Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th

[darklights]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th

Yes that would have been nice...Hopefully they can hold on to the 1 goal deficit. Knights Buari missed a sitter from inside 6 yard box :wall

there are days when a team cant score even if its a sitter, remember T.Henry, Arsenal vs Aston Villa. :hope :hope :hope :hope hopefully we all win. if the game is going dull, pls update it Bee, maybe i'll throw in somemore for unders at 85 minutes

[darklights]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th 1-0 FT congrat for those taking unders

[Beejayville]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th FT: New Zealand Knights 0 - 1 Sydney FC 58' M. Rudan Difference between a good side and a bad side. A good side gets chances and takes at least one, a poor side gets chances and doesnt take any...Knights played well but seemed to choke quicker than the Boston Strangler when they got in the penalty box. Sydney starting to frustrate me, don't know how they didn't win last week, and don't know how they won tonight...having said that, Sydney were without 4 players who scored around 30 of their goals last season...That may be why they are struggling a little at the moment...They did manage to get the 3 points when they shouldn't have, good sides do that.

[888]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th Not a bad night really, at least our bet isn't a loss ;) What do you guys think about Queensland vs Adelaide Over 2.5 Goals ? I really think its hard to determine a clear winner between them.

[Beejayville]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th

Not a bad night really' date=' at least our bet isn't a loss ;) What do you guys think about Queensland vs Adelaide Over 2.5 Goals ? I really think its hard to determine a clear winner between them.[/quote'] Probably a good chance cos both sides capable of scoring freely...Been impressed with Queensland and they have many scoring options including new recruit Zhang who looked very good last week when he came on, and Dario Vidosic should be back from International duty. Queensland have yet to play Sydney, Melbourne, or Adelaide yet, so will be a good test for them...I am having trouble splitting them too, and if you like either side then you will get good odds...Might have a think on it overnight. Congrats to those on Sydney!!!

[Beejayville]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th A League Squads for Round 5 Queensland Roar v Adelaide United Friday 22 September, 8.00pm AEST (7.30pm ACST, 6.00pm AWST) Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane Queensland Squad: 1. Tom Willis (gk), 2. Andrew Packer, 3. Remo Buess, 4. Chad Gibson, 5. Josh McCloughan, 7. Marcus Wedau, 8. Massimo Murdocca, 9. Simon Lynch, 10. Ante Milicic, 11. Reinaldo, 12. Yuning Zhang, 13. Spase Dilevski, 15. Matt McKay, 16. Hyuk-Su Seo, 18. Dario Vidosic, 19. Sasa Ognenovski, 20. Liam Reddy (gk), * two to be omitted In: Dario Vidosic (return from international duty), Chad Gibson (promoted) Out: Nil Unavailable: Nil Adelaide Squad: 1. Daniel Beltrame (gk), 4. Angelo Costanzo, 5. Michael Valkanis, 6. Ross Aloisi (captain) , 8. Carl Veart, 10. Fernando, 12. Greg Owens, 13. Travis Dodd, 14. Aaron Goulding, 15. Nathan Burns, 16. Bobby Petta, 18. Robert Cornthwaite, 19. Shengqing Qu, 20. Robert Bajic (gk), 21. Jason Spagnuolo In: Michael Valkanis (return from thigh injury), Nathan Burns (U20 returns from international duty) Out: 3. Kristian Rees (omitted), 11. Dez Giraldi (hamstring – 1 week) Unavailable: 7. Lucas Pantelis (knee – season), 9. Matthew Kemp (illness – 1 week), 2. Richie Alagich (thigh strain – 1 week), Impending stats, facts and trivia Two former teammates from China will be reunited this weekend with Queensland's Yuning Zhang and Adelaide's Shengqing Qu having spent several years together in the Chinese first and second divisions. Zhang and Qu were together from 1996 to 2000 at Liaoning, and again from 2003 to 2004 at Shanghai Shenhua. The pair scored 19 goals between them as Shanghai took out the Chinese Championship in 2003. Central Coast Mariners v Newcastle Jets Saturday 23 September, 7.00pm AEST (6.30pm ACST, 5.00pm AWST) Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium, Gosford Central Coast Squad: 20. Danny Vukovic (gk), 3. Paul O’Grady, 4. Noel Spencer (captain), 5. Bradley Porter, 7. John Hutchinson, 8. Jamie McMaster, 10. Tom Pondeljak, 11. Damien Brown, 12. Stewart Petrie, 13. Tony Vidmar, 14. Vuko Tomasevic, 15. Andrew Clark, 17. Matthew Osman, 18. Alex Wilkinson, 19. Adam Kwasnik, 30. Matthew Trott (gk) * one to be omitted In: Damien Brown (promoted), Bradley Porter (returns from international duty) Out: 6. Andre Gumprecht (knee – 6 weeks) Unavailable: 9. Nick Mrdja (knee – 2 weeks), 1. John Crawley (hip – 12 weeks), Nigel Boogaard (osteitis pubis – 4 weeks), 2. Wayne O’Sullivan (calf – 2 weeks), Newcastle Squad: 20. Ben Kennedy (gk); 2. Steve Eagleton 3. Jade North, 5. Milton Rodriguez, 6. Andrew Durante, 8. Matt Thompson, 10. Nick Carle, 11. Tarek Elrich, 12. Paul Okon (Captain), 13. Adam D’Apuzzo, 15. Stuart Musialik, 16. Labinot Haliti, 17. Tolgay Ozbey, 19. Mark Bridge, 22. Steven Old In: Tarek Elrich (return from international duty) Out: 9. Vaughan Coveny (hamstring – 3 weeks) Unavailable: 4. Craig Deans (knee – season), 14. Jobe Wheelhouse (ankle – 4-10 weeks) Impending stats, facts and trivia Central Coast has not scored in any of its five previous Hyundai A-League matches (including the 2006 Grand Final) and will now be aiming not to equal the longest streak of matches without scoring in an Australian national competition; the current record of six consecutive league matches without scoring last occurred in December 1993-January 1994 (Parramatta Eagles) in the old national league - and had only occurred on two other occasions since the old league started in 1977. Newcastle's Milton Rodriguez - the first Colombian to play in Australia's highest level - became just the 17th player to score twice in his first Australian national league match (no player has achieved such a feat in the Hyundai A-League), and only the second such player who made their Australian debut as a substitute. The only other player to come on as a substitute in their debut appearance and score twice was Franco Parisi (currently with New Zealand Knights), for Sydney Olympic in December 2000. Perth Glory v Melbourne Victory Sunday 24 September, 3.00pm AWST (5.00pm AEST, 4.30pm ACST) Members Equity Stadium, Perth Perth Squad: 1. Jason Petkovic (gk); 3. David Tarka, 4. Simon Colosimo, 5. Jamie Harnwell (capt), 6. Jeremy Christie, 7. Mislav Saric, 8. David Micevski, 9. Luka Glavas, 10. Bobby Despotovski, 11. Stan Lazaridis, 12. Leo Bertos, 13. Ante Kovacevic, 14. Jamie Coyne, 16. Adrian Webster, 17. Stuart Young, 19. Naum Sekulovski, 20. Aleks Vrteski (gk), * two to be omitted In: 10. Bobby Despotovski (returns from back injury) Out: Josip Magdic (omitted) Unavailable: 15. Mark Robertson (groin – 5 weeks) Melbourne Squad: 1. Michael Theoklitos (gk), 2. Kevin Muscat (Captain), 3. Daniel Piorkowski, 6. Steve Pantelidis, 9. Daniel Allsopp, 10. Archie Thompson, 11. Vince Lia, 12. Rod Vargas, 13. Kristian Sarkies, 14. Adrian Caceres, 15. Adrian Leijer, 16. Simon Storey, 17. Grant Brebner, 18. Alessandro, 20. Eugene Galekovic (gk) In: Grant Brebner (returns from knee injury) Out: 19. Claudinho (omitted) Unavailable: 8. Fred (suspended – 1 week) Impending stats, facts and trivia - Curiously, Perth Glory performs much better at home on Sundays in the Hyundai A-League: in five home matches on a Sunday the Glory has lost just one match, while eight home matches played on other days of the week has seen six losses. - Even though Melbourne gets a seven day break between its Round 4 and 5 matches, the club might be wishing it was longer. Remarkably, the Victory has never lost a Hyundai A-League match when it had been eight days or more since its last match; however when the previous match was played less than eight days beforehand (like for its Round 5 match), the Victory has lost nine out of 16 matches.

[Beejayville]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th

Not a bad night really' date=' at least our bet isn't a loss ;) What do you guys think about Queensland vs Adelaide Over 2.5 Goals ? I really think its hard to determine a clear winner between them.[/quote'] Think I learnt a lesson again tonight again, one i have learnt many times before lol, just hasn't sunk in yet. Was hoping for a side to win who as only scored 1 goal in 4 games, and they were playing a side who has scored in every game so far, at worst I probably should have had a small wager on Sydney 1-0 cos facts said that Sydney would most likely score, and Knights most likely wouldn't.

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Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th Missed the first half, but caught the second half. Pretty dull game alround with not many chances by either team, from what i seen a 0-0 result would of been a fair result. If anyone looked more attacking it was New Zealand, time and time again they would attack hard and would be let down by their crosses. They always seemed to cross it to the smallest bloke in the box and it never paid off. Sydney didnt really impress me too much, their defence was pretty solid as usual but they were let down in attack. The funny thing is though that they have scored in every game they have played in this year, so when they are onsong they are going to be pretty hard to beat. They also played without Corica as he serves his two match ban so I expect Sydney to finish pretty high still this year, but there is alot of improvements to make if they are going to push for back to back titles. But they will be there come playoffs

[Beejayville]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th

Missed the first half, but caught the second half. Pretty dull game alround with not many chances by either team, from what i seen a 0-0 result would of been a fair result. If anyone looked more attacking it was New Zealand, time and time again they would attack hard and would be let down by their crosses. They always seemed to cross it to the smallest bloke in the box and it never paid off. Sydney didnt really impress me too much, their defence was pretty solid as usual but they were let down in attack. The funny thing is though that they have scored in every game they have played in this year, so when they are onsong they are going to be pretty hard to beat. They also played without Corica as he serves his two match ban so I expect Sydney to finish pretty high still this year, but there is alot of improvements to make if they are going to push for back to back titles. But they will be there come playoffs

Good summary Ads and agree with your thoughts, when Sydney get some more scoring options back they will be a much better team.

[ads25]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th

Melbourne at Telstra Dome is a tricky one, I'm all for the growth and making money while the going is good but if Melbourne slump 14,000 in a 50,000 seat stadium is going to look bad. But if Melbourne can master the surface at the dome which is sand with small tufts of grass here ad there for those who have not been, they could build a home fortress there as other teams will struggle to come to terms with the irregular bounce of the ball and also the low lights that seem to make it hard for high balls and for the keepers. From a members point of view it sucks as we will be further from the action and for week-to-week games, that removes some of the ability to pick up the small features and skills of the game as well as indivudual player form. It's either going to be the greatest move ever or it will haunt us for years and years to come, massive gamble over-all, I just hope Melbourne can keep winning and keep intertest high

Yeh I hear what your saying Mig, but the question still remains - where else can they play it? Melbourne Park only holds about 17,000 people and last week fans were turned away due to the place being sold out. But there is no other ground arond Melbourne I know of that would be suitable. The new 25,000 seater stadium they have proposed looks sensational, but thats still 2 or 3 years away from development, what do they do in the meantime. It seems they have answered this question by moving matches to the Telstra Dome. Im not sure if you were at the Melb vs Syd match at Telstra Dome when they played 3 weeks ago, but the atmosphere was absolutely electric and it would be extremely intimidating to any visiting team. At the time, the match at Telstra Dome was a one off which wasnt expected to happen again, so it was a bit of a novelty really, alot of people just came for the ride i reckon. They were expecting around 25,000 to 30,000 at most, but the fact they had 40,000 people there made it even the more remarkable given last years Grand Final couldnt even crack 30,000... With what you said in your post about the fans being so far back from the action, it wasnt as bad as i thought it would be but the fierce atmopshere of 40,000 home fans cheering Victory home more than made up for it. A crowd of 20,000 there would not make up for it however and thats what im afraid of. Once the novelty of soccer matches wares off (which i hope it doesnt), or if Melbourne Victory start going shit, etc etc. Alot of the fans may drop off and you may only get 20,000 fans to games and the switch to the Dome wouldnt be worth it. Crowds of 40,000 will not happen every week and nobody is expecting it to, but they will want to get around 25,000+ people through the gates on average or this excercise would be deemed a failure in my opinion.

[miguel_hamburglar]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th Ads, I was at the Sydney match and it was fantastic, I agree that 25,000 per match is going to make it work well, it's funny that we have both pointed out what happens if melbourne struggle latter in the season and it really has to be taken into account. Sydney have shown that good form and playing like a sack of crap is only a few injuries away, last season Melbourne showed how to turn good form into unattractive football in the second half of the season, it's reasonable to suggest that given the small lists of players that no team will be able to dominate the league for a long time, Melbourne will be knocked off and then what. ALso the Aussies showed in their match with Kuwait the other night how the media can turn if results are not good. It's great that they took the opportunity created by the AFL finals this year but it's just such a big gamble for a new club. It would be fair to say from the first match at Telstra Dome that over 2.5 looks the goods in all matches there, the keepers really struggled to get to crosses and to sight the ball from long thru balls, also the surface means there are a lot of mistakes and these mistakes in defence will give up a lot of opportunities. Ads, are you a member or just go to a few games?

[miguel_hamburglar]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th ^^^ The new stadium will become unviable if Melbourne do draw big enough crowds to the dome, not point putting in a 25,000 seater if Melbourne can make use of the empty dome over the summer months I guess

[ads25]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th Im leaving it late this week to do a preview, but i havnt really been on the net much lately. Plus the league tried a new thing this week with a game on a Thursday night which is a concept i like, it spreads the games out a bit over the weekend. But anyway to the previews, and a tough round ahead guys... Queensland vs Adelaide In my opinion this is the game of the week without doubt. Both teams will have pretty much full strength teams for this clash and if the opening 4 games are anything to go by we could be in for a goal feast, but on the other hand both teams dont let in many goals as they both have solid defences, so it will make for an interesting match indeed! Im particulary looking forward to seeing the Roar's new chinese recruit Yuning Zhang playing, last week he came off the bench at about 70m and was inspirational in setting up 2 goal assists and controlling the midfield. He is named on the bench again but i feel we may see him a bit earlier tommorow night. Recently Queensland have been scoring goals for fun, apart from the match against CCM which was basically flooded by mass rain, they have been averaging about 4 goals a game. On the other hand Adelaide got off to a slugish start but they have hit form the last fortnight also scoring alot of goals aswell. Both sides boast a very strong backline, for Adelaide players like A.Costanzo, M.Valkanis, T.Dodd, N. Burns & F.Rech have really impressed me and form the nucleus of a very good squad. Queensland with the likes of inform players Reineldo, Lynch, McKay & Zhang have been very strong. The Roars Liam Reddy is in my opinion the best keeper in the league at the moment and he could make the difference. Im not game to go against either team here as they are both capable, so im going to go with the match to end in a draw for that reason. Its interesting to note that Queensland have never beaten Adelaide before either. Pick match to end in DRAW at $3.25 - (5/10) _________________________________________________________ Central Coast vs Newcastle Well what to make of this match? CCM are yet to score a goal this whole campaign, yet on the other hand Newcstle have the worst defensive record in the league as they are letting in goals like they are going out of fashion, so what do you do?!? CCM haven't been playing bad football this season, they are very good defensively but they just cant score goals! Last week they played very well in front of a hostile Melbourne crowd but came up a goal short, but they controlled alot of the play. They have lost one of their main players in Andre Gumprecht to a 6 week injury and will bring in Damien Brown to replace him, Gumprecht will be a big loss to this team and it will be interesting to see how they do without him. Newcastle have the opposite problem to CCM, they are capable of scoring goals themselves as shown last week against Sydney, but their defence is absolutely shithouse (and thats putting it nicely). But with the recent addition of columbian Milton Rodriguez who was inspirational in his debut last week, and the impressive Mark Bridge they will worry a few defences thsi year. Newcastle will field a pretty much full strength squad but im not sure if they will be good enough to beat the Central Coast here. Adding to the interest of this match is that these two are big rivals, only 90km sepparates these two sides which is very very close considering the spread of teams throught the country of the teams, they are practicly neighbours so having said that I think both sides will be pressured not to lose this. But i just cant pick a winner here and i reckon another draw may be on the cards so i will go with that Pick match to end in DRAW at $3.20 - (5/10) _______________________________________________________ Perth vs Melbourne Yet another tough match to pick. The high flying Melbourne who are 4 wins from 4 this year vs a Perth side who have been pretty solid so far this year. For the record Melbourne have never beaten Perth Glory in this competition, but history between these two sides suggest it will be a very high scoring one so perhaps the option of over 2.5 goals will apeal to some punters? Both teams are fielding close to full strength squads with neither team missing any vital players, Melbourne is still missing Fred however as he serves the last of his 3 match ban, but they are flying up in attack at the moment that i dont think he would get straight back into the squad anyway. Archie Thompson & Danny Allsopp have been nothing short of fantastic up front for Melbourne this year, whilst Kevin Muscat has been one of the main reasons for the Victory's resurgance this year after his move from the backline to the midfield. Defenders Steve Pantelidis, Grant Brebner, Adrian Leijer & goalkeeper Mick Theokilotis have been very very impressive, and thats not to mention the inform Allesandro, Sarkies & Claudinhio in the midfield. Yes Melbourne are looking unstoppable at the moment and i think they will roll on again this week at Perth. Perth do have Stan Lazaridis fit again which is a bonus as they will need him in full swing come this sunday, they also have last seasons player of the year in Bobby Despotovski returning to the squad to add some much needed depth in attack. Perth are also a good side when playing at home and with their good record against Melbourne, this could be something to keep in mind. But overall i think Melbourne will be too good here in a high scoring affair. Pick Melbourne to WIN at $2.20 - (7/10) ________________________________________________ A tough round guys so be careful. The weather forecast for the weekend will be fine, but showers are expected Sunday so it should be a nice weekend for some very high quality games. Happy punting!

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Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th In conclusion i will look at backing the following with my predicted scorelines in brackets: Qld/Ade draw $3.25 (1-1) CCM/New draw $3.20 (1-1) Melbourne $2.20 (2-1) Happy punting guys

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Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th

Ads' date=' are you a member or just go to a few games?[/quote'] No im not a member, yet. Im very keen to become one though because i planned to go to a few games at Olympic Park, but now with the move to Telstra Dome it may be alot eaier to get in to see them ;) But i plan to get a memebrship soon to help support them, ive dreamed of soccer taking off in Australia for years and i think its finally happening and I think we have the successfull World Cup to thank for it. If it wasnt for that prick who called that penalty on us in Italy, we would of gave it a real shake up. I really think we were good enough and it still upsets me now when i think of it :@ :@ :@

[888]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th Guys, Romario might join Adelaide United :) That would be awesome if he does, even though he is 40 now but his big name would certainly lift up the A-League more I guess ? Check this out : http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=380821&cc=3436

[meatman]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th once again, this is impressive knowledge guys - youve got a nice little thing going here. I've requested the A league gets a mention in the PL September newsletter, that should hopefully promote the thread even more :ok GL with your bets :hope

[ads25]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th

once again, this is impressive knowledge guys - youve got a nice little thing going here. I've requested the A league gets a mention in the PL September newsletter, that should hopefully promote the thread even more :ok GL with your bets :hope

Cheers Meatman, With the whole restructuring of Australian soccer recently, the quality of matches is extremely high now. As there are only 8 teams involved in the league it is very easy to keep track of games and who is playing well. Keep up the good work guys and hopefully we can continue to win some money! Ads

[Beejayville]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th Central Coast Mariners Vs Newcastle Jets

Past matches
12-Aug-06	A-League	CC Mariners	1 - 1	Newcastle Jets
17-Feb-06	A-League	CC Mariners	1 - 1	Newcastle Jets
10-Feb-06	A-League	Newcastle Jets	0 - 1	CC Mariners
31-Dec-05	A-League	CC Mariners	4 - 1	Newcastle Jets
23-Oct-05	A-League	Newcastle Jets	1 - 0	CC Mariners
4-Sep-05	A-League	CC Mariners	1 - 1	Newcastle Jets
7-May-05	Club C'ship	CC Mariners	0 - 0	Newcastle Jets

Past 8 Games		matches	won	draw	lost	goals	points
CC Mariners	home	8	5	3	0	12 - 5	18
Newcastle	away	8	0	5	3	7 - 12	5

Interesting game and if ever the Mariners are going to score a goal then it has to be this game...Central Coast are going to miss Gumprecht but they still pushed Melbourne last week even after he went off injured and with a bit of luck could have scored but didn't take their chances. The Mariners are yet to score a goal as we all know but on the other hand they have only conceded 4 goals in four rounds, and they have played Melbourne, Queensland and Sydney in those games and only conceded 2 goals against these three teams combined, which is pretty impressive considering Queensland and Melbourne are averaging 2+ goals a game. Newcastle's defence were much improved last week against Sydney and maybe they are starting to put it together a bit after a disastrous first few games defensively. The Mariners have Bradley Porter back from International duty, as does the Jets with Tarek Elrich and both sides appear evenly matched. Current Odds

	1	X	2
Mariners	2-35	3-30	2.80	Newcastle

Everything points to a draw here but I am going to go out on a limb here and suggest a bet on the home side straight out to win...They have played 4 of the top 5 sides so far and only conceded four goals...They were good last week against undefeated Melbourne and had their chances in the game, just an inability to score cost them in the end...Statistics show the top 4 sides clearly have the best defences and the Mariners will find the Jets defence a much easier assignment than in previous games, and this could result in them being able to find the net for the first time this season. Newcastle havn't won away in their last 8 games, and the Mariners have won 5 of their last 8 at home, and even tho these two teams are not that far apart, it is still an away game for the Jets...Perhaps a save on the draw at $3-30 is a good option as these teams have drawn 4 from their last seven games. The Mariners have scored against the Jets the last four times they have played, and I think it will continue here as they go from the last two games of brick wall defences to a defence that has quite a few cracks in it...It all depends on if they can put some goals thru those cracks. BET Central Coast Mariners Straight Out @ $2-35

[Beejayville]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th

Im leaving it late this week to do a preview, but i havnt really been on the net much lately. Plus the league tried a new thing this week with a game on a Thursday night which is a concept i like, it spreads the games out a bit over the weekend. But anyway to the previews, and a tough round ahead guys... Queensland vs Adelaide In my opinion this is the game of the week without doubt. Both teams will have pretty much full strength teams for this clash and if the opening 4 games are anything to go by we could be in for a goal feast, but on the other hand both teams dont let in many goals as they both have solid defences, so it will make for an interesting match indeed! Im particulary looking forward to seeing the Roar's new chinese recruit Yuning Zhang playing, last week he came off the bench at about 70m and was inspirational in setting up 2 goal assists and controlling the midfield. He is named on the bench again but i feel we may see him a bit earlier tommorow night. Recently Queensland have been scoring goals for fun, apart from the match against CCM which was basically flooded by mass rain, they have been averaging about 4 goals a game. On the other hand Adelaide got off to a slugish start but they have hit form the last fortnight also scoring alot of goals aswell. Both sides boast a very strong backline, for Adelaide players like A.Costanzo, M.Valkanis, T.Dodd, N. Burns & F.Rech have really impressed me and form the nucleus of a very good squad. Queensland with the likes of inform players Reineldo, Lynch, McKay & Zhang have been very strong. The Roars Liam Reddy is in my opinion the best keeper in the league at the moment and he could make the difference. Im not game to go against either team here as they are both capable, so im going to go with the match to end in a draw for that reason. Its interesting to note that Queensland have never beaten Adelaide before either. Pick match to end in DRAW at $3.25 - (5/10) _________________________________________________________ Central Coast vs Newcastle Well what to make of this match? CCM are yet to score a goal this whole campaign, yet on the other hand Newcstle have the worst defensive record in the league as they are letting in goals like they are going out of fashion, so what do you do?!? CCM haven't been playing bad football this season, they are very good defensively but they just cant score goals! Last week they played very well in front of a hostile Melbourne crowd but came up a goal short, but they controlled alot of the play. They have lost one of their main players in Andre Gumprecht to a 6 week injury and will bring in Damien Brown to replace him, Gumprecht will be a big loss to this team and it will be interesting to see how they do without him. Newcastle have the opposite problem to CCM, they are capable of scoring goals themselves as shown last week against Sydney, but their defence is absolutely shithouse (and thats putting it nicely). But with the recent addition of columbian Milton Rodriguez who was inspirational in his debut last week, and the impressive Mark Bridge they will worry a few defences thsi year. Newcastle will field a pretty much full strength squad but im not sure if they will be good enough to beat the Central Coast here. Adding to the interest of this match is that these two are big rivals, only 90km sepparates these two sides which is very very close considering the spread of teams throught the country of the teams, they are practicly neighbours so having said that I think both sides will be pressured not to lose this. But i just cant pick a winner here and i reckon another draw may be on the cards so i will go with that Pick match to end in DRAW at $3.20 - (5/10) _______________________________________________________ Perth vs Melbourne Yet another tough match to pick. The high flying Melbourne who are 4 wins from 4 this year vs a Perth side who have been pretty solid so far this year. For the record Melbourne have never beaten Perth Glory in this competition, but history between these two sides suggest it will be a very high scoring one so perhaps the option of over 2.5 goals will apeal to some punters? Both teams are fielding close to full strength squads with neither team missing any vital players, Melbourne is still missing Fred however as he serves the last of his 3 match ban, but they are flying up in attack at the moment that i dont think he would get straight back into the squad anyway. Archie Thompson & Danny Allsopp have been nothing short of fantastic up front for Melbourne this year, whilst Kevin Muscat has been one of the main reasons for the Victory's resurgance this year after his move from the backline to the midfield. Defenders Steve Pantelidis, Grant Brebner, Adrian Leijer & goalkeeper Mick Theokilotis have been very very impressive, and thats not to mention the inform Allesandro, Sarkies & Claudinhio in the midfield. Yes Melbourne are looking unstoppable at the moment and i think they will roll on again this week at Perth. Perth do have Stan Lazaridis fit again which is a bonus as they will need him in full swing come this sunday, they also have last seasons player of the year in Bobby Despotovski returning to the squad to add some much needed depth in attack. Perth are also a good side when playing at home and with their good record against Melbourne, this could be something to keep in mind. But overall i think Melbourne will be too good here in a high scoring affair. Pick Melbourne to WIN at $2.20 - (7/10) ________________________________________________ A tough round guys so be careful. The weather forecast for the weekend will be fine, but showers are expected Sunday so it should be a nice weekend for some very high quality games. Happy punting!

Great reviews Ads and best of luck with your bets :ok

[Beejayville]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th Gawd...Just realised it's Queensland V Adelaide tonight and the Mariner's game is on Saturday... :gimme

[Beejayville]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th

Queensland Roar vs Adelaide United

Past meetings
1-Jan-06	A-League	Adelaide Utd	4 - 2	Queensland
22-Oct-05	A-League	Queensland	1 - 2	Adelaide Utd
2-Sep-05	A-League	Adelaide Utd	0 - 0	Queensland

Past 8 games		matches	won	draw	lost	goals	points
Queensland	home	8	3	3	2	14 - 7	12
Adelaide	away	8	2	2	4	5 - 8	8

As Ads pointed out in an earlier post this is the match of the round no doubt with two high scoring free flowing sides meeting one another. Having given the rest of the competition a head start after losing their first two games, Adelaide has played some of its best football in the past two weeks and is on a mission to dismantle a Queensland outfit that has scored 11 goals and conceded only 2 in its four games. The game will be arguably United’s toughest assignment so far but with the defence holding firm, the midfield settled with a blend of youth and experience, and Fernando and Qu doing the job up front, United has every reason to be confident…Returning to bolster the Adelaide squad are defender Michael Valkanis and striker Nathan Burns.

Queensland have been flying and appear to have a plethora of scoring options including new Chinese recruit Zhang who looks like a potential top liner, along with the quality of Reinaldo, and McKay and Vidosic who provide other strong goal scoring options.

Both sides are about as full strength as they hope to be and it should be an entertaining game between two challengers for the League title.

Current Odds

	1	X	2
Queensland	2-25	3-25	2-90	Adelaide

Tough game to pick the winner here and draw is a reasonable option but I have been more impressed with Queensland this season than Adelaide…This will be the Roar’s first game against a top 4 side this season, and the only time Adelaide played a top 4 side was Melbourne and they lost 2-0…So while this game could go either way I am opting for a home win at $2-25 for Queensland as they are averaging almost 4 goals a game and I have seen all their games and they move the ball around really well and create many chances, and more importantly they take their chances…Adelaide lost their first 2 games and couldn’t score against good defences...Their last 2 games against weaker defences has allowed them to find their scoring touch, but it will be different tonight against the Roar in front of their home crowd.

Once again the $3-25 for the draw allows for a saver in the case of a tied game, but I am going to back my faith in the Roar to get up tonight and knock off Adelaide…Bear in mind as Ads also mentioned, that Adelaide have a 2-1-0 record over Queensland in the A League, but that was last season, but this is a new season and Queensland are a much stronger side this year, whereas Adelaide are not as good as they were last season yet, IMO.

BET Queensland Roar Straight Out for the win @ $2-25

[Beejayville]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th

Guys, Romario might join Adelaide United :) That would be awesome if he does, even though he is 40 now but his big name would certainly lift up the A-League more I guess ? Check this out : http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=380821&cc=3436

ROMARIO ADELAIDE BOUND???

Thursday, 21 September, 2006 - 3:08PM

Brazilian star Romario is a possibility of lining up in an Adelaide United shirt as a guest player in the next few months. There has been recent speculation that Romario is coming to Australia and would play as a guest signing for Adelaide United. The club is looking at the possibility of capturing the forty year old who was the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1994 and made 70 appearances for Brazil between 1987-2005 (scoring 55 goals), which included Brazil’s 1994 World Cup triumph where he was awarded as the Most Valuable Player of the tournament (Golden Ball Award). Romario is closing in on the 1000 goal mark, which has only been achieved by one other, fellow Brazilian Great 'Pele', and it is believed Romario is keen to reach the mark and have a stint at Adelaide United to get closer to the achievement. At this stage Adelaide United cannot confirm or deny whether there is truth of Romario coming to Adelaide, however the club is hopeful of making an announcement either way in the next week or two. Adelaide United’s own Brazilian, Fernando, is excited about the possibility of playing with Romario, his childhood idol. The presence of Romario would be a dream come true for Fernando, who would get to meet and speak to Romario for the first time. United coach John Kosmina also says he would be thrilled to have Romario at Adelaide United, however he is quick to point out the fact that nothing has been finalised. “The guys a world champion. It would be an honour for me to work with him, it would be an honour for the players to play with him,” Kosmina said. “At the moment he’s not here and we’ve got a game against Queensland which I’m more worried about. It might not happen yet. I think people are getting ahead of themselves because Fernando hasn’t spoken to anyone in Brazil except his wife and kids.” If Romario does come to Adelaide, it will be a major coup for the Hyundai A-League and football in Australia, and will be the biggest name signing ever to play in Australia’s national competition.

[Beejayville]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th If you want to listen to the Queensland/Adelaide game live on the net then open WIndows Media Player and click 'File' and then click 'Open URL' and paste the following into the text box http://radio.internode.on.net:8042 This is the Website http://www.life.on.net/ that is broadcasting the game but I canot open it via a Browser so did it via Media Player. Cheers!!!

[darklights]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th u guys reckon any 1st half goal/s?

[Beejayville]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th Hopefully this might help with the first half scoring idea Dark :hope Team stats: Goals For

		Team	Goals	0-45	45-90	Per Match	Avg Min.	GF every
	1	Queensland	11	27 %	72 %	2.75	61	32 min.
	2	Melbourne Vict	9	66 %	33 %	2.25	32	40 min.
	3	Adelaide Utd	8	62 %	37 %	2.	36	45 min.
	4	Sydney FC	6	57 %	42 %	1.5	50	60 min.
	5	Newcastle Jets	5	60 %	40 %	1.25	45	72 min.
	6	Perth Glory	3	0 %	100 %	.75	67	120 m.
	7	NZ Knights	1	0 %	100 %	.25	88	360 m.

[Beejayville]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th

u guys reckon any 1st half goal/s?

It appears that Queensland tend to get most of their goals in the second half and that's probably because they run games out well and may be fitter than other teams or have better endurance. Adelaide on the other hand score most of their goals in the first half but they have only scored in two games. One game was against Perth at home without Laziridis, and the other against the Jets who's defence had more holes than a golf course. Queenslands 4 games at half time have been 0-0, 2-2, 0-0, 1-0 Adelaide's has been 1-0(losing) 0-0, 3-0, 2-0 So I am not sure what will happen in the first half, whether goals will be scored or not, I would think maybe yes, but don't quote me :loon One would think this is going to be a high scoring game, but it could be just the opposite as both sides will be keen on the win and may not be as offensive as usual. The Roar coach has said that he plans to be very attacking at home and a little defensive away, so considering Queensland is playing at home one would expect an attacking effort.

[darklights]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th

Team

Goals

0-45

45-90

Per Match

Avg Min.

GF every

1

Queensland

11

27 %

72 %

2.75

61

32 min.

3

Adelaide Utd

8

62 %

37 %

2.

36

45 min.

If Adelaide can score, it cant defend well either, then it be flood of goals. Queensland is hot now,after the recent NZ thrashing 5-0, then again Perth 3-0, many players did get onto the scoresheet other than the forwards themselves...and Adelaide has confidence issues currently. i'll go for OVER2.5 and might put a little for 1st half goal too.

[ads25]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th

u guys reckon any 1st half goal/s?

Hard to say, both sides play very atractive attacking football, but both sides field a strong defence. As you can see from Beejays chart (very well done!) Queensland score most of their goals in the second half while Adelaide do in the first half. Im thinking it will be 0-0 at half time, but thats just my opinion, the goals will come after half time

[Beejayville]

Re: Australian A League Round 5 - 21st/24th Just for interest... Goal scorers for each team and Queensland had an own goal along the way.

Rech Fernando	Adelaide Utd	3
Dodd Travis	Adelaide Utd	1
Qu Shengqing	Adelaide Utd	1
Cornthwaite Rob	Adelaide Utd	1
Lynch Simon	Queensland Roar	3
Reinaldo	Queensland Roar	2
McKay Matt	Queensland Roar	2
Vidosic Dario	Queensland Roar	1
Milicic Ante	Queensland Roar	1
McLaren Stuart	Queensland Roar	1

Queensland definitely have more scoring options, although McLaren is out, but they also now have Zhang who looks like he will hit the back of the net in the not too distant future. Fernando has scored 50% of Adelaide's goals, if he happens to miss a game well that may hurt them a little.