Tipping the Opening of the Second Round Robin

Well the first Round Robin of the Blogger's Cup is over. The Roar fans as a block are still doing terribly, including Cecilia, who is of course a secret fan. Mike needs to be tested for performance enhancing drugs. But we all have to maintain mental strength, and it's good to see you back into the fray John, after perhaps a moment of doubt in yourself (and the Roar) last week. Jacob, the defending champion, is still in the middle of the pack, and things can turn around very quickly.

Upon a gender analysis, it's clear that women's football tipping still has a long way to go before it is truly competitive. (I just know I'll regret saying that.)

Here are my tips for Round 8:

Adelaide vs Melbourne:
United 2:0

Perth vs Sydney:
Draw 1:1

Newcastle vs Wellington:
Jets 2:1

Central Coast vs Queensland:
The F'ing Roar 1:3

Last week was a brilliant week by the way. Life seems so simple sometimes. The Red-Eye Pirates, my futsal team, won their game on Tuesday night, 3:2. The Roar won their game, 2:1. Then Jacob's team The West End Terrors (the name has been watered down due to parental pressure) won their first indoor soccer game 3:2 on Saturday (deservedly coming back from 2:1 down at half time, after leading 1:0 at the first - bloody exciting game). The news of the loss for the Young Matildas, sad though it was, did not manage to dampen my week too much.

Tonight was the third futsal game for the Red-Eye Pirates. I am the goalie full time and I love it. I looked forward to tonight all week and I'm already looking forward to next Tuesday night. I think we have a strong team, but more importantly it's a very cool team. It's fun, we all drink and smoke afterwards, we seem to really like each other, and it's well organised by Harmonie and Dorian, our managers who sub each other while the other looks after their baby.

The mixed team thing is odd, where if a bloke scores, a chick has to be the next scorer (not the other way round). It's obviously a positive-discrimination device, which is fine, but I'm not sure if it works. As goalie I know that after a bloke scores I simply don't have to worry about the blokes - I can ignore the fact that a bloke has the ball and is right in front of goal and directly mark the girl looking for the cross. Imogen, our best defender (at least I feel most secure when it is her in front of me), said the same independently of my observation - "when it's the girl's turn just shut down the girls." So the prophesy is fulfilled - the girls find it harder to score. I'm new to the game but I'm just holding a question over this rule.

Anyway, for the records, we're still playing pre-season friendlies, but our first game "we" lost (can't remember the score), though I was being lent to the other team, the second game was last weeks' which we won, and this week we lost 6:0. Why I'm not really upset about this is because I played well and made a lot of saves and the main people hammering us were loans from our team, Lara and Craig. Critically I have to say that we were pretty boring up front this week, almost all of the shots being fairly long hopefuls and very little crossing across the box, which is crucial in futsal. Needless to say, Craig and Lara were crossing to each other beautifully.

Having a drink with a few of the team after the game, I realised that all the people present were over 25 (most over 35) and had only gotten into the game in the last few years (about 6 at most). I asked everyone how they got into it and heard their various stories. All apart from me came into it through friends, playing the game. I was the only one who followed the Roar. It's not that they weren't enthused by the idea, and I'm going to invite the whole team to the next home game sure that some will come, but it's food for thought for anyone interested in the growth of the A-League. They watched the Women's World Cup. Soccer in its various forms is growing exponentially in the community. The futsal center we play at is just starting its second season, and it is chocked with teams. But... well... the A-League ain't on TV.

May the tens of thousands of soccer games around the world this week be a hell of a lot of fun for all concerned, and be free of serious injury.