Australian A League Round 17 Wash Up & Stats

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Weekend Wrap Melbourne players celebrate after securing the 2006-07 Premiership against the Knights Melbourne Victory secured the 2006-07 Premiership with four rounds to spare, underlining their superiority they have thus far showed this season over the rest of the competition. A pulsating 15 minute spell before half time, saw Melbourne put four goals past a weakened New Zealand Knights, who battled manfully despite all the off-field dramas leading up to the match. Meanwhile Sydney’s 1-0 win over Perth maintained second position, ahead of Adelaide, which finished 3-2 on top of Newcastle in a tremendous match that saw Romario grab his first and only goal of his four-game stint with the Reds. The final match saw Queensland keep its finals hopes alive with a 3-2 win over Central Coast Mariners. Results SYDNEY FC 1 beat Perth Glory 0 ADELAIDE UNITED 3 beat Newcastle Jets 2 Central Coast Mariners 2 lost QUEENSLAND ROAR 3 MELBOURNE VICTORY 4 beat New Zealand Knights 0 Game Wraps Alex Brosque scored his first goal for Sydney FC as they maintained second place with a gritty 1-0 win over Perth Glory. Sydney had to do it the hard way, after Mark Rudan was sent from the field after he hauled down Leo Bertos in the 27th minute. The match looked headed for a draw, with Perth not making any real inroads on goal, but some individual brilliance by Steve Corica, saw him cross for Brosque, who guided his header back past Tommi Tomich for the winner with 10 minutes to go. Romario ended his four-game guest stint with a goal and a win, as Adelaide United ended a barren winless run, with a pulsating 3-2 victory over close rivals Newcastle Jets. Romario opened the scoring with a typical poachers goal, pouncing on loose ball after Jets new goalkeeper Qantas Socceroo Ante Covic could only parry a Jason Spagnuolo shot. The impressive Mark Bridge got Newcastle back on level terms with a terrific shot, but within 60 seconds Spagnuolo teed up Fernando to give Adelaide back the lead. Back came the Jets, with the versatile Matt Thompson scoring a super goal, but this match was not over and the winner came courtesy of Greg Owens, with yet another superb strike from outside the box. The win sees Adelaide skip three points of the Jets in the tight battle for top four places. Queensland Roar ended a miserable period on the park and kept their finals hopes alive, with an upset 3-2 win over Central Coast Mariners in Gosford. This was the Mariners first loss at Bluetongue Stadium in over a year and could prove costly in the race for the finals. Dario Vidosic proved the hero with two second half goals, while Ben Griffin will never forget his first goal at this level with a sweet volley. Adam Kwasnik twice scored from the penalty spot, the second coming after his teammate Mile Jedinak had been sent off. But the home side were unable to hold on as Vidosic grabbed the winner after he initially looked to have stuffed up the chance from close range. Melbourne returned to Olympic Park for what looks like the last time and produced a Premiership winning performance to win 4-0 against last-placed New Zealand Knights. All four goals came in a 15-minute spell before half time, as Victory showed their destructiveness when it puts its foot to the floor. Daniel Allsopp scored two, to take his tally to 11 for the season, while Adrian Caceres and Archie Thompson also scored. It was always going to be a struggle for the Knights, who have endured a week of turmoil, but to their credit, the players that travelled to Melbourne, battled hard and fought gamely for new boss Rick Herbert. Highlights Melbourne winning the Premiership with four rounds to go, is some effort and everyone at the Victory should be congratulated for the way they have performed both on and off the field this season. Weekend Goals Tally: 15 Card Count: 13 yellows – 2 reds Attendance/Average: 46,725 / 11,681 Goal of the Week There were some absolute crackers this week and it’s a tough choice. Tempted to give it to young Queensland Roar defender Ben Griffin for his sweet volley, but in terms of significance, Greg Owens was not only superbly taken, but its significance could well be pivotal to Adelaide’s top four chances this season. Player of the Week Again a touch choice, but it’s not often you give a player in a losing side this accolade, but Mark Bridge showed just why he is seen as an outstanding prospect with a terrific effort for Newcastle. Every time he had the ball he looked dangerous and took his goal superbly from the edge of the box. One to Watch Ben Griffin was unfortunate not to get the Goal of the Week, but as a young player he can only gain confidence from that strike. Is getting the opportunity to impress Roar coach Frank Farina, with a new contract there for the taking is he performs well in these closing rounds.

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Re: Australian A League Round 17 Wash Up & Stats The A-League will take a weeks break this week for the Chrismas period and return on Thursday December 28th, so keep this in mind :ok

[Beejayville]

Re: Australian A League Round 17 Wash Up & Stats A League Ladder after Round 17

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1. Melbourne Victory	17	13	2	2	36	11	25	41
2. Sydney FC	17	7	7	3	26	16	10	28
3. Adelaide United	17	8	2	7	28	25	3	26
4. Central Coast Mariners	17	6	5	6	20	20	0	23
5. Newcastle Jets	17	6	5	6	24	25	-1	23
6. Queensland Roar	17	6	4	7	20	22	-2	22
7. Perth Glory	17	5	2	10	19	23	-4	17
8. New Zealand Knights	17	2	3	12	7	38	-31	9

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Re: Australian A League Round 17 Wash Up & Stats Possible Final Ladder after 21 Rounds have been completed Figures are based on average points scored for Home and Away multiplied by remaining Home and Away games for each team.

		Home	Ave	Away	Ave	Pts	Curr	Total
1	Melbourne Vict	1	2.00	3	3.00	11	41	52
2	Sydney FC	1	2.00	3	1.29	6	28	34
4	Adelaide Utd	1	2.11	2	0.88	4	26	30
3	CC Mariners	3	1.88	1	0.89	7	23	30
5	Newcastle Jets	3	1.43	1	1.30	6	23	29
6	Queensland Roar	1	1.22	3	1.38	5	22	27
7	Perth Glory	3	1.86	1	0.40	6	17	23
8	NZ Knights	2	0.89	2	0.13	2	9	11

Home: Games remaining Home # Ave: Average points won Home Away: Games remaining Away # Ave: Average points won Away Pts: Remaining Home games * Ave Home points + remaining Away games * Ave Away points Curr: Teams current points on Table Total: Pts + Curr to get predicted finishing position based on average points for H & A.

[Beejayville]

Re: Australian A League Round 17 Wash Up & Stats There is only 4 Rounds to go in the A League until the Finals. As Ads advised earlier, the next Round begins on December 28th and here is the fixtures for the last four rounds.

Round18
Thu 28 Dec 2006	Perth Glory	Vs	Adelaide United	7.00 PM	Members Equity
Fri 29 Dec 2006	New Zealand Knights	Vs	Queensland Roar	8.00 PM	North Harbour
Sun 31 Dec 2006	Central Coast Mariners	Vs	Melbourne Victory	6.00 PM	Bluetongue
Mon 1 Jan 2007	Newcastle Jets	Vs	Sydney FC	6.00 PM	EnergyAustralia
Round19
Thu 4 Jan 2007	Adelaide United	Vs	Queensland Roar	7.30 PM	Hindmarsh
Fri 5 Jan 2007	Newcastle Jets	Vs	Central Coast Mariners	8.00 PM	EnergyAustralia
Sun 7 Jan 2007	Sydney FC	Vs	New Zealand Knights	6.00 PM	Aussie Stadium
	Perth Glory	Vs	Melbourne Victory	6.00 PM	Members Equity
Round20
Thu 11 Jan 2007	Central Coast Mariners	Vs	New Zealand Knights	8.00 PM	Bluetongue
Fri 12 Jan 2007	Melbourne Victory	Vs	Queensland Roar	8.00 PM	Telstra Dome
Sun 14 Jan 2007	Adelaide United	Vs	Sydney	5.30 PM	Hindmarsh
	Perth Glory	Vs	Newcastle Jets	6.00 PM	Members Equity
Round21
Fri 19 Jan 2007	Newcastle Jets	Vs	Melbourne Victory	8.00 PM	EnergyAustralia
Sat 20 Jan 2007	Queensland Roar	Vs	Sydney	7.00 PM	Suncorp Stadium
Sun 21 Jan 2007	New Zealand Knights	Vs	Perth Glory	7.00 PM	North Harbour
	Central Coast Mariners	Vs	Adelaide United	7.00 PM	Bluetongue

[Beejayville]

Re: Australian A League Round 17 Wash Up & Stats Last Four Rounds Melbourne: Unbeaten away and play 3 of their remaining games away. Most likely win 3 of the 4 games. Sydney: Only one home game against the Knights and play Jets, Adelaide and Queensland away. Tough run home but should win 2 or 3. Adelaide: Have Roar and Sydney at home, and Perth and Mariners away, and that is hard run home too, but capable of at east winning two games. Mariners: Play 3 out of 4 at home and big advantage going into final rounds. Should win 2 or 3 of those games. Jets: Have a tough run against Sydney, Mariners and Melbourne, and an away trip to bogey team Perth. Big ask and may only win one of these, and a draw perhaps. Queensland: Away to Knights who beat them last time, then Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. Huge ask to make finals as will have to win at least 3 games. Perth: Have 3 home games in final four rounds and will be no easy beats and could surprise someone along the way. Knights: Every game is tough for them and they have four more tough games. Theycould surprise at home against Roar and Perth.

[Beejayville]

Re: Australian A League Round 17 Wash Up & Stats The A League Finals

Finals Week 1
Semi Final 1st Leg - Friday 26 January 2007	First vs Second - First Leg
Semi Final 1st Leg - Sunday 28 January 2007	Third vs Fourth - First Leg
Finals Week 2
Semi Final 2nd Leg - Friday 2 February 2007	First vs Second - Second Leg
Semi Final 2nd Leg - Sunday 4 February 2007	Third vs Fourth - Second Leg
Finals Week 3
Preliminary Final - Sunday 11 February 2007	Loser 1st v 2nd to play to play Winner 3rd v 4th
Finals Week 4
Grand Final - Sunday 18 February 2007	Winner 1st vs 2nd to play Winner of Preliminary Final

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Re: Australian A League Round 17 Wash Up & Stats Was just anounced that Melbourne's Brazillian player Claudinho has had his contract terminated and is returning home. Reason was he didnt get enough game time and the move to Melbourne didnt work out for him. Shame really, he had plenty of talent, he just couldnt break into the team as a striker with the form of Archie Thompson and Danny Allsopp this season. He would of been a regular starter at most other A-League clubs

[Beejayville]

Re: Australian A League Round 17 Wash Up & Stats Some Half Time/Full Time stats from 68 games played so far

	1	%	X	%	2	%
Half Time	23	33.8	33	48.5	12	17.6
Full Time	33	48.5	15	22.1	20	29.4
	34	50.0
> 2.5	34	50.0
At	Half	Time
0-0	26	38.2
1-0	12	17.6
0-1	10	14.7
1-1	7	10.3
2-0	2	2.9
2-1	6	8.8
2-2	2	2.9
2-3	1	1.5
3-0	1	1.5
0-3	1	1.5

[Crouch Potato]

Re: Australian A League Round 17 Wash Up & Stats Not really related to A-League fixtures but seeing as we have a 1 week break coming up I figured a bit of news couldn't hurt. Asian champions League draw has been made, with Sydney FC and Adelaide competing. Tough draw for Aussie clubs

Australia's representatives in next year's AFC Champions League - Sydney FC and Adelaide United - face baptisms of fire in Asian club competition after being handed tough-looking draws for the group stage of the 2007 tournament. At the official draw for Asia's premier club competition, held at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur on Friday afternoon, A-League champions Sydney were placed in a difficult Group E with reigning J.League and Emperor's Cup champions Urawa Reds, China Super League runners-up Shanghai Shenhua and Indonesian league champions Persik Kediri. Adelaide, winners of the premiership title during the inaugural A-League season, face an even more challenging task in Group G where they will be joined by China league and cup double winners Shandong Luneng, Korean league champions Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma and Vietnam league champions Dong Tam Long. The third east Asian group comprises Korean FA Cup winners Chunnam Dragons, J.League runners-up Kawasaki Frontale, Thailand League champions Bangkok University and Indonesian cup holders Arema Malang. In the west, 2006 AFC Champions League runners-up Al Karama of Syria have been placed in Group C with Uzbekistan league runners-up Neftchi, Qatar league champions Al Sadd and Iraq league runners-up Al Najaf. Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates, the inaugural winners of the AFC Champions League in 2003, will be looking to extend their record of reaching the knockout stage in every edition of the continental competition. However, they face a tricky road to the last eight after being drawn in Group D with Iran's Hafzi Cup holders Sepahan, Saudi league champions Al Shabab and Syrian Cup winners Al Ittihad. The toughest-looking of the western sections is Group B which includes Saudi Crown Prince Cup holders Al Hilal, Iran Pro League champions Esteghlal, Uzbekistan double winners Pakhtakor and Kuwait Emir's Cup holders Al Arabi. Group A features Kuwait league champions Al Kuwait, UAE league runners-up Al Wahda, Iraq league champions Al Zawra'a and Emir's Cup holders Al Rayyan of Qatar. The group stage of the 2007 AFC Champions League will take place from March 7 to May 23 with the top team from each section advancing to join defending champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors of Korea in the quarter-finals. The home-and-away quarter-finals are slated for September 19 and 26 while the semi-finals will be held on October 3 and 24. AFC Champions League 2007 groups: Group A: Al Arabi (Kuwait), Al Wahda (UAE), Al Rayyan (Qatar), Al Zawra'a (Iraq) Group B: Pakhtakor (Uzbekistan), Al Kuwait (Kuwait), Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia), Esteghlal (Iran) Group C: Al Karama (Syria), Neftchi (Uzbekistan), Al Najaf (Iraq), Al Sadd (Qatar) Group D: Al Ain (UAE), Al Ittihad (Syria), Sepahan (Iran), Al Shabab (Saudi Arabia) Group E: Urawa Reds (Japan), Sydney FC (Australia), Shanghai Shenhua (China), Persik Kediri (Indonesia) Group F: Bangkok University (Thailand), Kawasaki Frontale (Japan), Arema Malang (Indonesia), Chunnam Dragons (Korea) Group G: Adelaide United (Australia), Dong Tam Long An (Vietnam), Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma (Korea), Shandong Luneng (China)

[Beejayville]

Re: Australian A League Round 17 Wash Up & Stats :loon Didn't realise you posted that info in here Oscar as I just created a new thread for much the same thing. Guess it doesn't really matter...I was hoping to get some info from other members on the some of the teams that are in the groups, if anybody has any info.

[Beejayville]

Re: Australian A League Round 17 Wash Up & Stats Expressions of Interest Sought for NZ Club New Zealand Soccer is calling for expressions of interest from potential investors in a New Zealand-based Hyundai A-League club. Football Federation Australia has given NZ Soccer until January 31 to submit a proposal for a club to replace the New Zealand Knights in the A-League from next season after the Knights’ participation licence was revoked on December 14. NZ Soccer, with the open support of the FFA, believes that a successful, well-administered and Kiwi-oriented team in Australasia’s top-flight fits with their strategic vision for the game. While NZ Soccer is not in the position to invest in a professional team or have a mandate to do so, chief executive Graham Seatter said the national body was eager to facilitate the creation of a “win-win scenario for a new team, its fans, the Hyundai A-League and the game in New Zealand.” Seatter is confident a successful Hyundai A-League club will not only drive NZ Soccer’s participation and performance initiatives but also provide a unique developmental opportunity for the All Whites as they eye the Confederations Cup in South Africa and World Cup qualifying via Asia, also in 2009. As part of that development stream, Seatter said any investment would be conditional on the appointment of All Whites boss Ricki Herbert as head coach of the new club. NZ Soccer has to move quickly if a new club was to operate successfully, Seatter said, particularly to give Herbert sufficient time to recruit players. To that end, NZ Soccer hopes to receive a commitment of NZ$2 million by mid January as part of “ideal” capital base of up to NZ$5 million. Seatter said NZ Soccer had an “open mind” to where any new team would be based. What he does want is a club that “represents New Zealand” and is prepared to play home games in different centres.