It's common knowledge that Frank Farina hates his compulsory media dealings with the kind of passion normally reserved for the taxman. But the former Australia boss would have despised picking over the bones of Queensland's contentious preliminary final loss even more than usual.
A controversial penalty, his captain's dismissal for a dubious elbow to the face of Jets striker Mark Bridge and barrage of missed opportunities all combined to send Newcastle into this weekend's showpiece final and Farina's mood plummeting.
In fairness, the Roar were gifted as much - if not more - by under-fire referee Peter Green in an error-ridden 3-2 defeat with Farina's side the fortunate recipients of two of the three penalties Green spotted, even if nobody else did.
The first - dispatched by Brazilian Reinaldo - zipped past Newcastle's Socceroos goalkeeper Ante Covic deep into stoppage time after Queensland had looked dead and buried. The second, also from the lanky South American striker, gave them a sniff of an unlikely comeback at 3-1.
But the fact Green squared the ledger by awarding the Jets a soft spot-kick in the first-half of extra time plus Tarek Elrich's blockbuster meant the dream season finale for FFA suits became a reality.
The A-League grand final had already, again controversially, been scheduled for Sydney so the progression of NSW neighbours Newcastle and the Central Coast - despite lower average home gates than Queensland - would have delighted the money men.
And Farina's take on the showpiece decider? "I don't really give a shit to be honest," he said, sidestepping protocol. It's a sentiment Farina has employed more than once in his first full season in charge at the Roar.
All week he'd been asked whether his side could contain their nerves on the biggest day in the club's history. The question had its roots in Queensland's defeat to Adelaide a few weeks previous when former Socceroos hardman Danny Tiatto was sent off for aiming a swing at an opponent. He typically went out all guns blazing in a sideline melee and was banned for two matches.
The league-leading Roar lost the match 2-0 and ended up finishing fourth.
But in fairness it was Green, usually one of the league's more consistent enforcers, who succumbed to the tension of the grand occasion with a nerve-riddled performance which might see him lose pace on the country's leading officials.
He handed out a blizzard of cards including both a yellow then a straight red for Moore, the former Australia captain after Bridge toppled to the turf.
Queensland's Sasa Ognenovski, another who doesn't hide his disgust for the media and a player who's fallen out with even the most affable of his team-mates this season, received his second caution of the finals series and would have been suspended from the grand final had the Roar progressed.
Ognenovski was off the field getting treatment for a head wound when Matt Thompson opened the scoring for Newcastle with Green again coming under some fire for delaying the skyscraping central defender's return.
It was all enough to have Farina privately seething for weeks, but he wasn't going to let on to the gathered hacks.
Earlier this season, the Queenslander was slugged by the governing body for suggesting one referee reacquaint himself with the laws of the game and he was careful with his complaints this time.
"The police watch everything I say, so I can't really comment any more," he said. Asked what he could say about Green's display without falling foul of FFA guidelines on publicly criticising officials, Farina tellingly replied: "Nothing."
Next season is the last under his current deal with the club. After bringing in Moore and Tiatto last year, more big name signings are expected. Farina's contacts from his six years in the national set-up are extensive and the league's reputation continues to grow.
However, the competition may well need to find 46 more top class players next year with fellow Queensland sides Gold Coast Galaxy and Northern Thunder heavily tipped to become the first expansion clubs.
A decision on that will be announced in a week's time following this Thursday's FFA board meeting.
Copyright © Marc Fox and Soccerphile.com
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Showing posts with label Australian soccer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australian soccer. Show all posts
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Filling Hiddink's shoes
Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek didn't quite measure up to his illustrious predecessor in charge of South Korea. On Wednesday night, Verbeek retried Guus Hiddink's shoes on for size as Australia mounted their maiden World Cup qualifying campaign through the AFC.
If Verbeek's 3-0 victory over Qatar wasn't quite enough to prove the bulk of his doubters wrong, it must have gone mighty close.
There will still be those - the cynics who harboured a personal preference of the shining CV of Omar (formally Philippe) Troussier over Hiddink's countryman and former assistant - who might remain unconvinced.
Let's see how Verbeek's inevitably jetlagged Socceroos handle the altitude of southwestern city Kunming in their first AFC qualifier overseas against China next month, they might remark.
But most of the 50,000-plus clad in the green and gold at the Telstra Dome in midweek, not to mention a host of interested TV viewers, will be jointly relieved and excited by a ruthless first-half display which saw the outgunned Qataris put to the sword in the opening 33 minutes.
The first test of the unheralded Verbeek was always going to be his wider influence in the boardrooms of Europe's grandest.
His sway over the often reluctant full-time employers of Tim Cahill and the like increased in magnitude when the Dutchman, in what has already become typical of his forthright style, discarded virtually every one of his original A-League contingent, labelling them not up to international standards.
Only Queensland's Craig Moore made Verbeek's first starting XI, excelling alongside captain Lucas Neill in central defence. Although whether the former skipper and 2006 World Cup goalscorer is truly considered a member of the A-League gang is doubtful.
In any case, Moore, 32, pulled the pin on his national team career immediately after the match.
Verbeek also showed his ruthless streak in quietly electing not to call-up Harry Kewell - to surprisingly little fanfare - and then axing Norway-based defender Michael Thwaite after he'd already completed the arduous trip home.
"I have better players in his position," was the coach's blunt assessment. "That’s the only reason. Michael did well at training and I really appreciated that he took the time and energy to come here but I have better players in his position. That’s football."
It would take a narrow-minded individual not to spot Verbeek gently asserting his control over a notoriously big-headed bunch.
Another absentee was Mark Viduka. The Newcastle United frontman played against Middlesbrough in the Premier League the Sunday previous with Boro goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer proving the flight home possible by doing it himself.
However, while Viduka's self-imposed international exile continues, Verbeek is not prepared to give up on him without a fight.
The Dutchman made a public play for Viduka's future services in the wrap up of the Qatar victory and said he would fly to the north east in person to share a coffee and a chinwag.
"Mark is always on the list," Verbeek clearly stated. "I would prefer to have five strikers to choose from and it's always better that players have a headache over fighting for their position than coaches have a headache."
Viduka might be on his shortlist, but at 33 this year and with first team football under Kevin Keegan at Newcastle no certainty, Verbeek needed to trial Plan B and stylishly did so in Melbourne, Viduka's hometown.
After toying with the idea of playing just one up front, he paired long-haired Karlsruher SC targetman Josh Kennedy with Scott McDonald, the stocky Celtic forward who hasn't stopped scoring in the SPL since moving to Glasgow in the off season.
Kennedy headed the opener from Brett Emerton's whipped delivery while McDonald was a menace all night, supplying the low centre which Cahill dummied for Mark Bresciano to tuck away for the clincher.
PSV's Jason Culina, in a holding midfield role, also received plaudits after the game, as did revitalised left-footer David Carney, now at Sheffield United in England's second tier.
Kennedy and McDonald aside, the names weren't actually that different from the failed Asian Cup campaign last July. But the attitude was.
However, with just one full training session to work with a group he'd mostly never before met, the nagging feeling about Verbeek's influence hasn't instantly gone away.
The March 26 game in China is another non FIFA-designated matchday which means Verbeek will have a similarly limited time with his players to prepare.
But at least for the next month or so he has, as Hiddink did before, Australia's goodwill behind him.
Copyright © Marc Fox and Soccerphile.com
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If Verbeek's 3-0 victory over Qatar wasn't quite enough to prove the bulk of his doubters wrong, it must have gone mighty close.
There will still be those - the cynics who harboured a personal preference of the shining CV of Omar (formally Philippe) Troussier over Hiddink's countryman and former assistant - who might remain unconvinced.
Let's see how Verbeek's inevitably jetlagged Socceroos handle the altitude of southwestern city Kunming in their first AFC qualifier overseas against China next month, they might remark.
But most of the 50,000-plus clad in the green and gold at the Telstra Dome in midweek, not to mention a host of interested TV viewers, will be jointly relieved and excited by a ruthless first-half display which saw the outgunned Qataris put to the sword in the opening 33 minutes.
The first test of the unheralded Verbeek was always going to be his wider influence in the boardrooms of Europe's grandest.
His sway over the often reluctant full-time employers of Tim Cahill and the like increased in magnitude when the Dutchman, in what has already become typical of his forthright style, discarded virtually every one of his original A-League contingent, labelling them not up to international standards.
Only Queensland's Craig Moore made Verbeek's first starting XI, excelling alongside captain Lucas Neill in central defence. Although whether the former skipper and 2006 World Cup goalscorer is truly considered a member of the A-League gang is doubtful.
In any case, Moore, 32, pulled the pin on his national team career immediately after the match.
Verbeek also showed his ruthless streak in quietly electing not to call-up Harry Kewell - to surprisingly little fanfare - and then axing Norway-based defender Michael Thwaite after he'd already completed the arduous trip home.
"I have better players in his position," was the coach's blunt assessment. "That’s the only reason. Michael did well at training and I really appreciated that he took the time and energy to come here but I have better players in his position. That’s football."
It would take a narrow-minded individual not to spot Verbeek gently asserting his control over a notoriously big-headed bunch.
Another absentee was Mark Viduka. The Newcastle United frontman played against Middlesbrough in the Premier League the Sunday previous with Boro goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer proving the flight home possible by doing it himself.
However, while Viduka's self-imposed international exile continues, Verbeek is not prepared to give up on him without a fight.
The Dutchman made a public play for Viduka's future services in the wrap up of the Qatar victory and said he would fly to the north east in person to share a coffee and a chinwag.
"Mark is always on the list," Verbeek clearly stated. "I would prefer to have five strikers to choose from and it's always better that players have a headache over fighting for their position than coaches have a headache."
Viduka might be on his shortlist, but at 33 this year and with first team football under Kevin Keegan at Newcastle no certainty, Verbeek needed to trial Plan B and stylishly did so in Melbourne, Viduka's hometown.
After toying with the idea of playing just one up front, he paired long-haired Karlsruher SC targetman Josh Kennedy with Scott McDonald, the stocky Celtic forward who hasn't stopped scoring in the SPL since moving to Glasgow in the off season.
Kennedy headed the opener from Brett Emerton's whipped delivery while McDonald was a menace all night, supplying the low centre which Cahill dummied for Mark Bresciano to tuck away for the clincher.
PSV's Jason Culina, in a holding midfield role, also received plaudits after the game, as did revitalised left-footer David Carney, now at Sheffield United in England's second tier.
Kennedy and McDonald aside, the names weren't actually that different from the failed Asian Cup campaign last July. But the attitude was.
However, with just one full training session to work with a group he'd mostly never before met, the nagging feeling about Verbeek's influence hasn't instantly gone away.
The March 26 game in China is another non FIFA-designated matchday which means Verbeek will have a similarly limited time with his players to prepare.
But at least for the next month or so he has, as Hiddink did before, Australia's goodwill behind him.
Copyright © Marc Fox and Soccerphile.com
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Tuesday, February 5, 2008
New era for Australia, shame about the jetlag
So it begins. Australia, the 46th member of the Asian Football Confederation, tonight (AEST) commences its maiden World Cup qualifying campaign in the AFC with a match against Qatar in Melbourne.
It is important to point out that this is by no means the first match Australia has played in Asia to get to a World Cup. The first couple of those games came way back in 1965, when Tiko Jelisavcic, a Yugoslav journeyman coach from a Sydney Jewish community club called Hakoah Eastern Suburbs, took a ragbag group of Aussies to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for a two-leg tie against North Korea.
Then, as now, Australia’s knowledge of our Asian opponents was limited.
A quote I used in my book, 15 Days in June: How Australia Became a Football Nation, summed up what passed for footballing due-diligence 40 years ago.
Australian Associated Press stringer Jim Shrimpton, one of the only journalists in Cambodia for the match, wrote of Jelisavcic and his “co-manager” Jim Bayutti, who was head of the-then Australian Soccer Federation, going to the Stade Olympique to check out the North Koreans training.
"[They] went to the stadium to mingle with crowds watching the North Koreans practise. But Cambodian officials guided them to special chairs in the main grandstand, ten yards from the North Korean officials. After the two groups had exchanged side glances for 20 minutes, the Australians introduced themselves. Jelisavcic, after watching the Koreans, said: ‘We shall beat them.’"
Well, not quite.
As history records, the Australians instead got thumped 6-1 in the first game and 3-1 in the second and returned home in some ignominy.
The North Koreans would of course go on to defeat Italy 1-0 in the 1966 World Cup and almost pull off the upset of the century in beating Eusebio’s Portugal.
Then there was the spate of matches played by Australia first under “Uncle” Joe Vlasits in 1969, the charismatic Rale Rasic in 1973, the now-forgotten Jimmy Shoulder in 1977, Les Scheinflug in 1981 and Frank Arok in 1985. Australia also faced Asian WCQ opposition again in 1997 for the infamous meltdown at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, but from then until now Australia has been slogging it out with Oceania and South American teams to make it to the biggest sporting event on earth.
So it is a historic occasion for Australia to now be competing as a fully fledged member of the AFC on the Grand Trunk Road of Asian qualifying. These are not just a handful of matches. If Australia can survive beyond its initial foes of Qatar, China and Iraq, the Socceroos’ campaign could take in as much as 18 matches lasting up to November 2009.
It will augur a whole new view of Asia among Australians and hopefully facilitate the movement of some Asian players to the Australian A-League, where, as it stands, less than half a dozen Asian players earn their keep.
Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek was still playing his cards close to his chest even hours before the kickoff to the Qatar match, naming a provisional 21-man squad that then had to be culled to 18 hours later. Sensationally, Harry Kewell and Nicky Carle weren’t recalled from Europe for the game.
The likely starting lineup is not difficult to glean, with only two players who weren’t at Germany 2006 dead certs for Verbeek’s first XI: Celtic’s in-form Scott McDonald will lead the forward line in the absence of Mark Viduka while David Carney, playing some excellent football for Sheffield United, will slot in as a left wingback. (Soccerphile.com’s predicted XI: Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Craig Moore, Brett Emerton, David Carney, Jason Culina, Luke Wilkshire, Mark Bresciano, Tim Cahill, Scott McDonald, Joshua Kennedy.)
The only drawback to this team, however, is Verbeek is putting all his stock in a bunch of blokes (save Craig Moore) who have barely had time to wipe their eyes after getting off the plane (albeit in first class) from Europe.
For all of the Dutchman’s efforts to get up to speed with the Australian game in the two months he’s been in the country, and his commensurate efforts to get Australian football thinking in tune with European, it is jetlag, not Jorge Fossati’s scheming, that could well kybosh his plans for a winning start to Australia’s AFC World Cup qualifying campaign. Schwarzer only arrived in Australia Tuesday morning from London and went straight to training. The Qataris, meanwhile, have been in Melbourne for over a week.
Talk about irony.
As The Age’s sport columnist Richard Hinds wrote on Tuesday, this is one game where “home advantage” doesn't seem to apply.
Copyright © Jesse Fink & Soccerphile.com
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It is important to point out that this is by no means the first match Australia has played in Asia to get to a World Cup. The first couple of those games came way back in 1965, when Tiko Jelisavcic, a Yugoslav journeyman coach from a Sydney Jewish community club called Hakoah Eastern Suburbs, took a ragbag group of Aussies to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for a two-leg tie against North Korea.
Then, as now, Australia’s knowledge of our Asian opponents was limited.
A quote I used in my book, 15 Days in June: How Australia Became a Football Nation, summed up what passed for footballing due-diligence 40 years ago.
Australian Associated Press stringer Jim Shrimpton, one of the only journalists in Cambodia for the match, wrote of Jelisavcic and his “co-manager” Jim Bayutti, who was head of the-then Australian Soccer Federation, going to the Stade Olympique to check out the North Koreans training.
"[They] went to the stadium to mingle with crowds watching the North Koreans practise. But Cambodian officials guided them to special chairs in the main grandstand, ten yards from the North Korean officials. After the two groups had exchanged side glances for 20 minutes, the Australians introduced themselves. Jelisavcic, after watching the Koreans, said: ‘We shall beat them.’"
Well, not quite.
As history records, the Australians instead got thumped 6-1 in the first game and 3-1 in the second and returned home in some ignominy.
The North Koreans would of course go on to defeat Italy 1-0 in the 1966 World Cup and almost pull off the upset of the century in beating Eusebio’s Portugal.
Then there was the spate of matches played by Australia first under “Uncle” Joe Vlasits in 1969, the charismatic Rale Rasic in 1973, the now-forgotten Jimmy Shoulder in 1977, Les Scheinflug in 1981 and Frank Arok in 1985. Australia also faced Asian WCQ opposition again in 1997 for the infamous meltdown at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, but from then until now Australia has been slogging it out with Oceania and South American teams to make it to the biggest sporting event on earth.
So it is a historic occasion for Australia to now be competing as a fully fledged member of the AFC on the Grand Trunk Road of Asian qualifying. These are not just a handful of matches. If Australia can survive beyond its initial foes of Qatar, China and Iraq, the Socceroos’ campaign could take in as much as 18 matches lasting up to November 2009.
It will augur a whole new view of Asia among Australians and hopefully facilitate the movement of some Asian players to the Australian A-League, where, as it stands, less than half a dozen Asian players earn their keep.
Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek was still playing his cards close to his chest even hours before the kickoff to the Qatar match, naming a provisional 21-man squad that then had to be culled to 18 hours later. Sensationally, Harry Kewell and Nicky Carle weren’t recalled from Europe for the game.
The likely starting lineup is not difficult to glean, with only two players who weren’t at Germany 2006 dead certs for Verbeek’s first XI: Celtic’s in-form Scott McDonald will lead the forward line in the absence of Mark Viduka while David Carney, playing some excellent football for Sheffield United, will slot in as a left wingback. (Soccerphile.com’s predicted XI: Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Craig Moore, Brett Emerton, David Carney, Jason Culina, Luke Wilkshire, Mark Bresciano, Tim Cahill, Scott McDonald, Joshua Kennedy.)
The only drawback to this team, however, is Verbeek is putting all his stock in a bunch of blokes (save Craig Moore) who have barely had time to wipe their eyes after getting off the plane (albeit in first class) from Europe.
For all of the Dutchman’s efforts to get up to speed with the Australian game in the two months he’s been in the country, and his commensurate efforts to get Australian football thinking in tune with European, it is jetlag, not Jorge Fossati’s scheming, that could well kybosh his plans for a winning start to Australia’s AFC World Cup qualifying campaign. Schwarzer only arrived in Australia Tuesday morning from London and went straight to training. The Qataris, meanwhile, have been in Melbourne for over a week.
Talk about irony.
As The Age’s sport columnist Richard Hinds wrote on Tuesday, this is one game where “home advantage” doesn't seem to apply.
Copyright © Jesse Fink & Soccerphile.com
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Monday, August 8, 2005
A-League Season Preview Part 1
With the new season touching distance away, Marc Fox previews the eight teams battling for the inaugural A-League prize.
NEW ZEALAND KNIGHTS
Despite an ordinary series of displays in the pre-season tournament, the New Zealand Knights won’t be the whipping boys many pundits are predicting.
Under manager John Adshead, coach of New Zealand’s national side when the All Whites qualified for the 1982 World Cup Finals, the Knights have recruited deliberately ahead of the inaugural A-League.
In an attempt to avoid the struggles they endured under the guise of the Football Kingz in the now defunct National League, the newborn Knights have picked up a number of players with English league experience.
Most notably, their acquisition of former Wolves and Crystal Palace utility man Neil Emblen, who will line up as a screening midfielder rather than central defender, brings Premier League know-how to the spine of the team.
Further forward, Adshead is relying on Englishmen Sean Devine and Simon Yeo to bang in the goals. Between them Devine – formally of Barnet, Wycombe and Exeter – and ex-Lincoln City sharpshooter Yeo have scored almost 200 goals in the lower leagues.
Meanwhile, tough central defender and captain Danny Hay can count Manchester United, Liverpool and Barcelona as opponents during his brief spell with Leeds United.
Key man: Sean Devine
ADELAIDE UNITED
Adelaide United’s A-League preparations received a setback when veteran striker Aurelio Vidmar announced his decision to retire just 24 days before its opening fixture against Newcastle United.
Vidmar, the well-travelled forward whose position on the starting XI had been under pressure after failing to hit the net in eight pre-season matches, will be replaced in the 20-man squad within the next fortnight but remains as assistant coach.
Even though the 38-year-old former captain had only been expected to play a bit part this season, he had been pressed into action while marquee signing Shengqing Qu reached full fitness.
No doubt contributing to his decision, some sections of the media had been critical of Vidmar and fellow striker 35-year-old Carl Veart’s performances upfront. Questions were asked as to whether the local favourites had the legs to compete in the combative new format.
By stepping down, Vidmar opens the door for the gifted Qu to make an impact worthy of Adelaide’s investment.
The 30-cap Chinese international aside, United’s squad has a substantial South Australian contingent. Coach John Kosmina has convinced Adelaide-born Angelo Costanzo to return home after five years at Marconi with the former Socceroo a vital cog in Adelaide’s engine room.
Moreover, ‘keeper Daniel Beltrame rejoins from Parramatta and young defender Adam van Dommele from Hartlepool United after a brief spell with the English League One side.
Key man: Angelo Costanzo
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Officials at Newcastle United will be trying to suppress a smile that dangerman Nick Carle was overlooked by Socceroos coach Guus Hiddink in the Dutchman’s first national team squad.
The gifted left-sided player should be hugely influential for the Jets by providing the fluency to link midfield with attack. Carle is arguably the most talented homegrown player to feature in the inaugural A-League season.
Saying that, team-mate Jade North was called up to Hiddink’s training camp, with the full-back certain to play a role in the qualifiers against the Solomon Islands in September given Australia’s recent defensive frailties.
Manager Richard Money, a knowledgeable European coach who holds the UEFA Pro Diploma licence, was the final piece of a well-constructed puzzle at Newcastle.
The Englishman arrived in Australia with the foundations of a strong side already recruited including an experienced backbone of Craig Deans, Ned Zelic, Richard Johnson and Ante Milicic.
Zelic, the enigmatic marquee signing who returns home after a decade playing in Europe and Japan, will most likely line-up alongside Johnson in central midfield although can play in defence if needed.
Johnson also possesses bags of know-how from his 12 seasons in England while Deans collected National League titles with Perth Glory in its final two seasons. Striker Milicic only missed out on a Socceroos squad place due to injury.
Key man: Nick Carle
QUEENSLAND ROAR
Despite being edged out of the pre-season tournament at the group stage, the attacking approach of the Queensland Roar will trouble the unprepared this season.
The homecoming of former Marconi striker Alex Brosque, voted young player of the season in the last year of the National League, was a feather in coach Miron Bleiberg’s cap and the 21-year-old forward will threaten from a starting position on the left flank.
Bleiberg’s preferred philosophy sees Brosque joined upfront by a couple of former under-20 team-mates from his time in Australia’s youth set-up – Jonti Richter on the right and Michael Baird furthest forward.
This exciting triumvirate will be among the quickest in the league although they do lack game-time together.
The Roar’s South Korean defensive midfielder Seo Hyuk-Su is another talented addition to Australian football, the former K-League star deployed to protect the back four and get forward momentum moving quickly.
Countryman Shin Tae-Yong is more of a creative influence ahead of Seo. His appearances at two World Cup finals in the 1990s speaks volumes for the former captain of K-League champions Seongnam Ilhwa.
The Roar might be an unfamiliar team with few big names but they aim to take advantage of a rigorous pre-season fitness campaign and the renowned climate of Queensland’s summer.
Key man: Alex Brosque
NEW ZEALAND KNIGHTS
Despite an ordinary series of displays in the pre-season tournament, the New Zealand Knights won’t be the whipping boys many pundits are predicting.
Under manager John Adshead, coach of New Zealand’s national side when the All Whites qualified for the 1982 World Cup Finals, the Knights have recruited deliberately ahead of the inaugural A-League.
In an attempt to avoid the struggles they endured under the guise of the Football Kingz in the now defunct National League, the newborn Knights have picked up a number of players with English league experience.
Most notably, their acquisition of former Wolves and Crystal Palace utility man Neil Emblen, who will line up as a screening midfielder rather than central defender, brings Premier League know-how to the spine of the team.
Further forward, Adshead is relying on Englishmen Sean Devine and Simon Yeo to bang in the goals. Between them Devine – formally of Barnet, Wycombe and Exeter – and ex-Lincoln City sharpshooter Yeo have scored almost 200 goals in the lower leagues.
Meanwhile, tough central defender and captain Danny Hay can count Manchester United, Liverpool and Barcelona as opponents during his brief spell with Leeds United.
Key man: Sean Devine
ADELAIDE UNITED
Adelaide United’s A-League preparations received a setback when veteran striker Aurelio Vidmar announced his decision to retire just 24 days before its opening fixture against Newcastle United.
Vidmar, the well-travelled forward whose position on the starting XI had been under pressure after failing to hit the net in eight pre-season matches, will be replaced in the 20-man squad within the next fortnight but remains as assistant coach.
Even though the 38-year-old former captain had only been expected to play a bit part this season, he had been pressed into action while marquee signing Shengqing Qu reached full fitness.
No doubt contributing to his decision, some sections of the media had been critical of Vidmar and fellow striker 35-year-old Carl Veart’s performances upfront. Questions were asked as to whether the local favourites had the legs to compete in the combative new format.
By stepping down, Vidmar opens the door for the gifted Qu to make an impact worthy of Adelaide’s investment.
The 30-cap Chinese international aside, United’s squad has a substantial South Australian contingent. Coach John Kosmina has convinced Adelaide-born Angelo Costanzo to return home after five years at Marconi with the former Socceroo a vital cog in Adelaide’s engine room.
Moreover, ‘keeper Daniel Beltrame rejoins from Parramatta and young defender Adam van Dommele from Hartlepool United after a brief spell with the English League One side.
Key man: Angelo Costanzo
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Officials at Newcastle United will be trying to suppress a smile that dangerman Nick Carle was overlooked by Socceroos coach Guus Hiddink in the Dutchman’s first national team squad.
The gifted left-sided player should be hugely influential for the Jets by providing the fluency to link midfield with attack. Carle is arguably the most talented homegrown player to feature in the inaugural A-League season.
Saying that, team-mate Jade North was called up to Hiddink’s training camp, with the full-back certain to play a role in the qualifiers against the Solomon Islands in September given Australia’s recent defensive frailties.
Manager Richard Money, a knowledgeable European coach who holds the UEFA Pro Diploma licence, was the final piece of a well-constructed puzzle at Newcastle.
The Englishman arrived in Australia with the foundations of a strong side already recruited including an experienced backbone of Craig Deans, Ned Zelic, Richard Johnson and Ante Milicic.
Zelic, the enigmatic marquee signing who returns home after a decade playing in Europe and Japan, will most likely line-up alongside Johnson in central midfield although can play in defence if needed.
Johnson also possesses bags of know-how from his 12 seasons in England while Deans collected National League titles with Perth Glory in its final two seasons. Striker Milicic only missed out on a Socceroos squad place due to injury.
Key man: Nick Carle
QUEENSLAND ROAR
Despite being edged out of the pre-season tournament at the group stage, the attacking approach of the Queensland Roar will trouble the unprepared this season.
The homecoming of former Marconi striker Alex Brosque, voted young player of the season in the last year of the National League, was a feather in coach Miron Bleiberg’s cap and the 21-year-old forward will threaten from a starting position on the left flank.
Bleiberg’s preferred philosophy sees Brosque joined upfront by a couple of former under-20 team-mates from his time in Australia’s youth set-up – Jonti Richter on the right and Michael Baird furthest forward.
This exciting triumvirate will be among the quickest in the league although they do lack game-time together.
The Roar’s South Korean defensive midfielder Seo Hyuk-Su is another talented addition to Australian football, the former K-League star deployed to protect the back four and get forward momentum moving quickly.
Countryman Shin Tae-Yong is more of a creative influence ahead of Seo. His appearances at two World Cup finals in the 1990s speaks volumes for the former captain of K-League champions Seongnam Ilhwa.
The Roar might be an unfamiliar team with few big names but they aim to take advantage of a rigorous pre-season fitness campaign and the renowned climate of Queensland’s summer.
Key man: Alex Brosque
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