UNITED vs. Central Coast.
I’ve been a slack bastard over the last few days, so it all is:
- Ross Aloisi says the side hasn’t lost confidence since the defeat on Sunday.
- Aloisi also says we're going all out attack.
- John Aloisi(!) is in talks with Adelaide United about a move.
- McKinna expects us to go hard early.
- Kossie wants more goals on Sunday.
- He’s also removed the thought of failure.
- Carl Veart is sick of the fuss being made about his age.
- Paul Agostino(!) has revealed he also wants to come home to Adelaide.
- Kossie thinks we’re due some good karma and good fortune.
- Nando Rech says the Mariners will be feeling the pressure big time.
- Valkanis and Beauchamp are meant to be having mixed feelings about tomorrows game.
- Penalties could decide tomorrows game.
- Finally, football is supposed to be the winner of tomorrows battle of the codes as we go head-to-head with the AFL and cricket.
HYUNDAI A-LEAGUE
PRELIMINARY FINAL
vs. 
Sunday, 26th of February, 2006
Kick-Off: 4:30pm (CDT/ GMT +9.39)
Hindmarsh Stadium
Adelaide, South Australia
Weather: 23c/Partly Cloudy.
PRELIMINARY FINAL
vs. Sunday, 26th of February, 2006
Kick-Off: 4:30pm (CDT/ GMT +9.39)
Hindmarsh Stadium
Adelaide, South Australia
Weather: 23c/Partly Cloudy.
PREVIEW
Coming later.
TABLE
(as of Saturday, 25/02/2006)
Pos Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Adelaide Utd 21 13 4 4 33 25 +8 43
2 Sydney FC 21 10 6 5 35 28 +7 36
3 CC Mariners 21 8 8 5 35 28 +7 32
4 Newcastle Utd 21 9 4 8 27 29 -2 31
-------------------------------
5 Perth Glory 21 8 5 8 34 29 +5 29
6 QLD Roar 21 7 7 7 27 22 +5 28
7 Melbourne Vic 21 7 5 9 26 24 +2 26
8 NZ Knights 21 1 3 17 15 47 -32 6
UNITED’S FORM/LAST 5 A-LEAGUE RESULTS
LDLDD
SF2: Sydney FC 2-1 Adelaide United (Qu)
SF1: Adelaide United 2-2 Sydney FC (Dodd, Rech)
R21: Sydney FC 2-1 Adelaide United (Qu)
R20: New Zealand Knights 1-1 Adelaide United (Brain)
R19: Adelaide United 1-1 Central Coast Mariners (Veart pen)
CENTRAL COAST’S FORM/LAST 5 A-LEAGUE RESULTS
DWDWD
SF2: Central Coast Mariners 1-1 Newcastle United Jets (Heffernan)
SF1: Newcastle United Jets 0-1 Central Coast Mariners (Osman)
R21: Queensland Roar 2-2 Central Coast Mariners (Petrie, O’Sullivan)
R20: Central Coast Mariners 3-1 Melbourne Victory (Spencer [2], Heffernan)
R19: Adelaide United 1-1 Central Coast Mariners (Kwasnik)
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Played: 4
United Wins: 1
Draws: 2
Mariners Wins: 1
THE TEAM
Squad: 1.Daniel BELTRAME (gk), 2.Richie ALAGICH, 3.Kristian REES, 4.Angelo COSTANZO, 5.Michael VALKANIS, 6.Ross ALOISI, 8.Carl VEART, 10 Fernando RECH, 11.Louis BRAIN, 13.Travis DODD, 17.Adam VAN DOMMELE, 18.Robert CORNTHWAITE, 19.Qu SHENGQING, 20.Robert BAJIC (gk), 21.Jason SPAGNUOLO, 22.Greg OWENS.
In: Nil
Out: Nil
Unavailable: Matthew Kemp (Groin – Unknown), Chad Bugeja (Back - Unknown), Lucas Pantelis (Knee – Unknown)
PREDICTION
Adelaide United 2-1 Central Coast Mariners aet
Rech, Veart
posted by Rhys @ 5:18 PM
1 comments
I hate it when United start this way. Pegged back into our own half Sydney blitzed us in the first few minutes, as they controlled the ball and possession over the reshuffled United backline. They almost scored when Carney broke down the right hand side and his cross was just missed by an on-rushing Steve Corica. Nervous stuff at the start for the Reds. Sydney again had another chance when a cross in by Corica went across Beltrame but Petrovski’s touch was put well wide.
United started to venture forward as we worked our way into the game, gaining possession and pushing Sydney back into their own half. Playing on the right, Carl Veart was keeping Alvin Ceccoli deep into his half. The Reds were getting into their stride soon after, and were controlling the midfield. In particular, Ross Aloisi easily had the better of Dwight Yorke, as the latter certainly isn’t known for his ability to defend and tackle like Aloisi and Costanzo are for United.
Long shots from outside the box were of plenty occurrence with Ross Aloisi and Richie Alagich all having pops from outside the area. The only problem was that nothing was on target, and the long-balls were creeping in. Long-balls don’t work against tall centre-backs like Rudan and Fyfe, and noticeably that our forwards were near invisible as they were getting poor service.
And then Sydney scored. After United had the possession for such a long period of time, Sydney score. Sasho Petrovski, who looked offside, was released and he finished with a shot that bounced off Beltrame and it rolled into the net. The second week in a row Sydney scored when the ball had rolled slowly into the net. The tie was pretty much slipping well beyond our grasp by now. We had to win the match.
Travis Dodd was fouled just outside the box by David Carney, who received the first yellow of the game. But Qu’s free-kick mirrored his recent performances: soft, tired and lethargic. It was cleared easily by Sydney. Soon after, after the ball had found its way down our end once again Ross Aloisi crossed it in, and Qu steamed in with the header. Perhaps it wasn’t meant to be our day, as the ball crashed into the crossbar.
As the half closed we had two corners. The first one was far better as a flick-on by Rudan is all that stopped Veart having an open net to tap into. But the second was a waste. Qu passed it out to Aloisi, and his scooped shot went over the net. What a waste. We were left with the world to do now; needing to score twice and do something we hadn’t done in two other matches: win in Sydney.
Sydney had the run of the ball in the first half. They had two breaks and a corner but neither went anywhere with it. When we had a chance to get the ball into their box it went nowhere, as we wasted ball after ball. But at least we got Mark Milligan suspended, as he took out Fernando Rech and received a yellow card. That card meant he would be suspended for the grand final if Sydney went to win.
Football is a funny game. Finally, after so many surges forward we got our reward. A counter attack through the middle released Shengqing Qu, and he turned inside the box, shot and fired it into the bottom corner to make it 1-1. We had to score again to at least take it to extra-time providing Sydney scored again. It was 3-3 on aggregate, but we were still out at this stage because of those bastard away goals.
Sydney’s defence was getting carved up time and time again. The latest came when a succession of passes between Costanzo, Alagich and Rech found an open Aloisi, but like everything else it was utterly wasted. Aloisi’s tame header fell straight to Bolton. When you get possession like this you have to make it count, and one goal from all this really isn’t enough. At least David Carney had been subbed off for Terry McFlynn.
Beltrame made the save of the game when Sydney broke down our left side. Dwight Yorke’s cross fired across the box, but Petrovski’s touch was brilliantly saved by Beltrame. But typically, Sydney scored anyway. Mark Rudan scored from the corner to put Sydney 2-1 up at Aussie Stadium against us – why am I getting a sense of déjà vu from this? Qu came off for Greg Owens minutes after Andrew Packer had a goal ruled offside. Carl Veart went on to miss an absolute sitter.
Greg Owens was proving to be a decent signing when he ran through the middle of the pitch, and his inch perfect released Ross Aloisi. Aloisi’s shot beat Bolton but hit the post, and even the rebound was cleared off the line by Mark Rudan. We had hit the post three times, had one cleared off the line and an absolute sitter missed. What a wrought - a class example of why finals systems suck. Sydney Olympic in 2002 all over again, this.
For the second week running we had a free-kick outside the box into injury time. Result? A waste. Same as usual. Owens, who impressed, had the chance to win it for us when Rech played it back to him, but the new signing fired his shot right over and deep into where the travelling Reds were standing. The whistle went seconds after, and Sydney went into the grand final, somewhat unjustifiably as in my mind we had no one but ourselves to blame for losing this. Eleven more shots, and 55% of the possession, and only scoring one goal? It just isn’t good enough.
(2) 