A-league football

[DaveF]

Are there still crowd restrictions in place Fred? Last couple of games I've seen there is hardly anyone there.

[Forza Fred]

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Are there still crowd restrictions in place Fred? Last couple of games I've seen there is hardly anyone there.

Covid has severely hit the A League…because of state border restrictions, mainly.

Wellington, from New Zealand have lived in Wollongong and played all their ‘home’ games there…even giving up that ‘home’ advantage at times. Both Wellington men’s and Women’s team have been stuck there for months!

Perth Glory have operated out of Sydney and Brisbane…..and had to quarantine for two weeks when crossing the NSW/Qld border….., and the players have not been home for months, other than a special dispensation at Christmas.

Western Australia was basically shut to all other states, and travel between all of Oz and Enzed frozen.

Been hard on the players and the clubs…and particularly Wellington and Perth who are reported to be ‘hemorrhaging money’.

In effect, these two teams, if they play a ‘home’ game in Sydney or Wollongong, are playing only to the away supporters of the opposition……and due to the distances involved, there are only a handful of away supporters there…….it would be like Ross County playing Inverness at Easter Road.

Once the borders open up…and they are in the process of doing that, someone is going to have to press the ‘reset’ button on the A League.

It has also resulted in games being scheduled for strange days to fit everything in…..last week there was a game on nearly every day, and Melbourne City will have played their 4th game in 10 days on Friday.

So, limping along on life support at the moment, spectator wise.

Credit to all involved for keeping the beast alive through it all so far though.

[Forza Fred]

Melbourne Victory v Central Coast Mariners tonight.

Will our 2016 cup winning legend get on the scoresheet again?

[andrew70]

Earlier on Western United 2 Newcastle 1
Now Jason Cummings Central Coast Mariners are playing Brisbane Roar with a Sydney derby to follow.

[DaveF]

1-0 CCM. Cummings assist.

[DaveF]

Quality bit of 'fan banter' captured on camera following Adelaide's 2nd goal. Fan gives the scorer the finger before spraying (what I assume) was beer from a can in his direction.

[BILLYHIBS]

Melbourne City v Macarthur FC

Just started on BT Sports

Jamie MAC starts

[BILLYHIBS]

Melbourne City 0 v 1 Macarthur FC

Giannou

[BILLYHIBS]

Melbourne City 1 v 1 Macarthur FC

Own goal

Jamie Mac assist

[BILLYHIBS]

Melbourne City 2 v 1 Macarthur FC

Berenguer

[BILLYHIBS]

Melbourne City 3 v 1 Macarthur FC

Maclaren

[BILLYHIBS]

Melbourne City 0 v 1 Melbourne Victory

Rojas

BT Sports

[Forza Fred]

In the early game Central Coast Mariners defeated Macarthur 4-2

Jason Cummings didn’t get his name on the scoresheet, but played well and was credited with an assist in 3 of the 4 goals

[Winston Ingram]

Are the Mariners playing at a different stadium?

[Forza Fred]

Australia v Japan crunch World Cup qualifier kicks off in Sydney in about an hour.

Oz must win their last two games to avoid the play off route.

Can’t say I’m confident as injuries and Covid have severely depleted the Oz squad.

Ex Hibees Martin Boyle definite starter and Jamie MacLaren a probable one.

No Jackson Irvine…he’s one of the Covid victims.

[Forza Fred]

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Australia v Japan crunch World Cup qualifier kicks off in Sydney in about an hour.

Oz must win their last two games to avoid the play off route.

Can’t say I’m confident as injuries and Covid have severely depleted the Oz squad.

Ex Hibees Martin Boyle definite starter and Jamie MacLaren a probable one.

No Jackson Irvine…he’s one of the Covid victims.

Boyle starts…MacLaren on bench

[BILLYHIBS]

Kick off 9.10 am

Minamino starts for Japan

Hatate on the bench

[BILLYHIBS]

Australia 0 v 1 Japan

[Greenio]

2-0

Super sub

[007]

Link stopped working as they were reviewing the 1st for offside and came back on right at full time 2-0.

Think Australia were denied a perfectly good goal in the 1st half. Think it was ruled out for a foul on the keeper, which looked to me like an okay challenge and don't think the keeper was reaching it anyway.

[Greenio]

Amazed at the lack of crowd. So many empty seats

[Forza Fred]

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Amazed at the lack of crowd. So many empty seats

There were…but keep in mind it’s a big stadium..83,500 capacity and the rain was absolutely pissing down….meaning those who could had scurried up the back for shelter.

Oz were crap, and have zero depth, with some of the debutantes contributing zilch.

Will be an experimental side in Saudi on Wednesday I reckon as it is now meaningless, and the calls for Arnie the coach to be replaced will only grow louder.

[Forza Fred]

Central Coast v Adelaide about to kick off, and a lot of media attention on Jason Cummings.

He maybe hasn’t been on the scoresheet as often as he’d like, but he has about 5 assists in his last 5 games….he tends to drop back a bit further due to lack of service and has supplied some wonderful passes that have led to goals.

Judging by his interview he seems to be enjoying it out here…and has bought himself a Kombi van!

[BILLYHIBS]

Central Coast Mariiners 3 v 0 Adelaide United FT

Urena

J Cummings

Hatch


Macarthur FC 0 v 1 Melbourne City FT

J MacLaren

[Forza Fred]

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Central Coast Mariiners 3 v 0 Adelaide United FT

Urena

J Cummings

Hatch


Macarthur FC 0 v 1 Melbourne City FT

J MacLaren

Jason missed a couple he probably expected to score from, but got one in the end.

Good to see his name on the scoresheet again.

[BILLYHIBS]

Wellington Phoenix 0 v 1 Melbourne City

Own goal

[BILLYHIBS]

Wellington Phoenix 0 v 2 Melbourne City

Leckie

[BILLYHIBS]

Wellington Phoenix 0 v 6 Melbourne City FT

Surman og

Leckie

Nabbout

Good

Tilio 2

[JamesHFC]

I see that Cummings scored two but missed a last minute penalty to win the game and get a hat-trick.

[Forza Fred]

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I see that Cummings scored two but missed a last minute penalty to win the game and get a hat-trick.

Yep, he played extremely well….does a lot more work than when at Hibs.

He admitted his penalty was a shocker (his word) and was widely praised for his honesty in the after match interview.

As expected, the media out here are quite taken with him