Australia Football Fans

Rookie Macarthur FC coach Dwight Yorke is keen to add Englishman Jack Rodwell to a spate of recent arrivals, as he re-constructs the club’s squad for the new A-League season. A free agent after being released by Western Sydney Wanderers, the former Everton, Manchester City and Sunderland utility has been offered a lifeline by the Bulls. He came to the A-League ahead of last season, joining after his release from Sheffield United. A source close to FTBL revealed that Rodwell is on Yorke’s wish list, though a deal hinges on the 31-year-old tempering his wage expectations.

Rodwell – who made 14 league appearances for Wanderers in his single season with the club – would link up with recruits like Daniel Arzani, Matt Millar, Kearyn Baccus and Anthony Carter at Campbelltown if Yorke gets his man. Yorke has been a long time admirer of Rodwell’s – despite an unfulfilled career in England which saw the nation’s ‘next big thing’ fail to deliver on his promise. After leaving Manchester City for the north-east, he floundered with Black Cats before his UK career finally fizzled out at Sheffield United. Continue reading UPDATED: MACARTHUR HUNT FOR EX-PREMIER LEAGUE MIDFIELDER IN JEOPARDY

Kosta Barbarouses has returned for a third stint with the Wellington Phoenix and has his eyes on his fifth title. Kosta Barbarouses was barely given a chance during his first stint at the Wellington Phoenix from 2008 to 2010. His second ended prematurely, with an early exit agreed in 2017, halfway through a two-year deal. The All Whites forward has now returned for a third, putting pen to paper on a two-year deal that will keep him at the club past his 34th birthday.

A week on from being sent off as the national men’s football team lost their World Cup playoff against Costa Rica in Qatar, Barbarouses was still hurting as he discussed his future at club level. But there was a steady determination about him as he laid clear his plans to move on from that decision, which he disagreed with, and the result, which left “a bitter taste”. With four A-League Men titles under his belt at Brisbane Roar, Melbourne Victory, and Sydney FC, Barbarouses said he was now looking to add a fifth with the Phoenix, his hometown club. Continue reading ALL WHITE KOSTA BARBAROUSES EYES FIFTH A-LEAGUE TITLE

Melbourne Victory midfielder Jake Brimmer has claimed the Johnny Warren Medal as the A-League Men’s best player, while Adelaide’s Fiona Worts won the Julie Dolan Medal for her prolific A-League Women’s campaign. Brimmer, who shared the Mark Viduka Medal with Central Coast’s Kye Rowles following Victory’s FFA Cup final win over the Mariners in February, finished a clear winner on 32 votes. Brisbane Roar’s Jay O’Shea (25) and Adelaide United’s Craig Goodwin (24) finished second and third on the medal count.

Newcastle’s playmaker Daniel Penha and last year’s joint winner, Macarthur FC captain Ulises Davila, rounded out the top five, finishing level on 23 votes. It’s the third time a Victory player has won the prize after Carlos Hernandez (2010) and Marco Rojas (2013). In his second season with Victory following a move from Perth Glory, Brimmer scored seven goals as new coach Tony Popovic guided the team to a second-place finish. Continue reading JAKE BRIMMER, FIONA WORTS PICK UP A-LEAGUE BEST PLAYER AWARDS

This weekend, two A-League based Socceroos will battle it out at AAMI Park while the youngsters will face off against each other before heading to Uzbekistan for U23 duty. Another clash at AAMI Park against Western United awaits for Melbourne Victory’s Ben Folami and Nicholas D’Agostino, as they look to qualify for an A-League Men Grand Final after finishing last in the previous A-League season with the Victory.

Meanwhile for Adelaide United they will be hoping their mix of new Australian U23 stars and Craig Goodwin can help the Reds overcome Melbourne City’s Marco Tilio, Mathew Leckie, Jamie Maclaren and Connor Metcalfe on Sunday afternoon. Continue reading SOCCEROOS AT HOME PREVIEW: A-LEAGUE STARS PREPARE FOR SEMI-FINALS

Australia senior national team skipper Mat Ryan has said he’s eager to prove that he’s still the real deal as he continues to play second fiddle to Alex Remiro at Real Sociedad in the Spanish La Liga. In a recent interview conducted as he turned 30 earlier this month, the Australia international said he doesn’t see himself as a number two. The Australia shot stopper is keen not to let the lack of game time at Real Sociedad affect his confidence especially in a World Cup year as he’s eager to show his goalkeeping talents.

Ryan and Australia still have a lot of work to do when it comes to qualifying for the World Cup tournament in Qatar as they have to overcome the United Arab Emirates in the Asian playoffs before seeing off South American nation Peru in the inter-confederation playoffs. Australia will qualify for the Qatar 2022 World Cup if they can navigate their way past the United Arab Emirates and Peru. The Australians would be in Group D alongside world champions France, Euro 2020 semifinalists Denmark and African team Tunisia if they qualify for the World Cup tournament later this year.

Ryan signed for Real Sociedad at the start of the season following his loan spell at Arsenal during the second half of last season. Ryan was on loan at North London team Arsenal from fellow Premier League outfit Brighton and Hove Albion. The shot stopper has made nine appearances in all competitions this season and has hardly made an error in goal.

Australia international Ryan has not featured in the Spanish La Liga since the middle of December last year. His two appearances for Real Sociedad this year were in the Europa League in February.

Despite his lack of playing time at club level, he remains a key player for the Socceroos in their World Cup quest this year.

Injury-ravaged Adelaide United will be searching for their first win in five A-League Men outings when they host Macarthur FC on Friday night. It’s been a brutal run for the Reds not made any easier by the absence of Mohamed Toure, who could miss the rest of the season after dislocating his shoulder after tangling with Melbourne Victory defenders last time out.

United coach Carl Veart said Toure remained “in a lot of pain” and was a “good chance” to require surgery following an impending specialist appointment. Midfielder Louis D’Arrigo will also miss the Macarthur clash after getting COVID, joining Bernardo, George Blackwood and Ryan Kitto who missed their last match with the illness.
The absences couldn’t come at a worse time with fifth-ranked United clinging to a finals berth by just one point with five games remaining. Continue reading TOURE AND D’ARRIGO BECOME LATEST ABSENTEES FOR UNITED ALM

Nottingham Forest outcast Carl Jenkinson signed for Australian A-League side Melbourne City on loan in January. Despite the 30-year-old being told he was free to leave in the summer, Jenkinson had to wait until January before sealing his temporary exit away from the City Ground.

After signing for Forest in 2019, the single-capped England international failed to replicate the promise he showed previously in his career with injury issues also hampering his development.
The Charlton Athletic academy prospect, who signed for Arsenal in 2011, featured 70 times for the Gunners whilst accumulating loan experiences at West Ham and Birmingham City prior to his Forest arrival. Surprisingly outlasting former Forest bosses’ Sabri Lamouchi and Chris Hughton respectively, the full-back has only managed 15 appearances in the famous red jersey. Continue reading HOW NOTTINGHAM FOREST STAR IS FARING IN AUSTRALIA

Former Australia U-17 international Rahmat Akbari is about to transition to the country of his birth, with Afghanistan calling up the A-League midfielder for a camp in Turkey later this month. Akbari – who has made 50 A-League Men appearances for Brisbane since his debut in 2018 – has been courted by the world’s 150th-ranked nation for three years. The ex-Joey Rahmat Akbari has accepted a call to join up with Afghanistan’s national team later this month.

The Brisbane Roar midfielder was born in Afghanistan but has spent the majority of his life in Queensland. He could still play for Australia again so long as he doesn’t represent Afghanistan in a FIFA-sanctioned tournament. Continue reading ABAKRI ACCEPTS FIRST INTERNATIONAL CALL-UP TO AFGHANISTAN

Sturridge had the perfect chance to equalise in the 58th minute, but he scuffed the shot from inside the box with the goal beckoning. There was plenty of late drama in the match after Macarthur defender Aleksandar Susnjar was given his marching orders in the 75th minute for a second bookable of fence. His first yellow card came for bringing down Sturridge.

But Susnjar only had himself to blame for the second yellow, with the 26-year-old penalised for standing directly in front of the ball while a Glory player was trying to take a free kick. Glory midfielder Daniel Stynes almost snatched an equaliser in the 90th minute, only for his strike to clatter off the upright.

Then in the third minute of injury time, Glory were awarded a penalty for a Lachlan Rose handball after the ball was kicked into him from close range. The VAR was called into action and referee Kurt Ams reversed his decision after deciding Rose hadn’t moved his arm away from the body.

Sturridge was making just his fifth cameo off the bench, with his stint in Australia blighted by three separate stints in quarantine and a slow build-up to match fitness.

The result lifted Macarthur into third spot, while Glory remain 10th but with games in hand. A defensive blooper by Aaron Calver handed Macarthur the only goal of the match. Calver could only watch on in horror as the ball squeezed under his boot and Davila pounced on it for an easy goal.

Macarthur defender Jake McGing came off in the 32nd minute after injuring his left hamstring. Bulls coach Ante Milicic was absent from the match after falling I’ll. The injury will come a s a huge blow to the club but the manager confirmed they will look to get him back to full fitness as soon as possible

The Australian main league which is called the A-League has been rocked with a recent surge of Covid-19 cases since the turn of the New Year. While there have been increased cases since the beginning of the Holidays in December, this recent swell in a number of positive cases has led to many league games being canceled as the league tries to manage the situation.

League organizers gave the green light for Sunday’s game between Western Sydney Wanderers and Adelaide United to be postponed. This would come as a massive news for Adelaide who has been on a bit of a mini-slide after losing back-to-back league games.

This won’t be the first time that games would be postponed in the A-league, in fact, it has been six weeks since the last time that all-round of games were allowed to play uninterrupted.

Brisbane Roar Coach, Warren Moon complained about the state of the league after he saw his side play out another 1*1 draw with Sydney FC to remain winless all season. According to Moon “Right now, we make subs not based on the game … they were made purely on who could go further and who couldn’t. Some have put their hands up to play under real adversity.

“From the 24th of December to the 2nd of January, not one of our players kicked a ball. We were all in isolation. I’m really proud of this group because there were players out there tonight who had one or two training sessions.”

A-League handlers still believe that this is the right step in light of the situation, with players’ health the most important thing in the round leather game. More games are expected to be postponed in the coming weeks, as the league tries to ensure that they follow laid down government protocols.