Australian A League – 2007

Ex-Hull City forward Danny Allsopp returns to his Melbourne Victory side on New Years Day after recovering from a hamstring injury. It is ‘do-or-die’ for his Victory team who, after taking all before it last season by winning the Australian ‘A’ League Championship as well as the Coveted Australian FA Cup with a devastating 6-0 win against Adelaide United in the final, find themselves in last-but-one position this season. They have a faint mathematical chance of making the ‘top four’ for the play-offs but are a mere shadow of last seasons all conquering team that saw Danny win the ‘Golden Boot’ award as top scorer in the league. His golden touch has deserted him this season however with a mere two goals from eleven appearances. On New Years Day, with a forecast temperature of well over 100 degrees, Victory take on the ‘A’ League leaders in this seasons surprise packet, the Central Coast Mariners, and are the decided ‘underdogs’ for the match.

Meanwhile another ex-Tiger, Michael Bridges, is suffering from a bad case of ‘flu despite the soaring temperatures. This caused him to miss Sydney FC’s 3-1 win against Adelaide United to keep their play-off hopes alive. Sydney have had a disastrous start to the season resulting in their Coach Branko Cullina sacked after 6 games. Ex-Adelaide United coach, John Kosmina (who was sacked after Adelaide’s demolition by Victory in last seasons Cup Final) was appointed to the position. At the same time, Michael was brought in on loan, and Sydney started their climb up the ladder. They have lost only once since. Michael has scored twice and gained two penalties. He has been a good accession for the side and has made it clear that he would like to extend his loan here with a view to a permanent position.

2007 saw a huge surge in the game here in Australia. The flow-on from the ‘Socceroo’s’ great World Cup run, coupled with sell-out friendlies against the Greek National team and David Beckham’s LA Galaxy, saw support for the game rise to an unprecedented level. Melbourne Victory regularly attract more than 30,000 to their home games and Adelaide United attracted 25,039 to their home game against Sydney during the week which set a record for the ’round ball’ game in South Australia. There is now talk of adding two further teams to the ‘A’ League under the names of the ‘Gold Coast Galaxy’ and ‘Northern Thunder’ which could eventuate as early as the beginning of next season. This could see an influx of a few CCC League players who can no longer hold down a first team place with their current teams but are a little too good for lower-league football. Sunderland’s Dwight Yorke, as well as ex-Liverpool star and current Cardiff City player, Robbie Fowler, are rumoured to have been offered lucrative contracts.