Friday night footy is great. What a way to wind down after work.
Brisbane lucky to have kept United to two. Too often the strike at goal for United was taken by a fullback. Kupresak and Plesa each had two clear chances (Kupresak heading a difficult chance from 2m out onto the bar with the keeper beaten). Mitchell was awesome - who said he is too old. Kalac, too, was inspirational and did much to address the poor performance he put in for the Socceroos recently.
Frank Farina was always busy and good value, but perhaps needed a nit more from those around him - none the least of which, Andrew Harper, who was quiet in behind the forwards. And this in light of the fact that the Strikers had the better of midfield. Indeed, I'm guessing that the arrival of Marin Galic wont be soon enough when he does arrive. Bilokapic serves as a strong presence in the centre, but frankly he is found wanting in committment sometimes - he can be decidedly lazy - albiet in the middle of midfield where experience tells me that one can never do enough to please all critics. Conversely, leading by example, David Mitchell (at 35 years of age!!!) was everywhere up front, and he was there quickly too! Too often he would out pace his younger opponents and further, always created space with his skill. His performance was quite unbelievable!
I've never been a Clint Bolton fan, and every time I see him my indifference to him is vindicated. For someone who has had the exposure he has had in the top flight, he remarkably lacks confidence. Aside from the first goal - a speculative chip from 20 yards that teased the young keeper by allowing him to get both hands on the ball before it was lost from his grasp and ballooned into the net behind him - Bolton had terms dictated to him by the Pumas. His first goal kick was kicked over the sideline, he repeatedly affected poor clearances, and he was a bit shaky when under pressure from back passes. It didn't help that the United training staff had clearly done there homework on him. At corners, there would be up to four Pumas packing the area at the near post so as to deny Bolton a shot at the predictable but effective short corner head-ons. Mitchell, himself, scored from such a set piece albeit after Kupresak had failed to nail the ball into the back of the net from metres after which the ball fell within a forest of players basically standing in the goal.
I was thinking that my tip for the game was shot when it was Brisbane that registered first in the 16th minute. Amongst some poor marking and even worse communication, United's defence was sliced apart to the extent that the last man, Plesa, resorted to "stepping up" in the hope (and it appeared that that was all he had in his situation) that he would catch the fast advancing Sean Cranney offside. Through a gap through which a truck could be driven, Cranney (of the "S" variety) was encouraged by a nice pass for a one-on-one with Kalac. Now, even at this point, one would have still thought the odds in United's favour given the reach of Zjelko Kalac, but as it transpired, I'm not even sure that spider touched Cranney's purposeful side-footed placement which, further, was not even hit into the corner of the net.
The home side, then proceeded to spurn several opportunities to not only put the issue to bed, but possibly embarrass their visitors (who, of course, they last met in last year's Grand Final. However, it seems almost pointless to talk of that defeat as a motivational factor given that so few of the Pumas involved in that epic match remain at the club). It wasn't to be however. But truth be told, it made the game all the more exciting. Brisbane weren't without opportunities to equalise either, but given Kalac's sparkling form (perhaps up to the best we've seen of him) and the fact that their chances were only half the quality (and less than half the number) of those of the home team, a result other than a victory to United would have been rough.
On the issue of the event itself, I'm here to say that I love Friday night football and even moreso when the weather is as it was tonight. The pitch was perfect, the weather was warm, not a breath of wind - yet only 4,623 showed!! Moreso than ever before, I'm confident this will change. Clearly a week and a half before tonight's match I spied an advertising hording in the city covered in a poster heralding tonght's game. Yesterday in Martin Place (in the heart of Sydney's CBD), there was a troupe from United handing out all manner of goodies including free tickets to ANY United home game this season. As meaningless as it is to me, even the entertainment on the night gave the feel that something had changed at the club. Admittedly, I was surrounded by the Hrvatska Boys in Bay 69 (Celery lovers at the Socceroos v NZ match will recall the area) but in fairness to them they were well intentioned and good humoured even if a little mis-guided. (One heavy intellect in front of me duly noted that "...Austrlains can't play soccer..." to which I thought - but didn't :) - respond with "funny, I thought both teams were effectively in the same position with regard to qualifying for France - each needing to overcome a play-off to get there. And all this notwithstanding that he was in fact watching Australians and not Croations playing". I still feel positive about it all nonetheless! I get the impression something's finally happening from the top down.
If you haven't yet, make sure you try this Friday night thang - it really is the business. The curiously numbered Issue #2 program (this was United's first home game of the season) declares that "all Puma home matches at Parramatta Stadium begin at 7:30pm on Friday nights".
Unusual observation of the night: Pre match music was "Blur" rather than the usual dance music. Pretty cool!
We're always on about what Sydney United have to do make football better maybe a few more of us should get out to a game. The venue's great, is centrally located and well serviced by public transport; the football fare is generally entertaining, and this Friday night business kicks!
Best:
Mitchell (3 pts)
Kalac (2 pts)
Plesa (1 pt)