It's been an emotional couple of weeks of Adelaide's Robbie Cornthwaite. The club's foundation defender has not only found himself unwittingly dragged into a spitting storm but he's also been the target of abuse from his own supporters for scoring a horror own goal in the away leg of the AFC Champions League quarter-final against Kashima Antlers But on Wednesday night in Adelaide, Cornthwaite banished all those demons with a tie-winning headed goal which secured a 2-1 aggregate win over the 5-time Japanese champions and a passage into the final four. The relieved 22-year-old Australia defender dived to nod home Cassio's precision centre for the only goal of a pulsating ACL encounter at Hindmarsh, afterwards revealing the anguish he'd suffered after putting through his own net a week before to jeopardise Adelaide's chances of making history. No Australian club has previously reached the semi-final stage of Asia's premier club competition. “I did try to put the own goal out of my mind as much as possible but the thing is other people do not let you forget it," Cornthwaite told local football website The World Game. “Even before kick-off while I was warming up I heard one of our supporters urge me 'to score for us and not for them this time'. It's always there at the back of your mind." The player affectionately known around Adelaide as Cornflake debuted for the Reds as an 18-year-old and has steadily developed into a reliable first-teamer under coach Aurelio Vidmar. He suffered heartbreak earlier in the year when overlooked for a berth in Graham Arnold's Olympic squad for Beijing after breaking into the under-23s during May and June. But the significance of being handed the No.2 shirt last worn by retired Reds legend Richie Alagich has not been lost of the lanky defender and he described his well-taken winner against Kashima as an "amazing feeling". "It’s something I’ll remember for a long time. It was like scripted for me after what happened in the first leg," he said. The goal will have also erased the tension of a fortnight which has seen Cornthwaite embroiled in a spitting controversy involving Melbourne's Ney Fabiano. The Victory's Brazilian import was earlier this month banned for nine matches - reduced to six games on appeal - for expectorating on Cornthwaite in the sides' heated round four clash. Melbourne have since relentlessly proclaimed Fabiano's innocence, pointing to his previously clean disciplinary record and even going all CSI by enlisting a biomechanist and a speech pathologist to support their argument that spittle had been projected because Fabiano was shouting in his native Portuguese. Cornthwaite has remained tight-lipped on the latest incident in a simmering feud between two clubs which invoke a degree of hostility whenever they meet. His supporters believe Melbourne's passion to overturn their star signing's ban ignores Cornthwaite's unblemished A-League reputation and the fact that, although occasionally naïve in his defending, he remains a reliable professional. Few consider Cornthwaite a player who would, or even probably could, fake his reaction to Fabiano's discharge in his direction, whether accidental or otherwise. The challenge most likely stems from Melbourne's desire to reinforce their encouraging opening to the fourth A-League season. Top-of-the-table and unbeaten after five rounds despite twice finishing with 10 men, Ernie Merrick's former champions are clearly serious on putting a chequered 2007/08 behind them. Sydney are level with Melbourne on 11 points with Adelaide four points adrift in third. The Central Coast Mariners and reigning champions Newcastle Jets are tied for fourth place. Copyright © Marc Fox and Soccerphile.com Australian Soccer News Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

Last weekend's string of unpredictable results in the English Premier League has been mirrored in Australia proving the A-League remains as competitive as ever. While Hull City were shocking Arsenal and Wigan upsetting big spending Manchester City, closer to home joint league leaders Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory both lost matches they were widely anticipated to win. With crowds down significantly on the previous campaign and the introduction of the two new Queensland teams delayed for 12 months, it was not the set of scorelines A-League doomsayers were predicting. Football's popularity is constantly tested at this time in the Australian sporting calendar. The traditional football codes - AFL and rugby league - stage their respective showpiece deciders over two weekends in late September and early October while round ball officials simply pray to come through unscathed. But Adelaide United's surprising passage to the AFC Champions League semi-finals has already propelled Australian football into continental minds this past week. And over the weekend unlikely victories for bottom-placed Wellington Phoenix and erratic Queensland Roar generated more column inches. Wellington stunned Sydney by coming from behind to register their first win of the season and their first A-League triumph in the calendar year. Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert had been given the dreaded vote of confidence during the week but despite seven personnel changes - including both first choice central defenders and No.1 goalkeeper Glen Moss - his side prevailed with Tim Brown rifling home a 76th minute winner. "It's been a difficult period and although there's a long way to go, it's a nice one given the circumstances," Herbert said afterwards. "There's a lot of belief in this group and this was a real testament to the boys. They really stood up for a cause." Queensland undid 10-man Melbourne with late goals from youngsters Michael Zullo and Tahj Minniecon, a pair of strikes which conjured up more than a hint of a similar turning point last season. 12 months ago, Zullo and Robbie Kruse scored against Wellington on their A-League debuts to propel the Roar into a 12-match unbeaten run which saw them narrowly miss winning the premiership on the final day of the season. Even coach Frank Farina recognised the parallels and remains convinced his side can push Sydney and Melbourne all the way for the title this year. "I've told the players over the past few weeks if we continue to play in the manner we have been playing things will turn. Tonight was the night that it turned for us," Farina assured Queensland supporters. Next up for the Roar is Sydney away this Friday. Meanwhile, exhausted Adelaide - playing just three days after disposing of Japanese greats Kashima Antlers in the AFC Champions League - put away champions Newcastle thanks to a second-half brace from Brazilian Cristiano. “They’ve gone through five games in 16 days and that’s a massive effort,” coach Aurelio Vidmar said. "There was a bit of doubt in my mind tonight about how they were going to come up and they were a bit flat. "But for the boys to go out and really squeeze every last bit of energy they had in their bodies was a superb effort.” The race to become the league's leading goalscorer is also closer then ever before at this stage of the season. Six players, from six different clubs, are tied for the lead with four goals apiece including 2007/08 Golden Boot winner Danny Allsopp of Melbourne. Queensland's Scottish playmaker Charlie Miller scored in each of his first four A-League appearances to break Kevin Muscat's record while Cristiano, Perth's Eugene Dadi, Mariners striker Matt Simon and Kiwi Shane Smeltz complete the list. Copyright © Marc Fox and Soccerphile.com Australian Soccer News Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

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Kashima Antlers lead the way as the J. League nears its halfway point, with the defending champions in a familiar position atop the league standings. Kashima are the most successful club in Japan, and the Ibaraki giants have fired a resounding warning to the rest of the league by embarking on an ominous four-match winning streak. That run includes a 4-0 thrashing away at high-flying Nagoya Grampus and a similarly emphatic 4-1 win over FC Tokyo in Kashima's most recent clash. Urawa Reds are just two points behind their bitter rivals, however the Saitama side slumped to a 2-0 defeat away at Oita Trinita in their last match, going down courtesy of goals from Shunsuke Maeda and Ueslei. Third-placed Nagoya Grampus beat ambitious Kashiwa Reysol 1-0 courtesy of a clinical Frode Johnsen strike at Mizuho Athletics Stadium on July 12, while Gamba Osaka have roared back into contention after beating Kawasaki Frontale 2-1 in a hard-fought clash at Expo '70 Stadium, with Brazilian duo Lucas Severino and Bare making compatriot Juninho's goal for Kawasaki redundant. In the bottom half of the table second-from-bottom Consadole Sapporo thrashed bottom club JEF United 3-0 at the Fukuda Denshi Arena in Chiba, suggesting that JEF United fans had best start planning for J2 football next season. The Chiba side are hopelessly adrift at the bottom of the standings, some nine points outside the relegation/promotion playoff place and a further five points behind Consadole Sapporo - with the bottom two teams suffering automatic relegation. Just after the halfway point in J2 relegated Sanfrecce Hiroshima look odds on to bounce back to the top flight, with the Mazda-backed club seemingly streaking away in the division. The southern side are lying atop the standings some thirteen points in front of second-placed Cerezo Osaka, and having amassed 55 points from 24 games with a goal difference of +31, it would take a brave punter to bet against Hiroshima lifting the J2 title. Cerezo Osaka and Sagan Tosu are the nearest challengers, with surprise package Montedio Yamagata and Vegalta Sendai just a point further back. Newcomers Roasso Kumamoto have struggled with the transition to professional football. The Kyushu-based outfit prop up the standings in J2 having claimed just eighteen points, however fellow newcomers FC Gifu have fared better, having amassed 30 points so far to take them up to tenth place in the fifteen team-league. Coaching casualties mount Yokohama F. Marinos have sacked coach Takashi Kuwahara and replaced him with Kokichi Kimura, who steps into his first role as head coach in the J. League. Kuwahara's dismissal was widely anticipated, with the former championship-winning coach rumoured to be on the verge of the axe following Yokohama's recent 2-1 Kanagawa derby defeat to local rivals Kawasaki Frontale. A 1-0 home loss to Albirex Niigata at Mitsuzawa Stadium on July 13 was the final straw for club officials, who promptly terminated the contract of a coach who took over from the unpopular Hiroshi Hayano in January. Meanwhile struggling J2 outfit Avispa Fukuoka have sacked former World Cup winner Pierre Littbarski as coach and replaced him with Yoshiyuki Shinoda. Assistant coach and former Norwich midfielder Ian Crook and strength and conditioning coach Anthony Crea were also sacked, with the duo brought in from A-League side Sydney FC, whom Littbarski coached to the inaugural A-League crown. Sorimachi names Olympic squad Japan's quest to name a competitive squad at the 2008 Beijing Olympics reached farcical proportions when Gamba Osaka midfielder Yasuhito Endo was forced to withdraw due to complications related to a Hepatitis C infection. Endo was hospitalised recently after enduring a gruelling schedule for both club and country, but that did not prevent the Japan Football Association from attempting to name the talismanic Gamba Osaka midfielder as Japan's sole overage representative for the under-23 tournament. Endo's withdrawal comes hot on the heels of Vissel Kobe's refusal to release their star striker Yoshito Okubo for the competition. Kobe cited a persistent knee injury as their reason for refusing to allow Okubo to play in the Olympics, but sources suggest that the club were privately seething after the former Real Mallorca striker was named as Japan's likely overage representative without prior consultation with Kobe club officials. Japan will now feature a squad comprised entirely of under-23 players, however there was no room in coach Yasuharu Sorimachi's squad for Kashima Antlers defender Masahiko Inoha. Despite captaining the team throughout the qualifying campaign, the former FC Tokyo star has seemingly paid the price for a lack of football at new club Kashima. Two overseas-based players in VV Venlo's Keisuke Honda and Catania's Takayuki Morimoto were picked, while Cerezo Osaka teenager Shinji Kagawa and surprise package Yohei Toyoda of Montedio Yamagata represent J2's contribution to the squad. Copyright © Michael Tuckerman & Soccerphile.com J.League News Tags Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

It might be the worry of becoming a dad for the first time, but West Ham and Australia captain Lucas Neill didn't look quite himself against Manchester United over the weekend. Neill, who became public enemy number one at Old Trafford after his involvement in the first-half dismissal of United's Portuguese winger Nani, gifted the English champions their opener in a 4-1 romp Saturday lunchtime. He slipped over to hand Cristiano Ronaldo his first, then was nowhere near when the recently-crowned player-of-the-year glanced home his second. In the second-half, Neill deflected Michael Carrick's effort past goalkeeper Robert Green. Not a good afternoon's work for the man who probably has plenty of non-football related thoughts circling his mind at the moment. Neill's long-term partner Lindsey Morris is expecting twins next month, an arrival which has already played a part in throwing into chaos Pim Verbeek's Socceroos preparations for a quartet of testing June World Cup qualifiers. Verbeek revealed last week that he remains unsure of his skipper's availability for the home clashes with Iraq, in Brisbane, and China, in Sydney, plus the trips to Doha and Dubai, where the team will play the defending Asian Cup champions. It is expected Neill will demand a release from Australia's squad to return to the UK at some point during June. Making matters worse for Verbeek, who's steadily coming accept the Socceroos job for the challenging position it's become, is that incredibly Neill is one of four players with babies imminent. Derby County recruit Mile Sterjovski, Bundesliga-based striker Josh Kennedy and fringe midfielder Jacob Burns also all have partners due to give birth next month. Kennedy's absence would be another hammer blow for the diplomatic Verbeek. With Mark Viduka ruling himself out of international action this summer because of an Achilles niggle which may need an operation at the season's end, the little and large paring of Kennedy and Scott McDonald is the Dutchman's first choice striking partnership. A-League possibles John Aloisi, Archie Thompson and the rapidly-improving Bruce Djite are all under an injury cloud with Everton's attack-minded midfielder Tim Cahill another definitely sidelined after foot surgery. That leaves Verbeek staring down the most important month for the Socceroos since the World Cup two years ago without anything close to his preferred front two in place. McDonald, who wasn't even a part of Graham Arnold's Asian Cup odyssey this time last year, has suddenly found himself catapulted into the nation's consciousness because of a prolific season with Celtic. The Scottish Premier League player-of-the-year nominee has exceeded all expectations since his summer move from Motherwell and scored his 30th goal of the season against his former club over the weekend. However, with the Scottish champions-elect not finishing their campaign until May 18, McDonald looks like being precluded from Australia's May 23 warm-up match against Ghana in Sydney. Kennedy, of Karlsruher, is also still in domestic action the same day to Verbeek's dismay. Who benefits from all this toing and froing is anyone's guess. Verbeek hinted at a reprieve for Joel Griffiths after the outspoken striker peeved Socceroos coaching staff with a swipe at February opponent Qatar and was subsequently axed for the March qualifier in China. Griffiths, the reigning A-League player-of-the-year, is keeping his match sharpness through a loan spell at J-League side Avispa Fukuoka and Verbeek made a point of flying to watch him in action against Shonan Bellmare on Saturday. But it proved to be a wasted trip as the 28-year-old didn't feature - he wasn't even named on the bench - as his side slipped to a 4-0 defeat. Nimble-footed Nathan Burns is another candidate, albeit an entirely different proposition from either Viduka or Kennedy. Burns, 19, has been courting a great deal of attention from European clubs and has the added bonus of being match fit from playing fortnightly in the AFC Champions League for Adelaide United. He is considered the player most likely to be next exported to Europe, particularly with an Olympics to compete in, but might get his chance earlier than anticipated. Copyright © Marc Fox and Soccerphile.com Australian Soccer News

History has been a dirty word in Australian football ever since Frank Lowy's Football Federation Australia turned the game upside-down in establishing the A-League, cleaned out the bad elements corrupting the sport's administration and came up with the clever marketing mantra of "new football". "New football" was intended to delineate this sparkling new era from what came before it – ethnic squabbles, crowd violence, media antipathy; what would pejoratively become known as "old soccer". Unfortunately, the strategy was so successful it also completely tarred the achievements of generations of Socceroos, from the pre-1965 version (when Australia duked it out chiefly against countries of the Commonwealth) to the teams that competed bravely but unsuccessfully in scores of World Cup qualifying campaigns from 1965 till 2001. I was aghast to find when writing my book, 15 Days in June: How Australia Became a Football Nation, that the Socceroo Club, an informal grouping of ex-Socceroos cobbled together by 1956 Olympian Ted Smith, had asked the FFA prior to an Asian Cup qualifier in Sydney in late 2006 if it could hand out embroidered cricket-style "baggy green" caps to new inductees before the game in front of a 40,000 strong-crowd at the Sydney Football Stadium. They were denied their request and forced to hold their own impromptu function in the bowels of the empty Sydney Cricket Ground next door. Privately several ex-Socceroos at the function were fuming. Later John Boultbee, the FFA's head of high performance, defended the slight by saying: "There wasn't a lack of willingness to help the Socceroo Club but the FFA simply couldn't action all its plans simultaneously... we've been preoccupied with other things. It's always been the whole organisation's intention to embrace those who've served the game well, particularly the players." Now, a year and a half later, the FFA is finally coming good on its "intention". A group of ex-Socceroos including Smith, 1970s legend Ray Baartz, 1980s dynamo Charlie Yankos and record-breaking captain Alex Tobin were invited to the FFA's College Street headquarters in Sydney last week to pow-wow with FFA chief executive Ben Buckley and his staff. They put forward their ideas for such things as an Australian FA Cup-style knockout competition, the establishment of a Hall of Fame and other ways to help harness for the betterment of the game the collective wisdom and experience of Socceroos alumni. Said Buckley: "I think it is very important that football finds a way of celebrating its history. The game has a rich history in this country and we have to find a way of embracing our past and this is the first step in that journey. "We talked about how we can improve the showcasing of the Hall of Fame in terms of a physical structure where we can display all the memorablilia. We might launch a public drive to collect the material. Unfortunately we do not have a football museum but over time we can collate that." This is a welcome development any which way you want to cut it, though the FFA could have saved itself a lot of trouble if it had been more proactive early on its tenure when John O'Neill, who is back heading the Australian Rugby Union, was in Buckley's shoes. Back in 2003 Australia's 1974 World Cup coach Rale Rasic wrote to O'Neill congratulating him on his appointment and offering the FFA access to his considerable treasure-trove of Socceroos memorabilia, which this writer has seen and can vouch is the most impressive and comprehensive collection going around. But O'Neill never responded to Rasic's letter and the entire stack of priceless football memorabilia is now destined to be housed at Rasic's football academy in Sydney's sprawling south-west. Undoubtedly the FFA is now ruing its stupidity. Fortunately, Buckley appears to be growing into a "football man" and much of this has to do with his new head of corporate affairs, Bonita Mersiades, who is a former team manager of the Socceroos and a self-described "soccer mum". In barely a month in the job she has done more to re-engage with the game's "stakeholders" than her predecessor did in years. It's clear she won't be allowing Buckley to make the sort of mistakes the FFA did under O'Neill. Copyright © Jesse Fink and Soccerphile.com Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football A-League Socceroos Australia

The A-League's showpiece finale was a tale of match-costing errors of judgement - and not all of them from the vanquished Central Coast Mariners. Newcastle's worthy 1-0 win has been somewhat overlooked in the wash-up of a match which unlike previous grand final episodes was decided by individual errors rather than flashes of brilliance. Topping last season's five-goal haul from Melbourne marksman Archie Thompson was always likely to be a pointless exercise - and so it turned out as the Jets, the better team on the day, carved out a hard-working although ultimately fortunate victory to scoop their maiden domestic title. Fortunate not because the Mariners had a player, goalkeeper Danny Vukovic, sent off nor because retiring veteran defender Tony Vidmar made a meal of clearing his lines and gifted possession to Australia under-23 striker Mark Bridge who curled a second-half winner. Fortunate because for consecutive weeks the league's top officials made a perplexing penalty decision in stoppage time. Only this time it irreversibly altered the destination of the championship. We live in an age where those who admit their wrongdoings are usually absolved if given the floor to explain and seek forgiveness. The typically upfront Vidmar came clean straight after the match. "A mistake from myself has cost us the game and I'm going to gave to live with that," the third-most capped Socceroo of all-time admitted afterwards. "I'll put my hand up on that." It would be a particularly vindictive individual to hold that moment of hesitation against the departing Vidmar, one of Australian football's truest champions. But what of those possibly career-damaging choices made by Vukovic and referee Mark Shield? Vukovic's heat-of-the-moment decision to manhandle Shield made little difference to the result but its consequence will reverberate around the domestic game for some time. The affable Central Coast custodian faces missing two-thirds of next season after the FFA handed him a draconian 15-month suspension for striking Shield as he, and his Mariners team-mates, protested the decision not to award a penalty when the ball struck Newcastle substitute James Holland in the box. TV replays vindicated Vukovic's protests if not his actions. The 22-year-old, gagged by the Mariners while the club gather an appeal, reportedly later apologised to Shield for losing his cool although that apparently held little sway. The FFA came down on him like a ton of bricks and have almost certainly punctured his dream of representing Australia at the Beijing Olympics by serving such a exorbitant sanction. Vukovic's contact with Shield was nowhere near Paolo Di Canio's petulant shove on EPL referee Paul Alcock for which the Italian received an 11-match ban. And while it's clearly no defence, the protest had plenty of legitimacy. It arose from an unusually poor piece of officiating from the country's top ref when only he and his assistant failed to notice Holland's arm colliding with Tom Pondeljak's corner. Shield waved away the Mariners' desperate claims, booking John Aloisi and then sending Vukovic packing. Sasho Petrovski is also under investigation for an unwelcome gesture while the club have been invited to explain why they shouldn't be punished for losing control of their players. The FFA are asking plenty of questions of the Mariners but outsiders are pondering Shield's part in the sorry story. Vukovic's moment of madness reopens the various debates about the standard of refereeing and the possible introduction of technology. What needs saying is that the A-League's top officials are considered among the best in Asia and will make as many mistakes at work as anyone else. That, however, should not shield them from scrutiny. Let's remember that Vidmar put his hand up, and so too did Vukovic but they'll still continue to pay a heavy price in the months ahead. Copyright © Marc Fox and Soccerphile.com Australian Soccer News Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

It's common knowledge that Frank Farina hates his compulsory media dealings with the kind of passion normally reserved for the taxman. But the former Australia boss would have despised picking over the bones of Queensland's contentious preliminary final loss even more than usual. A controversial penalty, his captain's dismissal for a dubious elbow to the face of Jets striker Mark Bridge and barrage of missed opportunities all combined to send Newcastle into this weekend's showpiece final and Farina's mood plummeting. In fairness, the Roar were gifted as much - if not more - by under-fire referee Peter Green in an error-ridden 3-2 defeat with Farina's side the fortunate recipients of two of the three penalties Green spotted, even if nobody else did. The first - dispatched by Brazilian Reinaldo - zipped past Newcastle's Socceroos goalkeeper Ante Covic deep into stoppage time after Queensland had looked dead and buried. The second, also from the lanky South American striker, gave them a sniff of an unlikely comeback at 3-1. But the fact Green squared the ledger by awarding the Jets a soft spot-kick in the first-half of extra time plus Tarek Elrich's blockbuster meant the dream season finale for FFA suits became a reality. The A-League grand final had already, again controversially, been scheduled for Sydney so the progression of NSW neighbours Newcastle and the Central Coast - despite lower average home gates than Queensland - would have delighted the money men. And Farina's take on the showpiece decider? "I don't really give a shit to be honest," he said, sidestepping protocol. It's a sentiment Farina has employed more than once in his first full season in charge at the Roar. All week he'd been asked whether his side could contain their nerves on the biggest day in the club's history. The question had its roots in Queensland's defeat to Adelaide a few weeks previous when former Socceroos hardman Danny Tiatto was sent off for aiming a swing at an opponent. He typically went out all guns blazing in a sideline melee and was banned for two matches. The league-leading Roar lost the match 2-0 and ended up finishing fourth. But in fairness it was Green, usually one of the league's more consistent enforcers, who succumbed to the tension of the grand occasion with a nerve-riddled performance which might see him lose pace on the country's leading officials. He handed out a blizzard of cards including both a yellow then a straight red for Moore, the former Australia captain after Bridge toppled to the turf. Queensland's Sasa Ognenovski, another who doesn't hide his disgust for the media and a player who's fallen out with even the most affable of his team-mates this season, received his second caution of the finals series and would have been suspended from the grand final had the Roar progressed. Ognenovski was off the field getting treatment for a head wound when Matt Thompson opened the scoring for Newcastle with Green again coming under some fire for delaying the skyscraping central defender's return. It was all enough to have Farina privately seething for weeks, but he wasn't going to let on to the gathered hacks. Earlier this season, the Queenslander was slugged by the governing body for suggesting one referee reacquaint himself with the laws of the game and he was careful with his complaints this time. "The police watch everything I say, so I can't really comment any more," he said. Asked what he could say about Green's display without falling foul of FFA guidelines on publicly criticising officials, Farina tellingly replied: "Nothing." Next season is the last under his current deal with the club. After bringing in Moore and Tiatto last year, more big name signings are expected. Farina's contacts from his six years in the national set-up are extensive and the league's reputation continues to grow. However, the competition may well need to find 46 more top class players next year with fellow Queensland sides Gold Coast Galaxy and Northern Thunder heavily tipped to become the first expansion clubs. A decision on that will be announced in a week's time following this Thursday's FFA board meeting. Copyright © Marc Fox and Soccerphile.com Australian Soccer News Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

So it begins. Australia, the 46th member of the Asian Football Confederation, tonight (AEST) commences its maiden World Cup qualifying campaign in the AFC with a match against Qatar in Melbourne. It is important to point out that this is by no means the first match Australia has played in Asia to get to a World Cup. The first couple of those games came way back in 1965, when Tiko Jelisavcic, a Yugoslav journeyman coach from a Sydney Jewish community club called Hakoah Eastern Suburbs, took a ragbag group of Aussies to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for a two-leg tie against North Korea. Then, as now, Australia’s knowledge of our Asian opponents was limited. A quote I used in my book, 15 Days in June: How Australia Became a Football Nation , summed up what passed for footballing due-diligence 40 years ago. Australian Associated Press stringer Jim Shrimpton, one of the only journalists in Cambodia for the match, wrote of Jelisavcic and his “co-manager” Jim Bayutti, who was head of the-then Australian Soccer Federation, going to the Stade Olympique to check out the North Koreans training. “[They] went to the stadium to mingle with crowds watching the North Koreans practise. But Cambodian officials guided them to special chairs in the main grandstand, ten yards from the North Korean officials. After the two groups had exchanged side glances for 20 minutes, the Australians introduced themselves. Jelisavcic, after watching the Koreans, said: ‘We shall beat them.’” Well, not quite. As history records, the Australians instead got thumped 6-1 in the first game and 3-1 in the second and returned home in some ignominy. The North Koreans would of course go on to defeat Italy 1-0 in the 1966 World Cup and almost pull off the upset of the century in beating Eusebio’s Portugal. Then there was the spate of matches played by Australia first under “Uncle” Joe Vlasits in 1969, the charismatic Rale Rasic in 1973, the now-forgotten Jimmy Shoulder in 1977, Les Scheinflug in 1981 and Frank Arok in 1985. Australia also faced Asian WCQ opposition again in 1997 for the infamous meltdown at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, but from then until now Australia has been slogging it out with Oceania and South American teams to make it to the biggest sporting event on earth. So it is a historic occasion for Australia to now be competing as a fully fledged member of the AFC on the Grand Trunk Road of Asian qualifying. These are not just a handful of matches. If Australia can survive beyond its initial foes of Qatar, China and Iraq, the Socceroos’ campaign could take in as much as 18 matches lasting up to November 2009. It will augur a whole new view of Asia among Australians and hopefully facilitate the movement of some Asian players to the Australian A-League, where, as it stands, less than half a dozen Asian players earn their keep. Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek was still playing his cards close to his chest even hours before the kickoff to the Qatar match, naming a provisional 21-man squad that then had to be culled to 18 hours later. Sensationally, Harry Kewell and Nicky Carle weren’t recalled from Europe for the game. The likely starting lineup is not difficult to glean, with only two players who weren’t at Germany 2006 dead certs for Verbeek’s first XI: Celtic’s in-form Scott McDonald will lead the forward line in the absence of Mark Viduka while David Carney, playing some excellent football for Sheffield United, will slot in as a left wingback. (Soccerphile.com’s predicted XI: Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Craig Moore, Brett Emerton, David Carney, Jason Culina, Luke Wilkshire, Mark Bresciano, Tim Cahill, Scott McDonald, Joshua Kennedy.) The only drawback to this team, however, is Verbeek is putting all his stock in a bunch of blokes (save Craig Moore) who have barely had time to wipe their eyes after getting off the plane (albeit in first class) from Europe. For all of the Dutchman’s efforts to get up to speed with the Australian game in the two months he’s been in the country, and his commensurate efforts to get Australian football thinking in tune with European, it is jetlag, not Jorge Fossati’s scheming, that could well kybosh his plans for a winning start to Australia’s AFC World Cup qualifying campaign. Schwarzer only arrived in Australia Tuesday morning from London and went straight to training. The Qataris, meanwhile, have been in Melbourne for over a week. Talk about irony. As The Age ’s sport columnist Richard Hinds wrote on Tuesday, this is one game where “home advantage” doesn't seem to apply. Copyright © Jesse Fink & Soccerphile.com

Christmas, traditionally a time to both rejoice and overindulge, succeeded on both counts over the A-League festive season. The growing Australian support base rejoiced with confirmation the aggregate crowd figure for the league's third season passed one million over the holiday weekend, a fortnight earlier than the previous season. Individual crowd records were also smashed by Adelaide United and the table topping Central Coast Mariners. Adelaide's gate of 25,039 at the one-off venue of the Adelaide Oval - usual home of Test cricket at this time of year and a not uncontroversial choice by the Reds - not only surpassed the club's previous highest crowd but was also a record attendance for a football match in South Australia, domestic or international. The Mariners, meanwhile, set successive home crowd records over the Christmas and New Year's weekends with the 18,686 turnout for the New Year's Eve clash against Melbourne outstripping the 17,514 fans which watched the club host Sydney FC. That the Central Coast leaked a generous 10 goals in those games and fell off their perch at the top of the A-League ladder only marginally soured the entertainment for many attendees. The Mariners' defensive frailties played their part in a level of overindulgence not seen before in A-League history. All sides gorged themselves on the way to a record-breaking average of 5.25 goals per game but it was the hosts who were left to do the dishes as every away team won for just the second time in history. That included new league leaders Queensland Roar who triumphed in steamy Western Australia. Bottom-placed Perth Glory returned to training on Boxing Day with the temperature nudging 40 degrees and ran out of steam a few days later as the Roar cleaned up 4-1. Combined with the Mariners leaking five in a boilover against Melbourne, Queensland - under the tutelage of former Socceroos coach Frank Farina - are gracing the summit for the first occasion. The resurgence of Sydney under John Kosmina means a three-horse title race with three rounds of the home-and-away season remaining before the finals series starts later this month. Kosmina's former employers Adelaide's run to the finals has faltered under the weight of a bizarre collection of ailments and complaints. This week, youngsters Kristian Sarkies and Dez Giraldi were added to the club's seemingly endless injury list with Sarkies expected to be out of action for up to three months after Adelaide medical staff diagnosed a blood clot in his left arm during the loss to Sydney. "We had a drinks break 20 minutes into the game, that's when I told the doc that my arm was about to explode. I felt it about a week-and-a-half ago when I slept with my arm above my head and woke up with a sore neck and sore shoulder," the 21-year-old somewhat curiously explained. Giraldi was also admitted to hospital after complaining of heart palpitations. “What they’re leaning towards is an anxiety attack. I feel OK now but the last few days I was feeling terrible,” he said. A-League titbits · Defending player-of-the-year Nick Carle, a Socceroos call-up for the Asian Cup in July, is on the move after failing to settle in his second overseas spell, this time at struggling Turkish outfit Genclerbirligi. Carle, a talented playmaker who can play right across the midfield, is tipped to join high-flying Championship side Bristol City. · New national team coach Pim Verbeek has been an industrious note-taker at almost every A-League match since his announcement as Socceroos coach last month. On Tuesday, Verbeek named his first local training squad ahead of Australia's World Cup qualifying opener versus Qatar next month. Of those selected, uncapped trio Andrew Durante, Ufuk Talay and Jamie Coyne caught the eye, as did the omission of former captain Craig Moore. Happy New Year!