The coming week at South

Senior men
At Lakeside, Friday night, 8pm, against Oakleigh. Winner gets through to the grand final. A South membership doesn't get you in, but ticket prices remain at the $15 mark for adults, and $10 concession.

Senior women
At the Veneto Club, Saturday night, 7:30pm, against Boroondara Eagles. Winner gets through to the grand final. 

Men's under 21s
At Jack Edwards Reserve, Saturday afternoon, 3:00pm, against Oakleigh. Winner gets through to the grand final. 

Women's under 19s
At Lakeside, Saturday afternoon, 2:00pm, against Calder. Winner gets through to the grand final. 

NSD news
At the time of print, the following groups had apparently confirmed that they had submitted official bids for a place in the National Second Division.

Sydney Olympic, Sydney United, APIA, Preston, South Melbourne, Avondale, Wollongong Wolves

Marconi apparently posted confirmation to its socials, but then deleted it.

Source: Joey Lynch.

Finally, the real stuff begins - North Geelong 0 South Melbourne 2

Well, the weekend overtime work that I was apparently getting, that got cancelled. So it goes. Didn't even really think of heading out to Lara for this game, or watching it at a friend's house. The latter would have been a lark, though, sitting on a mate's couch, watching nothing happening because NPL TV had gone bung across most of the streams on one of those weekends when more people than usual would be looking to use it. Some streams were working most weren't, and ours had a funny, old school Netscape Navigator-esque broken image thing going on.

The NPL TV "match centre" key moments videos were working, but that was about it. The social media team (person) wasn't there (ill), there was no radio option, so all we had was a teamsheet, and the good old Futbol24 app. So where there shouldn't have been any angst, what with this being a nothing game (for us), there was indeed angst because we couldn't see what was going on, and whether something cripplingly stupid was going to happen.

As it turned out, after about 35 minutes the stream came on, and we got to watch the tedium play out, complete with a few 21s players sprinkled in for the sake of player development. Two or three more credentialed players thrown on towards the end to get the three points, which got the job done. 

So now finally on to the finals, the only thing that matters once you get bundled out of the cup. Minor premiers can keep their plate, and the relegation battle is still only theoretical because of the theoretical second division, though you can still smirk at Bentleigh going down if that's your thing; I think Brunswick Juve going own (theoretically) to NPL 3 is even funnier though.

Next game
Unclear at this point. We have a rest in the first week of the finals. After that we get to play the highest ranked winner from the first week of the finals. So, one of Oakleigh, Melbourne Knights, or Port Melbourne. 

Grand final venue news
No mucking about this year - the senior men's grand final will be at Olympic Village. That venue in Plumpton must have been double-booked.

The women's grand final will be at the new home of the Matildas at La Trobe, as a standalone event. Our senior women also get the week off, before playing a sudden death elimination final against Boroondara at Bulleen I think it is.

Final thought
Overheard a phrase this week while listening into court proceedings - that time is the great deflator. You get old, time passes by, and suddenly your reserves of rage aren't what they used to be. And I've to come realise rage was one of the things which used to feed this blog.

Possibly a little bit consequential - Heidelberg United 2 South Melbourne 1

Good first 20 minutes or so. Cue in the rack for the hour after that. Then everyone tuned into the Matildas' match, and a few idiots like me stuck around for the final 15 or so minutes that overlapped with the World Cup match, watching us cop what we deserved. Which is fine, nothing much was riding on this match, regardless of people still trying to sell the minor premiership as something substantial. But Marco Jankovic's straight red card was pretty dumb. Here's hoping he only misses the one game.

Next game
Saturday afternoon away at North Geelong. Hoping for no injuries and no stupidity. North Geelong still have an outside chance (assuming there is no national second division next year) of surviving relegation.

Final thought
Some bloke sent me a private message on Twitter asking me what I thought the odds were for the game. So that's apparently still a thing.

Largely inconsequential - Avondale 2 South Melbourne 1

You want to win every game, but it's just not possible. And not every match matters equally. Case in point, this one. Sure there's a moral standpoint, you want to try your best, and you want to finish on top of the ladder, but since it gets you nothing, there's no point in stressing about it. I suppose there's the bonus that you'll avoid Oakleigh in the semis if you finish first instead of second, but someone's got to beat Oakleigh at some point; then they probably have to play Avondale again after that. So, make sure no one gets hurt, make sure Max gets his yellow card to avoid finals suspension (done), and move on. 

Both teams played well, and still have room for improvement. I still think Oakleigh and Avondale are the teams to beat, and nothing about this game changed my view. When we pressured, we looked good. Marcus Schroen should have at least one goal, but once the pressure rating fell away, we were vulnerable and less effective. Having said that, we also clearly held something back, so again, hard to get to an accurate read on things. 

Hard also to get a read on things because of the weather, which started wet, got wetter, and ended up drenching pretty much everyone. Avondale's little portable stand is still out of commission because of a lack of permit, my umbrella decided it didn't want to stay open, and by the end my glasses were a mess because of the rain. I couldn't see squat even more than usual. Good thing someone scored for us right next to where I was standing so I could indeed verify that it happened.

Having lost this game, we are basically set in second place; Avondale only needs to get a point from its final game to finish first. Third and fourth are also set, and because Gully lost to the Bergers last week, the top six is also set barring the order of the last two positions; incidentally, Port and Magic, the two teams in those slots, play each other this week.

Next game
Tomorrow night against the Bergers. This is the postponed and rescheduled match-up from earlier in the season, which will now be kicking off at 6:15PM to accommodate people who want to watch the Matildas-England semi-final. I wouldn't have been at tomorrow's match in Matildas or otherwise, but I doubt that this timeslot is going to be prove conducive to anyone who doesn't either live around the corner, or who plans to stick around Olympic Village to watch the Matildas there. There's probably a good reason why this game couldn't be moved back to next week, but I'm not aware of what that reason is.

Final thought
Very annoying that I won't be able to get to either of our last two games, but what can we do? I'll see you in the second week of the finals.

Finals can't get here quickly enough - Altona Magic 1 South Melbourne 4

Thank goodness there's a week's break, and that we get another one in a few weeks, too.

Another week, and another result where one need not be fussed with how any of it looked. The home and away season trundles on towards its conclusion, and we have secured a top two spot with two and/or three games to spare. We're even a chance for top spot, if that matters to you. It doesn't really matter that much to me, because finals. But I suppose some people have more pride than that.

The first half, especially the first 25-30 minutes, was awful by us. It wasn't great letting a youngish but still talented side boss us around to the point that their mouthy substitutes were having a grand old time taking the piss while they were warming up in front of Altona Magic Harismidis (or Harismovska, as the case may be). 

Coulda/shoulda been 3-0 down, but we weren't thanks to, once again, profligate opposition finishing and the heroics of Javi Diaz Lopez. This time he even added a penalty save into the bailing us out equation. After that, we gradually worked our way into the game, though my goodness it was ugly to watch. Just pure constipated grind.

One mad minute in the second half, and it was as good as ours. Ajak Riak scored his goal while horizontal, and then right after that a turnover in midfield and we were home. The other two goals were unnecessary, but nice to have nevertheless. Completely different team after the break, like someone unclogged an intestinal blockage, and things just worked again, as they should.

Other than that, not much to say, except that I should've worn a different pair of shoes (it got a bit dewy); that the Magic canteen has ditched the fancy menu in favour of reliable (and affordable) standard fare; and that the refinery next door being nowadays merely a storage facility means that the old vibe of a Paisley Park night game is not what it was. 

But then again, nothing is what it was.

Next game
The senior men have the week off. Our next game is away to Avondale on Saturday the 12th. At the moment, the fixture lists the match as being played at the Reggio Calabria Club. Seeing as how this is a Women's World Cup training venue though, it'd be wise to keep an ear out for any sudden changes.

Is there a curtain raiser?
Yes, assuming that the senior match is played as currently fixtured. However, the under 21s are listed as kicking off at 12:15, so not exactly worth the effort of getting to the game early

Around the grounds
It takes all kinds
Yes, I went to the Matildas vs Canada match. Observed a displeasing trend of teams at this tournament struggling to break down teams that had set up ultra-defensively. Had to deal with more nonsense VAR. Got seated next to a woman who knew all the ins and outs of the Matildas (with very strong opinions on the coach and the merits of certain players), while I of course was there as a much more casual spectator. Meanwhile, said superfan apparently lived right behind Monterey Reserve, but knew diddly squat about the Frankston Pines soccer club. A chance then to educate, and bore. Pointless trying to gatekeep the diverse kinds of enjoyment of the game at such a micro level.

A goal would have been nice
Brazil vs Jamaica, my fourth game, and another match where a stacked defence outlasted a blunt attack. It was so much of a stalemate, that VAR didn't even make an appearance. Two more games left for me to attend. 

Final thought
My memory has turned to mush. Couldn't remember the names of Jamie Reed, Luke Hopper, or Jai Ingham last week.