Photos: Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick refused to blame the referee for the equalising goal; Melbourne Victory's Rodrigo Vargas collected his fourth yellow card in this match; Matthew Kemp, back after a long absence through injury, scored an own-goal [PlessPix]
Melbourne Victory 3-3 Brisbane Roar
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A controversial goal three minutes into stoppage time at the end of the match enabled A-League leaders Brisbane Roar to draw 3-3 with 6th-placed Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park in Melbourne tonight.
Brisbane goalkeeper Michael Theoklitos fielded a ball outside the left-hand side of his penalty area and ran back into the box before punting the ball upfield. Reinaldo beat Kevin Muscat to the ball in the air and glanced it on for Matt McKay to hare at goal. Michael Petkovic blocked McKay’s initial shot, but the ball rebounded off Victory defender Rodrigo Vargas and into the path of McKay, who stroked it into an empty net to make it 3-3.
It was an unfortunate incident for referee Peter Green, who was in charge of his 69th A-League game. Nevertheless, it should probably have been the assistant referee near the incident who should have flagged. He didn’t, and the goal stood.
Melbourne should have scored first when, in the 9th minute, Archie Thompson crossed from deep on the right and Robbie Kruse’s back-header found Marvin Angulo free at the far post, but he fired wide with the goal at his mercy.
The visitors gradually gained command and they took the lead on the half-hour following a corner on the right by McKay. The ball found Thomas Broich wide on the left and his inviting cross into the centre was glanced past his own keeper by Matthew Kemp, who was under pressure from Solorzano, who might have scored anyway had Kemp not touched the ball.
A minute into stoppage time at the end of the first half, it was 2-0 when Smith headed McKay’s corner at goal. Petkovic turned the ball against the bar, but Solorzano hit home the rebound with his left foot.
Victory were not down and out, however, and they made a remarkable comeback in the second half and scored three times to almost snatch the three points.
Kruse pulled a goal back in the 63rd minute after Hernandez slipped the ball through to him into the box and the former Brisbane player fired past Theoklitos, who once played for Victory.
Archie Thompson made it 2-2 in the 70th minute, heading home Hernandez’s cross from the left after a neatly worked one-two from a corner.
Thompson might have another three minutes later after a brilliant Melbourne counter-attack and a pass to the right by Hernandez, but he fired into the side-netting.
Kruse capped a fine display when he gave Victory a 3-2 lead 13 minutes from the end. Hernandez’s free-kick from just outside the box was parried by Theoklitos and Kruse was on hand to loop the ball over the keeper and into the far corner of the net from 6 metres.
But, the visitors claimed a late controversial goal which had Victory captain Kevin Muscat and Archie Thompson, in particular, seething.
Victory coach, Ernie Merrick, blamed his defence rather than the referee for allowing Brisbane to get the ball forward and score.
There was a bit of argie bargie after the game, including Muscat’s shove on Brisbane’s goalkeeping coach, but things eventually settled down and the teams left the pitch.
Brisbane are 7 points clear of second-placed Adelaide City after now going 15 games without defeat, while Victory are a point adrift of city rivals and 5th-placed Melbourne Heart.
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Melbourne Victory: Petkovic - Broxham (Sukhat 46), Muscat, Vargas, Kemp - Celeski, Brebner (Ferreira 80), Angulo - Kruse (Dugandzic 82), Hernandez, Thompson (Sub not used: Mattei)
Booked: Muscat, Vargas, Hernandez
Goals: Kruse 63, 77, Thompson 70
Brisbane Roar: Theoklitos - Franjic, DeVere, Smith, Susak (Mundy 62) - Nichols (Brattan 72), Paartalu, McKay - Barbarouses, Solorzano (Reinaldo 74), Broich (Sub not used: Redmayne)
Goals: Kemp 30 og, Solorzano 45+1, McKay 90+3
Att: 11,886
Ref: P Green
10 comments:
Thanks for the article Walter. I was out at a social function and missed the game.
I hope to catch the replay tomorrow.
Alf Ramsey
Interesting about a keeping handling the ball outside the penalty area. In the course of most games, we see the goalkeepers kick the bsll from hand with feet near the edge of the area, but with the ball being held well outside the penalty area; there is never a squeak from commentators, & linesmen rarely seem to be concerned, yet goal line decisions & offsides are broken down to the nearest centimetre & replayed ad nauseum.
It appears that "a little bit out" is not out in the case of keepers kicking from hand.
This also brings to mind the fact that most kick-offs do not conform to the Laws of the Game: "....at the kick off, each player shall be in his own half..."
Again, a "little bit in the other half" with players straddling the halfway line, does not matter when it suits.
It really does appear that some Laws are mor law than others.... and, yes, I did referee for 5 years, mainly in Scotland.
What a game!!
Great spectacle!!
There was some decent football played by both teams. It is a shame that many without access to pay TV are almost oblivious to the transformation in Australian football from the late 90s in the old NSL. In that era some games were played on free to air TV.
Unless one has pay TV, the average punter in Tasmania can only watch a bit of Bundesliga, one weekly game of the women's W League on ABC, or some UEFA Champions League matches on SBS in the very early hours of the morning.
They could watch Australia play three games in the last World Cup. In Tasmania we can watch two A League live practice games per year.
Some football fans who make the decision not to purchase pay TV (I resisted for the first A League season), observe media in southern Australia where little coverage of association football is standard fare. Now there are big derbies in Melbourne between Heart and Victory in a fantastic European style AAMI stadium.
Brisbane Roar are playing a quality of football not seen by any club team in Australian history, more akin to the better Japanese teams in the J League.
Australian coaches, like Ange Postecoglou and Graham Arnold, have really value added to the Roar and the Mariners. Victory, Heart, Roar, the Mariners, Newcastle Jets, Adelaide United and Gold Coast are all attempting to play European style possession football, with the Brisbane team succeeding more than anyone else.
Adelaide, Melbourne, Newcastle, Brisbane, Mariners, and Sydney are drawing crowds close to 10 000 or more. There is great passion and fierce rivalries developing between some clubs.
The Asian Champions League shows how Japanese and Korean teams are good enough to supply the bulk of the players for their national teams to make the second rounds of the World Cup.
One would think living in Tasmania that AFL is the most popular sport in the world. It has virtually no following in New South Wales. It has no following in ANY country overseas, yet southern Australian media label the players superheroes. They are basically untested in any international arena.
I had no access to pay TV for a few weeks not long ago. The lack of coverage of association football, featuring Australian players was deafening.
The A League has risen in standard to the extent where many of our former greats in Europe have returned to Australia expecting an easy time. Few have succeeded. The ones who have succeeded often have admitted the standard caught them by surprise, and they had to train much harder here after an initial holiday on the training track. The difference between the standard of the European leagues, apart from the top seven or eight, and the A League is forever closing.
Technique is considered absolutely paramount now in football in Australia. Long ball and second ball football is becoming less and less prevalent in the A League.
Kasey Wehrmann said it is the same standard as his last European league - was it Norway or Sweden?
Times are changing for football in Australia, but many in Tasmania wouldn't know. It is wonderful to see matches played In Australia now like the ones between Roar and Victory, with loud, passionate fans creating a fantastic atmosphere.
Decentric
JONESY reckons...
Great game. Fair result in the end. Melb would have taken a draw at half time.
Great match. Stirring comeback from the Victory, all credit to you. Great performance from Solorzano in particular.
I like how we "get away with" one incident in a match where the dodgy decision-turned-goal turnaround was +2 in favour of you guys and you Melbourne supporters rain down.
Roar For Ever
DON says...
Muscat's little jab to the gut of the Roar goalkeeping coach ( what he was doing gobbing off st Muscy I dont know) has caused a little stir at the end of Fox telecast. Bozza quite pissed off with Meredith for suggesting Muscy should be rubbed out. Got a little heated.
Muscat is a disgrace he's old school and so is Bozza for sticking up for him. Biffo should not be tolerated in this day an age. If he doesn't get suspended for this incident it sets a precedent that hitting an official is ok.
Ok I've now seen Brisbane live on two occasions and, quite frankly, it's a laugh for anyone to say they're the best ever team in the A-League.
Yes, they play the ball well and their movement is inventive and the structure is disciplined.
But, they're very very poor in defence. If defenders keep their feet and don't dive in, more often than not, Brisbane will turn the ball over.
We've scored 6 against them now in 2 halves of football. That's not the mark of "the best ever A-league team".
I've seen every team live and, as far as I'm concerned MVFC has the best forwards and best midfield. Our defence is shaky - but that's been an issue for several years but we've had 3 outstanding GKs, who saved the defence time and again. Petkovic is an ok GK - he's not outstanding.
I have no doubt, with Langerak in goals, 6 of the 8 draws would have been wins and we'd be on 38 points.
So, the summary: Brisbane & Adelaide will finish 1 & 2 this season and MVFC can dismantle both their defences at will.
George Best
ROBBED ROBBED ROBBED ROBBED ROBBED ROBBED ROBBED ROBBED
Peter Green and his assistant should be banned from refing A-league games indefinely. Funny how the whole stadium saw it and the one guy that counts didn't.
Ive always repected Theo even when he is at Brisbane when others have criticised him, put now that has changed.
Credit to our boys for showing character and coming back.
'Roar-celona' People who call them that could not be more naive.
VICTORY LOVER
I have paused the screen on the exact moment where the ball travels farthest away from the goal. I had a long, hard, look at it. By studying the shadow of the ball in Theoklitos' hand, you can see that the shadow of the ball is right next to the outside of the line. The whole ball has to cross the whole of the line for it to be a handball, and by the shadow of the ball on the pitch, it is INCONCLUSIVE.
I can guarantee that video technology would have allowed that goal to stand.
TOM THUMB
Alan thinks:
Not going to bother going into the controversial decisions, there's no point.
For good periods of the game we were on top of the best team in the league this season, and showed some great passing, movement and skill on the ball in doing so. Carlos looked to be back to his best, not just his passing, but looked less impeded by his achilles injury; great defensive effort to pick a couple of pockets early in the game. Archie is looking comfortable out there and posing as large a threat as ever. Kruse, whilst sometimes annoying and frustrating for his patches of laziness and petulant moments, can also show that he has real talent at A-League level. Quality finish on his second goal.
Kev was solid, which was a relief, Roddy as well. Kempinho, apart from the own goal, had a good game on return. Marvin's quick passing and movement in attack set the ball rolling forwards for us, and again he was very good in his defensive effort. Billy was so-so, prone to some turnovers, and Brebs, whilst not bad seemed too slow on the ball at times. There were parts of the first half and early 2nd where we were dire, however, so narrow, and always having to look inside rather than having a man cutting behind the defence into spaces out wide.
A great contest between two teams who both had their chances to put it away. Of course I'm bitterly disappointed we didn't hold on at the end, but there's no point having a tanty over it - if we were less shaky at the back (and learned how to defend a set piece, ffs) then we would have got the win. If we continue the positive momentum that is building in terms of how we are playing, and can tighten up at the back, then we can be a real threat in the finals.
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