FIVE TEAMS, FIVE WEEKS, FIVE QUESTIONS
With two weeks of the regular season remaining and a three week finals series the most exciting A-League season is coming to a conclusion. Football fans around the country have reason to be excited with almost every remaining game having an impact on the final regular season standings.
On the international front the Socceroos have reached the final stage of qualifying to Russia 2018 and the Matilda’s have rocketed to fifth in the world. What an exciting time to be a football fan in Australia.
Why is Ange upset?
Last night Socceroos head coach appeared upset because the Australian public didn’t pay enough respect to our national team. Whilst still not sure why Ange had a bee in his bonnet maybe he should take a step back and look at the situation. First of all we’ve taken a small step forward and reached the next stage of the World Cup qualification process. As Asian Champions this is a minimum expectation I would’ve thought. Secondly, yes it’s great to see players other than Timmy Cahill score for the Socceroos but I’m not too fussed who scores for us. True story I once celebrated a Kevin Muscat goal.
Lastly FIFA ratings are much like Sepp Blatter at the moment, largely irrelevant. Ange, if you want to start taking your aggression out at press conferences Ange, start with Channel Nine and their lack of coverage. Before the Adelaide game there was zero mention of the game in the Melbourne bulletin, we are the national team and this is the world game after all.
Can City Win In Perth?
With Bruno Fornaroli, Aaron Mooy and Harry Novillo anything is possible but City fans should be wary of the woeful for at NIB Stadium (One win in nine visits). Perth is the form team of the competition and have transformed under Kenny Lowe since January. Many (including me) had written them off halfway thru the season but their turnaround now has them as one of the main title contenders.
Glory hasn’t lost at home since January 9th when Adelaide triumphed 3-1.
Why Play Finals Football?
Because we’re Australian and we love finals! Also because your ticket purchase helps line the pockets of the FFA. Finals football is completely dictated by the FFA so remember this when you’re forking out the big dollars to watch a team play that your membership has covered all season.
Sadly that’s part of being involved in the finals system and don’t even get me started about the possibility of Melbourne City playing a Grand Final at Etihad Stadium. Don’t get me wrong I would travel to anywhere (funds permitting) to see City play in a Grand Final but playing it at Etihad is typical of the FFA and signifies their short sighted nature. Home state finals are a travesty and our ‘Big Stadium mentality’ hampers all codes in Australia.
Is Victory merely making up the numbers?
Absolutely not! As much as I would love to discount the theory you can never write off a team such as Melbourne Victory and whilst Kevin Muscat (Apologies for the 2nd Muscat reference) is in charge Victory will never give up.
With the great news that Carl Valeri is likely to return this week things are beginning to look better for you can never rule out a ‘Steven Bradbury’ type run at the Championship.
How costly was the Wanderers slip up?
Slipping from first to fourth is never great, but when you consider the soft run home Western Sydney has is it really that bad? Losing away to Victory wasn’t a total surprise but when you look at the way Western Sydney went about the game then you start to question if they can really win any silverware this season. Scoring goals is the biggest issue at Wanderland and if you ever need a confidence boost it is playing the hapless Mariners and Phoenix before your finals campaign. Finals football is one big knockout tournament and Tony Popovic’s men will need to find their scoring boots.
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