Robbie Kruse has real pedigree. I have seen the youngsters at Queensland Lions drilling over and over the trade mark turn with straight leg shot. Anyway, 45 seconds and Zullo and Kruse combine to get the Roar in front. Well Kruse had so much time he could air-swing once and still score with the 'turn and straight leg'. And the Foxtel commentators made the point that Zullo and Kruse's coaches should be applauded - probably a reference to the anti-coach nonsense we have been hearing.
Mark Shield's showed that even Australia's best ref can miss-fire. Zullo was clearly tripped in the box in the 10th minute, but play on. On the opening of the second half, Troy Hearfield shows Zullo how to go down when fouled in the box so that you do get the spot kick.
And Kruse is a quick learner and he wins what is only the Roar's second ever penalty in the 66th. Pity Moore gives it to the keeper (otherwise this game is the Roars). Stephen Laybutt was the guilty party for the Jets. Can't say I am a fan of Laybutt, who seems fond of holding down and doing extras out of sight of the ref. Still he kept the Jets on the game and fans appreciate that. And he also seems to have got away with another last man foul on Kruse.
Anyone could have won this game. Both teams did enough. And again the teenagers were the stars (James Holland clearly the best for the Jets).
This was a very entertaining game with something for everyone. Four stars.
By the way, Foxtel in their Total Football show had a very interesting interview with FFA chief Ben Buckley. Ben is very frank and smart. Good answers to explain how the game is being managed. For example, the FFA will respond to direct questions on ref decisions. And Perth's coach Ron Smith was 'cited' for his half time for comments on the refing of Sydney's first goal last week. Unless we - or someone asks - we may not find these things out.
6 comments:
I felt so sorry for Zullo, and I think he needs to work on his mental toughness a bit. Hopefully he'll learn from the experience.
And how funny was it to watch Ognenovskl trying to get the better of Griffiths? Hilarious! Mainly because Griffiths deserved it! :)
Yep great stuff. For the first time Jacob and I drove out to the Queensland Lions (soccer) Club and watched it there. We'll be going there for away games from now on. Great atmosphere, you get sound, and the crowd are actually watching the football.
Roar struggled to keep possession though for long stretches and apart from Oggy and Seo our players seemed to be too easily pushed off the ball.
Pitty about the missed penalty, but Moore had a great game and so did Reddy. It really could have been a clean sheet against a highly attack-oriented team.
Zullo and Kruse were certainly targeted - and rightly so. They'll have to get tough real quick - both mentally as Cecilia says, and physically. They've shown they've got the skills, now they have to show they can take the punishment that will be meted out week after week.
Oh and yeah, we need to lose Marcinho. Massimo should have been fitted in there somewhere rather than him. In the second half I was just waiting for Frank to pull Marcinho off because he would have looked like a dumb twat if he didn't, but surely one of these games Frank's just got to leave him out. Next week please?
One more comment. After the initial goal (yay!) and the following frenetic five minutes or so, I began to beg Frank's boys to just slow it down for a bit and take control of the pace of things and build something from the back. Soon after Newcastle did exactly that and immediately started looking dangerous, choosing their moments and frankly looking the more dangerous side for a good half hour.
Reinaldho had a pleasing game too until (I assume) he started cramping up and was taken off. Sure his strike went wide, but it was a hell of a lot more convincing than I've seen from him for a long time.
looking at the reinaldo header closely, he was pulled down by his shirt on top of the defender
thats why it went wide and it should have been another penalty dont know why the ref missed that one
re marcinho fox noted: how poor it was that he didn't acknowledge nichols as he went off
Very poor from Marcinho. Could he possibly have a bigger head than Ljubo?
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