Brisbane achieve title - we are off to Asia

2-1 against Heart.

Brisbane take title. This games could have done with some more promotion.

Heart looked very thuggish and got away with a lot, particularly Shoj.

Train it to Skilled Park 4:30pm - Brisbane v Melbourne Heart

On Fox Sports Ange asked the question 'does the club want to win the asia Cup?' He does.

As far as getting there goes, this is the big one.

No Devere. No McKay.

But...

Henrique. Meyer.

Plus

Theo. Stefanutto. Smith. Franjic. Susak. Murdocca. Solorzano. Nichols. Barbarouses.

Paaaaaaaaaaaartalu

AND

Broich.

From the team that stopped Wellington from boring us all to death.

Australia 6 v Ubek 0 - Brisbane boys star

Matt McKay set up Harry Kewell within 5 minutes. From then on it was all Australia. He went on to cover 11 kms at speed and set up 2 more.

Another Brisbanite, Robbie Kruse came on in the 2nd half (50 something mins). Missed 2 shooting at keeper. Gave away an assist to Emerton. Then scored one himself - first Socceroo goal.

Former Roar Ogenoveski scored his 1st Socceroo goal to get the game to 2-0 in the first half.

Great Australia Day present.

Wednesday Gold Caost fans should come out to support Roar

Will the player acquisition of Gold Coast, CCM and Adelaide payoff?

If Brisbane win 2 of their 4 games - they will win. 4 draws may not be enough.

Minimum and Maximum points possible if all remaining games are won:
Brisbane 53 v 65 - 4 games
Central Coast 47 v 59 - 4 games
Adelaide 46 v 58 - 4 games
Gold Coast 42 v 57 - 5 games

Roar are probably underdogs now, given the circumstances. Two games down the coast are critical.

Roar

Key time.

Keep Luke Devere - come on

Keep playing in Brisbane - find a free and dry venue. Let fans in free.

Wednesday night CCM v Brisbane

This is the real 1 v 2 match. CCM are 4 points behind Adelaide. But they have 3 games in hand.

Expect a massive push by CCM on Roar, they protected key players against Wellington for this one.

A marketing strategy for the Roar - make hay while the sun shines

Adelaide has shown that it is a club that is serious about the A-League. Its new acquisition Francisco Usucar stared to crush Melbourne Victory 1-4. For Adelaide this victory was about revenge and ensuring that they reward their fans with a trophy this year - probably in the grand final, maybe against Brisbane, maybe CCM or Gold Coast.

But Brisbane probably will get an Asian spot without further investment. Despite being under the salary cap and without any of the potential 4 additional stars (foreign marquee, Australian marquee, guest 10 weeks and prospective coach marquee (the Muscat option)). They are also down one foreign player. So is that OK?

No.

It means that they are exposed to getting snagged in key games by other teams stars. It also means that some of their games have been less than a spectacle as they have relied on players who aren't not quite there or unfit.

But. This isn't just about winning an Asian spot. It is, or should be, about shoring up for the long term, football in Queensland. And also they need to play their part in ensuring the survival of the A-League. Showing how great a team can be, rather than petering out to mediocrity as the team gets tired and other teams get more desperate and buy quality to make up for lack of system.

If they just win the table this season and maybe dip out in the finals, it will disappoint fans (again). Winning will be just something that happened. Like after 1997, when the following year Frank Farina wasn't allowed to spend money on keeping a winning team. Perhaps the Roar Board plan to sell players like Bararouses, like they did at the end of last season, to fund 2011-12.

Instead. The Roar Board should be meeting now. Calling in FFA if they need to. Looking for a way to fund a massive guest player. I would say $120,000 per week for the 7 or 8 weeks that they will have them. They should be looking to jolt the national and local press into looking at the audacity.

But would it be audacity? No.

It would be a normal business decision. A better than even risk. Because the team is already great. Tired. But great. And would lift as all players would want to play along side this new player who would bring in 50,000 to Suncorp and help the Roar to win not 5-0 but 10-0 against teams like Gold Coast (final game of home and away).

Players are for fans. The system is for winning games. Brisbane, a city of 1,000,000 people needs a name to turn down the noise from the 20-20 big bash, the rain and floods, the AFL massive spend, the build-up for the Broncos.

The question for the Roar Board is are they serious? If they are spending now could be the best way to save money in the long term. Brisbane already loses up $5 million per year. Spend a $700,000 or $800,000 now and they could make a profit this year as Suncorp fills up and win new fans for life. You have to make hay while the sun shines.

Then next year the press could be about how disappointing the Gold Coast Suns were. And when are the Roar back.

How will they fund this? Get in a once off sponsor. A major bank, BHP or Rio Tino - anyone willing to trade off coming in after the Roar has proved that they are the best team the A-League has seen.

Please consider.

Brisbane 1 v Perth 1 - Lethergy

The humidity and a very damp pitch got to the Roar.

Perth relied on bashing the ball forward and, when Brisbane drew level, bashing Brisbane's front line. And it worked.

In this game, Brisbane missed Franjic. Brisbane was left with a left sided advance that Andy Todd smacked out. Meanwhile, most of the Roar's build up went right but stopped at Milan Susak, who seemed pinned to the spot despite having space in front of him. The ball was then cut back to Mitch Nichols, who was forced into traffic.

The way Perth wasted time in the last 20 minutes was embarrassing to the A-League, particularly Robbie Fowler refusing to leave the field when subbed until Mitch Nichols had had medical attention. Now Fowler is like Charlie Miller, lots of gamesmanship and occasional, if brilliant, involvement.

Ref Jared Gillett's poor decision making had too much involvement in the game. He missed a Perth hand ball penalty and failed to provide any protection to Broich and Henrique. Quality needs to be rewarded over foul play. He gave Andy Todd a yellow for elbowing Broich in the neck. So the yellow means he thought it was deliberate. If it was deliberate it must be red - voilent conduct. Henrique was away at one stage and seemed, even to Perth players who stopped, to be held back - yet play on.

A frustrating night. A very good team playing without any energy, against a poor team who got lucky and scored first.

Rubbing salt into the fans braving poor weather conditions, was a club decision to save money by not replacing Reinaldo. It shows that the success this year has been Ange and that the club lacks ambition. The irony is that Fox Sports had framed the message for the Roar - not wanting to break the rhythm and showing faith in the squad. But no. Brisbane announced that they could not afford an experienced player. What they need is something to grab the attention of potential fans, look for ways to fill Suncorp. What will they do when they aren't on the best winning streak in Australian soccer history?

Sport and public behaviour

The AFL in this town is an embarrassment. Brendan Fevola physically attacked a women journalist before he arrived in Brisbane and still his photo made the front page. He may have had more column inches than any other person in 2010.

The guy needs medical help. But attacking women is unacceptable. So how was it accepted? Why is his behaviour now a surprise?

Adelaide 0 v Brisbane 1 - are we there yet?

Brisbane too good. Henrique brilliant coming back - fast, great football. Rocky&Bulwinckle was good too but subed for Brattan at half time.

Soloman Solorzano got the goal after great vision from Brattan and Mitch Nichols. I would say Mitch was man of match.

Was Van Dijk even playing - totally out of the game. Flores clearly injured.