A League Round Six Review

Round Six of the A League was dominated by the imports. Specifically Brazilian Cassio, Scotsman Charlie Miller, Costa Rican Carlos Hernandez and Scouser Robbie Folwer all showcased their finishing prowess.


The game of the week purely because of the pre-match hype was the Saturday night fixture between Sydney FC and North Queensland Fury. A London type double-decker bus was used to promote the game during the week; a Beatles cover band serenaded the fans as they entered the Sydney Football Stadium and even the Liverpool supporters club of Sydney put aside their Euro snobbery and decided to watch a local game of football. 


The promotion seemed to work as a healthy crowd of almost 17 thousand came to see Aloisi take on God (only a handful of Liverpool supporters actually called Fowler God, but what the hell….).

John Aloisi was ready to play the part the script called for, but the Socceroo hopeful fluffed his lines. Aloisi missed a first half spot kick and that failure sure proved that Aloisi was a mere man mortal. The most famous penalty in Australian sport arguably changed the fortunes of Australian football forever. This time the feat could not be replicated.

The second part of this contest would prove that we are all mere mortals in the presence of Robbie Fowler.

After 10 minutes of play in the second half, Fowler scored a goal that football scribes all over the land used big words to describe. If you haven’t seen the goal yet, look it up on YouTube because it was a cracker. Never mind the space that Sydney defender Simon Colosimo allowed him, never mind that Clint Bolton was in no-man’s land; the finish was just too good, even though special mention must be given to the Sydney FC defence or lack of it.

Perth Glory was unlucky not to get a win over the league leaders Gold Coast United. The battle of the Iron Ore Cup (a reference to the owners of both clubs mining escapades) began with the Glory opening up the Gold Coast defence like a child opens presents on Christmas day. Perth’s Serbian striker Branko Jelic got the opening goal and Victor Sikora added a second to make the score 2-0 after less than 20 minutes played.

The White Shoe Brigade came back in the second half with a header to Dutch defender Van Den Brink to make 2-1. Perth looked comfortable enough for most of the game and it looked like they would get the win, but with hardly any time left substitute Gol Gol Mebrahtu chased down fellow substitute Amaral to the half way line and the stole the ball off the former Brazilian International. Amaral then did a rugby league type tackle on Van den Brink. Van Den Brink took a quick free kick led that set Pantelids free down the right hand side, he gave a beautiful cross to Shane Smeltz and the New Zealand International was in the perfect position for the Gold Coast to snatch an unlikely away point. Smeltz has nine goals in sux games.

It was an excellent week for the Queensland team s in round six, some excellent goals were scored, the crowds are starting to come back and the competition is as tight as a Camels arse in a sand-storm.

A League Import Watch: Robbie Fowler is synonymous with some of the most blasphemous of acts. He must be making the Christians very angry every time he is called god but even the most dogmatic person would have to put down their bibles and admire the sublime volley that the Scouse legend produced to beat Sydney 1-0. I feel lucky to have watched it live, and I’m a Sydney boy.

Adelaide United midfielder Cassio and Melbourne Victory attacking midfielder Carlos Hernandez showed the locals how to take a free kick. The Brisbane Roar trio of Henrique, Reinaldo and Charlie Miller stole the show in Newcastle. While Perth’s Branko Jelic is starting show that his CV was not made up.

A-League Socceroo Watch: I wouldn’t rush to buy any travellers cheques if I was an A League based Socceroo. It was the imports who “showed themselves this round”.

Best Name of the A League: The Central Coast Mariners Jamaican import Woolry Wolfe was the contender for the prize but Gold Coast United’s Golgol Mebrahtu who was born in the state of Eritrea, a country in the Horn of Africa gets the prize.

Hot Spot: Who else but Robbie Fowler. The winning goal against Sydney FC was not a product of divine intervention rather the sublime volley is the closest man will ever come to perfection.

Odd Spot: Spotting all those Liverpool supporters (Euro Snobs) at the game on Saturday night made me wonder what would happen if the club promoted its own players with as much enthusiasm?

Quotes of the Week: “He was actually from my school. I didn't know him to be honest. I used to go to a school in Liverpool called Nugent and he was telling me he was from there, “said Robbie Fowler after the win against Sydney. Fowler was speaking about the Liverpool fan that ran onto the pitch to celebrate with him after he scored.

"There are obviously better places we could've done it. We were just talking about our old gym teacher!" added Fowler.

Goal of the Week: Okay, okay, no surprises here God gets the goal of the week again.

Team of the Week: GK:Henderson(FURY), LB:Traore(GCU), Moore(BRIS), Dodd(FURY), RB:Middleby(FURY), LM:Cassio(ADL), CM:Talay(Fury), CM:Miller(BRIS), RM:Henrique(BRIS), FW:Reinaldo(BRIS) FW:Fowler(FURY)

Team		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Gold Coast United	6	4	1	1	14	5	9	13
2	Sydney FC	6	3	1	2	7	5	2	10
3	Brisbane Roar	6	2	3	1	10	8	2	9
4	Central Coast Mariners	6	2	2	2	5	4	1	8
5	Adelaide United	6	2	2	2	6	7	-1	8
6	Newcastle Jets	6	2	2	2	6	9	-3	8
7	Perth Glory	6	2	1	3	8	8	0	7
8	Melbourne Victory	6	1	3	2	7	9	-2	6
9	Wellington Phoenix	6	1	3	2	7	9	-2	6
10	North Queensland Fury	6	1	2	3	7	13	-6	5

Round Seven Predictions:

Adelaide United 1 v 1 Melbourne Victory 1

Central Coast Mariners 0 v 2 Gold Coast United

Wellington Phoenix 1 v 2 North Queensland Fury

Sydney FC 2 v 0 Newcastle Jets

Brisbane Roar 2 v 2 Perth Glory

Hyundai A-League 2009/10 – Leading Goal-Scorers

9 – Shane SMELTZ

4 – Robbie FOWLER

3 – John ALOISI, Carlos HERNANDEZ, Branko JELIC, Archie THOMPSON, Sergio VAN DIJK

2 –Chris GREENACRE, HENRIQUE, Jason HOFFMAN, Lucas PANTELIS, Paul IFILL, Victor SIKORA

This article was first published by Goal Weekly an excellent magazine sold in Newsagents across Melbourne