Round 16: Newcastle Jets v Melbourne Victory
VS 
Newcastle Jets v Melbourne Victory
…continue reading Round 16: Newcastle Jets v Melbourne Victory
Round 16: Wellington Phoenix vs Central Coast Mariners
VS 
Wellington Phoenix vs Central Coast Mariners
…continue reading Round 16: Wellington Phoenix vs Central Coast Mariners
Dutch star heads to Perth
Former Ajax and Dutch International Victor Sikora who played six times for Holland jets into Perth as injury cover for Amaral.
…continue reading Dutch star heads to Perth
Gold Coast add Brazilian flair
Miron Bleiberg’s recent trip to Brazil has proven successful with three Brazilians joining the Gold Coast squad.
Midfielder’s Robson and Jefferson and 31-year-old striker Milson have all agreed to one-year deals.
“He’s (Milson) very strong in the air and for a big guy is mobile and intelligent around the penalty box,” Bleiberg said.
“Milson is an elegant player who has been around and I’m delighted to have secured his services for our inaugural season.”
“He really caught my eye when I watched him and he will be a great asset to our squad. His experience will valuable to us.”
The new samba signings have boosted the squad to now 15.
CONFIRMED ROSTER TO DATE (15 players):
Goalkeepers: Jess Vanstrattan, Scott Higgins.
Defenders: Adam Griffiths, Daniel Piorkowski, Kristian Rees.
Midfielders: Matt Osman, Steve Fitzsimmons, Zenon Caravella, Steve Pantelidis, James Brown, Robson, Jefferson.
Strikers: Shane Smeltz, Andrew Barisic, Milson.
Adelaide set up Gamba rematch
Adelaide’s hard fought 2-1 victory over Waitakere in the Club World Cup opener in Tokyo last night came down to a 83rd minute winner from Travis Dodd.
The Kiwi’s took the lead after Eugene Galekovic spilled the ball in a collision which saw Waitakere take the lead through Paul Seaman, but Reds defender Dan Mullen levelled matters just five minutes later.
The game was heading for a draw until Adelaide’s captain Travis Dodd sent a glancing header inside the far post for the win.
Vidmar’s men now face a blockbuster rematch with Gamba Osaka with the winner to take on Manchester United.
Pim’s Asia Cup quest
Socceroo coach Pim Verbeek plans to convince overseas Socceroos to play in next month’s Asian Cup qualifier against Indonesia.
Verbeek says he would like to use foreign-based players, but his shortlist of local A-league players can do the job if necessary.
“The Asian Cup games will probably be mostly A-League players. World Cup is different but [I'll look] for any possibility to give players a chance to show themselves at international football,” he said. “We always look for that [overseas-based players]. Maybe we can pick up some players who are not in their [club] squads and need some games to play, but it’s not the time yet to decide.
“At the moment, I have 34 players on my list. Again, we still have five weeks to go, so that means I will visit around 15 games with my coaching staff, so if there are one or two players stepping up in the coming week, it will be easy to add them to that list. I think we have enough quality, yes.”
Pim Verbeek’s reasoning behind bringing in untried A-league players is to add depth to the squad.
“I’ve said I want every position tripled. I made a list for myself, and I want to pick the best player for every position and another two for that position.”
“I’ve heard from [assistant coach] Graham Arnold, who has been in Indonesia the last week, that he saw the games where there was 60,000 in the stands and we expect Indonesia to have 90,000 in the stands, so we should not underestimate Indonesia away,” he said. “I’ve never seen worse training fields in my life, that’s even an understatement. We will not train [away from the main stadium] at all over there.
“There’s A-league matches that weekend, so we’ll probably arrive on Monday night or Tuesday morning. We’ll train the day we play in the stadium, which is a great stadium to play football in.”
North to Korea
Jade North was granted a release from his contract by the Fury late yesterday, with the club opting not to stand in his way.
Even though North is still signed with Newcastle Jets till June 30th it is believed he has a get-out clause in his Fury’s Contract.
“Jade had a wonderful opportunity to pursue a career internationally, and we did not want to stand in his way,” Matheson said.
“It is perfectly legitimate for players to aspire to have experience overseas to try to further their career, as well as gain some valuable life experience, and Jade is at that point in his life.
“He has a good offer from an overseas club and we’re happy for him to pursue his dream.”
But Matheson told AAP: “The contract wasn’t as reported, what we have done is agreed to let him go, it was a mutual agreement.
“We spoke to him, he said the opportunity was there, we said it would be better that he chased it up and he gave us plenty of time to find another marquee player so we let him go pretty quickly.
“He’s a good mate of mine and it will remain that way, if he comes back he is welcome here any time.”
North’s agent Sam Ayoub that this deal with the Koreans would keep him in Pim Verbeeks plans.
“Jade’s always aspired to play overseas and an opportunity came up through our agents in Asia and we’ve been talking with them for a while and we notified North Queensland a while ago those talks were ongoing,” Ayoub said last night. “Given the opportunity that existed and the arrangement we had with North Queensland, we decided to take up the offer overseas, and Jade’s very much looking forward to it.”
Kewell to return home for surgery
Harry Kewell’s return home to have a hernia operation is not a worrying situation for Pim Verbeek.
Despite Kewell has been in top form for his Galatasaray club, his recent injury with a torn abdominal muscle has led to his hernia problem.
“Harry rang me last night and told me he will be returning to Australia for the operation,” said Verbeek, to spend some time monitoring home based socceroos.
“It is not an urgent problem and he could have had it (the operation) in two or three months’ time. However, with the winter break coming up in Turkey, it makes it the right time to get the problem seen to.”
Round 15: Wellington Phoenix vs Perth Glory
VS
Wellington Phoenix vs Perth Glory
…continue reading Round 15: Wellington Phoenix vs Perth Glory
Round 15: Central Coast Mariners vs Sydney FC
VS 
Central Coast Mariners vs Sydney FC
…continue reading Round 15: Central Coast Mariners vs Sydney FC
