A League A Lottery
July 17th 2009 13:33
Wow!!! What a season in front of us. Season five of the A League, Australia's premier soccer competition is shaping to be something out of this world. Look at the recruits . . . Gold Coast United with Socceroo Jason Culina plus the poaching of Shane Smeltz last season's Golden Boot. Then take a quick squiz at Perth Glory, wowie wow wow! A triple threat of Socceroos headed by regular Mile Sterjovski and backed up by Jacob Burns and super solid centre back Chris Coyne. I can't wait and I bet you can't either.
With kick off less than three weeks away (Aug 6th Melb v CCM) we here at Rightback felt it was time to give you the people a regular update on all the ins and outs of the A League so you aren't left out of the loop when suddenly all the discussion at the office water cooler is about the A League. So plug in and listen and by August 5th (A League Eve) we'll give you the exact order the ten teams will finish in at season's end.
Today we look closely at Sydney FC and Gold Coast United. Sydney FC have managed to fly beneath the radar of the bulk of A League hyperamas this pre season, that's despite going through nine odd trial matches undefeated. The critics are saying "Oh they're only State League teams that Sydney is beating, blaa blaa blaa." Something has changed at Sydney, you can see and smell it a mile away. They stink of a makeover. New coach Vitezslav Lavicka has got the Sky Blues hungry again. Clean sheets and goals have blotted their trial form and Sydney have got that blend of old and new that great teams wear. Last season all we heard were stories of infighting and discontent with manager John 'Kossie' Kosmina. Nowadays everyone at Sydney is out to impress the new boss.
Big things are expected from youngsters Ryan Grant and Kofi Danning. Danning quickly asserted himself as the crowd favourite scoring with a toe poke and making some memorable runs down the left. Grant is the workaholic who can cross a ball and the icing on the cake . . . yeah he's got speed too. Blend these two with Corica an in form Aloisi and Brosque playing anywhere but striker/forward and Sydney will be a major contender.
Gold Coast United are an interesting lot. They don't like to keep anything secret. Billionaire owner Clive Palmer quietly predicting the 'sunny boys' will go through the season undefeated. I'm sure players and management took a deep swallow when hearing the money man's expectations. And on top of that Gold Coast's opponent will be champing at the bit to be the team to burn the house down. But when you pause and take a glance at the roster . . . wow! Are you kiddding. Yeah kiddding with the triple.
Wearing an almost identical strip to that of the Brazilian national team you are gonna notice this lot. Current Socceroo Culina will call the shots from midfield and with the blessing of manager Miron go go go forward. Not that he'll need to with the likes of Golden Boot Shane Smeltz up front. Smeltz will be working with former Hartlepool boy Joel Porter. I remember young Joel when he was at Sydney Olympic, he had a touch of class from day one. Now Joel is back in town hoping to get his name in the head of Aussie manager Pim Verbeek. Then there is Tahj Minniecon who will add plenty of pace to the flank. On top of this manager Miron decided to throw in a bagful of assorted Brazilians. They're an essential ingredient to any premiership prospect.
Wowie wow wow! In all my excitement I forgot to mention that Gold Coast United sport the coolest manager in the A League. Colourful Miron Bleiberg whose imperfect English is what makes him so catwalk model perfect. Wow.You can bet that simply winning won't be enough for Miron. And 'the Clive'. Clive Palmer the billionaire owner with his private jet that he likes to rent out to the team for pre season bonding sessions. It's pretty obvious Gold Coast will be amongst the frontrunners.
With kick off less than three weeks away (Aug 6th Melb v CCM) we here at Rightback felt it was time to give you the people a regular update on all the ins and outs of the A League so you aren't left out of the loop when suddenly all the discussion at the office water cooler is about the A League. So plug in and listen and by August 5th (A League Eve) we'll give you the exact order the ten teams will finish in at season's end.
Today we look closely at Sydney FC and Gold Coast United. Sydney FC have managed to fly beneath the radar of the bulk of A League hyperamas this pre season, that's despite going through nine odd trial matches undefeated. The critics are saying "Oh they're only State League teams that Sydney is beating, blaa blaa blaa." Something has changed at Sydney, you can see and smell it a mile away. They stink of a makeover. New coach Vitezslav Lavicka has got the Sky Blues hungry again. Clean sheets and goals have blotted their trial form and Sydney have got that blend of old and new that great teams wear. Last season all we heard were stories of infighting and discontent with manager John 'Kossie' Kosmina. Nowadays everyone at Sydney is out to impress the new boss.
Big things are expected from youngsters Ryan Grant and Kofi Danning. Danning quickly asserted himself as the crowd favourite scoring with a toe poke and making some memorable runs down the left. Grant is the workaholic who can cross a ball and the icing on the cake . . . yeah he's got speed too. Blend these two with Corica an in form Aloisi and Brosque playing anywhere but striker/forward and Sydney will be a major contender.
Gold Coast United are an interesting lot. They don't like to keep anything secret. Billionaire owner Clive Palmer quietly predicting the 'sunny boys' will go through the season undefeated. I'm sure players and management took a deep swallow when hearing the money man's expectations. And on top of that Gold Coast's opponent will be champing at the bit to be the team to burn the house down. But when you pause and take a glance at the roster . . . wow! Are you kiddding. Yeah kiddding with the triple.
The Sunny Boys
Wowie wow wow! In all my excitement I forgot to mention that Gold Coast United sport the coolest manager in the A League. Colourful Miron Bleiberg whose imperfect English is what makes him so catwalk model perfect. Wow.You can bet that simply winning won't be enough for Miron. And 'the Clive'. Clive Palmer the billionaire owner with his private jet that he likes to rent out to the team for pre season bonding sessions. It's pretty obvious Gold Coast will be amongst the frontrunners.
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