A League Round 1

[mickey]

Thursday, August 5

Melbourne Heart v Central Coast Mariners, at AAMI Park, Melbourne (7:30pm EST)

Melbourne Heart: 1. Clint Bolton (GK), 2. Michael Marrone, 3. Brendan Hamill, 4. Simon Colosimo (captain), 5. Michael Beauchamp, 6. Matthew Thompson, 7. Rutger Worm, 9. Gerald Sibon, 10. Wayne Srhoj, 11. Alex Terra, 17. Jason Hoffman, 19. Eli Babalj, 20. Josip Skoko, 21. Kliment Taseski, 22. Nick Kalmar, 23. Dean Heffernan, 24. Aziz Behich, 20. Peter Zois (GK) (three to be omitted).

Unavailable: John Aloisi (hamstring, four weeks), Kristian Sarkies (leg, indefinite), 14. Kamal Ibrahim (not selected), 18.Ante Tomic (not selected).


Central Coast Mariners: 1. Jess Vanstrattan (GK), 2 Daniel McBreen, 4. Pedj Bojic, 5. Brad Porter, 6. Patrick Zwaanswijk, 7. John Hutchinson, 8. Rostyn Griffiths, 9. Nik Mrdja, 10. Patricio Perez, 11. Oliver Bozanic, 12. Matthew Lewis, 14. Michael McGlinchey, 18. Alex Wilkinson (captain), 19. Matt Simon, 20. Mathew Ryan (GK), 23. Adam Kwasnik (one to be omitted).

Unavailable: 3. Joshua Rose (ineligible), 15. Marc Warren, 16. Trent Sainsbury, 17. Chris Doig, 21. Sam Gallagher, 22. Mustafa Amini (not selected)

Referee: Chris Beath


Friday, August 6

Adelaide United v Newcastle Jets, at Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide (8pm AEST)

Adelaide United: 1.Eugene Galekovic (GK), 3.Nigel Boogaard, 4.Iain Fyfe, 5.Daniel Mullen, 6.Cassio, 7.Lucas Pantelis (captain), 8.Adam Hughes, 9.Sergio Van Dijk, 10.Marcos Flores, 12.Paul Reid, 16.Inseob Shin, 17.Iain Ramsay, 19.Mathew Leckie, 20.Mark Birighitti (GK), 24.Cameron Watson.

Unavailable: 2.Robert Cornthwaite (groin, two weeks), 13.Travis Dodd (knee, four weeks), 14.Lloyd Owusu (knee, indefinite), 18.Fabian Barbiero (ankle, four weeks).

Newcastle Jets: 1.Ben Kennedy (GK), 2. Taylor Regan, 3. Adam D’Apuzzo, 4. Nikolai Topor-Stanley, 5. Ljubo Milicevic, 6. Ben Kantarovski, 7. Kasey Wehrman, 8. Michael Bridges (captain), 10. Ruben Zadkovich, 11. Tarek Elrich, 12. Jobe Wheelhouse, 13.Sash Petrovski, 14. Labinot Haliti, 15. Sean Rooney, 16. Jeremy Brockie, 17. Marcello Fiorentini, 18. Marko Jesic, 19. Ali Abass, 21. Brodie Mooy, 22. Kaz Patafta, 30. Paul Henderson (GK) (six to be omitted)

Unavailable: 20. Neil Young, 9. Zhang Shou

Referee: Gerard Parsons


Perth Glory v North Queensland Fury, at nib Stadium, Perth (10pm AEST)

Perth Glory: 1. Tando Velaphi, 2. Josh Mitchell, 3. Jamie Coyne, 5. Jamie Harnwell, 7. Jacob Burns (captain), 9.Robbie Fowler, 10. Michael Baird, 11. Branko Jelic, 12. Scott Neville, 14. Steven McGarry, 16. Adriano Pellegrino, 17. Todd Howarth, 19. Naum Sekulovski, 20. Aleks Vrteski, 21. Mile Sterjovski, 22. Anthony Skorich, 23. Andrija Jukic (two to be omitted)

Unavailable: Andy Todd (knee, two weeks), Victor Sikora (hip, two weeks), Tommy Amphlett (groin, two weeks), Chris Coyne (on loan, eight weeks)


North Queensland Fury: 1. Justin Pasfield (GK), 4. Eric Akoto, 5. Mark Hughes, 7. Gareth Edds (captain), 8. Adam Casey, 10. Dyron Daal, 11. David Williams, 12. Panagiotis Nikas, 14. Chris Grossman, 15. Chris Payne, 16. Simon Storey, 17. Osama Malik, 18. Brett Studman, 19. Isaka Cernak, 20. Matthew Ham (GK), 21. Jason Spagnuolo (one to be omitted)

Unavailable: 2.Jack Hingert, 7.Ufuk Talay, 13.Andre Kilian, Eugene Sseppuya

Referee: Kevin Docherty


Saturday, August 7

Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory, at Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney (8pm EST)

Melbourne Victory: 1 .Michael Petkovic (GK), 2. Kevin Muscat (captain), 3. Mate Dugandzic, 5. Surat Sukha, 6. Leigh Broxham, 8 .Grant Brebner, 11. Marvin Angulo, 12. Rodrigo Vargas, 13. Diogo Ferreira, 14. Billy Celeski, 15. Tom Pondeljak, 16. Carlos Hernandez, 17. Matthew Foschini, 19. Evan Berger, 20. Sebastian Mattei (GK), 21. Robbie Kruse, 22. Nick Ward, 23. Adrian Leijer (three to be omitted)

Unavailable: Archie Thompson (Knee), Matthew Kemp (knee)


Sydney FC: 1. Liam Reddy (GK), 2. Sebastian Ryall 3. Stephan Keller, 5. Hayden Foxe, 6. Hirofumi Moriyasu, 7. Brendan Gan, 8. Stuart Musialik, 10. Nick Carle, 11. Kofi Danning, 12. Shannon Cole, 13. Antony Golec, 14. Alex Brosque, 15. Terry McFlynn (captain), 16. Terry Antonis, 17. Matthew Jurman, 19. Mark Bridge, 20. Ivan Necevski (GK), 21. Scott Jamieson, 22. Sung-hwan Byun, 23. Rhyan Grant (five to be omitted)

Unavailable: Nil

Referee: Matthew Breeze


Sunday, August 8
Gold Coast United v Brisbane Roar, at Skilled Park, Robina (3pm EST)

Gold Coast United: 1.Glen Moss (GK), 2. Steve Pantelidis, 3. Michael Thwaite, 5. Robson, 6.Dino Djulbic, 7. Zenon Caravella, 8. Anderson, 9. Shane Smeltz, 10. Jason Culina, 13. Bas van den Brink, 14. Joel Porter, 15. Tahj Minniecon, 16. Kristian Rees, 18. James Brown, 19. Andrew Barisic, 20. Scott Higgins, 21. Golgol Mebrahtu, 22. Adama Traore, 23. Steve Fitzsimmons, 24. John Curtis (five to be omitted)

Unavailable: 17.Matt Osman (knee, indefinite) , 30.Jerrad Tyson (not selected)


Brisbane Roar: 1. Michael Theoklitos (GK), 2. Matt Smith, 3. Luke Devere, 4. Shane Stefanutto, 5. Ivan Franjic, 6. Erik Paartalu, 7. Kosta Barbarouses, 8. Massimo Murdocca, 10. Henrique, 12. Matt Mundy, 15. Matt McKay (captain), 17. Mitch Nichols, 18. Luke Brattan, 20, Andrew Redmayne, 21. James Meyer, 22. Thomas Broich, 23. Milan Susak (two to be omitted)

Unavailable: 9. Jean Carlo Solorzano (awaiting international clearance), 11. Reinaldo (hamstring, two weeks), 14. Rocky Visconte (hamstring, two weeks)

Referee: Peter Green

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

Heart
Draw
Perth
Melbourne
Brisbane

[devilsadvocate]

Heart
Draw
Perth
Draw
GC

[Il Duce]

all the home teams to win

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

Central Coast 1
Heart 0

Decent first up crowd for Heart of a little over 11,000

[devilsadvocate]

The heart were pretty ordinary.
But I guess that's to be expected for a new side while they find their style.

[Wedgie]

Hooray! We're top of the table!
Hopefully we can do alright, not sure how many A League seasons there will be left the way things are going.

[Swooper16]

These first 2 games havent been the best advertisement for the Australian league. Hopefully Robbie Fowler can change that...

[whufc]

These first 2 games havent been the best advertisement for the Australian league. Hopefully Robbie Fowler can change that...

They wont be this year, another team in the comp will just decrease the standard, there will just be 5hite load more recycled players running around.

[mickey]

Half Time:

Perth 1 - North QLD Fury 1

[mickey]

Melbourne Heart 0 - 1 CCM (Wilkinson 16')
Crowd 11050
-----
Adelaide 0 - 0 Newcastle

United with only 5 shots on goal for the entire game
No subs until 85 minutes... will it be another long season or just a nervous start under new management???

Crowd of 8479 might be a bit of a worry aswell, how they dont get 12-13k each week still has me baffled
-----
Perth 3 (Jelic 5', Neville 74', Sterjovski 79') - 3 NQF (Payne 35', Williams 64', Grossman 90'+2)
Crowd 16019
-----

[devilsadvocate]

Melbourne Heart 0 - 1 CCM (Wilkinson 16')
Crowd 11050
-----
Adelaide 0 - 0 Newcastle

United with only 5 shots on goal for the entire game
No subs until 85 minutes... will it be another long season or just a nervous start under new management???

Crowd of 8479 might be a bit of a worry aswell, how they dont get 12-13k each week still has me baffled
-----
Perth 3 (Jelic 5', Neville 74', Sterjovski 79') - 3 NQF (Payne 35', Williams 64', Grossman 90'+2)
Crowd 16019
-----

Bloody Perth! I put a tenner on before I saw the team sheet. Even still, with the cattle they had, the 3 points should have been a near certainty.

NQF played very well IMO. When they went behind both times, they just applied themselves to playing simple football and it worked beautifully.

But seriously, WTF is going on with Perth's keeper? NQF's first goal was as soft as they get. Most amatuer keepers would have got down to that and kept it out. But the last goal of the game was just diabolical. 2 meters from the goal line a keeper should be taking the ball or at very least getting a whopping great fist on it every time. The Perth keeper's effort last night should see him dropped IMO, as that's just not up to standard.

Anyhoo, I think Perth will be a contender this year. They have a lot of players to come back in and will be a class act IMO.

As for a spectacle, that game was as good as you'll see. Sensational start to the season and a fantastic crowd too!! The shed end was going bananas!

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

Amazing game going on in Sydney, Melbourne down 2-0 after 65 minutes, now lead 3-2 after 72 minutes, brilliant stuff.

Crowd a little over 12,000

[whufc]

Amazing game going on in Sydney, Melbourne down 2-0 after 65 minutes, now lead 3-2 after 72 minutes, brilliant stuff.

Crowd a little over 12,000

You beauty carn the Victory and hold on for the 3 points.

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

Ended 3-3, fantastic game.

Melbourne v Perth next week is shaping up to be a cracker, and being the first game at the new stadium will go close to 30,000.

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

These first 2 games havent been the best advertisement for the Australian league. Hopefully Robbie Fowler can change that...

The next 2 more than made up for that, both 3-3 all crackers.

[pels]

With all the doom and gloom coming out of the media, good to see 2 attacking games and plenty of goals, just need Adelaide to follow suit.
Hopefully the crowds starting coming along in bigger numbers, but you are right Melb V Perth should be a cracker of a game and hopefully a big crowd.

[devilsadvocate]

Ended 3-3, fantastic game.

Melbourne v Perth next week is shaping up to be a cracker, and being the first game at the new stadium will go close to 30,000.

Agreed on both counts. Great game tonight. Brilliant for the neutrals.

**** v Perth next week will be epic. Up the Glory!

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

With all the doom and gloom coming out of the media, good to see 2 attacking games and plenty of goals, just need Adelaide to follow suit.
Hopefully the crowds starting coming along in bigger numbers, but you are right Melb V Perth should be a cracker of a game and hopefully a big crowd.

There will be 17,000+ on memberships alone, so I would be amazed to see anything under 27,000, plus I'm fairly sure there isn't any afl on in Melbourne next saturday night.


12,106 for Sydney is a bit of a worry though, reigning champions, opening game, grand final re-match, plus there was probably 1000 away fans, should really have been a lot closer 20,000

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

HT
Gold Coast 0
Brisbane 0