Victory victorious over roaring Roar.
Only in the A-League does a pun like that actually make sense. Next season glorious Glory can make Fury furious. Sounds better then Red beat Blue? Maybe not. Onto the game.
If football games were decided on effort and not goals Queensland would be on top of the table. If the ability to keep a clean sheet wasn’t a key part of being a goal keeper, Liam Reddy would be playing for Australia. If Queensland loses another home game, this writer may fall violently ill.
Like a broken record, a scratched CD, a corrupt mp3, Queensland Roar fought valiantly against their opposition only to see a defensive error in the second half give the visitors the only goal of the game against the flow of play.
Statistics can be uplifting and disheartening. As this writer was walking across the William Jolly Bridge, the rain streaming down my face, a smile grew upon it when I remembered that the last two times I’d been in this situation Queensland beat Sydney in the semi final and Australia beat Qatar convincingly. Perhaps a soggy Suncorp Stadium is a good thing.
Alas, a few hours later only one statistic stood out. Queensland are still searching for their maiden home victory of Version Four of the A-League. Almost three months after its commencement.
Archie Thompson made no mistake on his return game from suspension when he sunk home the header off the corner flicked on by Allsopp. The corner came in perfectly from Celeski on to Danny Allsopp whose deflection was straight in the path of Thompson, who with nobody within two metres of him, had space and time to place his header like all prolific scorers know how.
The Roar, as always, had bountiful chances, in both halves. The first half Miller and McKay were creating sparks as the moved the ball around, both Tim Smits and Sergio Van Dijk had breaks and chances to shoot, both of which decided to hold the ball up in the area and wait for support, neither time it came in much hurry and usually dragging four extra defenders into the mix.
A controversial moment in the game came from a similar situation, this time Massimo Murdocca latching onto a well timed ball. He and Thwaite collided in the box and Murdocca was brought down. In the interests of neutrality I won’t say it was a penalty. But it was a penalty.
That said, I have seen many of them not given, this being one of them, and many that have. The problem I have with them not given is the nothingness that comes out of it. The only reason not to give a penalty in the situation is a suspected dive. If you think the man is diving, call it. Free kick, book him and be done with it. Playing on just means either the tackle wasn’t hard enough to warrant a penalty, despite denying a goal scoring opportunity, or the dive wasn’t ‘simulated’ enough to require a booking, which is a load of crap as all diving deserves it’s just desserts. Personal opinion.
The second half was much the same. If one of those half chances could ever turn into a real chance I might have something to write about but nothing eventuated at either end. Zullo’s impact was minimal. David Dodd is the biggest waste of space, I am heavily against a defensive player on the bench that can’t pass let alone contribute to offense. In a game where you need spark and impact, David Dodd is neither of those things, the best adjective I can use however is eerily close to his surname.
All in all, a standard Roar home game plus water, which doesn’t add to the pleasantness of seeing your team go down. Every. Game. If they lose against the Glory next round, I hear Skilled Park is a great place for watching football. I might just wait there until Gold Coast United show up.
If football games were decided on effort and not goals Queensland would be on top of the table. If the ability to keep a clean sheet wasn’t a key part of being a goal keeper, Liam Reddy would be playing for Australia. If Queensland loses another home game, this writer may fall violently ill.
Like a broken record, a scratched CD, a corrupt mp3, Queensland Roar fought valiantly against their opposition only to see a defensive error in the second half give the visitors the only goal of the game against the flow of play.
Statistics can be uplifting and disheartening. As this writer was walking across the William Jolly Bridge, the rain streaming down my face, a smile grew upon it when I remembered that the last two times I’d been in this situation Queensland beat Sydney in the semi final and Australia beat Qatar convincingly. Perhaps a soggy Suncorp Stadium is a good thing.
Alas, a few hours later only one statistic stood out. Queensland are still searching for their maiden home victory of Version Four of the A-League. Almost three months after its commencement.
Archie Thompson made no mistake on his return game from suspension when he sunk home the header off the corner flicked on by Allsopp. The corner came in perfectly from Celeski on to Danny Allsopp whose deflection was straight in the path of Thompson, who with nobody within two metres of him, had space and time to place his header like all prolific scorers know how.
The Roar, as always, had bountiful chances, in both halves. The first half Miller and McKay were creating sparks as the moved the ball around, both Tim Smits and Sergio Van Dijk had breaks and chances to shoot, both of which decided to hold the ball up in the area and wait for support, neither time it came in much hurry and usually dragging four extra defenders into the mix.
A controversial moment in the game came from a similar situation, this time Massimo Murdocca latching onto a well timed ball. He and Thwaite collided in the box and Murdocca was brought down. In the interests of neutrality I won’t say it was a penalty. But it was a penalty.
That said, I have seen many of them not given, this being one of them, and many that have. The problem I have with them not given is the nothingness that comes out of it. The only reason not to give a penalty in the situation is a suspected dive. If you think the man is diving, call it. Free kick, book him and be done with it. Playing on just means either the tackle wasn’t hard enough to warrant a penalty, despite denying a goal scoring opportunity, or the dive wasn’t ‘simulated’ enough to require a booking, which is a load of crap as all diving deserves it’s just desserts. Personal opinion.
The second half was much the same. If one of those half chances could ever turn into a real chance I might have something to write about but nothing eventuated at either end. Zullo’s impact was minimal. David Dodd is the biggest waste of space, I am heavily against a defensive player on the bench that can’t pass let alone contribute to offense. In a game where you need spark and impact, David Dodd is neither of those things, the best adjective I can use however is eerily close to his surname.
All in all, a standard Roar home game plus water, which doesn’t add to the pleasantness of seeing your team go down. Every. Game. If they lose against the Glory next round, I hear Skilled Park is a great place for watching football. I might just wait there until Gold Coast United show up.
