matt.morris
04-09-2006, 11:20 PM
**Note that these wrapups are from my own perspective and probably not "fair and balanced" at all, but rather just the way I see them. I try and be fair, but being a supporter of a club will always have a slight bias towards my team.**
One of the most bone crunching, sickening and exciting rounds I have seen in football for a long time. There were some quality goals, bizarre goals, dodgy tackles, diving, elbows, broken bones, fines, charges and the biggest ever attendance to a regular season domestic match in this country.
Wooden spooners, New Zealand Knights finally chalked up a win at home in spectacular fashion over Adelaide United with a curling goal from Malik Buari nailing the top-right corner from 20 meters out in the last three minutes of regular play to take the score to 1-0. The Knights are now set up for a showdown at home against current form team Melbourne Victory next week.
Queensland Roar scraped through with a lucky 3-2 defeat of Newcastle Jets in a bizarre match that saw BOTH captains score an own goal. Roar Defender and Captain Chad Gibson was caught looking at his own keeper rather than the ball, and the resulting deflection from the top of his head rolled helplessly into the net. On the other end of the park, Jets Defender and Captain Paul Okon was just caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The record of a regular season domestic crowd in this country was absolutely annihilated when Melbourne Victory earned a hard fought 3-2 win over bitter rivals Sydney FC in front of a crowd of 39,730 at Telstra Dome in Melbourne. In a match wrought with controversy, Melbourne found themselves up 2-0 with a 1 man advantage in the first 13 minutes largely thanks to new flair created by one of the three Brazilians signed this season Alessandro down the left wing. One from a corner, and one from a nearly unheard of penalty against Sydney keeper Clint Bolton for a dangerous challenge (studs up, caught Alessandro in the arm/ribs).
By the end of the match, Alessandro had been quite literally hacked to pieces by a nervous Sydney defence and subbed off injured, Sydney's Mark Milligan put in an oscar winning performance after being on the receiving end of a high elbow from Fred and Sydney captain Mark Rudan sent off for kicking out at Alessandro whilst the Brazilian was on the ground.
Post-match, Sydney Manager Terry Butcher has been fined for abusing match officials, and Fred charged with violent conduct for the elbow on Milligan.
Whilst the fourth game of the round between Perth Glory and Central Coast Mariners was entertaining, I'll just let the A-League website sum it up for you.
Perth Glory put aside the disappointing end to their Round 1 encounter against Queensland, with an impressive performance in defeating Central Coast Mariners 2-0 at Members Equity Stadium. Kiwi International Leo Bertos and former West Ham and Birmingham City star Stan Lazaridis led the way for Perth, but it was the foresight of Simon Colosimo that led to first goal, his quickly taken free kick catching the Mariners out, while they looked to form a wall. They wrapped up the deserved win when Stuart Young drove a Bertos cross home with ten minutes remaining.
Goal of the Week: Malik Buari's outstanding goal against Adelaide United, effectively ending the New Zealand Knights' long running point drought.
Player of the Week: Melbourne's Danny Allsopp long awaited return to form saw him end the match with two goals.
NEXT WEEK
-Adelaide United Play host to Newcastle Jets. Both teams are without a win after two rounds, but my pick is Adelaide.
-Central Coast play Queensland Roar. CCM are 0 for 2, and the Roar are 2 for 0. Still, I'm picking that this match will end in a draw.
-Melbourne Victory make the trip across the Tasman to take on New Zealand Knights in Aukland. NZK impressed this weekend gone, but the Victory are on a roll, and will keep rolling on through.
-Perth Glory take on Sydney FC in Perth. This should be an interesting match. Perth are just starting to hit some form, and Sydney are down to 13 fit and ready men with the suspension of Mark Rudan, Robbie Middleby is out for 6-12 weeks with a broken collarbone and Dwight Yorke gone to Sunderland, I think Perth will just edge out the major premiers out for a narrow victory.
See you same time next week for a Week 3 wrap :)
Edited for formatting/statistic errors.
One of the most bone crunching, sickening and exciting rounds I have seen in football for a long time. There were some quality goals, bizarre goals, dodgy tackles, diving, elbows, broken bones, fines, charges and the biggest ever attendance to a regular season domestic match in this country.
Wooden spooners, New Zealand Knights finally chalked up a win at home in spectacular fashion over Adelaide United with a curling goal from Malik Buari nailing the top-right corner from 20 meters out in the last three minutes of regular play to take the score to 1-0. The Knights are now set up for a showdown at home against current form team Melbourne Victory next week.
Queensland Roar scraped through with a lucky 3-2 defeat of Newcastle Jets in a bizarre match that saw BOTH captains score an own goal. Roar Defender and Captain Chad Gibson was caught looking at his own keeper rather than the ball, and the resulting deflection from the top of his head rolled helplessly into the net. On the other end of the park, Jets Defender and Captain Paul Okon was just caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The record of a regular season domestic crowd in this country was absolutely annihilated when Melbourne Victory earned a hard fought 3-2 win over bitter rivals Sydney FC in front of a crowd of 39,730 at Telstra Dome in Melbourne. In a match wrought with controversy, Melbourne found themselves up 2-0 with a 1 man advantage in the first 13 minutes largely thanks to new flair created by one of the three Brazilians signed this season Alessandro down the left wing. One from a corner, and one from a nearly unheard of penalty against Sydney keeper Clint Bolton for a dangerous challenge (studs up, caught Alessandro in the arm/ribs).
By the end of the match, Alessandro had been quite literally hacked to pieces by a nervous Sydney defence and subbed off injured, Sydney's Mark Milligan put in an oscar winning performance after being on the receiving end of a high elbow from Fred and Sydney captain Mark Rudan sent off for kicking out at Alessandro whilst the Brazilian was on the ground.
Post-match, Sydney Manager Terry Butcher has been fined for abusing match officials, and Fred charged with violent conduct for the elbow on Milligan.
Whilst the fourth game of the round between Perth Glory and Central Coast Mariners was entertaining, I'll just let the A-League website sum it up for you.
Perth Glory put aside the disappointing end to their Round 1 encounter against Queensland, with an impressive performance in defeating Central Coast Mariners 2-0 at Members Equity Stadium. Kiwi International Leo Bertos and former West Ham and Birmingham City star Stan Lazaridis led the way for Perth, but it was the foresight of Simon Colosimo that led to first goal, his quickly taken free kick catching the Mariners out, while they looked to form a wall. They wrapped up the deserved win when Stuart Young drove a Bertos cross home with ten minutes remaining.
Goal of the Week: Malik Buari's outstanding goal against Adelaide United, effectively ending the New Zealand Knights' long running point drought.
Player of the Week: Melbourne's Danny Allsopp long awaited return to form saw him end the match with two goals.
NEXT WEEK
-Adelaide United Play host to Newcastle Jets. Both teams are without a win after two rounds, but my pick is Adelaide.
-Central Coast play Queensland Roar. CCM are 0 for 2, and the Roar are 2 for 0. Still, I'm picking that this match will end in a draw.
-Melbourne Victory make the trip across the Tasman to take on New Zealand Knights in Aukland. NZK impressed this weekend gone, but the Victory are on a roll, and will keep rolling on through.
-Perth Glory take on Sydney FC in Perth. This should be an interesting match. Perth are just starting to hit some form, and Sydney are down to 13 fit and ready men with the suspension of Mark Rudan, Robbie Middleby is out for 6-12 weeks with a broken collarbone and Dwight Yorke gone to Sunderland, I think Perth will just edge out the major premiers out for a narrow victory.
See you same time next week for a Week 3 wrap :)
Edited for formatting/statistic errors.