A League - Week 3 Review

The third round of A League matches came around and with it brought the Melbourne derby into view but more of that later.

Friday evening brought us Brisbane Roar hosting last week’s derby winners Sydney FC. Sydney again came out on top with a 2-0 win and a near faultless performance. The victory was constructed on a foundation of sheer hard graft, every player in the team mercilessly ran down their Roar opponent to deny them time and space, none more so than the Sydney front men who worked tirelessly to prevent Brisbane playing out from the back.

The icing on this particular cake was provided by two stunning strikes for Sydney. The first was provided by Austrian skipper Marc Janko on 28 minutes as an attempted clearance from Brisbane keeper Jamie Young was taken on Janko’s chest before sweetly volleying home from close on 40 yards with his left foot.

The second contender for goal of the season arrived on 54 minutes when lovely interplay between Alex Brosque and Milos Dimitrejivic resulted in the latter unleashing a curling dipping effort from 25 yards that put the game beyond all doubt. Brisbane had plenty of possession but like an Australian batsman facing a Pakistani spin bowler they were clueless as to what to do. 3 games, 3 defeats this is not the way that defending champs are supposed to start a season.

Saturday evening gave us a choice of viewing either the Melbourne derby or the first leg of the Asian Champions League final, we will deal with them in that order.

A sold out Etihad Stadium crowd of almost 44,000 saw Melbourne Victory blow money bags neighbours Melbourne City away with a 5-2 win. City took the lead twice but a hat trick from Victory striker Besart Berisha overshadowed the efforts of City marquee signing David Villa. The second half performance from Victory was irresistible and the stuttering start to the season by City continues. So Victory joined Sydney at the top of the league with 7 points and have laid down a marker for the rest of their season.

Western Sydney Wanderers took on Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia in the ACL final first leg in Parramatta in front of a sell out 20,000 crowd. Wanderers have had a poor start to the new season but their players have come alive in the champions league and so it proved again as they emerged from the tie with a 1-0 victory to carry forward to the second leg at the weekend.

Al Hilal had plenty of possession and efforts but Wanderers soaked up all they had thrown at them by their Saudi opponents and also had keeper Ante Covic in alert form to snuff out any threats that the back four hadn’t cleared up. The winner came from sub Tomi Yuric and his height and strength caused the Saudi defence problems almost immediately upon his introduction. His goal was snapped up from a deep left wing cross by Anthony Golec that was perfectly placed into the corridor of doubt between the backline and goalkeeper, Yuric slid in to meet the cross and give the Western Sydney boys a precious lead to take to the Saudi capital for the second leg.

Sunday evening saw Wellington Phoenix play host to Newcastle Jets in what before the season most commentators would have labelled a wooden spoon decider. However the NZ team have started the season well and their good form continued with a 4-1 win. The addition of diminutive forward Michael McGlinchey looks to have been a masterstroke by Phoenix as he set up one and scored another. Nathan Burns also featured prominently for the home team scoring two and setting up the other two of their goals.

Newcastle broke to get a consolation goal from Joel Griffiths in the 90^th minute to put a wee bit of a better complexion on the scoreline for them but they were well beaten. Wellington climbed temporarily to the dizzy heights of third place in the league and the shirtless fans in the stand were revelling in this unexpectedly good start to the season.

Adelaide United and Perth Glory brought down the curtain on the programme for the weekend on Sunday evening.  Both teams came into the game with great form behind them and we expected a tight clash probably just falling in the favour of Adelaide. The game was a one sided affair with Adelaide running out 2-0 winners and dominating the game from start to finish.

A beautiful goal crafted by Marcelo Carrusca and finished by Sergio Cirio gave Adelaide the opener on 18 minutes, a neat finish from Awer Mabil in the second half secured the points for the South Australians. If the first game of the weekend brought contenders for goal of the season for Sydney then Mabil has provided possibly the miss of the season as he kneed the ball over the bar from inside the six yard box when confronted with an open net. Again well worth tracking down on Youtube to make yourself feel better as we’ve generally all been there.

Finally I’d just like to offer my congratulations to Dundalk on being crowned champions, I’m delighted for the characters at the club who I spent so many Friday evenings with.

What have we learned?

Write off Wellington Phoenix at your peril.

Even professional players on the fringe of playing for their national team can make an awful cods of a chance when it looks easier to score.

This week’s fixtures

Melbourne City v Adelaide United

Perth Glory v Newcastle Jets

Sydney  v Central Coast Mariners

Melbourne Victory v Wellington Phoenix

Al Hilal v Western Sydney Wanderers (ACL Final second leg)