Tipping Adelaide vs Newcastle

It's 3am. I'm writing this rather psyched up to go into town to watch Australia play Denmark, strangely detached this time from the whole winning/losing thing, but excited and anxious nevertheless.

Jacob is still asleep. I'll wake him at around 4.45 so we can catch the 5.12 into town to go to the Pig n' Whistle. My own alarm was due to go off in another half an hour but stuff it I can never sleep once I've woken up so I'm using the time to get a bit of stuff done, including this post.

Well the tippers have less points to go for each time now, as the A-League contenders whittle to three and the weeks to two. Here are our scores:

Jacob: 39
John: 36
Hamish: 35
Tony: 34
Dave: 34
Drsimmo: 33

We're only just beginning to be sorted out ourselves, with Drsimmo needing all six remaining points to just draw with Jacob. With a three point lead over second place, Jacob is looking a bit like Melbourne in mid-season. If he keeps his tipping form for this weekend, I'm going to owe him a dinner. Quite convenient for me really.

Note a new ad hoc ruling: I'm only giving points for the full time result. If you predict a draw, by all means say who you think will win a penalty shoot-out, but there's no bonuses.

My tip:
Adelaide United FC vs Newcastle Jets FC
Newcastle 1:2

Jacob's tip:
Adelaide United FC vs Newcastle Jets FC
Newcastle 1:2

May the best team win, may there be a glorious, sporting crowd at Hindmarsh, brilliant and entertaining football and no serious injuries.

And meanwhile... Go the Socceroos!

Rump Steak and Footy with Jacob

I had everything set up to 'watch' this Newcastle vs Melbourne game in the best way possible. I had the A-League 'live' site up as well as the SBS live scoring site, and had Melbourne radio playing live meanwhile.

Jacob walked into my room. Neighbours had finished. He said, "Let's go."

"What?"

"Let's go to town. This game decides the fate of Queensland man."

"Ok, we'll be late, but let's go. Put your shoes on."

We caught the train, and when we arrived at the Pig & Whistle, we had missed half an hour but it was still nil all.

I'd expected maybe a lot of Roar fans as the Pig & Whistle always play A-League games and I think is one of the official Roar fan bars. We could mostly only spot obvious Sydney supporters.

After the first Newcastle goal, I asked one of them (we were about one foot away from a whole table of these black shirts), "Who do you hope will win?"

"Melbourne."

"I actually hope Newcastle will win. You see I'm a Roar supporter." I stopped myself, in courtesy, from saying, "I really want Queensland to be the ones to knock you guys out of the competition!" So I probably didn't quite make sense.

"But if Melbourne win, then Roar are safe as well as Sydney."

"Yeah," I said, "but it will make it a cracker of a game tomorrow."

The bloke went back to his iced chocolate.

What? A bunch of young male Sydney fans drinking coffees and iced milk drinks?

No...

They did look very uniform. I noticed their shirts weren't actually jerseys, but collared shirts, with all the sponsors upon them, and they all had matching track pants as well. They weren't drinking, and then one said, "I'm going to go for a massage. At 8.30 we can get a massage."

I turned to the bloke again. "You aren't the team are you?"

"No."

How silly of me. "Are you playing for the Cove in the curtain raiser?"

"No."

"Um, it's just that you all have matching track pants, and, um, none of you are drinking."

"Ok, we're the players."

"What's your name?"

"David."

"David who?"

"David Carney."

"Oh."

I'll only make one real note. These guys clearly wanted Melbourne to win. They were noticeably stunned as Newcastle walked over Melbourne. In their eyes - each and every one of the eight or nine of them there - was, "Oh fuck, we might not make the finals." They did not look confident to me. As Jacob pointed out, maybe there were a bunch of Roar players somewhere looking the same way. The only certainty is, this one tomorrow night is really going to be a cracker.

As they left (as soon as the fourth goal was scored), I said to David Zdrilic, "May the best team win." He said, "Thanks mate," and I reckon that was about as much as either of us could have expected from the other.

I meant it though. May the best team win. I reckon the Roar are the best team, but in under twenty-four hours, we'll all know.

The Spluttering Roar

Had a good night out last night at Suncorp Stadium with Jacob, his mates and fellow Terrorists Max and Callum, and their Mum Fiona. No complaints about the company, and despite an ominous period, the weather held out too. Pitty about the game, but you can't have everything.

Newcastle deserved its win. Congratulations to the boys in camel yellow.

The Queensland midfield actually wasn't too bad. In the first half I thought they dominated the Jets' midfield, but the front line might as well have gone off for cocktails. Reinaldo in particular is starting to look like a showy dud. I truly hope he lifts his act, as I love his backflips.

Newcastle's Rodrigues was clearly their star. I assume he's ok, because my quick peruse of the media this morning has not revealed anything about his injury, but when he was stretchered off I was one of the few Brisbanites clapping him, for sheer performance.

Booing the player who has just beaten the pants off you is worse than bad sportsmanship. It reveals a deep inadequacy. I don't think this is just a Queensland thing; it seems to be a feature of the football audience, and it's crap. Football above all else is a spiritual journey, and if you fail spiritually, in the end you fail on the pitch. Ok, I'm quite mad.

Meanwhile, go the Roar. There's clearly some thinking to do, and some rejigging. Best of luck figuring it Miron and the team.

And to all who love our glorious game, have a great week.

Jets vs Knights

Ok, I couldn't resist and had to go down to the Muddy Farmer and watch the game. They still haven't got Fox Sport 3 incidentally, but fortunately this weekend most of the games (except last night's) are on Fox 1.

Just a couple of observations. I really like watching Newcastle play and have done before, even when they weren't so victorious. And frankly their win tonight can't be seen as any vindication of getting rid of Nick Theodorakopoulos, because this sort of play must take a lot of work to build up in a team, and he did it. There's something tragic about his demise as coach. The timing was precisely tragic, in my view, and precisely wrong.

New Zealand really are bad, and I'm not even in a cruel mood. The different styles of play were summed up when Michael Turnbull booted a goal kick all the way down to his opposite number Ben Kennedy, who quickly and professionally fed the ball to his defenders. With Newcastle's capacity to maintain possession down the field, the Knights' goalie may as well have just given it to the closest Jet.

At the beginning of the game I really didn't mind who won, but by half way through the first half, such was the stark difference in style and quality, when the Knights did get the opportunities (generally from a lottery lob) I cringed at the thought they might get lucky, so undeserved were they.

How many times did Rodriguez have a shot at goal? Turnbull will be having nightmares about him tonight. I did wonder if Rodriguez was overrated at one point, given that he was so often off target. It will take watching many more games to get a feel for whether the sheer unrelenting pressure of such constant attempts are worth it. I did cheer for Rod when he finally delivered, in the final minute - the poor bugger must have been very frustrated.

Stuart Musialik's goal was sublime. The first goal from Jade North, a text-book head from a corner kick, was merely a relief, as up until then I was fearing a much undeserved nil all draw. But Musialik's goal was sheer joy. I don't know how he had the audacity to shoot at all from where he was, let alone how the ball managed to miss all those defenders.

Loved it. I'll sleep well tonight - well, for a bit. Gotta get up at 2am. Don't ask; it has nothing to do with football.

Cheers.

A Football Day

G'day. I wasn't going to write anything today, because I missed the game last night anyway and probably won't be watching tonight's either (even though it's on Fox Sport 1, so at least the pubs will have it).

Congratulations to Central Coast though! From the media I've read, it looks like they're back in the Comp. And without wanting to sound unsympathetic to Carbone, we have at least observed the vanity of putting too much hope in a super-striker. Mike Salter over at The Football Tragic is in denial of course, and has chosen to review the fans rather than the game. Forgive me Mike - my ribbing is in good spirit.

But aside from all that A-League nonsense I had a great football day today. I've taken on the mangement of a boys under 12 indoor soccer team, called... um... The West End Terrorists.
They made the name ok, and over some mild protests from the parents, including me, they have had their way. I'm assuming those men in dark suits and sunglasses with funny hearing aids were just interested onlookers.

Anyway, we're a week behind, and some of the kids have never been on an indoor soccer pitch before or kicked one of the oversized tennis balls they use, so they lost 5:1, but they had a hoot. It is really fast and, because they're not allowed to hit it over head height and there's only five to a side on a small court, the ball work and short passing is intense. I was completely impressed, and on a first viewing can only recommend it as an off season game to keep the kids' skills up.

It is at the Brisbane Indoor Sports Centre.

That was this morning, and this evening I went for a run by myself. Look, I'm 38 and haven't tried to keep in shape for about forty years , until becoming addicted to football about a month ago, so when I say 'a run', I mean a bit of running and a bit of walking, down to the river and back.

The route I take takes me through the El Salvador Football Club, and there was a five-a-side game going on. My mate Keitch, who coached Jacob's team the last two seasons, was playing, so I stopped and watched for a bit. Reflecting as I sat, catching my breath and watching these young skilled blokes dance around one another, it occurred to me that football isn't complete without days like today. Kids and locals, kicking about, breathing the air together, with volunteer refs and more pigeons than fans. Call me sentimental. Following the Socceroos and the A-League only enhances this experience for me, just as the local experience brings the quality and professionalism of the former into proper, sharper relief.

I love football. It might have saved my life. In the words of Tim Parks, it has given me "...a new and fiercely ironic way of forming community and engaging with the sacred." (Thanks to commentor Guido for that link.)

Best of luck tonight to the two underdogs New Zealand and Newcastle. Whoever wins, I pray to Saint Johnny Warren that they all play their best football and that there are no injuries.

Cheers.

Newcastle vs Perth

Well for personal reasons I had to leave The Muddy Farmer at half time, so will have to follow the rest of the game on the net, but I must say to begin with that I was enjoying the football much more than last night.

Perth deserved that goal. From the first few minutes I was more impressed with what they were trying to do, as much as how they were playing. From now on that's what I'm going to be looking for I think. It's something philosophical.

Not that Newcastle were playing that badly - they weren't, and they had a couple of good opportunities, but when they just lob the ball straight from the defenders to the forwards (well, to Rodriquez), hoping that wonderman will cast the spell, it's boring.

A possible irony occurred to me about these magic imports. I have no doubt they can be great for the Australian game, but is there a risk that teams will base their strategy around the magic players (especially if they're strikers), thus compromising the development of a whole beauty of play? At this stage this is just a thought, but I'm going to be watching for this. Certainly what I love about Roar (acknowledging my bias to be sure) is they have a lot of emphasis on the midfield. Matt McKay is certainly a pleasure to watch, but one of the big hero imports is Seo, who is also beautifully skilled and central to the Roar game. Anyway, I'm thinking aloud. Not an expert, but a bellowing voice in the crowd (as anyone who read my rant last night can attest).

It's minute 60 and I do wish I was watching. It did look like it could get exciting. Perth, from my impressions, can not be written out of this competition. Newcastle too are playing a better quality football than New Zealand or CCM in my view, despite their position on the ladder. Sydney has been bloody lucky.

How many Australians would be watching this game if you didn't have to have Fox Sport or go to the pub to watch it? It's not even on the bloody radio, and checking the net every five minutes is a useless experience. I'm worried about Sunday - it promises to be the best game of the season to date, and I will most certainly be watching it, but I just know there'll be a raucous pack of rugby fans already drinking, especially toward the end of the match. Oh well... the perils of a football fan in Oz.

3:0 must be the final score. From the half I saw it was deserved. For predictions, a point for Jacob. Newcastle - players and fans - must be devastated.

Good night.

El Salvador Soccer Club

Well we tried to see the Newcastle vs Mariners game at the Pineapple Hotel, but it was packed and we were overwhelmed by Rugby League on the screens. The food was ok though. "The food was beautiful; it was so nice," is Jacob's retort.

Jacob was also on the money with the score (well, at least the draw part) so maybe his food review is better too.

But today was a big soccer day for us both, and in a way which for me is closer to the real heart of the game than the A-League or even the World Cup. It was our local club's Fun Day and Trophy Presentation, which took us from 11.00am through to 6.00pm.

The El Salvador Club has been growing almost too rapidly in the past few years. It only has one main field and two mini fields, but the club house is great, small but licensed, with a big screen and a pool table. There were eight under 7 teams this year, so that they were obliged to set up an intra-club under 7s competition. It's a bit out of control.

So there were hundreds of people there today, all ages. Parents vs kids games all day, pinyatas and other games, a jumping castle, a dead pig over a fire, free sausages and drinks for all the players and on it went. Apart from meals and drinks it was all free. The club is doing well, and although the day was long, it was joy and community.

One of the keys it seems to the success is that the parents are catered for directly. Friday night training is not a drop-off, but a chance to sit and have a drink with the other parents, with salsa music and very reasonably priced food.

I'm bloody sore after the game between us parents of the under 11s and our kids. We showed no mercy and thrashed them 5:0. Ha! "5 nil, it was not, it was 3 nil," comes from over my shoulder. Anyway, it was fun, and by the end we were all completely stuffed.

And to top it off, I am the proud parent of one of the "most improved player" trophy getters. He deserves it too.

Anyway, the point of all this? This is football. Where a community is not alienated but laughing, talking about life and love, living together in the sun on the grass. This is much more important than Australia winning international games, but it must also be said that it is greatly facilitated by Australia winning international games. I only expect that many clubs in Australia are having successes and growth, and the Socceroos are partly to blame.

And the growth and success of these local clubs can return the favour. It is this grass roots community joy in football that will, in the long term, deliver Australia the World Cup.

Salud, and good night.