After neither side failed to churn out a goal in regular playing time, it was left up to a penalty shoot-out to determine the victor. After both Shane Smeltz and Nick Ward lobbed their penalties over the bar, it wasn’t until the 18th penalty that Michael Theoklitos stopped Karl Dodd’s attempt, giving Melbourne its third piece of silverware.

It was en enjoyable, free-flowing match, with Melbourne and Wellington quite evenly matched. Both sides attacked with verve, but it was two strong defences that triumphed in the end.

Ernie Merrick started with a back four of Vargas and Thwaite in the centre, while Ryall and Kemp played as fullbacks. Kemp struggled with the pace of Leo Bertos early on, but emerged as one of Melbourne’s strongest players after Merrick swapped him to the right side of the pitch.

There was little width to the Melbourne midfield, with Luis Lopez, Hernandez, Ward and Berger all moving in the centre of the park. Berger and Kemp brought width to the formation at times, but it’s plain to see that the main thrust of Victory’s attack will come down the central channel this season.

Up front, Fabiano and Allsopp combined well, but were thwarted by solid defensive performances from Jon McKain, Karl Dodd and Manny Muscat. Still, I was impressed by Fabiano’s touch and vision.

Ultimately, it was Theoklitos that won the game for Melbourne. Some fine saves in the second half kept Melbourne in the game when Wellington were bearing down hard.

The victory means that Melbourne are now the most successful A-League team in terms of silverware amassed. Not only that, but Ernie Merrick is the most successful A-League coach.

Which is all well and good, but most of us know that the Pre-Season Cup means very little. What was most encouraging about last night was the team’s solid performance.

Does Melbourne have the talent and depth to claim more silverware this year? Me thinks so.

The match will be shown live at 5:30 PM on FoxSports 3.

It’s the biggest game in the history of the Phoenix, who finished bottom of the table last year. Wellington officials are expecting a strong home crowd of up to 10,000. Not bad for a Wednesday night football game in the middle of winter.

If Sky NZ should decide to televise the match, it’s possible that FoxSports will show the game in Australia as well. Fingers crossed!

It’s been a promising pre-season for Melbourne. After narrowly losing to Adelaide United two weeks ago, the Victory scored a 1-0 win over the Perth Glory last week. Compare that with last year’s pre-season, when Melbourne lost four in a row.

It’s also encouraging to see Melbourne’s new recruits creating problems for the opposition. Melbourne’s goals in its past three matches have come from Ney Fabiano, Michael Thwaite and Pondeljak, suggesting that this year, Melbourne’s squad doesn’t just look good on paper: it also looks good on the field.

Melbourne faces the Wellington Phoenix on Wednesday night in Wellington, after the New Zealand side beat Sydney FC 3-2.

This time around, the FFA has recognised FIFA dates, although Mike Salter rightly points out that it comes somewhat belated, with the Olyroos’ qualification series behind them.

The Melbourne Victory kicks off with two away games, first against Sydney FC and then in New Zealand against the Phoenix. Five days after the Wellington clash, Melbourne fans get their first home game: a Friday night affair against the Newcastle Jets.

It’s a tough start to the season, but as Michael Lynch pointed out in The Age yesterday, there’s fair compensation at the other end of the season, when Melbourne plays five of its final seven at home.

There is a tough spell in the middle half of the season, when the Victory have five away games and two at home. But Gary Cole is happy about the draw:

“Overall, we are pretty pleased with it,” Victory football operations manager Gary Cole said yesterday. “It’s got a good balance to it. We have got four out of the first seven matches at home, including against Adelaide and the current premiers, so they should attract big crowds. There is a much tougher bit in the middle section of the draw when we play two at home and five away, including the round 13 and 14 double-header against Wellington and Perth.

“That’s going to be tough physically for us, but you have got to go to these places. Every team would like to play home-away, home-away, but that’s just not possible with shared ground use.

“We are pleased to have Adelaide at home and Sydney at home twice. There’s a chance to fill the ground up.”

Meanwhile, the draw for the Pre-Season Cup has also been announced, and it perfectly mirrors the last Pre-Season Cup: once again, the Victory is drawn in a group with Adelaide United, Perth Glory and the Newcastle Jets. None of the games will be played in Victoria, as Melbourne meets Adelaide in Launceston, Perth in Bunbury and Newcastle in Port Macquarie.
Download the draw for the Pre-Season Cup here.

And yet, after the team’s loss against Sydney FC on Saturday night, the first line of the report on the Melbourne Victory website read:

“Melbourne Victory will head into the Hyundai A-League season full of confidence, despite a 1-0 loss to Sydney FC…”

Branko Culina says the Melbourne Victory were the best club Sydney played during the pre-season.

And Neil from Victory in Melbourne, was full of praise for Kaz Patafta’s 2nd half performance, and had this to say about the game:

“…it was a much improved effort from the Victory – even though they came away with another loss. In fact, they dominated long sections of the game and were largely untroubled by Sydney apart from the goal, that came from a scrappy clearance.”

The stats may be depressing, but perhaps they don’t do justice to Melbourne’s form.

What do you think? Are you still confident in the Melbourne Victory’s ability to defend its title?

All in all, it’s been a dismal Pre-Season Cup performance for the Victory, who haven’t managed a single win in their 4 matches. After last week’s loss to the Perth Glory, I wondered whether Melbourne’s lack of strike power could be blamed for poor results. This week, we played Wellington in full force: Archie Thompson was back after his duties for the Socceroos came to an end; Grant Brebner returned from injury; and Leandro Love, the young Brazilian striker signed two weeks ago as a “back-up” to Archie and Danny Allsopp.

But something in the Melbourne machine isn’t functioning.

What struck me after the match with Wellington was the scarcity of genuine goal-scoring opportunities. How many shots on target did we muster? Chances were few and far between.

Poor first touches, mis-judged passes, sluggish movement: is this just a Melbourne side lacking refinement?

Ernie Merrick said of the match:

“I thought we played well in patches and created some good opportunities but at other times looked very disorganised… Obviously new players have got to settle in, but we conceded an incredibly cheap first goal.”

From Australian 442

What do you think? Is it just a matter of time, as Melbourne Victory squad members become acquainted with their fellow players’ style? Or is there something totally amiss in the Victory side? 

This Saturday’s away game against the Wellington Phoenix will be played at Olympic Park.

The New Zealand side requested that the match be played elsewhere. Rather bizarrely, Wellington will still be the “home” side.

It’s great news for Victory fans, who can look forward to the return of Archie Thompson, as well as the likely debut of Leandro Love, the club’s new Brazilian striker. We can only hope that the injection of these two into the squad will help turn around recent form, which has seen Danny Allsopp struggle as the sole striker.

The lack of striking options is the main concern for the Victory. We’re requiring a lot of Thompson and Allsopp, but should we? What if either has a poor spell? Allsopp’s goal-scoring drought in the first season proved how disastrous that could be. What about when Archie is called up for Socceroos commitments? As we’ve seen during the pre-season, Melbourne looks rather impotent in attack when it’s just Danny up there. Partnering him with Adrian Caceres or Kaz Patafta is quite simply no adequate replacement for being able to couple him with a dedicated striker.

Will Leandro do the trick? Merrick has touted him as a “back up striker”, which hardly breeds confidence. Do we really need a back-up striker? Or do we need a real contendor: someone who could potentially overthrow Allsopp or (dare I say it?) Thompson in the pecking order?

Kaz Patafta will be stepping  into his place, partnering Danny Allsopp up the front. It’s a game Melbourne has to win (and preferably with a few goals) if it wants to have a crack at winning the Pre-Season Cup.

Then again, that doesn’t seem to be a huge priority. Adrian Caceres made it clear that the focus lies elsewhere:

We’re going to focus on the first game of the season because that is where it counts.

A-League News

By the way, for those of you after live coverage of the match against Perth, it’s not looking good. The Melbourne Victory site has said the game won’t be covered there. If anyone has tips on how to keep track of the game, please leave a comment.

Carlos Hernández made his first appearance for the Victory, coming on 15 minutes into the 2nd half to a welcoming roar of support. But he was unable to help Melbourne come back after Newcastle scored the winning goal several minutes into the 51st minute.

We made the road-trip down to Geelong and were impressed with the turnout. Even more impressive though, were Melbourne’s new recruits: Matthew Kemp was committed in defence and drove forward on a number of occasions; Joe Keenan, who started in an attacking position but was returned to midfield at half-time, played tenaciously and impressed with his versatility; Kaz Patafta gave credence to Gary’s call that the 18-year old is the next Harry Kewell, as his sharp, quick feet opened up a number of attacks; and finally, there was Hernández, who only had 30 minutes to impress, but used what time he had to fire a number of long-range shots and deliver one excellent free kick.

But alas, goals were not forthcoming. Newcastle effectively locked down Danny Allsopp, taking advantage of Archie Thompson’s absence. The 1-0 loss puts Melbourne at the bottom of Group A, though a decisive win against Perth in Darwin next week could launch them right back to the top of the ladder (remember, there’s bonus points for scoring multiple goals).

In Group B, the Queensland Roar and Central Coast Mariners settled for a 1-1 draw. Far more interesting, though, was Wellington’s shellacking of a weakened Sydney side. The Phoenix’ first major home game was enjoyed by over 6,000 fans, who were treated to an impressive and comfortable 3-0 victory. The win puts the Phoenix on the top of Group B alongside the Mariners.