Now I wasn't there, so don't shoot me if I've got any of this wrong.
Two junior sides and the women's team had finals yesterday. Our u13s won 9-0 against Oakleigh, while our u14s side lost to the same opposition 3-2. According to slightly more than semi-reliable 2nd hand information, our women's side apparently played quite well and kept up with last season's WVPL champion Heidelberg, improving significantly on the previous 7-0 loss to draw the final 0-0 and push the game to penalties where they alas lost 7-6 in the shootout. Nevertheless, there appears to be much hope for our ladies this year, and perhaps now something better than merely survival can and should be aimed for.
Tomorrow a wrap up of the wildly enjoyable Family Day, which is partly dependent on my receiving a couple of photos to help illustrate a couple of points.
Showing posts with label Hellenic Cup 2008. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hellenic Cup 2008. Show all posts
Sunday, 10 February 2008
Monday, 4 February 2008
Please stop, that hurts
Quick post until my next undergraduate level 'serious' piece. The Futsalroos drew with Argentina 3-3 in their last group game (Nando scored again), before being hammered 7-0 by Brazil in the semi finals. Also getting caned 7-0 was the SMFC women's team by Heidelberg. Still, they've qualified for the final on Saturday, against Heidelberg once more. A couple of our junior teams have also reached their respective finals, so good luck to our under 13s, 14s and women's teams. A slightly tweaked version of my Tony Ising getting the arse piece is up on Das Libero, but not on the main articles page for some reason. Probably because it sucked, but who cares about Ising anyway? He's last week's news. Next piece will be likely be after the Socceroos-Qatar match, should be a ripper win, lose or draw.
Friday, 1 February 2008
South Melbourne 0 Bentleigh Greens 1 - Hellenic Cup
Knocked out last night, with not quite a full squad, but disappointing nevertheless. Didn't catch this game, but this result was always on the cards based on Bentleigh's form, combined with not having a full squad. Expect more friendlies to come up now.
Sunday, 27 January 2008
Pedestrian and awful - Hellenic Cup group games
This is basically a wrap up of the two remaining group games played over this weekend.
Saturday's match was against South Springvale Aris, a state league 2 outfit. Mix of regulars and ressies. Got there late, so missed Caldwell's opener. Caldwell also got the 2nd, and was denied a hat-trick by a spectacular save from a free kick by the opposition keeper. In general, South barely raised a sweat and rarely looked inspiring, but having said that, Aris never even got close. Ricky Diaco missed the game with a groin injury but should be right for the start of the season. Your correspondent had a terse conversation with Rockem Sockem Poutakidis about the whereabouts of Perth goalkeeping recruit Neill Young. Rumour is that he hasn't signed, unhappy about having to play second fiddle to Johnny A's brother Dean. "No comment" was the response, in my opinion more or less an admission that it was true. He stuck to his guns and I stuck to mine. I reckon I won that argument on a points decision, but it was a Pyrrhic victory, what with an experienced and seemingly quite capable keeper being let go for reasons other than talent.
Sunday's game was against amateur side South Springvale Serres. With the exceptions of Natsioulas and Tosic in goal, no one else could be considered even close to a senior player. Still, the performance was very disconcerting. A bunch of young, fit and allegedly talented guys struggled to put together almost any decent moves. Luckily, Serres almost never threatened to score, but still, Hellas needed a dubious penalty to make sure of the result. There were some bad tackles in this game, the one that will stick the mind the most is that of a South player lucky to stay on the field after committing an atrocious and plainly deliberate two footed studs up tackle. Johnny A's absence was also noticed by some supporters, and not with pleasure either.
South now goes on to meet Bentleigh Greens on Thursday evening, with the winner of that going through to the semi final on Sunday.
Saturday's match was against South Springvale Aris, a state league 2 outfit. Mix of regulars and ressies. Got there late, so missed Caldwell's opener. Caldwell also got the 2nd, and was denied a hat-trick by a spectacular save from a free kick by the opposition keeper. In general, South barely raised a sweat and rarely looked inspiring, but having said that, Aris never even got close. Ricky Diaco missed the game with a groin injury but should be right for the start of the season. Your correspondent had a terse conversation with Rockem Sockem Poutakidis about the whereabouts of Perth goalkeeping recruit Neill Young. Rumour is that he hasn't signed, unhappy about having to play second fiddle to Johnny A's brother Dean. "No comment" was the response, in my opinion more or less an admission that it was true. He stuck to his guns and I stuck to mine. I reckon I won that argument on a points decision, but it was a Pyrrhic victory, what with an experienced and seemingly quite capable keeper being let go for reasons other than talent.
Sunday's game was against amateur side South Springvale Serres. With the exceptions of Natsioulas and Tosic in goal, no one else could be considered even close to a senior player. Still, the performance was very disconcerting. A bunch of young, fit and allegedly talented guys struggled to put together almost any decent moves. Luckily, Serres almost never threatened to score, but still, Hellas needed a dubious penalty to make sure of the result. There were some bad tackles in this game, the one that will stick the mind the most is that of a South player lucky to stay on the field after committing an atrocious and plainly deliberate two footed studs up tackle. Johnny A's absence was also noticed by some supporters, and not with pleasure either.
South now goes on to meet Bentleigh Greens on Thursday evening, with the winner of that going through to the semi final on Sunday.
Saturday, 19 January 2008
Original still the best - South Melbourne 1 Port Melbourne 0
South vs Port. One came from the other, and yet the parent has ever outshined its bastard son. One just about did as much and went as far as an Australian team could, the other failed, in its own lesser domain, to take the oppotunities it was granted. Today's meeting once upon a time may have contained some spice, but these days both sides are far from their glory days.
With Port now two divisions below South and fielding a young team, there could only be one winner. South threatened throughout most of the match, and in particular a stylish first half, to absolutely destroy Port . Caldwell got the only goal in the first half, while poor crossing and the usual walk the ball in stylings of South kept Port in the game, and to their credit, they improved sufficiently to trouble South on a couple of occasions, but luck not being on their side they didn't manage to get the equaliser. The game was entertaining enough, but defensively there are still concerns.
Poor picture I know, taken with a crappy camera while the train shook violently, but somehow despite that Crateman managed to get in the photo.
With Port now two divisions below South and fielding a young team, there could only be one winner. South threatened throughout most of the match, and in particular a stylish first half, to absolutely destroy Port . Caldwell got the only goal in the first half, while poor crossing and the usual walk the ball in stylings of South kept Port in the game, and to their credit, they improved sufficiently to trouble South on a couple of occasions, but luck not being on their side they didn't manage to get the equaliser. The game was entertaining enough, but defensively there are still concerns.
Poor picture I know, taken with a crappy camera while the train shook violently, but somehow despite that Crateman managed to get in the photo.
Wednesday, 16 January 2008
2008 Hellenic Cup
That's right, everyone's favourite pre-season tournament the Hellenic Cup is upon us once more. We won this last year of course, so we've got a crown to defend. This year the competition is being played out at Kingston Heath and The Grange, with finals at Olympic Village. How they ended up choosing two south-eastern grounds is something I haven't quite figured out yet. Of course it doesn't really suit north-western clubs (and people like me from the west), but the south-eastern oligarchy that runs these things probably doesn't give a stuff.
For the record, in the group stage South is in the south-east section (at Kingston City's The Grange) with the following games and times. Your correspondent foresees a chance of appearing at the first two games, work permitting, with a preference for the 'derby' against Port.
Saturday 19th January vs Port Melbourne (4:00)
Saturday 26th January vs South Springvale Aris (5:30)
Sunday 27th January vs Serres South Springvale (4:00)
Top team goes through to the sudden death rounds. I wouldn't count on South progressing through for certain, even though the group features two state league 2 sides 2 months out from their season starting, as well as an amateur team, playing weakened sides due to play simultaneous games with more senior players elsewhere means there's always a chance of screwing up.
After sitting out last year's tournament, our women's side is in this year playing out at Bentleigh Greens, here are their games, and there's a few junior sides in there as well. Should be a lot of fun all round, hopefully the men's side can go back to back and the women can at least make it to the final.
For the record, in the group stage South is in the south-east section (at Kingston City's The Grange) with the following games and times. Your correspondent foresees a chance of appearing at the first two games, work permitting, with a preference for the 'derby' against Port.
Saturday 19th January vs Port Melbourne (4:00)
Saturday 26th January vs South Springvale Aris (5:30)
Sunday 27th January vs Serres South Springvale (4:00)
Top team goes through to the sudden death rounds. I wouldn't count on South progressing through for certain, even though the group features two state league 2 sides 2 months out from their season starting, as well as an amateur team, playing weakened sides due to play simultaneous games with more senior players elsewhere means there's always a chance of screwing up.
After sitting out last year's tournament, our women's side is in this year playing out at Bentleigh Greens, here are their games, and there's a few junior sides in there as well. Should be a lot of fun all round, hopefully the men's side can go back to back and the women can at least make it to the final.
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