Preview - Valencia CF v Deportivo La Coruña

Little piece I did for Loco For Los Che

Valencia CF



Although Deportivo La Coruña’s trip to the Mestalla may not have the significance it would have had earlier in the season, both teams still desperately need the points and neither will be playing easy on Saturday night.

Valencia looked to be moving well clear of the chasing pack only a few weeks ago, but losses to Real Madrid and Mallorca has seen Los Che drop to only four points clear of Mallorca, and five of Sevilla. A loss to Deportivo and wins for Mallorca and Sevilla could potentially put Valencia’s Champions League aspirations under severe threat.

In other competitions, Los Che were recently eliminated by Atlético Madrid in the quarter-finals of the Europa League, after a 2-2 draw at the Mestalla, followed by a 0-0 draw in Madrid. While controversy was rife in the second-leg, ultimately Valencia should have played better in both.

With Villa and Silva both in good form, Deportivo will have to be weary at the back. What more can be said about Valencia’s sublime attacking threat? In full flight, the dynamic attack of Villa, Silva, Mata and Pablo/Joaquin, is the best attack in the world, capable of putting any team to the sword.

Valencia CF squad:

To Be Announced

Deportivo La Coruña

Deportivo had a solid start to the season and were looking to push on and secure the final Champions League position, but a poor run of results has seen them slip out of the Europa League places. Currently sitting in 9th place, Super Depor need a run of results to get back into contention for European football, and will be looking to start that run with a win against Valencia.

Andrés Guardado (pictured) has been key for Deportivo this season, and had a great game against Valencia back in December, but unfortunately for Depor he will miss the game with a muscular injury. Guardado is not the only injury facing Deportivo, as they will head to the Mestalla without eight players. In the midst of the injury crisis, reliable midfielders Sergio González and Juan Carlos Valerón could be crucial, as Depor look to break up Valencia’s attacking options. Up front, seasoned striker Riki could be as crucial, as he and Adrián López look to create chances without the help of Guardado.

While Deportivo may not have had the season they had hoped for, Valencia fans should not underestimate the team that has already drawn with Los Che twice and in the Copa del Rey this season. Back in December the two sides ground out a 0-0 stalemate at the Estadio Riazor, and Deportivo improved on this with a 2-1 victory in the Copa del Rey, followed by a 2-2 draw in the second leg.

Deportivo La Coruña squad:

Goalkeepers: Daniel Aranzubía, Manu

Defense: Laure, Manuel Pablo, Piscu, Zé Castro, Raúl, Rochela

Midfield: Antonio Tomás, Iván Pérez, Juan Rodríguez, Juan Carlos Valerón, Pablo Álvarez, Sergio González

Strikers: Mista, Adrián López, Lassad Nouioui, Riki

Head of A-League quits

Archie Fraser, the head of the A-League, has resigned after just thirteen months in the job. He will however stay on at the FFA, in a new role trying to ensure a future for the three Queensland A-League club.



It is believed Fraser will now take up the reigns as acting chief executive at North Queensland, as well as being a consultant for the FFA on all three Queensland clubs. Talking to the media, FFA CEO Ben Buckley said:

“I want to thank Archie for his outstanding contribution in the role of Head of Hyundai A-League since joining us last February. It has been both a very challenging and very successful year for the A-League with the expansion to a ten team competition, and whilst presenting some challenges, it underpinned a growth of over 300,000 in additional spectators."

Buckley also confirmed that the FFA will now begin the process of finding a new A-League head.

So what do you think of Buckley? Was his year and a bit in charge successful or are the failures at North Queensland and Gold Coast partly his fault? Let us know!

Roar trio sign for Utrecht

The Brisbane Roar have lost three of their most promising youngsters with Tommy Oar, Micheal Zullo and Adam Sarota all signing for Dutch side FC Utrecht. Oar, 18, Zullo, 21 and Sarota, also 21, have all been trialling for Utrecht for the last few weeks, and finally signed this week.



Oar has signed for the Dutch club for five years, while the other two have both signed three year contracts. The loss of three promising youngsters will be a massive blow to the Brisbane club, and Roar chief executive Peter McLennan expressed his mixed views to the media:

"You can't help but be disappointed to lose three young players who have the undoubted potential of Tommy, Michael and Adam. However, for the Brisbane Roar this is tempered by the knowledge we have provided each of them with the platform to potentially become the next generation of Socceroos. Our aim as a club has always been to identify exciting young talent, provide them with an environment to develop and the opportunity to prove themselves in the Hyundai A-League. The unfortunate downside of this is when these players display the talent we've identified it becomes very difficult to hold onto them."

The signings will however provide the Roar with some funds (the deal is rumoured to be around 1.8 million dollars), and salary cap room, with which manager Ange Postecoglou can rebuild the squad. Whether he has the ability to rebuild a squad shattered by the loss of firstly Craig Moore, and now the young trio, is another question though.

Half Time Heroes March/General Update

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of posts recently. Have been really busy with school. But, holidays in two weeks time! In football related news, I am going down to Melbourne in the first week of the holidays to do work experience at Soccer International magazine, which should be a blast :).

In other news, I've started getting articles published in weekly Australian football magazine Goal Weekly. So you should definitely check it out. A list of the newsagents it is available from is here.

I'm also currently writing an article on Gold Coast United striker Golgol Mebrahtu, after I conducted an interview with him last week (well, via the GCU press officer), and finally two weeks ago I interviewed U20 Socceroo Ryan McGowan, who is currently on loan from Hearts at Ayr United. Ohh and I have an article on Aaron Mooy (Young Socceroo, currently at Bolton) that should be in Goal Weekly this week or next. Until then, enjoy this months HTH, and check out my article on Spanish progress in Europe.

Bling FC v The Sprightly Upstarts: Preliminary Final preview

Sydney FC v Wellington Phoenix, Preliminary Final, Sydney Football Stadium, Saturday March 13, 8pm (EDT)



After a disappointing loss to Melbourne on aggregate, the Sky Blues will be looking to bounce back against the high flying Phoenix. Wellington had a great last month, and have been flying high with the massive support of their supporters. But after two home games they may struggle to be playing in-front of a (hopefully) hostile crowd. Sydney however will be focused on bouncing back from last weekend's defeat, and while there is speculation Shannon Cole could still be out, they will otherwise have a strong team.

My Tip: As much as I'd like to tip Wellington to continue on their amazing run, I think it will be a bridge too far for the Phoenix. Sydney will probably bounce back stronger after their aggregate loss to Melbourne, and take down Wellington on their road for a Melbourne rematch. Sydney 2-1

Some words from Luka:

The biggest mistake Sydney FC has made over the course of it's short history (a noteworthy achievement) was strenuously denouncing their marvelous "Bling FC" moniker:

"When people think of Sydney FC, we don't want them to think of Bling FC but as a team associated with quality, aspiration and as a club that represents everybody, whether you're talking about the bloke in the local pub or the senior business person," Former (or current, I've lost track really) chief executive Stefan Kamasz said last year.

However, this nickname was at least a fan/media observation and view of the club that occurred naturally. It was not marketed, Sydney's "posh-ness" was not fabricated by some suits up in Moore Park or Frank Lowie's office in Martin Place. This epithet was an antithesis to what the A-League still is - gimmicky, plastic, lacking characters and, most importantly of all, lacking real club identities. Look at Kamasz' words - who is he, or club management, to forge or remove a club's nickname? I loved to be associated with "Bling FC", rather than "Rags FC", the soon-to-be nickname given to our poorer cousins Sydney Rovers (think of the Clippers to the Lakers, the Mets to the Yankees, the Citehs to the Uniteds before the Arab Invasion). Of course, all that talk has led to nothing.

Sydney FC are still the same team as they were 5 years ago, for better or worse, and let's keep it that way, eh? No need to appeal to the paupers. We're not in Penrith. At least Harry Ngata still agrees with me. It's what has given us consistent success over the years (Uncle Lowy's generous helping hand aside).



The same cannot be said about Wellington, who chose the right nickname in the Phoenix - think the Phoenix which rose from the ashes of that shockingly bad Auckland team - to describe their meteoric rise to prominence. The 'Nux ("Nix" in a lovely NZ accent) stand one match away from the A-League grand final, and by God do they deserve it. They couldn't have ridden the crest of their wave of good form better had they been the love-child of Layne Beachley and Kelly Slater. They have John McKain back at CB, while Paul Ifil will play with a slight injury but would probably be willing to play missing a limb or two. Their gameplan borders mostly on a simple application of physics - hoping that their momentum trumps Sydney's inertia. Though, no level of inertia is a match for Pep Guardiola's masterpiece of motivation:



which Vitezslav Lavicka will no doubt have given to each of his players as homework to study, to learn, to love and to ignite the burning desires within.

My tip: Trying...to...remain...unbiased...Sydney to win 1-0. Aloisi.

http://a-league.theoffside.com/team-news/bling-fc-v-the-sprightly-upstarts-preliminary-final-preview.html

Semi final preview

Four games to go. Two semi finals, a preliminary final and a grand final. So here's a preview of two of those games, the minor semi-final and the second leg of the major semi final.



Wellington Phoenix v Newcastle Jets, Minor semi-final, Westpac Stadium, Sunday, 2.00pm (both times EDT)

Luka: Mark Jones, Branko's right-hand mand man with the Jets, foreshadows (indirectly) an opening onslaught by the Phoenix: "It is important that we keep that shape especially for the first 30 minutes. It is important that we don't break down in the first 30 minutes and basically making sure in a nutshell that we have a system of play that we follow." In other words, defend and hope for the best in what is going to be a white-hot atmosphere at the sold out Cake Tin stadium (fitting name really) in Wellington. Tickets for the game were snapped up like hotcakes (ok I'll stop) in what are exciting times for football in New Zealand.

Kieran: Wellington have been building over the past few weeks, and although they had to go to penalties against Perth, they're still on hot form. Newcastle were very against Gold Coast, and will once again probably struggle up front (unless Kaz Patafta puts on a masterclass...). With a capacity crowd behind them I can't see anything other than a Phoenix victory. Wellington 2-1

Marcus: I can't see Newcastle winning this game. With a sold out Westpac Stadium and form on there side Wellington should do it relatively easily. On the team sheet Newcastle get Ben Kantarovski back and Wellington lose McKain through suspension, but I can't see it making a difference. Newcastle have been struggling especially without Michael Bridges up front, they were lucky to beat GCU last week as they rarely threatened for large periods during the match. Wellington 3-0

News round

Lots of news is flying around in the A-League world, so here is a quick wrap and lots of links.



Sydney's move for Carle unlikely
Sydney FC's bid to replace retired Steve Corica with Nicky Carle looks to have failed. The World Game reports that the Sky Blues were very interested in Carle but believe Crystal Palace valuation is to high.

Worm in the Heart
Melbourne Heart have signed Dutch winger Rutger Worm from NEC Nijmegen. Worm will join the likes of Matt Thompson, Clint Bolton, Kristian Sarkies and Jason Hoffman ahead of the club's A League debut season.

Viduka has decided!
Mark Viduka has decided on which Melbourne club to join, the Melbourne Knights. The club today announced that Viduka will be their number one season ticket holder this season. The news does seem to suggest that the V-Bomber has given up on any future playing career.


Interesting news and opinion:

Asians head home for World Cup while Australians look to leave (Goal)

GCU sack Okon (Fox Sports)

Heart sign teen star Ibrahim (TWG)

Culina move still a mystery (Fox Sports)

Roar bring Paartalu back home (Soccernet)

Milligan: Asia is good for me (TWG)

Allsopp: Roo dream no more (442)

http://a-league.theoffside.com/team-news/news-round.html