Compiled by Damian Davies
Welcome to this month's edition of Aussies Abroad. With the transfer window open in January, an
amazing number of transfers. Several are
certainly relevant to our World Cup squad, while others are positioning some
players perfectly for the 2015 Asian Cup. Much of that movement has been across
the Asian leagues that are just starting to kick off the 2014 season. Not as
much football in Europe due to the winter recess, but our Aussies continue in
the English leagues. Club competitions were in recess in Europe, but Aussies
featured in South America and Asia.
Transfers:- Intriguing set of
transfers in January. Hong Kong and Malaysia have both seen a big influx of
Aussies. Many Aussies in China have returned to the Hyundai A League. Players like Good, Nicholls, Valeri and
Sainsbury will be hoping for first team football at their new clubs that will
ultimately earn them a ticket to Brazil.
Additions/changes to player
database:
Dario Al Saad (22 Mar 1991) - transferred to B&I
Svebolle, Denmark
Mitch Austin (3 Apr 1991) - loan to Lincoln City, England
Michael Baird (1 Aug 1983) - transferred from Universitatea
Craiova to PSM Makassar, Indonesia
Emre Balci (5 Apr 1987) -transferred to Inegolspor, Turkey
Andrew Barisic (22 Mar 1986) - transferred to South China,
Hong Kong
Dean Bouzanis (2 Oct 1991) - transferred from Aris to
Carlisle United, England
Oscar Brooks (6 Sep 1990) - transferred to Vyzas FC, Greece
Kerem Bulut (2 Mar 1992) - loan return to Akhisar
Belediyespor, Turkey
Daniel Collins (15 Jun 1995) - transferred to Bala Town FC,
Wales
Albert Edward (19 Nov 1991) - transferred from Des Moines
Menance to Colorado Rapids, USA
Sam Gallagher (5 May 1991) - transferred from IF
Birkebeineren to Hanoi T&T, Vietnam
Antony Golec (29 May 1990) - transferred to Liaoning Whomin,
China
Zack Gomez (3 Oct 1998) - transferred to Malaga CF, Spain
Curtis Good (23 Mar 1993) - loan from Newcastle to Dundee
United, Scotland
Richard Greer (16 Apr 1990) - transferred to Kaya FC,
Philippines
Mark Griffin (16 Jun 1991) - transferred from Derry City to
Dundalk, Ireland
Adam Griffiths (21 Aug 1979) - transferred from Selangor to
Kedah, Malaysia
Brendan Hamill (18 Sep 1992) - loan return to Seongham Ilhwa,
Korea
Steve Hayes (1 Feb 1985) - transferred from South Coast
Wolves to Hong Kong Rangers, Hong Kong
Marko Jesic (7 Aug 1989) - transferred to Sun Pegasus, Hong
Kong
Aleksander Jovanovic (4 Aug 1989) - transferred from Suwon
City to Jeju United, Korea
Michael Lloyd-Green (24 Mar 1986) - transferred to CD
Atletico Rafal, Spain
Dylan Macallister (17 May 1982) - transferred to Eastern AA,
Hong Kong
Theo Markelis (24 Jun 1992) - transferred to Hercules CF,
Spain
Daniel McBreen (23 Apr 1977) - transferred from CC Mariners
to Shanghai SIPG, China
Mitch Nicholls (1 May 1989) - transferred to Cerezo Osaka,
Japan
Tolgey Ozbey (12 Apr 1986) - transferred from Mohammedan to
Dempo SC, India
Tom Rogic (16 Dec 1992) - loan to Melbourne Victory
Michael Rutherford (1 Mar 1990) - transferred to Amicale,
Vanuatu
Trent Sainsbury (5 Jan 1992) - transferred from CC Mariners
to PEC Zwolle, Netherlands
Giannis Simosis (13 Mar 1991) - transferred from Wacker
Burghausen to Anagennisi Karditsa, Greece
George Slefendorfas (7 Jan 1983) - transferred to WaiBOP, New
Zealand
Roko Strika (12 Feb 1994) - transferred from NK Maksimir to
Velika Gorica, Croatia
Tommy Taylor (13 Feb 1991) - transferred to Kaya FC,
Philippines
Nikolas Tsattalios (1 Mar 1990) - transferred to Kampaniakos
Chalastra, Greece
Sebastian Usai (28 Feb 1990) - transferred from AFC United to
Cowdenbeath, Scotland
Carl Valeri (14 Aug 1984) - transferred from Sassuolo to
Ternana, Italy
Removed from player database:
Eddy Bosnar (Guangzhou R&F) - transferred to Central
Coast Mariners
David Carney (New York Red Bulls) - transferred to Newcastle
Jets
Jordan Elsey (Kitchee) - loan return to Adelaide United
Chris Gomes (Persepam) - released, whereabouts unknown
Joel Griffiths (Qingdao Jonoon) - transferred to Newcastle
Jets
Rostyn Griffiths (Guangzhou R&F) - transferred to Perth
Glory
Ryan Griffiths (Beijing Baxy) - transferred to Adelaide
United
Steven Lustica (Hajduk Split) - transferred to Brisbane Roar
Michael Marrone (Shanghai Shenxin) - transferred to Adelaide
United
Daniel Mullen (Dalian Aerbin) - transferred to Western Sydney
Wanderers
Eoghan Murphy (Sheffield Wednesday) - transferred to Olympic
FC, NSW
Lenox Tweneboa (Yadanarbon FC) - transferred to St.George FC,
NSW
Club Level:-
England (Premiership) – the
Aussie standout is a one horse race with Mile Jedinak leading the way at
Crystal Palace. As expected, his team
are involved in a relegation scrap and Mile is certainly up for the challenge.
He has yet to miss a minute of club football in the 24 games this season. No
other league appearances during the month but Brad Smith is knocking at the
door at Liverpool, while keepers Brad Jones and Mark Schwarzer played Cup games
and sat on the bench during league games.
England (Championship) – not
the greatest month for our Aussies at this level. Scott McDonald is out of favour at Millwall
after seeking a move back to Scotland.
Shane Lowry was starting to make something of a fairly unproductive
season but received another red card which will test the managers
patience. Rhys Williams was also
starting to play well until his World Cup dreams again appear ro have been
dashed, this time by an achilles injury.
A little surprised goalkeeper Adam Federici (Reading) hasn't moved to
find first team football.
England (League One) –
hopefully Ange has checked into our League One players. Bailey Wright (Preston North End) and Massimo
Luongo (Swindon Town) were already on the watchlist, but Neil Kilkenny (Preston
North End) and Bradden Inman (Crewe) have both put heir cases forward with
strong months.
Germany (Bundesliga) – with
Robbie Kruse suffering a season ending ACL injury, our only other Aussie in a
match day squad is Mitch Langerak. His
opportunities at Bayer Leverkusen have been few and far between, but he is
clearly happy to bide his time.
Netherlands (Eredivisie) – both
Tommy Oar and Adam Sarota are starting each week for Utrecht. Promising news for our national team. Jason Davidson is having his best season as a
pro. As strange as this may seem, we
suddenly have several left backs that we can call on for the World Cup, with no
clear winners yet.
Italy (Serie B) - Carl
Valeri has started his club career at Ternana with two appearances as a
substitute, he will be looking to force his way into the starting eleven
quickly.
Scotland (Premier) – with
over 2000 minutes in his 24 starts for Hearts, Dylan McGowan is coming out of
his Socceroo brother's shadow. Jackson
Irvine has extended his loan deal at Kilmarnock, just reward for a solid few
months.
Greece (Super League) -
Apostolis Giannou (Panionios Athens) has now played more minutes this season
than any other year while playing in Greece.
Greece (Gamma Ethniki) -
Billy Konstantinidis (Panserraikos) continues on his scoring spree, while Nik
Tsattalios is well established at Kampaniakos Chalastra.
Cyprus (1. Division) -
winger Robert Stambolziev continues his solid season, now having played over a
1000 minutes.
U.A.E (UFL) – both
Brett Holman (Al Nasr) and Alex Brosque (Al Ain) have had good month's in the
league. Scoring goals and playing good
minutes. Perfect timing with Ange due to
check in on them shortly.
Hong Kong (HKFA 1st Division) - the
new season has just commenced with Andrew Barisic (South China), Dylan
Macallister (Eastern AA) and Marko Jesic (Sun Pegasus) all making their debuts.
Malaysia (Super League) -
similar story here former A League players Spase Dilevski (ATM FA), Mario
Karlovic (Terengganu FA) and Steve Pantelidis (Selangor FA) all debuting.
Philippines (UFL) - a
bit of a changing of the guard at Kaya FC with Mitchell Davidson and Scott
Baginski both released, two be replaced by another two Aussies in Richard Greer
and Tommy Taylor. Both debuted in
January. Jesse Martindale remains at
Green Archers United.
Injuries:- shattering
is the only way of describing the long term injuries suffered by Robbie Kruse
(knee) and then Rhys Williams (achilles). Both would have been pencilled into
the starting 11 in Brazil. Misfortune
creates opportunity though as we watch others put their hands up. Chris Herd was been out for over a month with
his hamstring problems, James Meredith (Bradford City) suffered a broken foot
on New Year's Day and Mustafa Amini (Dortmund) is also in the medical room. Cheekbone injuries to Shane Cansdell-Sheriff
and James Wesolowski during the month, but they are both back on the park now.
Club Competitions:-
Europe
(UEFA Champions League) – no fixtures in January
(UEFA Europa League) – no fixtures in January
South America
(Copa Libertadores) - Richard Porta started Nacional's away
tie that they lost 1-0
Asia
(Asian Champions League) - several Aussies played in the
first qualifying games with James Meyer playing for Pune and Sam Gallagher
starting and scoring for Hanoi T&T.
Andrew Barisic also started and scored a double for South China
(HK) as they advanced in extra time.
Reserves and Youth:-
A bit interupted this month with numerous games postponed due
to bad weather along with the U22 AFC Championships where several of our
younger players represented Australia.
Chris Ikonomidis scored twice in his most recent appearance for Lazio
Primavera, as is training with the senior squad. A mention to Connor Thurston
who got to the Cup squad for Blackpool after strong appearances at youth
level. Hyuga Tanner is starting to
appear more regularly for Blackburn U18's. While Ryan Go is a regular starter
for the A2 Feyenoord youth team.
International level:-
with the next Socceroos fixture in early March, many players are making a
strong case. What we do now know is that
Kruse and Rhys Williams are almost certainly out of contention. While Lucas
Neill is fast running out of time to find a club and get match fit. A
replacement for Kruse may be Vidosic, Kewell or Leckie depending on the role to
be played. The list of auditioning
centre-backs includes Spiranovic, McGowan, Sainsbury, Wilkinson and Wright.
Socceroo (capped) of the month – in
looking at playing performances for full Socceroos during January, the pickings
were thin. The one exception being Mile Jedinak who continues his fine
form in arguably the best league in the world.
Sept – Cahill, Oct - Vidosic,
Nov - Ryan, Dec - Jedinak
Under the radar (uncapped) - a player that seems to have been around
forever after he represented both Australia and more recently Greece at junior
level. This season he has moved clubs
again, but Apostolis (Paul) Giannou finally
seems to be settled and is seeing good minutes in a decent league.
Sept - Wilkinson, Oct -
Konstantinidis, Nov - Luongo, Dec - Mrcela
Young player (U21) of the month
– by making a debut for none other than Liverpool, Brad Smith now finds himself caught up in a country row (England or
Australia). He is floating between the
U21's, where he continues to excel and the fringe of the first team. Brazil may not be realistic, but one to watch
for the Asian Cup.
Sept - Ikonomidis , Oct -
Ugarkovic, Nov - Ryan Williams, Dec - Cooper
For a
full listing of our Aussies Abroad, please see the
attachment. Please e-mail Damian Davies ;
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