Entries Tagged 'Players' ↓

Daniel Piorkowski, one of the few remaining inaugural Melbourne Victory players, will leave the club in the hope of furthering his career in Europe.

“I’ve had a great time at Victory, the coaching staff and everyone here has been really good to me, especially Ernie for giving me an opportunity at the start, which I really appreciate.

“It’s time to move on, have a crack overseas and fulfil a dream that’s been strong for me, so we’ll see what works out.

“I want to explore playing in Europe and not die wondering.

“From finishing second last in the first season to winning both titles in the second season was an awesome experience and something I’ll never forget and the memories that went along with that were fantastic.”

Source: MelbourneVictory.com.au

Piorkowski’s time at Melbourne has been a frustrating one. In both of the last two seasons, he picked up an injury early on and was sidelined for the remainder of the season. A shame, because Piorkowski’s been one of the more solid defenders we’ve had.

Piorkowski’s still on the roster for the Chonburi FC match next week. Here’s hoping he gets a friendly goodbye from the Victory faithful.

Rodrigo Vargas has been named in the squad for the Socceroos’ May 23 friendly against Ghana. Along with him are Melbourne Victory team mates Danny Allsopp and Leigh Broxham.

The 23-man squad features nine A-League players.

Read more at The World Game.

The squad: Daniel Allsopp (Melbourne Victory), Michael Beauchamp (Nurnberg, Germany), Mark Bridge (Sydney FC), Leigh Broxham (Melbourne Victory) Jacob Burns (Unirea Valahorum, Romania), Nick Carle (Bristol City, England), David Carney (Sheffield United, England), Ante Covic (Newcastle Jets), Jason Culina (PSV Eindhoven, Netherlands) Adam Federici (Reading, England), Adam Griffiths (Newcastle Jets), Joel Griffiths (Avispa Fukuoka, Japan), James Holland (Newcastle Jets), Mile Jedinak (Central Coast Mariners), Harry Kewell (Liverpool, England), Jade North (Newcastle Jets), Michael Petkovic (Sivasspor, Turkey), Mark Schwarzer (Middlesbrough, England), Matthew Spiranovic (Nurnberg, Germany), Mile Sterjovski (Derby County, England), Nikolai Topor-Stanley (Perth Glory), James Troisi (Newcastle United, England), Carl Valeri (Grosseto, Italy), Rodrigo Vargas (Melbourne Victory).

Matthew Kemp hasn’t had the greatest run with Victory fans since moving to Melbourne. His excellent form in the ACL has probably won him a few more admirers, but I think a little creativity from the sidelines could turn the bald-headed fullback into a crowd favourite: try this, Kempy.

The calf injury Archie Thompson picked up in the Socceroo’s World Cup qualifier with China earlier this week could keep him on the sidelines for the next six weeks.

At the very least, Archie will not be available for the Melbourne Victory’s April 9 Asian Champions League match against Gamba Osaka, considered by many to be the favourite of Group G. But he is likely to miss more than that, with Ernie Merrick suggesting the Victory may be without its marquee man for up to 8 weeks Continue reading →

Archie Thompson and Rodrigo Vargas were announced as co-winners of the Victory Medal last night.

Kevin Muscat and Michael Theoklitos were joint runners-up, with Carlos Hernández trailing a point behind.

Both Thompson and Vargas picked up other awards as well, with Thompson receiving the SEN Player of the Year award and Vargas voted Players’ Player of the Year. Leigh Broxham also won multiple awards, scoring both the Clubman of the Year and the Age Young Player of the Year awards.

None of the results particularly surprise me, even though they are quite different from the Fans’ Choice Melbourne Victory Awards we hosted on MVFC Blog a month ago. Fans picked Michael Theoklitos for Best Player and Sebastian Ryall for Best Young Player (Leigh Broxham was a very distant third in that contest).

What do you think of the results of the Victory Awards?

Tom Pondeljak’s move to the Melbourne Victory has invited considerable criticism. The former Socceroo’s age – he turned 32 in January – was the main cause for skepticism. After seeing older players like Juninho signed on lucrative deals and spend much of the season on the bench thanks to injury, it’s understandable to be doubtful about the value of signing older players. Pondeljak’s run with injuries over the past few years only deepens the concern.

But signed up he is, and with Carlos Hernández picking up an injury at training last week, we will see Pondeljak in Victory colours sooner rather than later. Grant Brebner’s groin injury means that the club can bring in two injury replacements. As it stands, the only two players available are Joe Keenan and Pondeljak.

So So with Pondeljak likely to debut for the Victory in the next month, I decided to take a closer look at the Melbourne-born footballer. Continue reading →

This is bad: Carlos Hernández injured himself at training last week and is expected to miss six weeks.

Ernie Merrick said:

“It was just one of those training incidents with no one near him. He turned and his foot got stuck and twisted his knee.”

Six weeks means that the Costa Rican will miss Melbourne’s first three matches in the Asian Champions League.

Hernández’ absence will be sorely felt. His form at the end of the season was excellent, earning him a call-up to the Costa Rican national team. Suddenly, this injury throws a proverbial spanner into the works. Even if he recovers sufficiently to play in the latter half of the group stage, it will undoubtedly take him a few extra weeks to regain form.

Meanwhile, it appears to be confirmed that Grant Brebner will not be getting a game in the ACL group stage. This means that both Tom Pondeljak and Joe Keenan will be able to be drafted into the squad as injury replacements.

Daniel Piorkowski has not agreed to the contract offered him by the Melbourne Victory. He is set to move on once his contract expires in July.

The news was reported in The Age today, alongside a report about Milicevic leaving.

Piorkowski’s departure isn’t all that surprising, given his constant battle with injury over the past two season. According to Gary Cole, Piorkowski turned down the club’s contract offer “and that will be the end of it”. There is no mention of what the contract offer was, but it’s possible that the Victory offered Piorkowski a pay-cut.

It’s a shame to see Piorkowski go, but I think Melbourne has the players to cover his loss in defence. After all, the club had to do without him for most of the past two seasons.

The Gold Coast Galaxy appear likely to pursue Piorkowski.

Ljubo Milicevic and the Melbourne Victory have parted company.

It seems the defender and the club have agreed to “mutually terminate his contract”, which suggests to me that the Victory will not be required to pay out his contract – as would have been the case if they had fired him outright. Perhaps Milicevic has some other offers on the table.

Or maybe he just decided to end the charade. Milicevic appears to have been in the Victory’s bad books since well before the breakfast debacle in October. His injury provided a convenient front, but it was obvious to most Melbourne supporters that Ljubo had little to no hope of becoming a regular in the Melbourne side. It seems both parties were just biding their time, waiting for the day when they could amicably part company.

Gary Cole, adopting his usual line, wishes Ljubo “well for the future”.

Sebastian Ryall is joining the Olyroos as they prepare for the Beijing Olympics. He is one of 25 players picked by Graham Arnold for a training camp in Sydney, due to start tomorrow (Saturday).

Billy Celeski and Leigh Broxham are also both in the selection, but Nick Ward misses out because of ongoing injury.

Meanwhile, Ward looks likely to re-sign with Melbourne for an extra year. He said earlier this week that he’s leaning towards staying another year, news which will surely please many Victory fans.