Unwatchable / Unwatched - Mill Park 0 South Melbourne 2

Well, I was going to miss the first ten minutes of the broadcast of the Greek Community Cup final, because of "errands". Then I got home, and tried to watch from about 12th minute onward, only to be met with persistent issues with the stream, which kept dropping out. During this period we scored two goals, of which I might have seen the second, though I think that's where the feed went a bit cuckoo. Then I gave up on it, and I went to the supermarket for my main weekly shop. So it goes. At least the real stuff begins this week.

Set expectations to... - South Melbourne 1 Kingston City 1 (South won 5-3 on penalties)

This was the first chance I'd had this season to have an extended look at what our senior men's team has been doing. So far it's been highlight snatches of deliberately obscure friendly matches, which it would be unsuitable to use to gauge anything resembling form or style. Whether it's much better to use a Facebook stream watched on a phone while making and/or eating dinner to make the same judgments I would have done anyway, is an ethical-philosophical question I'm not particularly equipped to answer.

Although, seeing a few familiar faces in that part of the crowd nearest to the camera, I was reminded that the years have been kinder to some heads of hair more than others. Also, I didn't think it was actually shorts weather on Saturday, but there were people in the crowd wearing shorts. Always the big issues on South of the Border. 

What I can say is that of what I saw in the first half of this game, I wasn't terribly impressed. We were dog's balls. I understand that the field a was a little bumpy, and that there was a fair bit of wind, but that didn't seem to effect Kingston in any significant way, as they maintained possession and played the ball on the ground, while we either panicked and belted the ball long, or hit stupid short passes not on the ground, but at shin height. And that goal Kingston scored? Sure, our midfield may as well have not been there, but it was an entertaining move nonetheless. I'd like to see us score more goals like that.

Now maybe I overreacted on the forum with criticisms of the first half performance, and my observations of certain players when I completely wrote off this team's chances for season 2023 based on 15 minutes of footage. But I hadn't quite gone to the lengths of suggesting that we play the youth team (who had done the heavy lifting in this tournament thus far) in the season proper, and just tank the league season and save some coin doing so, ala when Ballarat Red Devils did the same in 2013 in state league 2 north-west, in the belief (later proven true), that they would get promoted to a higher plane (inaugural NPL season) regardless of results. 

(And how sobering it must be to see in that same table two teams we'll be playing against this season. Well, that's promotion and relegation for you.)

I mean, assuming we can find nine more equally deluded clubs to join us, we're already guaranteed a place in the National Second Division, no? Otherwise what would be the point of basically setting up the ideological and operational framework for the NSD if we weren't first cab off the rank? Don't answer that question; not because it might be uncomfortable to think about, but because it's a question for another day.

Anyway, the second half was better. Not that these things should matter, especially in a pre-season match, but you'd like to think we would be better than an opponent a division below us, consisting in part of players (at senior and junior level) that we'd discarded, alongside two former coaches who happened to be in the same dugout. Also, we are nothing if not fitness machines compared to everyone else at this point of the year, so we could at least expect to overrun our opponents.

I looked away for a moment, and Marcus Schroen scored. Looking later the replay, it was a very nice team goal, so whatever gasket I'd blown about our lack of aesthetics was really a waste of everyone's time and energy. Unfortunately the side couldn't win the game in normal time, but won a penalty shootout (with backup keeper Willem Lejeune between the sticks), using an inordinate amount of left footers to do the job (and right-footer Alun Webb who fluffed his line, but got a second chance thank to a letter of the law assistant referee).

The great tragedy of winning this game is that now we're in the final, against the much lower league Mill Park. Ideally you'd have wanted another NPL opponent, but they'd all either been bundled out (Oakleigh, Heidelberg), or never entered in the first place (Bentleigh, Port). So the dilemma here is play the full senior squad, or the youth team, or a mix of youth and fringe senior players, while fielding the stating eleven against another opponent in a friendly.

International club (of the century) of mystery

So last Thursday in the Greek Community Cup we beat Altona East 3-0, and then on the Saturday we beat East Kew, also 3-0. Some highlights packages have been put up of other games in this tournament, but oddly enough, not ours. Our game against East Kew was streamed live on Facebook however; which would have been nice for those watching on delay, had one not stumbled upon the result before even getting close to pressing play.

At any rate, the South team playing in this tournament so far appears to have been made up of 20s players, which would explain why the team rocked up in a uniform without any numbers of the back of their shirts. Somehow they weren't even the first team to do that during this tournament; I'd excuse smaller teams by saying it's just the pre-season, but we're supposed to be... well, maybe not a big team anymore, but could we maybe be at least a less small team? 

Because Altona East had lost two matches (one of them to us), by the time we got around to playing East Kew, we'd already qualified for the tournament's qualifying stage. So the only thing left to do sort out was whether we'd finish first or second in a three team group. Well, we finished first, and our next task is a quarter final match against Heidelberg United, who somehow finished second in their group. That'll be on this Saturday at Lalor, at 1:00 PM. 

These things happen I suppose, but assuming that we care about this cup, you'd reckon we'd have rather faced someone else, thereby allowing us to play our 20s for one more match. The quarter-finals are still only 70 minutes long, which may or may not suit the preparation of the senior team for the season proper. Of course the seniors could just organise their own friendlies, as they did last week when they played a closed doors friendly against Pascoe Vale at Lakeside. The overseas gambling community (at least those not conscripted by Putin to to bolster numbers on the frontlines) must be apoplectic with rage that they're not able to bet on games no one knew were happening.

Mid-January 2023 digest

Friendlies you didn't know about
Last Saturday morning our senior men played against North Geelong in Shepparton, winning 2-1, Jankovic and Schroen the scorers. 

I can't believe it's not the Hellenic Cup
A new pre-season tournament, the Greek Community Cup, begins next week. It's not the Hellenic Cup, I guess because the rights to the Hellenic Cup belong to a separate organisation of the same name.

At any rate, we're in Group One, with Altona East PAOK and East Kew Olympiakos. Group games and the quarter finals are 70 minute matches. All matches are at Partridge Street Reserve, Lalor.

We play on Thursday (19/1, 7pm) against Altona East, and on Saturday (21/1, 1pm) against East Kew. 

I have no idea if the souvs at Lalor are any good, or if there even will be any souvs on offer.

Better than you remember, perhaps
Remember Carl Piergianni? He was a tall central defender type who was on holiday in Australia circa early 2017, when we picked him up. It didn't quite work out; he wasn't quite fit, which only made his lack of pace worse, and he headed home (without heading in any goals from corners, as promised by the YouTube montage) and resumed his career in England's lower reaches; first at Salford City, then Oldham Athletic, at the latter under the management (for a brief time) of Harry Kewell.

Old mate Carl is now captain of Stevenage (currently sitting second in League 2). And they're doing OK in the FA Cup, having just knocked off Premier League side Aston Villa 2-1 at Villa Park, with both Stevenage goals coming late in the game, including the winner from a bloody short corner. Our man is looking quite slim, too, Carl and Stevenage will face Championship straggler Stoke City in the fourth round, and South of the Border wishes them all the best. 

Not quite as good you remember, perhaps
But it's not all sunshine and smiles for ex-South people playing abroad. Harrison Sawyer, NPL Victoria's golden boot winner in 2022, hasn't been having the best time of it in the Indian Super League. After an OK start where he provided a couple of assists (read, headed the ball on from a cross or throw-in), Harry's Jamshedpur adventure hasn't gone quite to plan. He's been coming off the bench, and his team has barely won a game all season. Still, Sawyer came off the bench and scored in his team's 2-1 win over East Bengal, just Jamshedpur's second win of the season. It'll be interesting to see what Harry's next move is after this - the ISL season is short one - just 22 rounds - and it ends at the end of February.

December 2022 digest

One friendly down
Normally I'm falling over myself to tell you people about upcoming friendlies and such, but when it's a 6:30 PM Friday kickoff at Knox - with mixed messaging about whether it was even going to be on a Friday or a Saturday - well, even I have my limits. But having said that, there was a game some time before Christmas on a Friday evening, which we "won" 4-3 against Kingston City.

Scorers were Ajak Riak, Andy Brennan, Max Mikkola and Marcus Schroen. The only thing of meaning that I could glean from the available footage was that one of our scorers had gotten a blonde dye job. The blurry footage made him look like the People's Champ had made a comeback from lower league obscurity, but sadly for gimmick-lovers everywhere, it was just Max Mikkola making very poor hairstyle decisions.

But what about the next one?
If you're wondering when the friendly will be, well, I don't know. It looks like there will be a friendly against North Geelong up in Shepparton in a few weeks, which makes me think that there now familiar yearly pre-season week up Shepparton will also be taking place this year.

2023 memberships and season tickets
They're now available, with no change in price. But also we're probably going to have two fewer games at Lakeside, so it's a kind of price rise? Stop complaining, just buy one.

AGM
What's an AGM?

More South Poles
It looks like we've signed a new goalkeeper, one Ben Ratajczak from Western Australia. You would think he would be the back up the league's reigning goalkeeper of the year.

Calgary, again!
Former South player Jesse Daley has left Brisbane Roar, and signed for Calgary's Cavalry FC We brng this up not only because we wish certain former players well, but to also note the minor trivia that he will be the second former South player to play at Cavalry, after Oliver Minatel.

November 2022 digest

Hall of Fame news
At a function held just prior to the recent Matildas vs Sweden match, Ange Postecoglou and Ted Smith were inducted into the Football Australia Hall of Fame last month. You already know all the things that Ange has done, but what about Ted? Ted played a couple of matches for the Socceroos (before they were even called the Socceroos) in the Melbourne Olympics, while he was at Moreland. Ted later joined Hellas and won a title or two with us, then joined Hakoah. He was an assistant coach during the early NSL years, including coaching one match while regular manager Dave Maclaren was ill (a 4-0 win over JUST). Mostly though, Ted's accolade is due to his tireless work in establishing the Hall of Fame, and especially his efforts in organising events and such for past Socceroo players, including getting former players their national team caps.

But also

Neither Ange (overseas) nor Ted (ill on the day) were present to receive their awards, but fellow Hall of Fame inductee Walter Pless was. While I'm generally cynical about the merits of Halls of Fame, it was great to see Walter receive official acknowledgment for his over four decades worth of work covering Tasmanian soccer for a variety of news publications, as well as his own blog. Reporter, photographer, historian, and mentor, Pless' nomination was greeted with jubilation by both Tasmanian soccer fraternity, as well as the anorak Australian soccer history brigade which pushed for Pless' nomination.

The anorak Australian soccer history collective celebrating a legend of the local game.
From left to right: George Cotsanis, Mark Boric, Paul Mavroudis,
 Greg Stock,  Walter Pless, Ian Syson, Greg Werner, Tony Persoglia.

Pre-season training
Get ready for the social media collage of players sweating, running, lifting, etc. Not sure when the friendlies at home will start that we can't open to the public, nor the friendlies in the middle of nowhere.

Fixturing news
The ridgy-didge fixture apparently comes out today! If it does, I'll make sure to report on that some time before the 2023 season starts.

Speaking of which

Remember how we said that we'd be out of Lakeside for a couple of months around the Women's World Cup? Don't be surprised if we play a couple of our home games during that time at McIvor Reserve in South Kingsville. The home ground of Yarraville Glory, our senior women have played there before, and now that we have formalised (whatever that means) our sister-club (also whatever that means) our relationship with Yarraville, it looks like it would make sense to play a couple of lower key games there. 

See you, too, in 2023

Lirim Elmazi, Jake Marshall, Javier Diaz Lopez, Alun Webb - more or less everyone who wasn't let go last go last month, is going to be back on 2023. 

Extra people

Filling out some of the spaces of those let go are Dandenong Thunder attacking midfielder Ali Sulemani; Jack Painter-Andrews from Bentleigh, a full-back; Bentleigh midfielder DannyKim; and striker Ajak Riak, also from Bentleigh Greens. All of these were noted on the forum before being announced by the club, so the official announcement was not very surprising.

Somewhat out of the blue was the signing of young winger Kosta Emmanuel from Eastern Lions. So, one biggish name, some good players with (we hope) upside, and a couple of players we're gambling on being bolters. I'm keeping expectations muted, as per usual.

AGM

No date yet. 

Second division
Expressions of interest in 2023. Winter season to start in 2024. If you believe that, which you're entitled to do. You're also entitled not to believe it, but how boring is that?

At least it's in South Melbourne, I guess
It's a fickle world. Until last night, he was the greatest Australian manager of them all. Still, at least he was good enough for long enough to get a mural. The mural, by artist Shaun Dev, doesn't depict any local connection of Ange's to South, but that's my gripe with the Ferenc Puskas statue as well, so maybe it's a me problem. I believe the mural is located somewhere on Coventry Street, if you want to check it out before it gets defaced, or painted or with something else.

Amir Abdi

The article doesn't mention us, but The Guardian nevertheless had a decent piece on South Melbourne blind footballer Amir Abdi. All told, it's a pretty interesting story.

Hellenic Cup coming back?

At least three ex-South players (Peter Skapetis, Anthony Giannopoulos, Kosta Strotomitros) were involved with Greece's win in the All Nations Cup at Knox. In the Neos Kosmos article discussing that win in the final over South Sudan, there was also mention made of bringing back a Hellenic Cup tournament as early as next year, run under the auspices of the Greek Community of Melbourne rather than the former Hellenic Cup organising committee.

October 2022 digest

This blog's not dead yet, which might yet be considered a virtue.

Goodbye 

The first farewells so far this off-season have been announced. Back-up goalkeeper Chris Couesnon played only the one game - that cup game against Avondale - so it's little surprise to see him moved on, as is often the way with second choice keepers after a year of limited opportunity. Winger and youth-team product Matthew Loutrakis made several appearances this season, but I guess someone made the probably not invalid observation that he had hit his ceiling with us; like many before him, it's up to Matthew to prove them wrong. 

Chris Irwin's 21 appearances in 2022 was the most he'd achieved in his five seasons across two stints at South, but he could never quite cement a starting spot, and I suppose being a depth player makes you more likely to being seen as disposable. I will miss having a player around the club rocking a pair of spectacles, even if he didn't wear them on the field.

Lastly, Jai Ingham played in every single match this season, a fact that you would have had to pay real close attention to in order not to find it incredulous. Ingham started well - two goals in the first three games - but never got fit. He rarely started matches, and when he did, he'd rarely finish them. So he mostly came off the bench, and to be fair, didn't did all that much. I think we all wanted him to do more, because he clearly has talent, but one moment or half moment per match just isn't enough. 

Back again
Max Mikkola, though who knows who he's going to throw it to next season. Patrick Langlois, who scored ten goals in 2022, and I fear may not score that many in the rest of his time with South. Marcus Schroen, hovering on the edge of mug punters' tolerance, but not that of the decision makers. Skipper Brad Norton, turning 32 next season, and approaching 300 matches for South - will he make it?

Speculation
Players from Bentleigh, that forward from Thunder.

Déjà vu
If you've wondering how Harrison Sawyer's been going, here's your answer. He also headed down a corner that became another assist. 

Free feed round-up

In the spirit of 2022, this is another South of the Border segment well past its newsworthiness. 

Quite a few Wednesdays ago I was invited to attend South's low key presentation night, in the week after the grand final. I think I was invited because one of the people set for the media team table was taking his mum to the airport or something.

The presentation night was held midweek and at short notice, probably because everyone was going to piss off on holidays soon after. Fair enough. Attendance were senior men's and women's teams and reserves, as well as the blind and powerchair teams. Also sponsors. Many sponsors. One can cry about the lack of supporter oriented events, but... well, yes. There should be more supporter orientated events like this. 

But I digress. 

Awards were handed out, some small speeches were made. Revelations? Not many that I can recall. Esteban Quintas loves the club. Our goalkeeper deservedly won our best and fairest. Long serving treasurer Mario Vinaccia was awarded the Sam Papasavas award for services to the club. There are plans for a testimonial for Brad Norton.

Second division news
Apparently it's still coming. 

Scoreboard news

It is my understanding that the Lakeside Stadium scoreboard might be getting a renovation, or even a replacement.

AGM news
Nothing yet.

2023 fixturing
There's an interesting fixturing problem coming up next year for a couple of clubs, namely ourselves and Avondale. Lakeside Stadium and the Reggio Calabria Club are designated as official training venues for the Women's World Cup next year, and could well be off limits to both clubs not just for the duration of the tournament, but also some time before that. If that's the case, there's going to be some pretty big fixturing headaches for us especially, considering that we have both men's and women's teams which play out of our home ground, and considering the restrictions we face (albeit recently diminished) around the time of the grand prix.

At a surface level, it looks like there's really only a couple of ways around the issue. It's possible the women will play out of Darebin or Knox during that time, as has been the custom in the recent past. But for the men? Unless several home matches are scheduled at the start of the season, it looks like we could be playing home matches out in the suburbs. If that were to be the case, my preference would be Northcote, but we'll see I suppose.

At least some of the problem could be ameliorated if the NPL Victoria (and perhaps even the whole football system) took a couple of weeks off during the group stage of the tournament. Again, we wait and see.