This round was definately one of the better ones: four results, one thrashing, two tight games and an intense but ultimately one-sided affair at SFS. Though again, there was some more referee indifference in the face serious rough play and again, some very stodgy, defensive formations from teams that were bywords for attacking flair last season.
(2)Melbourne Victory vs Queensland Roar (0) 8pm AEST Friday 28/9/07
Interesting match in the offing here, Queensland have a very good attacking game and were unlucky not to put a brace or more past FC last week, but even if they do just that, will it be enough to seal victory given the resilience shown by Melbourne last week? Victory will likely be without Muscat and Alsopp while Farina has named an unchanged squad, though a positional reshuffle is a certainty after last week. Will it be enough? Roar’s forwards have struggled to put anything away since pre-season, though a weakened Melbourne defense might be just the ticket. Victory’s hopes lie in the Leandro-Thompson-Caceres strike team and Kaz Patafta hitting some quality. Otherwise this is going to the Oranje, 3-1.
Update:Wow. Ugly game. Victory playing with three defensive mids strangled Roar in defense Patafta didn’t get a look in, wierd considering the lack of forward midfield support hamstrung their strikers for much of the match. Danny Tiatto should have been given a red for a reckless cleanout on Daniel Piorkowski. Leandro Love and Archie Thompson were sterling in attack, while Lynch and Milicic again failed at the final hurdle. Marchinho is bollocks, time to give the young’uns a crack Frank.
(1) Sydney FC vs Newcastle Jets (0) 7pm AEST 29/9/07
The heart is saying Skyblue here, though the head is unwilling to write the Jets off completely. Juninho makes the squad and likely the pitch for the first time since Round 2, while Branko will have to rejig his defense again with the return of Popovic. The Jets have suffered a major blow with the loss of midfield engine Stu Musialik for two weeks (with one suspended) for an offensive but apparently not racist slur on Melbourne’s Rodrigo Vargas last week* but should see a full (or near-full) game from Mario Jardel, after weeks of fitness training. This is looking like a midfield battle par excellence and I think McFlynn and Milligan will probably get the measure of Denni and Joel Griffiths, while a Juninho-Corica partnership will test a Musialik-less Jets defense; Jardel doesn’t look likely to trouble Rudan or Popovic for pace.
2-1 SFC
One of Sydney’s best games in recent memory. The Jets suffered from the loss of Musialik and J. Griffiths, their midfield was blunt until Denni came on in the last fifteen minutes. Any counterattack seemed dudded from the start by the first-half inclusion of whalelike Mario Jardel who had all the menace of a newborn puppy and none of the mobility. Reliant on heavy tackling and back-third pressure the Jets were undone by a perfect through-ball from the Little Fella picking out Alex Brosque, who outpaced Steve Laybutt, turned Jade North, jinking the ball onto his preferred left foot before slotting it low past a scrambling Ante Covic. Apart from few bursts in the second half it was all Skyblue, who dominated the midfield but were prevented from further scoring by a mixture of heavy Jets tackling, indifferent refereeing and the usual SFC goalfront dithering.
(4)Wellington Pheonix vs Perth Glory (1) 3pm AEST 30/9/07
Perth Glory were unucky not to come away Bluetongue without a point, and it isn’t going to get any better for Ron Smith’s men as they cross the Tasman to face the Nix and the Yellow Fever. Colosimo is in the squad but may not play, while Herbert can name an unchanged squad for the fourth week running or bring on Marquee Ahmad Elrich. I can’t see Pheonix losing.
2-0 Nix.
The first serious slapdown of S3. The Glory have grounds for complaint over Djublic’s dismissal but overall they were shocking – what looked like Smith’s clearout of last season’s deadwood has turned out to be like-for-like. I don’t see where they go from here.
(2)Adelaide United vs Central Coast Mariners (1) 5pm AEST 30/9/07
After toughing out a 1-0 win vs the Glory last week, the weakened league leaders will have to scrap again to get past Adelaide at Hindmarsh, though the hosts aren’t without their own injury problems. Tony Vidmar returns from suspension in time to face his brother’s club and Gumprecht will likely take his defensive-midfield spot back but Mrdja’s knee is in a sorry condition and winger Osman has done in his hamstring. Adelaide captain Agostino is struggling with a corked calf, Petta is sidelined with similar though Alagich is likely to play despite knee trouble. Danny Beltrame is fit but isn;t a certainty to push Bajic out from between the sticks. This is as likely a place as any for Central Coast’s unbeaten run to end, and Adelaide have the firepower – wether they can keep the Coasties out of their defensive 1/3rd is the real issue.
Adelaide 1-0
2-1 Adelaide. It’s official: Burns-Djite are the Thompson-Alsopp of V3. A 37th minute Sasho Petrovski stab-in after a hectic goal-line clearance was bracketed by two Bruce Djite goals, the first a Viduka-esque backheel, made possible by the pace, compsure and vision of Nathan Burns**.
* He called the dark-skinned, Chilean-born defender a ‘monkey’. Nice cop-out, FFA Judiciary.
** which simultaneously ended Shane Smeltz’s one-hour thirty-minutes tenure as Season 3’s leading goalscorer.
