Entries from June 2007 ↓

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to catch last week’s friendly against South Melbourne. But never fear, the Melbourne Victory website has posted up great videos of the goals for those of you who were also not able to make it to the game. Check them out there, or enjoy the slightly less refined version from YouTube below:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khHiaAKmxI8[/youtube]

OK, so he didn’t score 5 goals in the one game – settling for a measly 2 – but I have to say that Archie’s 2nd goal was phenomenal. Notice that he dribbled from the half way line? Bloody ripper, if you ask me.

Phil Chadwick from SportsAustralia.com has written an excellent article on the wildly disparate reports of last week’s game against South Melbourne FC by the Age and the Herald Sun. While the Age featured a match report under the headline “Melbourne Shows off its Class”, the Herald Sun painted a much bleaker picture, getting things rolling with the painful title: “14 Ejected after Soccer Fracas”.

It is true that flares were thrown and 14 fans were ejected. But this was by no means the only newsworthy thing that happened at the game. For one, the Victory played a solid game of football against the reigning Victorian Premier League champions. But even more significant was the popularity of the contest. As Chadwick pointed out:

It is mid-season for South in the Victorian Premier League, and pre-season for Victory. There was nothing riding on the game. Remarkably, on a cold, wintry Melbourne evening, more than 7,000 spectators turned up to watch.

That astonishing fact is worth repeating: Over 7,000 fans came out to watch a practice match, mid-week, in Melbourne, in winter.

Adelaide United struggled to equal that for a vital Asian Champions League game. That so many eager football fans turned out says a lot for the sporting and football culture in Melbourne. It says a lot for the solid supporter base of South Melbourne, and it says a lot for the growing relevance and credibility of football in this country.

Negative, one-sided reporting is hardly a rarity at the Herald Sun. When it comes to football (of the soccer variety), they appear to have been pissed off a long time ago. Maybe it’s because the Age has been a sponsor of the Melbourne Victory since the first season. Maybe it’s something more sinister. In any case, it’s bad news for the FFA and the Victory as they work hard at changing Australians’ mindset about football.

Just to squash any false expectations raised by the previous post about Kaz Patafta, Aloisi isn’t planning to come to Melbourne (we already have our marquee player in Archie Thompson). But he is considering a move to Sydney FC. First though, he says Sydney have to get their act together and offer him some more cash for his troubles:

“The (latest) offer isn’t the seven-figure sum that everyone’s thinking because they haven’t offered me what they paid Dwight Yorke.

“It’s not that I’m looking for a lot of money here – but I’ve got a family to look after. I’m really going to take a massive cut from what I said originally I wanted, but Sydney are still not quite there. It’s not that I’m greedy or whatever people might think. But I’m an active Socceroo who can still play for at least three good years. I think if I don’t come home now I won’t be playing in the A-League.”

Daily Telegraph

I know as a Melbourne fan I should probably be hoping Aloisi decides to stay in Europe or move to the Middle East, rather than come to Sydney… But at the same time, I’m also a fan of the A-League and would like to see it succeed in Australia. Having well-recognised players such as Aloisi join A-League teams is good news for Australian football. Aloisi himself sounds pretty keen on spending a few years here, rather than just dropping by for a year and then leaving for more money elsewhere.

For the good of the A League, do you hope that Sydney sign the “right” Aloisi?

Some good man has started the Televise Melbourne Victory vs. China Match on SBS petition. I’ve just signed it and encourage you to do the same. It only takes a few seconds and there have been over 300 signatures so far. Hopefully a couple thousand signatures will provide sufficient prodding for SBS to get their act together and show the game come July 4th.

Ernie Merrick talked to the press last week about how the Patafta-signing came about in a rather, well, unorthodox fashion. It all began at Sydney FC’s match against the Urawa Red Diamonds in March:

“I went and got my ticket and sat down at the game, and I sat next to this very attractive young girl and her parents,” Merrick told AAP.

“We got chatting and this young girl – it turns out she’s Kaz’s girlfriend and now his agent.

“We started talking about Kaz and how he was looking for a change and a loan for a year.

“His club (Benfica) wanted to loan him to another Portuguese club but she said he’d much prefer to come to Australia and Melbourne Victory was a good team.

“That’s where it went from.”

Daily Telegraph

Merrick, you sly coach! With two players still left to sign before the Victory squad is a complete 21, whose girlfriend/agent will Ernie be talking to next? I hear Aloisi isn’t sold on Sydney yet…

For all things Victory on Facebook, head over to the Melbourne Victory group. I just started it today and no one’s joined yet… I’m feeling lonely…

It’s just been confirmed on SEN Radio that Kaz Patafta will be coming to Melbourne Victory on a 1 year loan deal from Benfica. This brings the total number of under-20 players on the roster to 4, one more than required by the A-League.

This year’s squad is becoming stronger by the day.

The Victory’s game against China on July 4 may be shown on free-to-air television.

Well, we hope so. Victory chairman Geoff Lord has already been in touch with SBS regarding the proposal. From the Age:

“To my knowledge, this is the first time any Australian club side has organised a game like this against a national team like China,” he said. “I think it’s an absolutely outstanding promotional opportunity from the City of Melbourne’s point of view.

“They could do a trade promotion around the game and use it to generate business and advertise Victoria. The game will be shown live throughout China, and the television audience is vast. I would like it to be shown live here too.

“We would hope to make this an annual event and build on the links we establish this year.”

Fingers crossed. If football is to grow in Australia, it’s going to require much better exposure from free-to-air TV.

Rumours are doing the rounds that promising Olyroo Kaz Patafta may be making his way to Melbourne, on a one-year loan deal from Portuguese giant Benfica. Source of this rumour is Record, a Lisbon sports daily. Specifically this article, which loosely translated claims that “midfielder Kaz Patafta, one of the promising players of the youth squad will be loaned to Melbourne, Australia for a fee of 50,000 euros.”

It is important to note that, similarly to the Carlos Hernandez rumours from last week, nothing has been confirmed by the Melbourne Victory camp. Unfortunately it also seems to be becoming a habit for the Melbourne Victory to rely on overseas press to break these stories.

18 year-old Patafta has been on the Benfica squad since January last year, after leading the “Joeys” during the 2005 World Championships in Peru. He has played regularly in their youth team and appeared a few times in Benfica’s 1st team, all in friendly matches. It is certainly conceivable, considering he isn’t a 1st team player, that Benfica would want to loan him to another club. As much was suggested in a recent interview with him on the SBS’s The World Game;

<narrator> “And what might happen is a move to another European club, where the prospect of regular 1st team opportunities seem more likely”

<Patafta> “It’s really hard to tell, you never know. Sometimes when you expect one thing, the other thing happens. I think the main thing for me at the moment is I’m still young and it’s just all about improving my football and where I get my opportunities to play at a senior level and keep improving.”

Here’s hoping he gets the chance to improve his football at the Victory, where he undoubtedly will become an important part of a growingly impressive squad.

June 19 update: The Age has confirmed this morning that Melbourne Victory is in negotiations with Patafta and is aiming to sign him in the next 48 hours. Source: Victory aiming to sign junior star

June  19 update 2: Patafta has himself now confirmed he is considering a deal to play at Melbourne Victory. Source: Patafta in line for Victory

News this morning revealed that Allsopp was nearly called up as a replacement for Mark Viduka in the Australian Asian Cup squad.

FFA had scheduled a teleconference for 6am this morning and another news conference in Sydney for 11am to break the bombshell news and announce that Melbourne Victory striker Danny Allsopp would be Viduka’s replacement. But by late yesterday, Viduka had reconsidered and told Arnold and FFA that he would be on the plane to join the squad in camp in Singapore later this month.

The Age

While unfortunate for Allsopp to miss out, the national team would have missed Viduka sorely. It however does highlight how prominent Allsopp is on the Socceroo radar, and deservedly so after his stellar season last year.