There is an excitement offered to watching a rough diamond polished, in tracking and follow their progress. When Seattle Sounders FC picked Tim Pontius, Jason Banton, Abdul Aman and Wes Feighner four more potential diamonds were picked. One of these may make the squad ala Mike Fucito and Josh Ford.

Central Coast Mariners showed the true qualities needed from a team capable of winning the league – the ability to win ugly. An Oliver Bozanic goal in the opening 10 minutes was enough to earn the league leader a narrow 1-0 victory against a lacklustre Sydney FC – who slumped to their third straight defeat in the process.

The Coach of Sydney FC is a very nice man...or so we're told over and over but after close to three years in charge the team from the biggest city in Australia flatters to deceive.....no-one.
Season 1: Won the Championship. Fantastic, but they were the most boring team ever to win the A-League under Vitaslav.

Thomas Broich's importance to Brisbane Roar was always fairly clear but the club's recent losing streak has more than highlighted just how urgently they need the German back fit. Broich's absence from the team has coincided with a run of defeats – as predicted by numerous soccer betting tips that has the potential to undo all the hard work the club did on their way to a record 36-match unbeaten run.

A failed 'double header' promotion of the youth team game before the main event backfired badly for Brisbane. Not only was the crowd only 10,006 and only a few hundred at best turned up early, but Theo's goal mouth was drenched before the kick off. This water led to Theo's miss kick which gifted Central Coast the game and the Roar 4th straight loss.

Hyundai A-League champions Brisbane Roar finally lost their unbeaten record this season when going down to a 2-0 reverse at the hands of Sydney FC today.

Two goals in the opening twenty minutes of the match put paid to Brisbane's chances of victory today but the Roar still top the standings with a three point margin separating them from nearest challengers Central Coast Mariners.

The Smith Report outlined what we already know:
The FFA are a financial management basket case - similarly the PFA.
How else to explain the loss of player wages, clubs and owners in the last 7 years?
In 7 years football has received and earned more money than ever, and yet the professional A-League clubs have spewed out more money, more owners and more clubs than we could ever have imagined.

Brisbane thrashed Perth Glory with a stunning display against arguably the most inept visitors since....well Adelaide United.
How good do Wellington look compared to these two teams. And this a Perth team that did so well in Melbourne just last week. What does that tell us about Melbourne?

Melbourne Victory's first half performance was the best they've ever played this season according to Coach Mehmet Durakovic.
Blimey!
I know the standard has been poor this season but best they've ever played takes the biscuit.
A flukey penalty gave them a 1-0 lead after 40 seconds and then after the usual huff and bluff died down at Aami Stadium the Gold Coast started to turn the screw.

It is anxious times for a Brisbane Roar fan. I mean hell, the undefeated streak stretches to 34 games. But it's hard not to notice that the last two games have presented a new challenge. It's hard not to notice that we have not scored from open play in the last two games.
In week one, Central Coast tried to handle us the way they almost did last season, with their half-open, counter attacking game, but once again, came up short.

The latest episode of Victorycast, victoryblog.net's Melbourne Victory podcast is now available for download. This week we review the Wellington and Brisbane games, discuss the controversy around the Matthew Foschini red card as well as look ahead to this weekends clash with Central Coast Mariners. To download the latest episode directly visit the official website

Melbourne Victory 3 Central Coast Mariners 3 November 3, 2006 Welcome to the very last Classic Match, which can only mean that the new season kicks off tomorrow! I hope you've enjoyed the countdown I've got a real cracker of a game to finish it off. The 3-3 draw with the Mariners is regarded

I think it's safe to say that everyone who is a fan of the round ball game would have been relieved the season has finally started.
They say that idle hands are the devil's playthings, so with six months of nothing you can imagine the crap that has happened.
At least we can now focus on the football.

Following the recent launch of its 2011/12 away strip, last season's Australian A-League regular season second place finishers and playoff finalists Central Coast Mariners Football Club have officially unveiled their navy blue and yellow hummel 2011/12 home kit and goalkeeper jerseys. According to the Mariners' website: Central Coast Mariners today officially launched the club's playing [.

Hi everybody,
Welcome to today's blog. Did you all have a decent weekend?
FP was out on the track for the final day of the races in town. It seemed like a ridiculously indulgent day full of booze, women and more booze. Hopefully your weekend was just as fun.
So Perth Glory lost 1-0 on the weekend to Central Coast Mariners with a former Glory boy scoring the goal.

Morning,
Welcome to the blog on this glorious Friday. In the office there is this bloke who feels the need to use this auspicious day to play that terrible song.
It was one of few pieces of music that was universal panned and it honestly could remove paint from walls, if needed.

Morning everyone,
Welcome to the blog.
So yours truly did end up going to the races yesterday. There was the usual mix of frocks, shocks and quite a few jocks.
A few people even got lucky with their horses and it seemed like a grand old time was had by all. But lady luck was not smiling in this direction.

Last season's Australian A-League regular season second place finishers and playoff finalists Central Coast Mariners Football Club signed a two-year kit deal with Danish sportswear firm hummel in May. Since then the Central Coast Mariners hummel 2011/12 away jersey has been unveiled and used extensively during the club's pre-season.

Seeing my club change some years ago to SSG and slowly seeing kids working with a ball you can see the impact the changes are and can have on Aussie football.
My club is no Barcelona - not in culture of skills, but we do play SSG's. I'd like to see 5 v 5 taken to at least U11s but that's clearly just me.

Sydney FC's build up to the pre-season has been Lavicka-esque.
Dull and duller.
Apart from the Harry talk - even that is subdued compared to Melbourne - what is there to reignite the place.
The club needs excitement off the field, all year. And what have we got? Jamie Coyne!

Should football associations and federations call for tenders and financially support the one or two clubs in a region who can provide the best development model.
Gets the Federation out of Rep and player development - something they have struggled to really develop over the years - consistently.

Mariners leading the way in Community/Professional Football.
Can't see Canberra ever get it's stuff together in this area - basically no A-League team - no franchise willing to move things forward.
Capital Football should not run Rep teams in a real football world - but for now they are the best we have and do the best they can.

With so many young Aussies and older Aussies heading to Asia in the recent A-League break you have to start to wonder who will fill the spots next season.
Matthew Leckie, Robbie Kruse, Mustafa Amini, Luke Devere, Dino Djubic, and Alex Brosque are just some of the good great and ordinary A-League players who have left or will leave the A-League in coming days.

FFA accused of lacking respect for investors

Sebastian Hassett March 17, 2011

FOOTBALL Federation Australia's caution in considering two potential bids for A-League clubs from wealthy foreign owners is symptomatic of its inability to engage with the Asian region, says the man who found the investors.

Weekend Six Pack Bolton, Brisbane and the Britannia are A rated is a post from: Just Football

Each week Rob Hartnett from 188BET.com will bring you six of the best football betting opportunities from the weekend action. Rob is the public face of leading the leading In Play betting specialists and appears regularly on the Bolton, Wigan, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Everton websites doing betting previews.

The last time I wrote about the A-League or the Brisbane Roar was April last year. The short of what I had to say then was, "the Brisbane Roar cannot repeat its original seduction of this consumer. This time they're going to have to realise a product that is worth it for me to seek out."
They have done it.

The post-season Play-Offs have got under way in Australia and for Minor Premiers Brisbane Roar the Grand Final is just 90 minutes away after enjoying a first leg win over Central Coast Mariners. In the straight knock-out phase, played between teams finishing from third to sixth in the regular season standings, Adelaide United and Gold Coast United saw off the challenges of Wellington Phoenix and Melbourne Victory respectively.

Following the high profile signing of Malaysian national team striker Safee Sali, Pelita Jaya are now thought to be hot on the heels of Scottish defender Christopher Doig, currently with A League side Central Coast Mariners.
Doig, who turned 30 last week, represented Scotland Under 21s about a decade ago and has also played for Queen of the South (who are actually a football team and not a Twitter account), Nottingham Forest and Northampton Town.

There have been a few changes to the schedule for preseason games for the Quakes. The overall schedule is still the same, as in they will still be leaving for London on the 17th of February. There is an additional exhibition game being added on March 4. The Quakes will play Colorado at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

The delay of the Brisbane-Fury match means that if CCM beat Melbourne Heart tonight, then Gold Coast on Wednesday 9 Feb, Central Coast will still have a chance of winning the A-League table - if Brisbane loose to Gold Coast. Central Coast's final game is the day after the Brisbane's last match.
It is possible that the Fury match may be delayed further.

Chivas USA's YouTube channel has put up several videos of their preseason camp up in the Central Coast.

I've embedded a couple below, including a chat with veteran defender Jimmy Conrad and some words from former Galaxy striker Tristan Bowen of Van Nuys.

Far from home: Chivas USA train in stunning Central California (Photo courtesy Chivas USA).

Chivas USA is training this week in the bucolic surroundings of the Central Coast community of Templeton.

In their honor I cracked an excellent Zinfandel from Castoro Cellers this evening paired with a skinless chicken breast and mushroom risotto.

What do the FFA think of Mrs Wensing? 80 years of age, she went out of her way to sign the A-League4Canberra supporters pledge in 2009. The FFA could not have cared less.

Fozzie has spoken.
At the recent inaugural fans forum in Sydney, a marvellous initiative btw, to look at and solve the problems facing football in Australia.

Anyone else notice Harry Kewell smiling just a little more in Qatar....hmmn than say at the World Cup.
With Robbie Slater sent to watch Central Coast Mariners, (is that in Qatar?) and Mike Cockerill yet to send a report for the SMH (is he commentating?) I'm beginning to wonder if Harry has bigger powers than we thought or the Mike and Robbie are running for cover!