Entries from January 2008 ↓
January 21st, 2008 — A League, A-League Awards
So regular season of Version 3 of the Hyundai A-League has come to a close. The Central Coast Mariners were lucky enough to book themselves a spot in the Asian Champions League as well as a double shot in the finals, thanks to Sydney’s draw with Melbourne and the Queensland Roar’s loss in Adelaide.
Exciting times for Mariners fans.
The end of regular season makes a perfect occasion for us to announce the first ever A-League Awards decided by fans – hosted by us here at MVFC Blog.
With the help of some of the other football bloggers around, we have come up with nominations for four categories.
Best Player in the A-League 2007/08
- Alex Brosque (SFC)
- Joel Griffiths (NJ)
- John Hutchinson (CCM)
- Robbie Kruse (QR)
- Matt McKay (QR)
- Jade North (NJ)
- Hyuk Su-Seo (QR)
- Shane Smeltz (WP)
- Archie Thompson (MV)
- Danny Tiato (QR)
Best Foreign Player in the A-League 2007/08
- Michael Bridges (SFC)
- Cassió (AU)
- Daniel (WP)
- Felipe (WP)
- Carlos Hernández (MV)
- Juninho (SFC)
- Reinaldo (QR)
- Hyuk Su-Seo (QR)
Best Young Player (under 23) in the A-League 2007/08
- Nathan Burns (AU)
- Bruce Djite (AU)
- James Holland (NJ)
- Robbie Kruse (QR)
- Mark Milligan (SFC)
- Nikita Rukavystya (PG)
- Sebastian Ryall (MV)
- Danny Vukovic (CCM)
- Michael Zullo (QR)
Most Sorely Missed Player in the A-League 2007/08
- Nicky Carle (NJ – now plays for Bristol City FC)
- David Carney (SFC – now plays for Sheffield United FC)
- Fred (MV – now plays for DC United)
- Adrian Leijer (MV – now plays for Fulham FC)
- Dario Vidosic (QR – now plays for FC Nuremberg)
Voting closes on Thursday, January 31st at 16:00 EST.
Go ahead, you can vote now.
… Or read on for a bit more information about the awards.
How the nominees were selected:
In total, nine different bloggers helped come up with the nominations for each category.
Every blogger was asked to give their top 2 choices for each category. Some players were nominated by more than one blogger – which is why some categories have more nominees than others.
The bloggers involved:
What are you waiting for? Vote now!
January 18th, 2008 — Asian Champions League, Transfers
I mentioned in last week’s poll (Which International Should Melbourne Ditch?) that Ernie Merrick will have to hand in a 30-player squad list by February 11.
30 players. We currently have 22. One of whom has to be ditched.
That leaves 9 spaces to be filled over the coming 3 and a bit weeks. Expect a raid of the Victorian Premier League, the AIS and other A-League teams.
(By the way, Ernie, if you’re reading this. I’m an ok attacker, so, you know, if you need me…)
The tricky thing is that the A-League only allows teams to have 23 players, so Melbourne will be signing 7 players on deals exclusively for the Asian Champions League group stage. Did I hear someone say “making up the numbers”?
It’s safe to assume Melbourne will be signing at least two longer-term contracts in the next few weeks. And going by this piece in The Age today, it looks like at least one of them will be a striker.
(As I said Ernie, if you need me…)
January 18th, 2008 — A League, Melbourne Victory, Sydney FC
The Newcastle Jets’ 2-1 win over the Central Coast Mariners may have put an end to the Melbourne Victory’s slim hope of reaching the finals, but that’s not to say that the Victory have nothing to play for in Sunday’s match against Sydney FC.
Honour is a powerful motivation – especially when it comes to the firmly embedded Melbourne – Sydney rivalry.
And, to a lesser extent, there’s also honour in finishing 5th – rather than 6th.
Continue reading →
January 17th, 2008 — Carlos Hernandez
Carlos Hernández has been called on to play a couple of friendlies for Costa Rica in late January and early February.
Costa Rica will be playing Iran on January 30 and Jamaica on February 6.
With the Victory out of the finals, it’s a great opportunity for Hernández to make an impression on national coach Hernan Medford. Costa Rica’s World Cup qualification campaign kicks off in June.
January 16th, 2008 — Archie Thompson, Kevin Muscat, Pim Verbeek, Rodrigo Vargas, Socceroos
Pim Verbeek held his second training camp yesterday, this time calling in 29 players from the A-League. Eight of the players at the last training camp were left out this time, including the Melbourne Victory’s Leigh Broxham and Nick Ward.
Kevin Muscat, Archie Thompson and Rodrigo Vargas have all been picked again though.
Archie has already said he doesn’t like his chances of getting picked. Will the fact that Alex Brosque, John Aloisi and Joel Griffiths are all playing in the A-League finals help them to score a spot ahead of Thompson?
Muscat and Vargas will be up against similar challenges, of course. All up, the 20 of the 29 men selected for Pim’s second training camp are playing in the finals. Making the squad is going to be a stiff challenge for the Melbourne boys.
Which Melbourne Victory player is most likely to feature in the Socceroos squad against Qatar?
Vote in the sidebar and leave your comments below.
January 15th, 2008 — Adelaide United, Asian Champions League, Melbourne Victory
So it happened. The Newcastle Jets beat the Central Coast Mariners on Saturday, meaning that the faint dream of Melbourne reaching the finals is now over.
I published an article on Newsvine last week, called The Problem with the Asian Champions League (which has also been published on Pitch Invasion). As I pointed out in that article, the Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United are going to the ACL, supposedly as the best of the Australian teams – despite the fact that neither have reached the A-League finals this season.
As I wrote the article though, one question struck me: Is the fact that Melbourne hasn’t reached the A-League finals a blessing in disguise? Continue reading →
January 12th, 2008 — A League, Melbourne Victory, Wellington Phoenix, videos
Melbourne Victory 3, Wellington Phoenix 0[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEbrtc8U6Fo[/youtube] Continue reading →
January 11th, 2008 — A League, Melbourne Victory, Wellington Phoenix
Some people are talking about tonight’s clash with the Wellington Phoenix as a critical one for the Melbourne Victory’s finals aspirations.
Sure. It’s critical. If the Central Coast Mariners do us a favour and beat the Newcastle Jets (preferably by a big margin), everything could come down to the last round – which would make for a wonderful climactic end to the season.
But there’s another reason why beating the Phoenix tonight is important – nay, essential:
Victory fans need to be able to sing their Victory song.
Continue reading →
January 10th, 2008 — About Us
Peter and I (Eric) started this blog back in May with a pretty simple goal: to cover the latest news, results and discussions about the Melbourne Victory.
Over time, traffic to the blog has grown, as has the number of subscribers. To all those of you who have subscribed, commented on entries, or just popped around to read what we’ve written, thank you. It’s much more fun writing stuff when you know someone’s going to read it!
Since the season is just about over, I thought it would be a good time to invite some feedback from you about MVFC Blog.
We’d love to hear what you like about the blog, what areas we could improve in, and if there are any things you’d like to see us do on MVFC Blog in the future.
Feel free to leave comments below, or email me personally with your feedback at ericATmvfcblog.com
January 9th, 2008 — Asian Champions League, Carlos Hernandez, Grant Brebner, Joe Keenan, Leandro Love, Melbourne Victory
One important decision which Ernie Merrick will have to make in the next month is which international player he leaves out of the Melbourne Victory squad for the Asian Champions League.
Coaches have to get their 30-player squad lists in by the 11th of February. One of the stipulations is that each team can only have three foreign players.
This means that one of Melbourne’s four internationals is going to miss out on the Champions League.
Our international players are:
Who should Merrick leave out?
Vote in the sidebar and leave your comments below.
