Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Alesandro Del Piero (Sydney FC) A-League Preview 2012

I just completed my Sydney FC preview for Goal Weekly. My editor wanted 800 words. So I just wrote Alesandro Del Piero's name 266 times.

I'll be writing for Goal Weekly covering Sydney FC's Home Games. GW will be available FREE TO FANS (except Perth Glory & Wellington Phoenix) at all A-League games.


Here is my Sydney FC A-League season preview.



Welcome Ladies and Gentleman and spoiled children of the Korn. Hello again to the Eurosnobs and to the angry militant A- League purists. It’s also nice to hear from the Johnny come lately Bandwagoners as well, it’s been a long seven years since we've seen you last.  

And let’s not forget the bemused undecided voters (people who don’t like Soccer). Let the gushing and cringe worthy cultural cringe begin. All of our football dreams have come true Alessandro Del Piero is here.

ADP as the Twiteratti like to call him has been in Australia for only  a matter of  weeks but already he has changed the life of every man , woman and child that has crossed his path. ADP has already had a day named after him and if we lived in a country that was run by a charismatic colourful dictator it would have been a public holiday for all.

ADP already has left an undeniable legacy that will live on after Gina Reinhart has mined every mineral out of Australia’s dusty earth. There are also unconfirmed reports that the sick are healing themselves with delight and anticipation of watching the little number 10 play balls that are way too smart for his teammates.

TROLLING AN AGENT
A few weeks before the news that ADP signed for Sydney FC there was talk that Fabio Grosso football greatest curmudgeon was going to play in the A-League. Lou Sticca was the man selling him to A League clubs.  Is that it? I thought. Surely we can do better than Grosso. So I found the Super Agent on Twitter and Trolled. “Surely you can do better than Grosso MR Super Agent?”  And just a few short weeks later ADP had arrived on our shores. So yes I’m saying I’m responsible for ADP’s arrival for without Trolling Mr Sticca Fabio Grosso would be here and no-one would have given a fuck.

Where are you Camping?
Alessandro Del Piero was only ever going to move to one City.
“If you don't live in Sydney you’re camping out!” Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating never uttered a truer word in his life. With Dwight Yorke, Juninho, Kazu  Benito Carbone, and now ADP no other City in Australia could handle such a big football personality as ADP.        

Sacerdotal Flame?
But NOT everyone is happy with some of the shenanigans that are surrounding ADP. When the FFA announced an ADP day to launch the sale of tickets for the upcoming A-League season to the general public some opposition fans and media had a Twitter Tantrum!
My best friend on Twitter the Age’s Chief football correspondent Michael Lynch the Papa Smurf of the Australian football media community had this to say about ADP day:
“To anoint him in some sacerdotal flame as the saviour of the game - if I may adopt the fashionable hyperbole - is daft..” 
I actually had to look up sacerdotal:  it’s an Adjective: Relating to priests or the priesthood; priestly.

Is he fit?
My spies at SFS training caught this conversation between the coach and ADP after the 2nd pre-season game was cancelled by Graham Arnold citing player fatigue as the reason.  As a result this now leaves ADP seriously underdone.

Coach: Hey ADP sorry we had to cancel two friendlies we just can't organise shit when it comes to football in this country. Graham Arnold is sneaky
ADP: UFFA Coach I need to play Farken! How many times can I visit Norton Street & pretend the coffee isa good? That Graham Arnold isa sneaky I shoulda been playing!

And the Rest
Let’s not forget that football is a team game. And Sydney FC has had a lot of changes in pre-season. A new coach in Ian Crook has arrived and a bunch of new players. The team was looking old slow and stale under the  former boss but the new signings appear to  have pace youth and quality that has been missing.

Players to look out for

Fabio Alves: Sydney FC have had an aversion to Left Backs (does Scott Jamieson count? fuck no!) so finally they bought one  (a proper one anyway). The Brazilian had a mixed first season with Melbourne Victory but seeing a naturally left sided player will be a novelty for Sydney FC fans
Brett Emerton: HAD IT LOST IT? Please prove me wrong EMMO your club and country needs you!
Mitch Mallia: Fans got a taste of Mitch last season quick skilful and a habit of Shooting Farken! More please.....
Joel Chianese: Another young pacey attacker scored some nice goals just needs more game time.
Terry Antonis: Is the Hype of the team. Unfulfilled hype is worse than unfulfilled potential. Needs a big year.
Ali Abbas: Another naturally left sided player this time an attacker. I like the Iraqi player’s vibe. He has skill in abundance but just needs consistency.
 Yairo Yau: Another exciting attacking prospect plays for the Panama national team
     
Here is what the team could look like. 4-3-3
.                            Ivan Necevski
Brett Emerton, Sebastian Ryall, Pascal Bosschaart. Fabio Alves

                  Terry Antonis ,  Terry McFlynn,  Mitch Mallia

                Kruno Lovrek,    Alessandro Del Piero,   Joel Chianese

Subs: Dimi Petratos, Trent McClenahan, Ali Abbas, Rhyan Grant



Sydney FC Squad list
1. Ivan Necevski
2. Sebastian Ryall
3. Fabio Alves
4. Pascal Bosschaart
5. Nathan Sherlock
6.
7. Brett Emerton
8. Adam Griffiths
9.
10. Alessandro Del Piero
11. Dimi Petratos
12. Blake Powell
13.
14. Mitch Mallia
15. Terry McFlynn
16. Joel Chianese
17. Terry Antonis
18. Trent McClenahan
19. Kruno Lovrek
20. Vedran Janjetovic
21.
22. Ali Abbas
23. Rhyan Grant
24. Hagi Gligor
25. Daniel Petkovski

Ins: Fabio Alves (Melbourne Victory), Nathan Sherlock (Sydney FC youth), Adam Griffiths (Hangzhou, China), Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus, Italy), Blake Powell (Sydney FC Youth), Mitch Mallia (NYL Youth), Trent McClenahan (Central Coast Mariners), Kruno Lovrek (Qingdao Jonoon, China), Vedran Janjetovic (Sydney United), Yairo Yau (San Miguelito, Panama), Ali Abbas (Newcastle Jets), Hagi Gligor (Sydney FC Youth), Daniel Petkovski (Sydney FC Youth).

Outs: Liam Reddy (Released), Jamie Coyne (Released), Michael Beauchamp (Western Sydney), Hirofumi Moriyasu (Released), Karol Kisel (Slavia Praha, Czech Republic), Bruno Cazarine (Released), Nick Carle (Bani Yay, UAE on loan), Shannon Cole (Western Sydney), Juho Makela (HJK, Finland), Mark Bridge (Western Sydney), Scott Jamieson (Perth Glory).

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