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Australia's A-League begins season on Thursday - Predictions?


Cooks

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Wow, what a game. I think water polo would have been more appropriate for the conditions. There were chances a plenty and the score could have easily been closer to 6-6.

Man, Gold Coast you bastards, 2 late goal to equalize, 3-3.

Good start for Wellington though despit allowing and 88th minute equalizer, Ifill and Greenacre getting ont he scoresheet early is always good.

^ in deed, both these guys were key to the "Nix" success last year and both admit that they got off to poor slow starts last year. Seeing them playing off each other and in good nick last night was great. Ifill was on fire creating havoc all over the pitch, I can't wait to see him on a dry (or at least not flooded) pitch. Absolutely gutted the Phoenix gave up a two goal lead, and for Smeltz to get two of Gold Coast goals.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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  • 3 weeks later...

I went to the Melbourne Heart-Wellington Phoenix match yesterday. First half was fairly even, though Heart played the better football, overall. In the first fifteen to twenty minutes of the second half, Heart blitzed them, scoring two, hitting a crossbar, and missing a couple of other great chances. They sat back a bit in the end and just held on for the points in the end. A very entertaining game. Melbourne derby is in two weeks. That one should be good.

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Agree with SthMelbRed. The Phoenix were dire, we really don't perform well on the road despite having incredibly strong home form. We started off the strongest in the first half but Heart quickly woke up and ended up playing like a team that deserved the three points they collected. Only highlights for me in that match were Tim Brown getting the 100th Phoenix A-League goal, fitting that he's a Wellingtonian and a foundation player; but the big highlight for me was the travelling fans. We sent a lot of people over due to the midweek match also being played in Melbourne, and on the TV it sounded more like a Phoenix home game than anything else due to the volume of Wellington supporters. That being said, once more people start attending Heart matches it should improve, and without the midweek match there wouldn't have been so many Phoenix supporters there. The Heart fans made a great atmosphere against the Mariners in round one.

Melbourne derby should be a cracker, kinda hope Heart win it if only for the good of the rivalry. I don't often watch A-League matches not involving the Phoenix but the derby is one I defo want to catch,

Oh and since this is my first post, I'll just explain that I'm a Whitecaps supporter currently living in New Zealand. Long time lurker first time poster etc.

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Just as well nobody selected the Newcastle Jets. They may fold soon unfortunately:

http://www.theherald.com.au/news/local/sport/football-soccer/johnston-issues-call-to-arms/1945941.aspx

Even the future of the league appears to be in question at the moment:

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/football/mr-lowy-thank-you-for-doing-so-much-but-as-australias-richest-man-x2026-20100907-14zmy.html

The A League has made many of the same mistakes that MLS made in their early years in terms of using the largest stadia in each city regardless of the inevitable problems with getting access to key revenue streams. MLS would have folded but for the willingness of Lamar Hunt and Phil Anschutz to meet league cash calls until a new economic model could be introduced and new investors attracted. Hope there are people in Australia who are willing to do the same.

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Just as well nobody selected the Newcastle Jets. They may fold soon unfortunately:

http://www.theherald.com.au/news/local/sport/football-soccer/johnston-issues-call-to-arms/1945941.aspx

Even the future of the league appears to be in question at the moment:

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/football/mr-lowy-thank-you-for-doing-so-much-but-as-australias-richest-man-x2026-20100907-14zmy.html

The A League has made many of the same mistakes that MLS made in their early years in terms of using the largest stadia in each city regardless of the inevitable problems with getting access to key revenue streams. MLS would have folded but for the willingness of Lamar Hunt and Phil Anschutz to meet league cash calls until a new economic model could be introduced and new investors attracted. Hope there are people in Australia who are willing to do the same.

That issue has really only popped up for Brisbane and Sydney, with every other team choosing the most suitable stadium - both in terms of size and shape (with many major Australian sports grounds being oval shaped). Unfortunately for Newcastle and Wellington there wasn't any other choice available, so they're both stuck. We're okay with Westpac Stadium despite some shenanigans (don't mention Bon Jovi around some people) but the Jets have been screwed but what sounds to be a dodgy deal with EA Stadium. They recently had the suggestion of moving matches to the nearby town of Cessnock but that stadium is too small, so it was laughed off. Suncorp Stadium is too big for Brisbane, they should have played in Ballymore. And for Sydney, there's some talk that they may look at relocating matches to Leichardt Oval in the future.

Perth, Adelaide, Townsville, the Melbournes, CCM, GCU - all perfect. Rectangular stadiums with sensible capacities. Soccer-Specific Stadiums if you will.

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Got this response from an Adelaide United supporter when I queried this question on Bigsoccer, who explained the problems in that regard at Hindmarsh Stadium in Adelaide:

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=21863324&postcount=440

Although rectangular stadia are clearly better for soccer than cricket/AFL style ovals that isn't really the major issue here. It all boils down to who gets the parking, commercial signage and concessions revenue. Clubs like Sydney Marconi and the Melbourne Knights probably used to be able to get all of that in an NSL context because they fully controlled their own home grounds. If an A League team plays in a big NRL or AFL type stadium odds on the bulk of that game day revenue is going to the NRL/AFL team and/or the city that owns that stadium.

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Well I'm off to the game tomorrow (Friday night NZ time) frst one of the season for me, should be a good crowd with a lot of people heading down to the stadium after work. Lets hope the Phoenix can pull out the win after last weeks disappointing result.

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Well I'm off to the game tomorrow (Friday night NZ time) frst one of the season for me, should be a good crowd with a lot of people heading down to the stadium after work. Lets hope the Phoenix can pull out the win after last weeks disappointing result.

Wish granted! Haha. We should have won by more though, but 3 points is 3 points. Greenacre's first goal was hilarious.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I went to the very first Melbourne derby last night. It was officially a home game for Heart but the majority of the crowd were Victory supporters. If you had been told before the match that one team had been built up over six years and had appeared in three of five grand finals in this league, winning two, and the other had only ever played six matches, you'd never have picked Victory as the perennial champions. Heart made them look like amateurs for most of the match, even playing them even for the last twenty minutes when they had been reduced to ten men. The 2-1 final scoreline to Heart flattered Victory. Hopefully, Heart will build momentum from this great result and start pushing up the table.

(note: they announced a crowd of 25, 600 in the 30,000 seat stadium, but seats were sold out. I had quite a few mates who couldn't get tickets in the couple of days before the match. Then over 4,000 corporates don't bother showing up. Brutal!)

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Well jealous SthMelbRed. I went up to Auckland for New Zealand's friendly v. Honduras, circumstances surrounding that meant I missed the Melbourne derby as well as Canada v. Ukraine. I was kinda rooting for Victory as I'm befriended more fans of that team, but for the sake of the league Heart winning was probably best. Really bugs me when people don't show up, how hard is it to pass your ticket off to someone else?! NZ's World Cup qualifier last year, the biggest sporting event to have happened in the country since at least 1987, wasn't a sellout because people who owned seat licenses didn't bother to come. Hopefully the derby will be a sellout when the played at Etihad.

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^It'd be very nice, but I wouldn't count on it. Etihad seats about 52,000 for football and the only times the A-League has managed to sell it out has been for Grand Finals. I reckon there will be able to pull about 40,000 if Heart keep on building in the standings.

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  • 5 months later...

Bloody good final, only thing that could've made it better would've been swapping Brisbane with Wellington, but alas. Brisbane certainly deserved the title this year, they've easily been the best team in A-League history.

Ah well, now to focus on MLS until October (although there's some rugby tournament on this year that may distract provide SOME entertainment...)

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