Tough at the top
WITH the prestige and exposure that qualifying for the Asian Champions League brings clubs and players, there also comes a cost.
The gruelling travel schedule along with the small squads in the A-league is something extremely difficult to navigate.
Watching the Roar against Wellington it’s fair to say that they looked flat, having played a huge amount of games in the last month as well as injuries to key players, things are starting to catch up.
While this will never be an excuse for the players or coaching staff, Saturday’s loss to the Phoenix was a big chance missed to secure another valuable three points.
And things won’t be getting any easier, with the squad already in Korea preparing for their clash against Korean heavyweights Hyundai Ulsan.
Do they concentrate on just the one competition, which then begs the question – which is more important?
With Sydney FC fresh off their first loss of the regular season and many people curious to see how they would react, Melbourne City blew their chance of testing the league leaders with a silly red card from Manny Muscat before the end of the first half.
Against a quality team, a spare player on the field makes things very difficult and with Sydney constantly exploiting the space it was always going to be a one-sided affair.
A shame, because City looked sharp early on.
Victory again are looking very dangerous with their big guns all firing to claim a key home win against the Reds.
Rojas – the man they call the Kiwi Messi – got the home team off the mark with a stunning free kick outside the box. Not wanting to be outdone, hitman Besart Berisha showed all his class by producing a brilliant finish with the outside of his foot, after spotting the smallest of openings. With James Troisi constantly unlocking defences these three players are going to be hugely important for the Victory as they also look to juggle the ACL and the A-League.
As for the F3 derby which over the years has produced some memorable encounters, Sunday’s game was a shadow of what we’d normally expect.