 90 minutes had passed they looked in need of something that sounded mighty similar. They had taken on Japan and Uzbekistan; even — at the World Club Championships — beaten the African champions. But when it mattered they were crushed by a better team, in a bigger stadium, in front of a crowd that dwarfed them. Asia be damned, the natural order is restored.

Ah, the power of autonuke

A Trojan horse attack on my computer turned out to be a blessing.

There's this program called DBAN - Darik's Boot and Nuke. It's a program that allows you to clean your hard drive thanks to an autonuke feature, and get rid of any other lingering programs that might harm your computer. It's awesome stuff. I was able to get my machine back to normal after the Trojan attack. And it's all thanks to BongaDad.

He may have a foot lagging from a bout of gout, but when it comes to figuring out what the fuss with my computer is all about, without a doubt, he packs a clout.

---

How about that Melbourne Victory side. They are a football team from Melbourne, Australia, and they won the A-League Preseason Cup. Even though the USA Women stunk like Limburger against Norway the same day, keeper Michael Theoklitos is clutch.

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

-----

Victory win A-League pre-season cup

August 6, 2008 - 9:33PM


Melbourne Victory have claimed the first silverware of the A-League season, defeating Wellington Phoenix 8-7 in a marathon penalty shootout in the final of the pre-season cup at Westpac Stadium in Wellington.

Reigning A-League goalkeeper of the year Michael Theoklitos proved the difference between the two sides, making two spectacular stops during the second half and then saving Karl Dodd's penalty to win the shootout after 18 kicks.

Phoenix striker Shane Smeltz and Victory's Nick Ward had earlier blazed their spot kicks over the crossbar.

The match had finished 0-0 at fulltime, the Phoenix having slightly the better of proceedings before falling just short of becoming the first New Zealand club to claim a trophy in an Australian competition.

The home side fielded close to their best line-up with the only notable absentees being skipper Andrew Durante who sat out the match through suspension, while defender Tony Lochhead remained unavailable after recent trials with Middlesbrough.

Conversely ,Victory went into the match without a number of key squad members including regular captain Kevin Muscat, experienced midfielder Grant Brebner, plus Olyroos trio Archie Thompson, Leigh Broxham and Billy Celeski.

Goalscoring opportunities were rare with the match commencing in scrappy fashion on a greasy surface in front of over 9,000 fans who braved the chilly conditions.

Chances in the first half were largely a result of defensive errors with Phoenix goalkeeper Glen Moss misjudging a regulation Matthew Kemp cross and catching the ball at the second attempt as match officials ignored Victory appeals that the ball had crossed the line.

At the other end of the field Adam Kwasnik should have done better but headed over the crossbar after the Victory had left the striker unmarked from a free kick.

It was a match in which defence dominated with both sets of defenders solid throughout and former Socceroos Jon McKain for the Phoenix and Michael Thwaite for Victory particularly prominent.

The match sprang to life mid-way through the second stanza with Richard Johnson's stunning long range effort requiring an equally spectacular save from Victory goalkeeper Theoklitos.

Carlos Hernandez warmed the palms of Moss soon after with his own powerful strike from distance in what was a relatively quiet night for the Costa Rican international.

The best chance of the match came ten minutes from time with Phoenix's prolific striker Smeltz producing a diving header that saw Theoklitos at full stretch to tip the ball around the post.

"It was a tough one, but we did the job," said Victory coach Ernie Merrick.

"Right from the kick-off they pressured us and made sure we couldn't get our passing game going.

"When your goalkeeper is one of your best players and your other two are probably (defenders) Michael Thwaite and Roddy Vargas, you know that you haven't played your best football.

"But sometimes you play a game like that when you're not at your best and you come away with a win, and you think 'not a bad team to get that sort of result with not the best performance'.

"It has been the perfect preparation for the A-league season, and to get to the final, which the boys set themselves the challenge of winning, it sets us up really well for the A-league season."

Phoenix captain Jon McKain said he was impressed with his team's effort as they build towards just their second season in the competition.

"Penalties are always a lottery, and we didn't seem to get that bit of luck tonight," McKain said.

© 2008 AAP
Brought to you by aap

-----

Onward!