A-League

Signed on a four year contract. Clearly Adelaide rate him quite highly and see a move overseas in his future.

Marc Fennell charts the rise of the Western Sydney Wanderers, a ragtag Aussie team whose passionate and sometimes controversial fans drew the ire of police, politicians and shock jocks.

The second edition of the Pro Series with its new expanded Finals format sees 8 of the best teams in Queensland battle it out to claim the title.

Defending champions Gold Coast Knights will take on NPL 4th place team Wynnum Wolves. NPL title contenders Lions FC take on the Redcliffe based Peninsula Power, whom they will face 3 days prior in the NPL. Gold Coast United will travel to face an out of form Brisbane City. And Moreton City Excelsior will host known cup upsetters Sunshine Coast Wanderers.

These 8 teams sit in the top 9 spots of the state's premier league, the NPL Queensland, with the only team from the top 8 not included being Brisbane Roar, who bombed out in the group stage finishing 5th out of 6 in Pool B.

Magic United             2 - 3 Surfers Paradise Apollo
Maroochydore Swans       3 - 5 Lions FC
Olympic FC               8 - 0 North Lakes United
Moreton City Excelsior   3 - 1 North Star
Gold Coast United        4 - 0 Caboolture Sports FC
Eastern Suburbs          7 - 1 Capalaba FC   (GRAPHIC SHOWS INCORRECT SCORE)
Sunshine Coast Wanderers 0 - 1 Brisbane City

Some matches to note:

Magic United vs Surfers Paradise had some late drama. 2-2 at the end of the 90, went to ET where a penalty decision was made as the Magic keeper committed a foul on a player despite winning the ball (they may have gone in studs showing, but it's hard to tell from the camera angle). Surfers scored the penalty and a 2nd yellow for the Magic CB sealed the game at 2-3.

Maroochydore vs Lions saw Lions come in swinging scoring 4 in the first half to Maroochydore's 2.

Gold Coast United vs Caboolture saw a tight first half, neither team able to score (with some absolutely shocking finishing), however the majority of attacking opportunities were held by GCU. 2nd half saw them get their crap together and put 4 past the Caboolture defence to send them through to the next round.

A tight game between Sunshine Coast, who had upset the Gold Coast Knights and knocked them out in the previous round, and Brisbane City was the highlight of the round. City has been all over the place all season which presented SCW with a golden opportunity to push for an Australia Cup Round of 32 spot. A lack of discipline from SCW hurt them and eventually City got a goal in the final third. The City striker got himself sent off in the 78th minute giving SCW 10 minutes to equalize, but a parked bus saw no goals go in for SCW. Reportedly it was the City coaches last game for the club before being sacked (likely due to poor performances in the NPL Queensland), however this has yet to be confirmed.

Hallelujah Farken!

“But when it does happen to my football club, and my players they don’t even think twice, it’s a straight red. “

“And then some issues occur. And all of a sudden, since that moment, years ago, there’s been a stigma and our poor fans and members have had to pay the price”

ALW

Wednesday 3rd Jan

Sydney 1 - 1 Canberra

Saturday 6th Jan

Newcastle 3 - 3 Canberra

Adelaide 0 - 5 City

Victory 1 - 4 Western

Sunday 7th Jan

Brisbane 2 - 1 Wellington

Mariners 0 - Sydney

Perth 0 - 2 Wanderers

ALM

Thursday 4th Jan

Adelaide 2 - 2 Wellington

Friday 5th Jan

Macarthur 1 - 1 Newcastle

Saturday 6th Jan

Wanderers 0 - 1 Mariners

Brisbane 1 - 2 Sydney

Perth 2 - 3 Victory

Sunday 7th Jan

Western 1 - 2 City

Socceroos

Sunday 7th Jan

Bahrain 0 - 2 Australia

Matildas

Sammies ACL 😭

What was your highlight for the week? There were some banger goals, last minute equalisers and winners.

For me it was a tie between the look on Rudan's face after the game on Saturday and getting 9 green squares on gridal game without having to use Leigh Broxham or Danny Vukovic as guesses.

As promised here is the preview thread for this weekends matches.

ALW

Early start to the week in the Aleague Women’s with the postponed round four clash between Sydney and Canberra kicking off tonight at 7:00pm AEDST at Leichhardt Oval.

Then round 11 kicks off from Saturday.

Matches:

Saturday 6th Jan

Newcastle v Canberra

Adelaide v City

Victory v Western

Sunday 7th Jan

Mariners v Sydney

Brisbane v Wellington

ALM

This weekend Round 11 action kicks off on Thursday night and we get a bonus Round 12 match on Monday night.

Matches:

Thursday 4th Jan

Adelaide v Wellington

Friday 5th Jan

MacArthur v Newcastle

Saturday 6th Jan

Wanderers v Mariners

Brisbane v Sydney

Perth v Victory

Sunday 7th Jan

Western v City

Monday 8th Jan

Adelaide v Macarthur

Big talking points:

Will Ben Cahn have an immediate impact at Brisbane?

Will the changes to how the ladder is determined, now that everyone knows about them, affect how teams play? context

I’ve been finding myself heading over to reddit more to find out things because the fediverse is bereft of A-leagues discussions and KEEPUP is painful to read as always.

I really want there to be a corner of the fediverse where like minded people can discuss the greatest football leagues in the world. We don’t need a massive amount of people. In the early days of the A-League there was The Football Blog on SMH/TheAge and even though there were really only a dozen or so regular commenters the discussion was vibrant and engaging. Even the early days of the aleague subreddit the community was very small, we just need engagement.

So who is still here?

I’m thinking we can start with generic pre and post round threads, open forums to highlight whatever your looking forward to in he coming games or to vent about what ground your gears or floated your boat about the prior weekend games. I’ll start tomorrow morning.

Yay? Nay? Shit is this app still installed?

It was a wet night in Gosford but the Mariners put Stallion Laguna to the sword 9-1. I think it was the highest score in a competitive match involving an #aleague or #thedub team but happy to be corrected. #CCFMC #AFCCup #MastodonFC @aleague

Exclusive: document shows rights to national teams, A-Leagues and data of all football participants, including children, was part of possible deal

The Central Coast Mariners can announce the departure of club legend and current A-League Men’s Head Coach Nick Montgomery to take up the role of Head Coach at Hibernian FC in the Scottish Premiership. Alongside Montgomery, Assistant Coach Sergio Raimundo and Goalkeeper Coach Miguel Miranda will also depart the club. First joining the Central Coast… Continue reading Nick Montgomery departs Central Coast Mariners for Hibernian FC

Joey Lynch via ESPN