sidelined

Offseasons are dull by definition, a tale of potentialities and prognostication, might-bes, not events.The A-League is no different so I’ll try and keep this short, with a report-card flavour.
Adelaide United
Appear to be on the path to renewal after the eruptions of V2. Older players have retired (Veart*) or been shown the door (The Wrong Alosi), [...]

On Sunday the 8th of July the Socceroos will complete the final stage of the 2004 Football Revolution by competing for the first time in the premier football competition this side of the Urals (I would’ve said the Bosphorus but Turkey and indeed Kazakhstan are part of Europe as far as football is concerned), the [...]

From the outset this Sydneysider was cautious about SFC’s chances in the ACL: despite our 2005 Club World Championship showing we were newbies on the international scene, going up against mature, well-heeled clubs from established leagues. It wasn’t quite UEFA Champions League stuff, but well beyond anything any Aussie football team has been asked to [...]

So, are Aussie sides getting harshly penalised, their players buried beneath mountains of red and yellow cards while other Asian sides skip past unmolested?
Well… it’s kinda inconclusive.
The ACL stats page has a list of every player with cards to his name, unhelpfully arranged in alphabetical order, and in a fit of nerd-dom I’ve had a [...]

…And Group E is blown wide open! as Sydney hack their way through a stacked Kediri defense to ram home three unanswered goals while Urawa and Shanghai slogged out a goalless stalemate at Yuanshen Stadium. The top spot is now anyone’s with Urawa (8), Sydney (7) and Persik (6) separated by a single point each. [...]

With Branko Culina now officially installed as coach, Sydney FC face off against their third-round banana skin, Persik Kediri, the dark horses of Group E, this time on home soil.
At the start of this competition, most pundits picked Urawa Red Diamonds and Shanghai Shenhua as Sydney’s main rivals for top spot, with Persik Kediri [...]

With three of six matches played, it seems fitting to take a breather and assess Australia’s inaugural ACL campaign. Due to the vagaries of Asian Football Confederation deadlines Aussie teams are stuck in a one-year lag, with the Premiers (Adelaide United) and Champions (Sydney FC) of the previous season competing in this year’s cup. Consequently [...]

With Sydney knocked out and Melbourne back in touch we come to the penultimate stage of this finals series: perennial (well… this far) finals chokers Adelaide United host Newcastle Jets at Hindmarsh, who steam in breathless after last weeks’ decisive smashing of inaugural champs Sydney FC.
Meaningless stats:In their previous matches these two sides have [...]

Apologies for the delay, internet access hasn’t been too swell lately.
Newcastle 2 (3)vs Sydney FC 0 (2)
This match was painful to watch from a Sydney FC fan’s perspective but I must begin by congratulating Gary Van Egmond and his squad on their stellar performance this season coming off seven winless rounds; you guys have taken [...]

Round two of the Preliminary stage is upon us, with all four teams still in with a sniff (though some noses are whiffier than others).
Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory have played out a scoreless draw, punctuated with scintillating chances - 5 to 1 in Adelaide’s favour - that never hatched. A non-result, I hear you [...]