Gold Coast United 2010/2011

[mickey]

Gold Coast United

Coach: Miron Bleiberg

Scott Higgins
Jerrad Tyson
Jess Vanstrattan
John Curtis
Dino Djulbic
Daniel Piorkowski
Kristian Rees
Michael Thwaite
Adama Traore
Bas van den Brink
Robson Alves da Silva
Anderson Alves da Silva
James Brown
Zenon Caravella
Jason Culina
Steve Fitzsimmons
Matthew Osman
Steve Pantelidis
Andrew Barisic
Golgol Mebrahtu
Tahj Minniecon
Joel Porter
Shane Smeltz

August
Sun 8, 3:00 PM Brisbane Roar FC Skilled Park,
Fri 13, 7:30 PM Wellington Phoenix FC Westpac Stadium,
Sun 29, 3:00 PM Melbourne Victory FC Skilled Park,

September
Sun 12, 3:00 PM Perth Glory FC ME Bank Stadium,
Sun 19, 5:00 PM Central Coast Mariners FC Skilled Park,
Wed 22, 7:30 PM Newcastle Jets FC Skilled Park,
Sun 26, 3:00 PM Sydney FC Sydney Football Stadium

October
Fri 1, 8:00 PM Wellington Phoenix FC Skilled Park,
Sun 17, 4:00 PM Adelaide United FC Skilled Park,
Sat 23, 7:00 PM Melbourne Heart FC AAMI Park,
Sun 31, 5:00 PM North Queensland Fury Dairy Farmers Stadium

November
Sat 6, 7:00 PM Melbourne Victory FC Etihad Stadium,
Fri 12, 7:30 PM Sydney FC Skilled Park, Gold Coast
Sun 21, 5:00 PM Central Coast Mariners FC Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium,
Fri 26, 7:30 PM Adelaide United FC Hindmarsh Stadium,

December
Wed 1, 8:00 PM North Queensland Fury Skilled Park,
Sun 5, 4:00 PM Melbourne Heart FC Skilled Park,
Sat 11, 8:15 PM Wellington Phoenix FC Skilled Park,
Wed 15, 7:00 PM Newcastle Jets FC EnergyAustralia Stadium,
Sun 19, 4:00 PM Central Coast Mariners FC Skilled Park,
Sun 26, 6:15 PM Brisbane Roar FC Suncorp Stadium,

January
Mon 3, 6:00 PM Perth Glory FC Skilled Park,
Sat 8, 7:00 PM Sydney FC Sydney Football Stadium
Fri 14, 7:30 PM North Queensland Fury Skilled Park,
Wed 19, 8:00 PM Melbourne Heart FC AAMI Park,
Sat 22, 8:15 PM Newcastle Jets FC Skilled Park,
Sun 30, 5:00 PM Melbourne Victory FC AAMI Park,

February
Wed 2, 8:00 PM Adelaide United FC Skilled Park,
Sun 6, 5:00 PM Perth Glory FC ME Bank Stadium,
Sat 12, 8:15 PM Brisbane Roar FC Suncorp Stadium,

[heater31]

Shane Smeltz heading back to Australia


One would think his new club would be filthy.....

[Dogwatcher]

Ohhhh nasty.

[Dirko]

Smeltz knows a contract hey !!

And China is still a looooooooooong way from the Premier League

[mickey]

Sunday, 25 July 2010
by Mark Pangallo, Sportal

Golgol Mebrahtu A 1-0 victory over North Queensland Fury in Gold Coast United’s final pre-season hit out has instilled coach Miron Bleiberg with plenty of optimism as his squad prepares for its opening match of the new A-league season.

Exciting youngster Golgol Mebrahtu netted the game's solitary goal in the 15th minute, when he snuck in behind the Fury defence and rounded keeper Justin Pasfield to tuck home neatly into the bottom corner.

North Queensland provided little resistance as Gold Coast controlled the match with its trademark passing game and on several occasions the home-side was unlucky not to extend the early lead courtesy of man-of-the-match Joel Porter.

Taking up a lone striker role, Porter had his best chance to get on the score sheet in the 20th minute but needed more selfishness than selflessness, as he opted to pass to skipper Jason Culina instead of pulling the trigger from close range.

Speaking after the match on Sunday afternoon Bleiberg said there were pleasing signs shown by his players and agreed that with more sharpness in the squad a greater improvement would naturally follow.

"Everybody could have seen that Gold Coast United was the better team and with a bit more sharpness the margin could have been bigger, but it wasn’t easy and we worked hard for it," the United mastermind said.

"Overall we showed much more fluency and rhythm in our game but the opposition was quite well organised."

"Golgol Mebrahtu played well and he’s another one who has come of age, every practice game he’s scored and he’s turned into a young strong man and he’s a player for the future no doubt."

Pleased with how Porter handled himself as the leading man up-front Bleiberg added: "He played the role that Shane Smeltz usually plays and he proved himself. He was brilliant in the first-half and he played like an out-and-out centre forward."

"He caused them a lot of trouble and he could of scored if he was a bit more selfish...he was in the thick and thin of everything."

Held at Carrara Oval the friendly struggled for rhythm in parts due largely to the revolving door of substitutions being made, however the signs are ominous for a second successful assault on the A-League by Gold Coast.

Playing his first game back in the yellow since returning from the World Cup in South Africa, Shane Smeltz was impressive to say the least and coming on in the second half, the All White looked a cut above the rest, weaving and side-stepping his way past new Fury signing Mark Hughes who was powerless to stop his lighting movement.

United’s midfield also had plenty of spark about it during the game, and the late pairing of Zenon Caravella, Culina and Michael Thwaite allowed for plenty of creativity and service to be delivered upfront.

Looking comfortable back in the heart of defence, Dino Djulbic provided some muscle alongside Kristian Rees and the central pair marshalled the back four into starving the lightning quick David Williams and Dutch target man Dyron Daal of any meaningful time and space.