The Melbourne Victory may have little to play for in terms of this season – other than finishing dead last -, but the Queensland Roar’s win over the Perth Glory ensures that, for the Central Coast Mariners at least, this is a critical game.

The Mariners and Roar are completely level: 30 points each, 24 goals each, 17 goals against each. A loss to Melbourne would see Lawrie McKinna’s Mariners slip to 2nd spot.

For the Victory, it’s also a critical game. The Phoenix launched themselves closer to the top 4 by beating the Newcastle Jets last night. While finals football is all but impossible, Melbourne players will undoubtedly be hungry to turn around their 8-game streak without wins. And with the Asian Champions League looming ahead in 2008, it’s important for the Victory to have some good form to take into their campaign. Continue reading →

Around this time last year, we had won the A-League. Well, at least we knew we were going to finish top of the ladder.

One year later, we know we’re not going to the finals. Sydney FC’s win over the Central Coast Mariners put them into 4th place, a solid 7 points ahead of us.

Meanwhile, we’re in a tight struggle with the Wellington Phoenix and the Perth Glory to not finish last. Unlike in previous years, when the New Zealand Knights were the obvious wooden spooners from round 8, that horrible fate could fall to any one of the bottom three this year. From first to last, one season to the next.

Just a little embarrassing, no?

So if you were Ernie Merrick right now, what would you do? How do you lift morale? Does your goal become merely to avoid finishing dead last, or do you have more positive aspirations?

Quick plug: Eamonn from Football in the Capital has put together a great Xmas Radio Show Special featuring interviews with some of the A-League bloggers out there… and for some strange reason, he saw fit to include me in the round-up!

With the Near Post radio show, Eamonn’s bringing football back to the Canberra radio and, in 2008, to community radio around the country. It was a privilege to be part of the show along with some great bloggers, including fellow Victory fan Neil Zimmerman, Mike Salter, Sarah Duncombe, Hamish Alcorn and Tony Tannous.

You can download the entire program here. My interview is about 3/4 of the way through, but the whole thing is worth listening to.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKkrxNGODkc[/youtube]

I’m not usually one to post non-Victory matches here, but this one deserves to be watched. Check out the Football Tragic for the match review.

Melbourne Victory 1, Newcastle Jets 3

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jdXEYCna6U[/youtube]

The Melbourne Victory has been drawn in Group G, along with Chonburi FC (Thailand), Gamba Osaka (Japan) and the Chunnam Dragons (South Korea).

Adelaide United, meanwhile, have been drawn in Group E with Changchun Yatai (China), Pohang Steelers (South Korea) and Binh Duong (Vietnam).

Here’s who we’re up against, and how they made it to the Champions League:

• Chonburi FC won the 2007 Thailand Premier League to secure their spot at the Asian Champions League. It will be their first appearance at the Champions League.

• Gamba Osaka came 3rd in the J-League and failed to beat the Urawa Red Diamonds in the final of the 2006 Emperor’s Club, but that was enough to pave the way for them to compete in the Champions League.

• Chunnam Dragons have won the Korean FA Cup the last two years, knocking out the Pohang Steelers earlier this month. In the K-League, however, the Dragons have only managed to finish 8th this year.

If you haven’t read it yet, check out my previous post about how the Asian Champions League works.

The Newcastle Jets are the only team to beat the Melbourne Victory at home this season. They pulled off that victory in a round 10 encounter that was dramatic for all the wrong reasons: a send-off, a penalty not given, and a verbal assault on Joel Griffiths.

Melbourne fans came away from that game feeling hard-done by, as their team dropped out of the top 4.

The stakes are much higher this week: The Victory have to win if they are going to stand any chance of making it to the finals. With just 5 matches left to go, Melbourne needs to win at least 4 of those encounters.

Even if Melbourne don’t end up making the finals, a win on Sunday night is very important for the club. Attendance was notably low last weekend and this time there were no election parties keeping people away. After this Sunday, Melbourne has just one home game left. Finishing the season on a positive note will hopefully encourage more Melburnians to show up for the Asian Champions League matches in 2008. Continue reading →

Last year, neither Sydney FC nor Adelaide United were able to make it past the group stage of the Asian Champions League. Adelaide faired badly, managing two wins, two draws and two losses. Sydney FC, on the other hand, narrowly missed out on knocking the Urawa Reds out in the group stage.

So when considering the Melbourne Victory’s chances at this year’s AFC Champions League, we shouldn’t get too greedy. The Socceroos’ dismal run at the Asian Cup should serve as a strong warning that our Asian competitors should never be underestimated.

In my humble opinion, to be the first Australian team to make it past the group stage would already be quite an achievement.

The draw for the 2008 Asian Champions League will be held on Monday, so it seemed like a great time to provide a quick look at how the tournament works. Continue reading →

After reading the comments on Saturday’s game, it’s clear that many of you quite impressed with the Melbourne Victory’s performance against Adelaide United.

The inclusion of Kaz Patafta in the starting line-up was one major cause for celebration, as I talked about yesterday.

The success of last week’s starting lineup raises some interesting questions for this week. With Danny Allsopp returning from injury, Steve Pantelidis no longer on suspension, and Nick Ward joining the team, Ernie Merrick has some serious selection headaches.

Over to you: Should Merrick make any changes to last week’s starting lineup? Continue reading →

One of the key questions hanging over this Sunday’s clash with the Newcastle Jets is whether Kaz Patafta will get another start.

When he first signed with the Melbourne Victory, he was hailed as the “next Harry Kewell” by one reader. But before last Saturday, Patafta had only 200 minutes of in-season game time to prove himself.

Kaz’s main competition for the attacking midfield role was, of course, Carlos Hernández. Despite many early complaints about the Costa Rican, Patafta has never been able to displace Hernández from the starting line-up. And with Leigh Broxham, Grant Brebner and Kevin Muscat absorbing the rest of the midfield spots for the majority of the season, there was simply no room for Kaz in Ernie Merrick’s calculations.

Until Saturday. A few things were key to bringing about Kaz’s first start of the season: Kevin Muscat’s shift into a central defensive capacity; Danny Allsopp’s injury; and Merrick’s overdue decision to bench Grant Brebner. It all paved the way for Patafta to start alongside Hernández, in a formation that was probably Melbourne’s best of the season. Continue reading →