Morning all, welcome to another blog.
FP should start with a shout out to The West's Shayne Hope. For those who haven't caught the news this morning, Ireland were robbed of a spot in the World Cup after Thierry Henry used a blatant handball to help bail out France.
Checking out SH's twitter this morning gave FP a bit of a laugh: "Maradona's was the Hand of God - so Thierry Henry's must be the Hand of Frog, right? Click to continue reading...

Morning all, welcome to the blog on this sleepy Saturday.
As we are coming nearer and nearer to the end of the Interlull (which, if anyone was wondering, is a crass combination of international and lull) the news is starting to ramp up.
Of course, as most of you would be aware, coach Dave Mitchell held a presser yesterday as part of Perth Glory's midseason review, which was nothing more than a normal presser. Click to continue reading...

As I'm just a little flat-out again, here are some previews from the very talented staff at the Central Coast Mariners and Canberra United to read while I get my own stuff happening. Well written and interesting, thanks both Joseph (Mariners) and Chris (Canberra).
Washington to Central Coast – Golebiowski leading Mariners cause
By Joseph Carlucci
The dream of each Australian female footballer is to play at the highest level and represent the Matildas at a World Cup, and for the lucky few that get the chance to don the Green and Gold, the feeling is immense. Click to continue reading...

So I flagged it months ago on here and it seems like Katie Gill is finally back in the country and set to play for Perth Glory this weekend. Well according to the FFA snapshot they sent out yesterday, which suggests she will be a prime candidate to score the leagues 200th goal when it goes off this weekend. Click to continue reading...

Alex Brosque's return to form this season has been a delight to watch, but this sudden move up the ranks comes as a surprise nonetheless. The timing is unfortunate, since Brosque was surprisingly ineffective against Gold Coast United this weekend, especially after the game-changing departure of Steve Corica. Click to continue reading...

SO Wellington Phoenix haven't lost at home in 13 games, they have won their last two games there with nine goals scored - so after Perth Glory came away with a draw yesterday, is that a good result?
Of course it is.
It was the sort of match where a couple of moments of brilliance were need to notch a goal on the board. Click to continue reading...

Comenzó la O-League, el torneo de clubes más importante de Oceanía, cuyo campeón disputará el Mundial de Clubes de la FIFA 2010. Se trata del nuevo formato que en 2007 adoptó la antigua Copa de Campeones de Oceanía, imitando a la Champions League europea.
Participan ocho equipos de siete paíes, lo que demuestra un constante crecimiento. Click to continue reading...

Last week, we reported on exhibit A in how to alienate fans in Australia by A-League expansion team Gold Coast United's billionaire owner Clive Palmer. The club closed three sides of their stadium, Skilled Park, and capped capacity to just 5,000, forcing supporters out of their usual position in the stadium.

Click to continue reading...

So we're halfway through the season now and I think the teams that will challenge for the title, Brisbane Roar, Sydney FC and the Central Coast Mariners, have separated themselves from the pack.
I still think that Brisbane are the team to beat (can anyone say depth? they have it in spades), but there are also a few variables that I think may just come into it. Click to continue reading...

Today, our tifo series swings to Asia for the first time.

We check out Japanese fans at the Nabisco Cup (also known as the J-League Cup) final between Kawasaki Frontale and FC Tokyo, held earlier this week.

This video is a little slow to get going, but there's some gorgeous colour, some impressive banners, and generally well choreographed displays from supporters of both teams.

Click to continue reading...

So now we are officially halfway through the season and the contenders I think have truly separated from the pack. Namely, Brisbane Roar and Sydney FC. Within 24-hours of each other, they have both recorded W-League record scores. It was the Central Coast Mariners that set the record for biggest ever win in Season 1, with a 5-0 win over Adelaide. Click to continue reading...

There have been plenty of success stories at Sydney FC this season. The wonderful mobility of the Brosque-Bridge partnership, Stuart Musialik's return to form, the impressive fitness levels...not to mention the much-improved relations with the media, with Vitezslav Lavicka's courteous and dignified manner putting all four of his predecessors to shame. Click to continue reading...

Our tifo video series rolls across from Belgium to Switzerland, and we find ourselves in Lausanne, a small French-speaking city perhaps best known as the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee.

Swiss club FC Lausanne-Sport, founded in 1896 and successful for their first half-century, haven't won the league championship for other forty years.

Click to continue reading...

This week, our new tifo video series has shown displays from supporters in Australia, Northern Ireland and Sweden.

Now we make a short hop to Belgium to take a look at supporters of KV Mechelen, a team who have historically been close to becoming a dominant force in the Belgian league, but who have somehow often fallen short.

Click to continue reading...

Our series on supporter tifo displays on Pitch Invasion jumps from Northern Ireland to Sweden.

Below is a compilation of displays by supporters of AIK (Allmänna Idrottsklubben). AIK were founded in 1891, and after being one of the dominant forces in the early decades of the Swedish league, have only had sporadic success in recent years.

Click to continue reading...

MORNING folks.
Yesterday FP had a chance to check out a bit of Perth Glory's training session and attend the presser. Also made a couple of interesting observations while he was there.
Firstly, while club stalwart Jamie Harnwell is a few weeks away from recovering from his injury, he had a bit of a run and looked pretty comfortable. Click to continue reading...

Given all the glowing publicity surrounding the new Gold Coast United franchise early in the season, including a cloying puff piece on Channel 9's 60 Minutes, this makes particularly depressing reading.
Yes, stadium deals are tricky things. Sydney FC, for one, suffered from an onerous deal with the SFS (Aussie Stadium, as it then was) in the first A-League season, one which was largely responsible for the loss the club made in 2005/06. Click to continue reading...

Our new series on Pitch Invasion moves all the way from Australia to Northern Ireland, as we look at the growing ultras culture in the IFA Premiership.

Glentoran are the current champions of the league, and their supporters' group Legion 1882 (which references the year the club was founded) was formed just two years ago.

Click to continue reading...

A new series on Pitch Invasion debuts, though it's actually a bit of a return to our roots as half the reason I started this site back in the day was to show tifo displays from around the world.

To kick things off, we look at Australia with a video documenting the making and display of a variety of banners by supporters of Sydney FC in the A-League.

Click to continue reading...

No Moore. No Malcolm. No Tiatto. No Miller. It was always going to be a stringent test of Brisbane's resources.
And yet they acquitted themselves not too badly, on the whole. Although they were plainly outclassed in midfield for much of the game, and had every reason to let their heads drop after the injury to Reinaldo, they made a real fight of the game in the final twenty minutes, and perhaps deserved to equalise. Click to continue reading...

IT WAS bound to happen sooner or later. North Queensland Fury, with the wily Robbie Fowler, were always going to get a win at home after weeks of impressive fighting football.
But without taking anything away from the Fury, Perth Glory will feel that they let a golden chance for a win away from home went begging. Click to continue reading...

So first of all, apologies for the lack of posts this week but have been struck down by unfortunate case of killer flu. Next week will (hopefully) be back to normal. But before then we have a whole of Round 4 to go and it's going to provide some crackers. Just thinking of last year's game between Canberra United and Melbourne Victory makes me all wistful for the amazing talent that is Amy Chapman, I can still picture her wonder-scross that curled in over Melissa Barbieri that ended up being the winner in the 93rd minute. Click to continue reading...

With Ange Postecoglou now installed as coach of the Brisbane Roar, all one can say is that the off-field ethos of the club will probably endure a shake-up.
Even before Frank Farina's encounter with the booze-bus, things had not been going swimmingly for the club in 2009/10, to put it mildly. Click to continue reading...

So two rounds down and we have found out a little bit more about everyone, so here is girlswithgame Round 2 Westfield W-League review, all the games wrapped up in one convenient little (ok, more like large) post.
PERTH GLORY 1 (Collette McCallum 10m) bt NEWCASTLE JETS 0 at ME Bank Stadium. Click to continue reading...

If anyone can remember a better Sydney FC performance than last night's at Etihad Stadium, I'd be interested to hear about it. Put simply, it was a game where it all came together for the team in sky blue. Against their eternal rivals, no less!
The midfield functioned superbly well, passing neatly and crisply, and providing plenty of support both to both the attack and the defence. Click to continue reading...

She only played three games for Sydney FC last season, but Michelle Heyman made them remember her all too well thanks to her two goals in Round 1 against the Sky Blues. She's been thrust into the spotlight, but the 21-year-old kindly took some time out for girlswithgame to let us know a bit more about the Mariners and her own soccer career. Click to continue reading...

Welcome back, football fans. For the moment, I'm temporarily suspending my feud with ESPN. (I call it a feud even though I believe that in order for it to actually be a feud, ESPN would have to start arguing with me or, at least, recognize that I exist.) It does appear that ESPN has posted it's schedule for the weekend with days to spare for a change, for what it's worth given the few games being broadcast, so those matches are included below.

Click to continue reading...

So by now the Westfield Women's under 16 squad will have touched down to Myanmar, to start preparing for the AFF U16 Women's Championship 2009 in Yangon. It's a warm-up tournament for when the girls have to head over in November to play in the one that counts, the 2009 AFC under-16 cup - which is also a qualifier for the next under-17 Women's World Cup. Click to continue reading...

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Nationally we cover Fozzie on the Young Socceroos, A-League, crowds, Danny Tiatto, Robbie Kruse,how did that Ref miss the Perf goal, Alex Brosque, Chris Grossman, why the Celtic crowd are louder thanBordeaux, even Liverpool but it was The Cove who took Paddy's breadth away, W-League, quiz questions and more and Lucy Zelic thinks Melbourne will beat Sydney FC. Click to continue reading...

O 36º jogo do Mundial Sub-20, no Port Said Stadium, na cidade de Port Said-EGY, na temperatura de 28º C.
Jogaram, as seleções da Austrália (14º no ranking da FIFA) e Brasil (1º no ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções jogaram:
Copa do Mundo: 1 jogo, 1 vitória do Brasil com 2 gols do Brasil. Click to continue reading...

Although Sydney FC thoroughly deserved their victory over the Central Coast Mariners this afternoon, the entire press box was in agreement that the man of the match played on the losing side. As the SMH's Sebastian Hassett justly observed, "about the seven next-best" were clad in sky blue, but the star of the day was Michael McGlinchey. Click to continue reading...

Ray Gatt and his team at the Weekend Australian have done some great work and uncovered that FFA registered Sydney Rovers FC name, colours and trademark some weeks before saying that this Sydney bid had the 12th license. Ooops. Of course the other bidders are cheesed off. The Sydney Rovers bid seems to have been given the inside track and has a real paradise club feel. Click to continue reading...

So this afternoon the second season of the Westfield W-League will kick off, the same eight clubs, but new players and coaches everywhere. But shall we just take a minute to think about the first season? Here girlswithgame takes a look at its top five moments from season 2008.
5. Canberra United's late rush to draw with Perth Glory in Round 6. Click to continue reading...

Righto, so today is gameday. At around 3:30pm (WST) Perth Glory take on North Queensland Fury at ME Bank.
And there are signs a pretty decent crowd could turn up for this one.
According to Paul Skuse from the Perth Glory Supporters Association, the Glory has had the biggest ticket pre-sale for a home game since the begining of the A-League. Click to continue reading...

O 21º jogo do Mundial Sub-20, foi realizado no Port Said Stadium em Port Stadium-EGY, com temperatura de 27º C.
Jogaram as seleções da Costa Rica (39º no ranking da FIFA) e Austrália (14º do ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções nunca haviam jogado.
O quarteto de arbitragem definido foi:
Árbitro: Mohamed Benouza (ALG)
Primeiro Assistente: Nasser Sadek Abdel Naby (EGY)
Segundo Assistente: Angesom Ogbamariam (ERI)
Quarto Árbitro: Frank de Bleeckere (BEL)
A seleção Australiana deu 12 chutes ao gol e a Costa Rica deu 14 chutes ao gol, com 55% de posse de bola da Austrália e 45% da Costa Rica. Click to continue reading...