You have to think that Gary van Egmond had endured enough turmoil in his 32-month stint at the helm of the Newcastle Jets. To some, it was no huge surprise when Van Egmond, an affable 44-year-old and former A-League coach of the year, this week handed in his resignation to outspoken Jets owner Con Constantine. Any brownie points his side had earned from reaching the knockout phase of the AFC Champions League had evaporated in Pohang as the Steelers ran out 6-0 victors last week, eliminating them from the competition. Such a heavy defeat would often be enough to prompt many trigger-happy chairmen to act or noncommittal managers to walk away - notwithstanding Van Egmond had recently penned a contract extension tying him to the Jets until 2013.

They say that great goalscorers become renowned for the timing of their goals as much as the quantity. Such a maxim might well apply to 20-year-old NSW product Jason Hoffman after he popped up with the winner in the first-half of Newcastle's historic AFC Champions League victory over Ulsan Hyundai last night. Newcastle's desperate 1-0 win means they finish second in Group E behind Nagoya Grampus and qualify for the last 16 at the first time of asking. The fact that striker Hoffman headed the only goal of the game before the half-time break was newsworthy in itself. However, incredibly, it was the local lad's first-ever goal for his hometown club on his 23rd appearance.

Socceroo David Carney has reunited with former Sydney FC assistant Ian Crook after agreeing a deal to join Norwich City on loan until the end of the English domestic season. He becomes Crook and new manager Bryan Gunn's first signing since they took charge of the Carrow Road club last week. Carney has been out of favour with Sheffield United manager Kevin Blackwell this season after taking his place as one of three over-age players at the Beijing Olympics. Despite playing 26 times for the Blades last year following his switch from Sydney FC, the 25-year-old hasn’t made a single league appearance this term with his senior national team spot coming under pressure from the returning Scott Chipperfield. And Australia boss Pim Verbeek's recent warning to any Socceroos regulars not enjoying first team football at club level is the clear motivation behind Carney's transfer window move. "With the World Cup coming up in 2010 he wants to have the chance to show what he can do so he has an opportunity of a place in the Australian squad," Gunn told the official Norwich City website. "He has a tremendous left foot and is a confident goalscorer who is technically gifted." Carney made 34 A-League appearances, scoring seven goals, and helped Sydney claim the inaugural league championship in 2005/06. He was primarily used as a left winger, but has won the majority of his 17 national team caps as a left-back including as a member of coach Graham Arnold's 2007 Asian Cup squad. "Ian gave a very high recommendation of David and his capabilities and was happy to recommend him to us," said Gunn. "I know there were other clubs interested in him - both in this country and in Europe - and I really hope he is able to use his abilities to help us in the battle we have ahead of us." Norwich are in relegation trouble after dropping to 19th place in the English Championship, 14 places below Sheffield United, the club Carney is under contact with until the end of the 2009/10 campaign. Carney is expected to take his place in the club's squad for Friday's trip to fellow strugglers Doncaster Rovers. Former Melbourne Victory central defender Adrian Leijer, now at English Premier League side Fulham, is another Australian being linked with a move to Norwich. 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

Pim Verbeek has explained some glaring absences in his latest Socceroos squad by saying he's made his choices based on recent domestic form and not international reputation. Just six previously capped players adorn Verbeek's 21-man travelling party for the opening Asian Cup 2011 qualifier in Jakarta next Wednesday with only two - captain Craig Moore and striker Archie Thompson - possessing any degree of senior international experience. Top drawer midfielder Jason Culina will come into the Asian Cup qualifying equation at the end of the European season when he joins newcomers Gold Coast United on a three-year marquee deal. However, that still leaves the Dutchman's cupboard a little bare for the group games against Indonesia this month and Kuwait in March, forcing his selection of a rookie group of national team L-platers. The squad includes 33-year-old Melbourne Victory midfielder Tom Pondeljak, who won his previous four Socceroos caps in one spell in 2002, well before the arrival of Verbeek. Queensland's Matt McKay was also recalled. But the greater headlines were generated by those players left out. Newcastle's star turns have clearly been punished for the Jets' terrible championship defence with twins Joel and Adam Griffiths, Mark Milligan and goalkeeper Ante Covic all omitted. Milligan and Covic were part of Guus Hiddink's 2006 World Cup squad with the 'keeper's absence particularly confusing given none of Verbeek's three replacements have previously enjoyed a taste of senior action. Covic's Socceroos career is now surely finished. Adelaide's Sasa Ognenovski will also never experience playing for the green and gold, with the Melbourne-born central defender heading to K-League club Seongnam Ilhwa at the end of the season expressing a preference to play for Macedonia over than his homeland. But perhaps the biggest surprise is Sydney midfielder Stuart Musialik's fall from grace. Granted the pre-season title favourites saw their hopes of a place in the A-League finals series extinguished by defeat in Queensland over the weekend. But the 23-year-old was expected to win a berth in Verbeek's party and the snub must be particularly galling. Musialik had long been whispered as a senior national team figure and was one of seven A-League players called up for Australia's pre-World Cup qualifier training camp last October. He is the only one of the septet not retained for this squad. The deep-lying playmaker last week predicted the bottom clubs, of which Sydney have surprisingly been one this year, might not feature heavily in Verbeek's thinking. But John Kosmina's side will be represented by first year professional Shannon Cole. Cole seems highly regarded despite only a recent rise to the top flight in Australia. Verbeek is a huge fan of his versatility while a Times article by respected football writer Gabriele Marcotti over the weekend placed Cole above the likes of Bruce Djite, James Holland and Matthew Spiranovic as Australian football's chief rising star. “It’s one of those things where you hear people say all the time, if you told me this 12 months ago I would have said you were crazy, so it goes without saying that it’s not something that I expected at all or considered,” a breathless Cole revealed. Perth's Nikita Rukavytsya is on standby in Europe because he's in the midst of a month-long trial with FC Twente. Meanwhile, goalkeeper Danny Vukovic is back from the wilderness after a domestic ban for striking a referee, as is Central Coast Mariners team-mate Dean Heffernan following a horrendous year with injury. Squad: Goalkeepers: Eugene Galekovic, Michael Theoklitos, Danny Vukovic Defenders: Robert Cornthwaite, Tarek Elrich, Dean Heffernan, Scott Jamieson, Craig Moore, Matt Thompson, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Rodrigo Vargas Midfielders: Billy Celeski, Shannon Cole, Matt McKay, Tom Pondeljak, Paul Reid, Michael Zullo Strikers: Daniel Allsopp, Dylan Macallister, Matt Simon, Archie Thompson 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

How the saga involving Jason Culina ends will take its natural course. But the fact an A-League side is holding its own in negotiations with the current PSV and Socceroos midfielder is being lauded as a milestone for the domestic game. Culina is a first choice for national team coach Pim Verbeek and arguably plays at the highest standard of any of Australia's overseas stars in Eindhoven after appearing for PSV in this year's Champions League. The 28-year-old son of former Sydney FC coach Branko is rarely injured and was one of the country's outstanding players leading into the 2006 World Cup. His form over the past 12 months for the national team hasn't perhaps maintained that same level. But he has retained his position in PSV's midfield under coach Huub Stevens and has been offered extended terms to remain with the Dutch club when his current deal ends in June. Reports suggest Croatian outfit Dinamo Zagreb are the other major European player in the hunt for Culina's silky services. But it's the ballsy ambition of expansion A-Leaguers Gold Coast United which has made the overseas heavyweights sit up and take notice. United have reportedly offered Culina a three-year $3.6 million deal to become the club's marquee acquisition with Gold Coast coach Miron Bleiberg believing the fledgling club have presented the most attractive all-round package. "My understanding is that we are his top choice but if something comes up that interests him more, then I'll accept it," Bleiberg told the Gold Coast Bulletin. "To date, the only Socceroos players who have come home have been just one step from retirement. With Jason you are looking at a player in his prime. "Even at a big club like PSV, he still looks outstanding every time I see him. He would provide the gloss and class I am looking for." Culina aside, United, bankrolled by mining magnate Clive Palmer's billions, are causing shockwaves around the league some seven months before they officially join the competition for the 2009/10 campaign. Melbourne Victory and fringe Socceroos defender Michael Thwaite has been the latest big name addition to the Coast's inaugural line-up, a group of players looking increasingly likely to deliver on the outspoken Palmer's promise of winning the A-League title in their maiden season. Thwaite is another local player who's elected to remain in Australia rather than return to Europe. The 25-year-old was loaned to Melbourne by Norwegian champions SK Brann and was expected to return to Scandinavia at the end of the current A-League campaign before joining the Gold Coast. Livewire Queensland Roar striker Tahj Minniecon has also had his head turned by the Coast's offer of becoming their inaugural under-23 marquee player. He will double his yearly salary by moving to the Roar's nearest neighbours, but the switch does intensify the hostilities between the pair. Earlier this season, Bleiberg was branded a clown and a liar by Queensland skipper Craig Moore after the colourful manager claimed he hadn’t tapped up a single member of Frank Farina's current Roar squad. The usually reserved Moore was moved to rubbish Bleiberg's comments and said he knew for certain the former Roar boss had spoken to team-mates. Minniecon's subsequent move suggests Moore was telling the truth. Palmer and Bleiberg's continued boastful comments seem set to make the Gold Coast the team most rival sides will take aim at when the new season kicks off this coming August. They previously announced the signings of Wellington's prolific striker Shane Smeltz and Newcastle's Adam Griffiths, plunging those clubs' playoff challenges into crisis. Another three currently contracted A-League players have made the similar journey to the tourist strip. 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

How the saga involving Jason Culina ends will take its natural course. But the fact an A-League side is holding its own in negotiations with the current PSV and Socceroos midfielder is being lauded as a milestone for the domestic game. Culina is a first choice for national team coach Pim Verbeek and arguably plays at the highest standard of any of Australia's overseas stars in Eindhoven after appearing for PSV in this year's Champions League. The 28-year-old son of former Sydney FC coach Branko is rarely injured and was one of the country's outstanding players leading into the 2006 World Cup. His form over the past 12 months for the national team hasn't perhaps maintained that same level. But he has retained his position in PSV's midfield under coach Huub Stevens and has been offered extended terms to remain with the Dutch club when his current deal ends in June. Reports suggest Croatian outfit Dinamo Zagreb are the other major European player in the hunt for Culina's silky services. But it's the ballsy ambition of expansion A-Leaguers Gold Coast United which has made the overseas heavyweights sit up and take notice. United have reportedly offered Culina a three-year $3.6 million deal to become the club's marquee acquisition with Gold Coast coach Miron Bleiberg believing the fledgling club have presented the most attractive all-round package. "My understanding is that we are his top choice but if something comes up that interests him more, then I'll accept it," Bleiberg told the Gold Coast Bulletin. "To date, the only Socceroos players who have come home have been just one step from retirement. With Jason you are looking at a player in his prime. "Even at a big club like PSV, he still looks outstanding every time I see him. He would provide the gloss and class I am looking for." Culina aside, United, bankrolled by mining magnate Clive Palmer's billions, are causing shockwaves around the league some seven months before they officially join the competition for the 2009/10 campaign. Melbourne Victory and fringe Socceroos defender Michael Thwaite has been the latest big name addition to the Coast's inaugural line-up, a group of players looking increasingly likely to deliver on the outspoken Palmer's promise of winning the A-League title in their maiden season. Thwaite is another local player who's elected to remain in Australia rather than return to Europe. The 25-year-old was loaned to Melbourne by Norwegian champions SK Brann and was expected to return to Scandinavia at the end of the current A-League campaign before joining the Gold Coast. Livewire Queensland Roar striker Tahj Minniecon has also had his head turned by the Coast's offer of becoming their inaugural under-23 marquee player. He will double his yearly salary by moving to the Roar's nearest neighbours, but the switch does intensify the hostilities between the pair. Earlier this season, Bleiberg was branded a clown and a liar by Queensland skipper Craig Moore after the colourful manager claimed he hadn’t tapped up a single member of Frank Farina's current Roar squad. The usually reserved Moore was moved to rubbish Bleiberg's comments and said he knew for certain the former Roar boss had spoken to team-mates. Minniecon's subsequent move suggests Moore was telling the truth. Palmer and Bleiberg's continued boastful comments seem set to make the Gold Coast the team most rival sides will take aim at when the new season kicks off this coming August. They previously announced the signings of Wellington's prolific striker Shane Smeltz and Newcastle's Adam Griffiths, plunging those clubs' playoff challenges into crisis. Another three currently contracted A-League players have made the similar journey to the tourist strip. 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

New world clubs couldn't care less if the Club World Cup is derided by Europe, or the rest of football's established order. That's the message coming loud and clear from Aurelio Vidmar, a former Oceania player-of-the-year and current coach of Adelaide United following the A-League's club's fairytale final third of 2008. Adelaide have been the A-League's most consistent performers in the three-and-a-half seasons since the competition's inception and as such deserve the plaudits they've received for themselves and on behalf of the league in general. However dubious their path to Fifa's showpiece club competition, there is simply no precedent for predicting the advantages of competing in the Club World Cup on a league in its infancy. Coming hot on the heels of an appearance in the AFC Champions League final simply confirms Australia's burgeoning status in Asia, a confederation they only joined in 2006. “The tournament has been a terrific vehicle for the promotion of our game back home and it has been a tremendous experience for our club,” Vidmar trumpeted after Adelaide pipped the African champions Al Ahly , of Egypt, in front of 35,154 fans at the Yokohama International Stadium. Those comments hit the mark back home, right across the A-League. The Reds might have had their dream tie against Manchester United scuppered by a slim loss to nemesis Gamba Osaka, the recently crowned Asian champions after a stunning final win over Vidmar's side. But Adelaide came through the tournament with a record of just that defeat in three matches after edging past New Zealanders Waitakere United in the opening game. At home, they also remain top of the A-League table with a game in hand over closest rivals Queensland Roar and Melbourne Victory, and two on the Central Coast Mariners and Wellington Phoenix. “By finishing fifth and with our experience in the Asian Champions League, it has really lifted the profile of the game in Australia and it hopefully gives a lot of confidence to the other A-League clubs that they can do well in the Asian Champions League to get to this point," continued Vidmar. “It has been a tremendous ride which hasn’t been easy but we’ve learnt a lot from playing these games and it certainly puts the club and the game on the map back home. "When you win games at this level it lifts people’s eyebrows and awareness of what the football can and will be like in the future.” Meanwhile back in Australia, a betting scandal has engulfed three of the league's protagonists. Former Australia captains Kevin Muscat and Craig Moore, and Scottish import Grant Brebner, have all been shamed after admitting placing bets on matches involving A-League sides. Moore and Muscat received small fines and a public dressing down by Football Federation Australia (FFA) for gambling on the outcomes of matches they weren't themselves involved in. However, Brebner was handed a two-match ban as well as a fine for his remarkable decision to place a wager on his own team, Melbourne Victory, to lose to Thai side Chonburi FC in the Champions League group stage. The only saving grace for the recovering gambling addict was he wasn't actually selected in the Victory's travelling party to Thailand because of a groin injury. The 31-year-old former Manchester United trainee is a popular figure in Melbourne and recently inked a one-year extension with the club chasing a second A-League premiership in three seasons. But what his team-mates will make of the Scot betting on them to fall flat against the Thai underdogs only time will tell. Brebner said: "I apologise to my club, team-mates, our fans, my family and the FFA for my actions. I want to make sure everyone is aware that I haven’t involved anyone else. “I understand and accept the consequences that come with my actions.” You feel the personal cost might be rather more profound. 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 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