Entries from January 2008 ↓

The Melbourne Victory will play the Socceroos behind closed doors on Saturday.

For Pim Verbeek, the friendly allows him another chance to watch his selection of A-League players before finalising his squad for the Qatar match.

It’s not clear who Archie Thompson, Rodrigo Vargas and Kevin Muscat will play for, considering they are all still up for a spot in the Socceroos, but you’d expect that Ernie Merrick will give some of his young blood an opportunity to impress – Nathan Elasi in particular.

For those of you who haven’t voted in the A-League Awards yet, now’s the time. Voting closes today at 4pm.

Only seven sleeps left before the Socceroos embark on their World Cup qualification campaign.

Does Pim Verbeek know what he’s doing? Who will he pick from the 39-man squad he named last week? Will Vargas, Archie or Muscat get a run?

It may be the first qualification match, but it’s incredibly important. The Socceroos will be at home, playing against what is arguably their easiest competition, in front of a fanatical crowd at the Telstra Dome. Nothing short of a win will satisfy.

Will the Socceroos beat Qatar?

According to this post on the Melbourne Victory forum, Tony Ising has been “retrenched from his position as Media Manager of Melbourne Victory Football Club”.

On the official Victory website, however, his name is still listed.

Tony Ising was one of the original creators of the Melbourne Victory. A few years ago, Peter and I met him on a plane from Sydney to Melbourne (the day after Australia qualified for the World Cup) and he told us that he was the “inventor” of the club. Since the Victory’s inception, Ising has had a behind-the-scenes role.

Last week, Geoff Lord made it clear that he was very disappointed with the season and that changes were on the way. But the indication was that more staff would be brought in to “liaise with the current management” – not to replace them.

Thanks to Campbell for alerting me to the news.

Last week I was wandering around some of the other A-League clubs’ forums and found a forum post entitled “The Worst Supporters in the Land” on the Perth Glory’s forum.

To quote directly from there:

“Well, we certainly have come full circle.

Once upon a time we had the best team in the land with the most vocal and passionate supporters.

Now we’re bottom of the league with, what are without question, the worst supporters in the country.

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Have you voted in the A-League Awards yet? Voting closes next Thursday, January 31.

Who was the best Melbourne Victory player this season?

We’ve had so much fun running the A-League Awards that we decided to follow it up with a Melbourne Victory Awards.

But we need your help. Most of the categories are fairly straightforward, but there’s one that we need help deciding on: the Best MVFC Player of 2007/08. We need to whittle a handful of nominees out of the 23 possibilities – and we’d like your help deciding which players should be nominated.

To nominate players, all you have to do is leave a comment after this post listing the players you think deserve to be nominated. List as many as you’d like, but make sure your list is ranked.

Here’s my picks to get the ball rolling:

1. Rodrigo Vargas
2. Michael Theoklitos
3. Archie Thompson
4. Carlos Hernández
5. Daniel Vasilevski

Over to you: Who were the best Melbourne Victory players this season?

The Newcastle Jets are pissed.

They’ve finished the A-League season in excellent fashion, landing a spot in the top two – and guaranteeing a double shot at reaching the Grand Final.

But they won’t get the Grand Final at home, whether they win against the Central Coast Mariners or not. The FFA has decided that neither Central Coast nor Newcastle have a stadium large enough for the Grand Final.

And so the Grand Final will be played in Sydney.

And so the Jets are pissed.

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Early in December, the St George & Sutherland Shire Leader did a short piece about Nathan Elasi.

Elasi, it appears, has football in his blood. Both his father and grandfather were footballers – the latter even represented Australia.

And Nathan has been doing his family proud. A Young Socceroo by the time he was 17 and representative honours at the AIS are two tell-tale signs of a kid with a future.

At the time the article was written, Nathan had high hopes: “to get some training with A-League club Sydney FC”.

Looks like the Melbourne Victory beat Sydney to the punch.

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The Melbourne Victory has just signed Nathan Elasi, an 18-year old striker who has been playing with the Marconi Stallions.

Elasi, a striker, has played for the Young Socceroos on three occasions and was recommended to Ernie Merrick by Sebastian Ryall, who captains the Young Socceroos.

“We brought him down and he impressed us so much, not only with his skill, positioning and his knowledge of how to play the strikers role, but he’s only just turned 18 and he has the build of a 25-year-old.”

He’s also fast:

“Another huge benefit for him is his background in athletics and his speed; he’s a 100 metre sprinter and a hurdler as well, so we think he’s got the capabilities of an excellent striker and he’s a signing we want to keep for the longer term.

That’s the official word at the moment, but for now Elasi is on a six-month contract.

So, one player signed, eight more to come.

Related post: Profile: Nathan Elasi

Sydney FC 2, Melbourne Victory 2

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVRERdAuK7I[/youtube] Continue reading →