Vancouversoccerman Posted December 13, 2009 Share Posted December 13, 2009 Don't know if anyone else mentioned it, but I just noticed that Fox Sportsworld Canada is now showing Australian A-League matches. Might be worth watching, as we often talk about Australia providing the framework for how we can change the state of the game here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SthMelbRed Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 ^Trust me, it's not often worth watching. Of the ten teams, only Melbourne Victory and maybe a couple of others (on a very good day) play anything like decent football. You might want to catch a North Queensland Fury match purely for the cheap thrill of seeing Robbie Fowler running around and looking fitter than he has for at least six or seven years. Other than that, it's pretty dire stuff. If they show Victory vs Sydney FC this weekend, it might be bearable to watch, they are one and two on the table and very big rivals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obinna Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 I don't think A-league is that bad from the little I have seen. It is not clearly worse than MLS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SthMelbRed Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 I have seen far more A-league over the last few years than I have MLS and I have to disagree. Before this season, the best player in the A-league has been Costa Rican international, Carlos Hernandez or Archie Thompson, who can't get into the Socceroos squad unless the entire overseas contingent being unavailable. Pim Verbeek, his international manager, has called him hopeless at international level. Robbie Fowler, washed up at even CCC level, has managed to step in and be one of the best players this season. Outside of the NZ bunch from Wellington Phoenix, the A-league will probably only send a couple of players to the World Cup in June, Craig Moore and Jason Culina. The average A-league game is more mistake-ridden than most USL games I've seen and most games have at least one dirty tackle worthy of a red card. Unfortunately, the officiating is usually even worse than the standard of play. The fans at least do create a decent live atmosphere, at least here in Melbourne, but it's pretty crap on TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 quote:Originally posted by SthMelbRed The average A-league game is more mistake-ridden than most USL games I've seen I've noticed this too. I've only seen a handful of games so far, but that's what sticks out the most to me. It'll look like a pretty decent game is going on and then all of a sudden some comically sloppy play starts to develop and you just shake your head. We're talking shots going out for throw-ins, simple 5-10 yard passes missing the mark, long diagonal balls ending up 10 yards behind their target and into the stands. Real bush league stuff. The other 85 minutes or so it looks like a good USL-1 match going on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SthMelbRed Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 ^Just curious if last night's Melbourne Victory-Sydney FC match was shown there. I went to the match and thought Victory played pretty well, on the whole, even if they proved a bit too cautious for my liking in the last twenty minutes. Sydney were not very good. Match finished nil all. If anybody watched it, did it change anybody's minds either positively or negatively? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vancouversoccerman Posted December 21, 2009 Author Share Posted December 21, 2009 ^ The game was on FSWC...only caught a quick glimpse of it though. Not enough to form an opinion, other than how far away the crowd are in an Aussie Rules Football stadium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SthMelbRed Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 ^watching a football match at an AFL/Cricket ground does mean that the fans will be further away from the pitch, but no moreso than a ground with a running track. In Melbourne, the current ground (Etihad Stadium) is less than ten years old and is very good. Even from seats in the upper deck, the views are excellent and you don't feel far from the pitch. From next season, Victory and Hearts (new expansion club) will be moving to a new 32,000-seat stadium purpose built for football and Rugby. Victory will continue to play some matches at Etihad, though, which is good, seeing as 2 football clubs, Melbourne Storm (rugby league) and a new rugby union club will all be sharing one ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 Hmmm... in any one year how many players from our two Canadian USL-1 clubs made it onto the national team unless a large number of the European based players were not available? For the longest time USL-1 was the highest level we had in Canada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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