Passion, grudges and mind games

with Zenon Caravella THERE has been plenty of talk about the recent shock departure of Tony Popovic on the eve of the A-league season.

Speculation about his position at the Wanderers has been rife for the past 18 months or so, with him attracting interest from an array of leagues across Europe and Asia. And rightly so. What he has achieved in a short amount of time has been spectacular to say the least.

But finally an offer was presented by Turkish club Karabukspor that Popovic couldn’t refuse, giving him an amazing opportunity to coach in one of Europe’s biggest leagues.

The key question was how this was going to affect the playing group. And after a classy 2-1 win there couldn’t have been a better reaction. No Poppa, no worries. The start of the season is always an exciting time for everyone involved, with players itching to get back out and taste competitive football and the diehard fans waiting to see their teams in action again.

What makes it even more interesting is the foreign signings.

After many years of playing I’ve seem my fair share of them. Some exceptional and some downright duds more interested in having a holiday than playing football.

This season’s recruits, although only one game in, look to be the goods.

Wanderers have been recruiting heavily from Spain’s La Liga with Alvaro Cejudo, Raul Llorrente and Oriol Riera showing some classy touches.

Sydney FC have added Adrian Mierzejewski, who looked dangerous every time he had the ball.

Add to the mix Wout Brama (Mariners), Roddy Vargas (Jets) and the soon to arrive Eric Bautheac (Roar) and we can expect the stands to be lit up this season.

Meanwhile, the mind games were well and truly on before the grand final rematch.

Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat was not happy that three of his star players were missing due to international duty.

The response of Sydney FC counterpart Graham Arnold to Muscat’s disappointment was that “maybe they should have recruited differently”.

Perhaps the biggest irony of all is that Arnold was trying to recruit the very players Muscat was missing.

It was a good match, finishing 1-0 to Sydney, but the most entertaining part for me was Muscat refusing to shake Arnold’s hand after the game.

Gotta love passionate characters and grudges after the very first round.

Bring on Round 2.