Round 23 In The A-League With Ze Phibber
Round 23 is done and dusted, and I am pissed. It was a good week of footy, but for a New Zealand fan it was horrible, The Warriors lost, the Phoenix lost and the Black Caps lost. I'll tell ya I was in the shittest mood Sunday night and what makes it worse is living in Sydney and having all the arrogant Aussies giving you stick all day, piss it's been a hard week. Any way rant over. Let's focus on the Footy!!
The first game of the week was between the Melbourne Victory and the Central Coast Mariners. The match finished 2-1 with goals to Isaka Cernak (Cen) and Gui Finkler (Mel, 2). The Victory did well to get up and claim this match. They were missing a handful a key players due to international duties and also were missing Kosta Barbarouses who is very key in their attack. Gui Finkler really stepped up in this match and played a blinder. His two goals were absolute class, great pieces of finesse finishing. Don't you think he looks like Kaka? I rek he does and he almost played like him in this game. The win pushed Melbourne into 2nd place one point behind the Wellington Phoenix but with a game in hand. Next week the two will battle it out. I'll tell you what, I'm moist for that fixture.
The second game of the week was between Melbourne City and the Brisbane Roar. There was so much riding on this match. Brisbane had the perfect opportunity to really put pressure on Melbourne and slowly claw back some points to help them on their run to the finals. Sadly the match seemed to lack the real tenacity that I was expecting and instead the match finished in a slightly disappointing 1-0 win to City. The goal to Jonaton Germano (Mel). Brisbane really did struggle get anything going. Their best chance came from a shot from halfway! I mean that's saying something. They did have a few people out with injuries and international duties but I was still disappointed with a lack of fight. For a game that had so much potential to be a cracker it really did not offer too much.
The third game of the week was between Perth Glory and the Western Sydney Wanderers. The match finished with Perth Glory taking the win 3-2. Goals to Romeo Castelen (Wes), Sidnei Sciola (Per), Rostyn Griffiths (Per), Karen Bulut (Wes) and Josh Risdon (Per). Perth looked like they were going to continue their poor form early on in this match as they were clearly out played and dominated by the Wanderers early on. It wasn't until the second half when we started to see Perth of old come out and start playing again, and it didn't take long and they were back to their old antics and scoring some great goals. The third goal Perth pumped out was an absolute fricken melter, Josh Risdon actually pinged the heck out of it from about 25 yards and it smashed into the top right corner! it was a cracker of a goal and is a definitely deserving of the Phibber's Goal Of The Week.
The fourth game of the week was between the Wellington Phoenix and Sydney FC. Sydney FC continued there devastating form and absolutely handed it to the Phoenix with a 3-0 win. Goals to Jacques Faty (Syd), Shane Smeltz (Syd) and an own goal from Manny Muscat (Wel). Wellington were very disappointing in this match. I was so disappointed, even Moss was off his game and that is so uncharacteristic of him. Sydney looked well however and continued their winning streak to 11. Both teams ended up with 10 men. Shane Smeltz' red card was absolutely taking the piss that should no way have been a red card. Maybe just give him a talk and ask him to watch his high feet, but a straight read is a joke. On the other hand Albert Reira's tackle was pretty hideous. And definitely deserving of a second yellow. Now because of this loose, dangerous tackle Albert is this weeks recipient of the Phibbers Knob Of The Week. Hopefully the Phoenix can step it up next week with 1 v 2 match against the Victory.
The fourth game of the week was between Adelaide United and the Newcastle Jets. Adelaide kept their premiership dreams alive with a 1-0 win thanks to Marcelo Currusca (Ade). I'll tell you what though the team that beat Newcastle was Newcastle themselves. Their finishing was so so so poor. They had many chances to get up and grab some goals but they failed time after time. They were playing some great football but were letting themselves down with their final touches.
The race for the premiership plate is really anyone's game. The top 5 teams are separated by two points, so this weekend we could see teams drop from 1st to 5th, from 4th to 2nd. This A-League aye, it's all good.