Entries from April 2008 ↓

With Archie Thompson set to miss the rest of the Asian Champions League group stage, Gary Cole has turned his attention to finding a replacement striker, fast. And a report in the Herald Sun today indicated that the Victory are looking to Costa Rica for their salvation.

“Encouraged by Hernandez’s form late in the A-League season, Victory is poised to trial a Costan Rican striker, perhaps as early as next week, with a possibility he could play in an exhibition game against Adelaide United.” Continue reading →

Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United fought out a 2-2 draw yesterday in Hindmarsh Stadium. With both teams missing a key striker (Adelaide are without Bruce Djite due to injury), the scoreline will provide encouragement for both coaches.

Adrian Caceres, who moved into a striker’s role alongside Danny Allsopp, opened the scoring in the 5th minute. A Lucas Pantelis goal brought Adelaide back on level terms, but Danny Allsopp made sure that Melbourne went into the break a goal up. In the second half, Adelaide had the better of play, but failed to capitalise on chances. Both Travis Dodd and Dez Giraldi missed penalties, though Young Socceroo Matthew Mullen managed to put one in the back of the net to ensure a draw.

With Carlos Hernandez and Archie Thompson expected to be out for the remainder of the ACL group stage, Ernie Merrick shifted Caceres up front and brought Nick Ward forward to act as an attacking midfielder just behind the strikers. While it’s encouraging to see this formula work (to an extent), the club must be looking to recruit a fresh, first-11 striker. With Caceres on his way to the Central Coast Mariners, and neither Nathan Elasi nor Leandro Love looking like first team material, Merrick’s options are starting to look rather thin.

Last week, I published an article on football blog Pitch Invasion about the conflict between Melbourne Victory fans and Telstra Dome management. As part of my research for that article, I interviewed Tunna, the leader of the Blue and White Brigade. Tunna has been a key person in negotiations between the Telstra Dome, the club, and the fans.

After the Telstra Dome agreed to ease up on restrictions for the Asian Champions League last month, I was interested to learn about Tunna’s involvement in making those changes happen. He also shared his thoughts on the atmosphere created by the fans at last month’s match against the Chunnam Dragons. Continue reading →