Qatar finished the third round of AFC 2010 World Cup qualifiers in second place behind the Socceroos on goal difference and in the process knocked out Asian Cup champions, Iraq, whom they defeated in both their meetings. The Iraqis felt especially aggrieved, due to the fact that Qatar had fielded an ineligible player, Emerson, in their first clash. Recently the Court of Arbitration ruled in favour of the Qataris. It was highly unlikely that the AFC would rule in Iraq’s favour considering that AFC President is Mohammed Bin Hamman, a Qatari.

Of concern to the Qataris in the lead up to the Socceroos clash, would be the fact that their defensive record against Australia is poor, conceding six goal in their two meetings and the only goals that they let in during the previous round. The Qataris have recently come under the control of Bruno Metsu after previous coach, Jorge Forsatti resigned due to ill health. They started this campaign impressively with a 3-0 thrashing of Uzbekistan but then were restricted to a 1-1 draw against Bahrain despite being having a man advantage for close to a hour.

The national team plays at the Al-Sadd Club in the capital of Qatar, Doha and has a capacity of 50,000. Qatar are yet to qualify for a World Cup or win an Asian Cup despite impressive performances by their youth teams in the past. The Qataris, however have claimed the Gulf Cup twice, in 1994 and 2002. The team now has a number of naturalised foreigners, and gives the sense that they are looking to buy their way into the World Cup.

Players to watch:

Sebastián Soria Quintana

This diminutive striker, caused plenty of problems for the Socceroos in their previous encounter and if it wasn’t for the excellence of Mark Schwarzer, he may have found himself on the score sheet. Quintana is one of swag of foreign-born players now in the Qatari national team having been born in Uruquay. He has represented Qatar at last year’s Asian Cup, where he was their only goal scorer with three goals, and also at the U23 Asian Cup, although there is some dispute to his actual age. He currently plies his trade with Qatar SC, after previous stints with Al-Gharafa and Liverpool of Montevideo. Quintana has managed to find the back of the net nine times for the national squad and the Socceroos will need to keep him in check.

Khalfan Ibrahim

Ibrahim, winner of 2006 Asian Player of the Year, is an attacking midfielder that the Socceroos will have to keep close watch over if they want to keep the Qataris scoreless. The twenty year old, who currently plies his trade for Al Sadd in the Qatari League, has an impressive goal scoring record for both club and country and managed a consolation goal in the two teams previous encounter. Like Quintana, he is diminutive in stature but extremely skillful on the ball and has followed in the footballing footsteps of his father Ibrahim Khalfan, who also represented his country.

Other things to know about Qatar

1.
Qatar is an absolute monarchy. The emir is head of state, appoints the cabinet, and occupies the officer of prime minister. There is also a 30-member advisior council. No elections have been held since 1970.

2.
Expatriates form the majority of Qatar’s residents. The petrochemical industry has attracted people from all around the world. Most of the expatriates come fromSouth Asia and from non-oil-rich Arab states. Because a large percentage of the expatriates are male, Qatar has a heavily skewed sex ratio, with 1.8528 males per female.

3.
Doha, the capital of Qatar is home to television network Al Jazeera, which is the only independent television in the region, and its name quite literally means “the island”.

Neil Zimmerman is the editor of the84thminute and also runs the Victory In Melbourne site. On most weekends Neil can be found at a football match, be it either A-League, Victorian Premier League or a match that he happens to come across whilst walking his dogs. He also has never been to Qatar.

While crowds, as are down, I’m glad to say the on-field standard is very much on the up. Across the board there have been some wonderful games, starting with The Benchmark match, Perth v Jets, which I wrote about here. There have been other classics, including the Mariners/Melbourne rd 5 game and the weekend’s Mariners comeback at Hindmarsh. Overall, the technical standard and standard of the signings, imports and Aussies alike, is far improved on previous campaigns.

Managers and clubs, it seems, are learning the lessons, and about time I hear you say.

Sydney, at long last, have been producing some very watchable stuff, while Melbourne, despite some ill-discipline, have been back to the dynamic and fluent style of v2. The Mariners are looking good and Adelaide continue to manage the two fronts well. Others, like the Jets, Queensland and ‘Nix are yet to fully find their mojo, but are building things slowly. The Glory, on the other hand, are a mess, and that’s where I start;

Perth Glory 3/10

A little unlucky, I argued, in the first three games, but their past couple have been rather tragic. Amaral has been missed, but the problems at the back persist, with neither Tarka, Coyne, Harnwell or Topor-Stanley able to organise the unit. Behind them Juric and Petkovic have been poor, so it’s time for the kid Velaphi. At least Dadi has been worth watching, and Pellegrino has tried.

Wellington Phoenix 5/10

After the wonderful pre-season, the problems in central midfield were exposed, and the ‘Nix have spent chunks of games on the back foot as a result. It’s heaped the pressure on the defence, which hasn’t been able to handle it. Tim Brown has at least stiffened things up in the past fortnight, while Sigmund and Karl Dodd did well in defence against Sydney and Smeltz continues to be a rare shining light up top. More needed from the likes of McKain, Durante, Daniel and Kwasnik.

Newcastle Jets 6/10

Ever the tinkerman, van Egmond has tried and tried, as he always does, to find a solution to his shape. He’s still searching, and not for the first year the Jets imports haven’t quite hit the ground running. There’s little time in this league, and with Zura and Hakansson hitherto struggling, and Song still trying to deal with the physicality of the league, the pressure has been on Joel Griffiths. He’s been a marked man and his injury won’t help. But the Jets have been scratching around for results, keeping themselves in the mix, and shouldn’t be written off just yet. Improvement is needed, in all the thirds, but van Egmond will continue to prod.

Queensland Roar 6.5/10

Been strong defensively, where Moore and Luke Devere have caught the eye (not to mention Matt Mundy on the debut last weekend), and typically competitive in midfield, where the pocket rockets, McKay and Murodcca, buzz about. But they are struggling for goals from their twin strikers, Reinaldo and van Dijk. Fortunately, so far, Charlie Miller has been sniffing out the goals. Farina appears to be building a very solid and physical unit, which is hard to beat, but right now, with the kids waiting in the wings, the Roar don’t appear to have enough ‘fantasy’ in the front third to run away from teams. Reddy, meanwhile, has been shaky.

Central Coast Mariners 7/10

McKinna tinkered unsuccessfully with a front three in the opening few rounds, but since Jedinak has come back from injury into the holding role and Simon has joined Petrovski up front, the Mariners have looked a far more organised 4-4-2, and have even started knocking the ball about a bit, in scenes reminiscent of season one. Surprisingly, the fulcrum of that recent flow has been Caceres. In the pre-season, it looked like the Mariners would target the flanks through Caceres and Elrich, but the season-ending Elrich injury has caused a major re-think, and Caceres has so far been a find at the head of the diamond. Meanwhile, Simon’s finishing and poise in the box reminds me of Bruce Djite’s work in the early part of season three. Bojic has been wonderful at left back, while Bozza was good while he lasted.

Adelaide United 7/10

While their wonderful work in the ACL quarters has rightly grabbed most of the attention, Vidmar’s men have also been gathering points on the home-front, and are perfectly poised for a post-ACL push. Only once, away to Sydney in rd 5, were their minds clearly elsewhere. Defensively they have been magnificent, carrying on their excellent work from the first ACL phase, with Jamieson, Galekovic and Cornthwaite doing well alongside the physical central pair. The midfield shape is flowing, with Salley in career-best form and Reid a revelation, while Dodd and Cassio provide plenty of quality out wide. With Cristiano banging in the goals, Diego recently back in the fold and Pantelis not far away, there is plenty of front-third quality.

Sydney FC 8/10

Plenty to like about Sydney so far, with much room for improvement. When you think that Aloisi and Bridge haven’t yet hit their straps, you know there’s more to come. Fortunately others have been filling the void, with Brosque and Corica providing the front third quality, McFlynn and Musialik the midfield stability, while Bolton, Fyfe, Popovic, Cole and Middleby have laid the defensive foundation. The gifted ball-user Cole has been top shelf, a joy to watch over the dead ball or out on either flank.

Melbourne Victory 8.5/10

There have been a few moments of poor discipline, but watching the Victory in season 4 has at times been like rewinding the clock a couple of years to when Fred and Thompson were terrorising sides. Now the terror is being shared among the likes of Celeski, Berger, Kemp, Hernandez, Fabiano, Allsopp, Pondeljak and Thompson, which just highlights the depth at Merrick’s disposal. The fact Ward, Broxham and Pondeljak have had to wait their turn, and the eye catching work from Langerak, shows the depth. Meanwhile, Muscat and Vargas continue to offer steel at the back, while Lopez and Brebner provide stability in midfield. Things are ticking along just nicely.

Tony Tannous is a Sydney-based football writer and has been an advocate the game down-under since the early 1990s. For the past three years he’s been keeping on top of all A-League and national team matters via his comprehensive site, The Round Ball Analyst, which has built quite a following. Tony’s been following the Socceroos around since the 1994 campaign and fulfilled a life-long dream of travelling to see his beloved Socceroos on the world stage in 2006. Now he’s hoping we don’t have to wait another 32 years. Four will suffice.

This article originally appeared on The Round Ball Analyst as A-League Report Card - Part 2.

Photo credits: Helen K on Flickr via the84thminute photo pool.

Neil Zimmerman: How would you describe Kashima’s style of play? What are their strengths and weaknesses?

Mike Tuckerman: Kashima play possession football. They’re quite happy to patiently build up from the back and stroke the ball around in midfield. That said, they also possess a reliable goal-poacher in Marquinhos - who is arguably enjoying his best ever season in Japanese football.

Kashima’s main strength is a star-studded midfield. In the Mitsuo Ogasawara/Masashi Motoyama central midfield partnership they have a classic defensive/attacking midfielder combination. Takeshi Aoki will start on one flank, while on the other there is plenty of competition between Takuya Nozawa and Danilo - who won a FIFA Club World Cup with Sao Paulo, for a place in the starting eleven.

There’s a classic Japanese weakness in Kashima’s goalkeeping department. Hitoshi Sogahata is a reliable shot-stopper but is susceptible from set pieces and is prone to making rash decisions. Central defender Go Oiwa is now 36! Should coach Oswaldo de Oliveira decide not to risk his ageing legs then Koji Nakata will come in at the back, but he has looked off the pace since rejoining Kashima from FC Basel. And while young defender Atsuto Uchida is undoubtedly one of the best players in the country, Kashima tend to struggle when he is out of the team through injury.

NZ: Who are the key players that Adelaide United should be wary of?

MT: Mitsuo Ogasawara is the key player. He returned from a loan spell at Italian club Messina midway through last season and single-handedly guided Kashima to the J. League title. He’s just as important a player for Kashima as Yasuhito Endo is for Gamba Osaka. Despite being a defensive-minded midfielder, Ogasawara always scores crucial goals. He scored from long-range against bitter rivals Urawa in front of a full house at Kashima Stadium this year, and he converted a penalty on the final day of last season that sent Kashima on their way to lifting the title.

The other key player is Marquinhos, who to date has scored 15 goals in 19 league appearances this season. He’s a classic goal poacher who tends to finish things off, although this season he has also been more heavily involved in the team’s build-up play.

NZ: Will there be a significant travelling contigent from Tokyo?

MT: I doubt it… especially since Kashima is not in Tokyo! The Antlers actually have one of the oldest organised fan clubs in Japanese football - InFight - who have been travelling up and down the country in support of their team for years. Since the city of Kashima is located in the fairly isolated Ibaraki Prefecture, however, Kashima Stadium is generally only ever half full. So I imagine only a handful of the InFight diehards will be making the trip down to Adelaide. It is also worth remembering that in Japan it is almost impossible to get time off work (for any reason), so those that do travel will probably be making some heavy sacrifices.

NZ: How are Kashima faring in the J-League in the 2008 season?

MT: They’re in good shape to win it. Unbeknown to Australian fans - who were dazzled by Urawa Reds in the Champions League - Kashima are by far the most successful club side in Japan. They’ve won the J. League a record five times in 15 attempts, last year they did the double, in this year’s competition they’re the current leading goalscorers and with their network of contacts in Brazil, they’re capable of bringing in top quality reinforcements at the drop of a hat.

NZ: What do you think the result will be?

MT: I hate giving predictions because I’m usually wrong! I think it will be close. Adelaide United have nothing to lose, and I can’t imagine that Kashima will enjoy running out at Hindmarsh Stadium. I think there might be just the one or two goals in it, and while my heart says Adelaide, my head says Kashima.

Neil Zimmerman is the editor of the84thminute and also runs the Victory In Melbourne site. On most weekends Neil can be found at a football match, be it either A-League, Victorian Premier League or a match that he happens to come across whilst walking his dogs.

Photo credits: Woodenship on Flickr via the84thminute photo pool.

Throughout the entire competition, no side showed any sort of polish or class, with a string of five passes being an absolute rarity! Every team looked nervous and cagey, which was a far cry from the expansive football of last year’s competition – including the Grand Final which are usually notoriously dry affairs.

The most disappointing would have to be the Sydney and Melbourne clash. The two traditional heavyweights of the competition usually provide enthralling and entertaining matches, but this particular clash had about as much excitement as watching the New Zealand Knights play in days gone by. Both sides were negative and kept men behind the ball. They also played through the middle of the park, and never gave any license for their wide players to get forward.

On paper, Sydney has recruited strongly throughout the off-season so were perhaps more disappointing than most, when you look at the quality of players they possess across the park – which is especially scary for any non-Sydney fans considering their lengthy injury list. Simon Colosimo looked out of sorts, and will take some time to settle into the role. Whilst he was a commanding presence at Perth last year, he is no longer the talisman of his side, and may need some adjustment to adapt to life as one of the also-rans of a star-studded side. It appears that the slow creak of father time has begun to invade Steve Corica’s legs, but he is not alone in the competition when it comes to that.

Melbourne’s much-hyped recruits produced little, and Merrick’s normally astute judgment must start to come under scrutiny should Fabiano et al not start to produce the goods. The Victory looked sound defensively with the ever-reliable Muscat marshalling the troops, but they looked a bit light in the final third.

I think it would be fair to say that Central Coast will struggle to reach the lofty heights of minor premiers again this year, as they spent a second half under huge amounts of Newcastle pressure. Petrovski is looking to be suffering from the same effects as his former Sydney team mate Corica, whilst Elrich appears to have merely picked up where he left off from his time at the Wellington Phoenix.

Newcastle surprised me a little, as I felt they would be weak considering that they had lost so many of their stars from last season’s victorious campaign. They were the pick of all the sides for me, and they will no doubt feel robbed at having not come away from the match with all three points. Zura looks like he will take some time to settle into Australian football, but showed a few glimpses of what he is capable of – albeit fleeting ones.

Adelaide and Perth appeared to go through the motions at Hindmarsh, with a single piece of poor goalkeeping separating the sides. Perth was the other side that I picked to do poorly this term (along with Newcastle, who proved me wrong on the weekend), but like Newcastle, they will feely harshly done-by to not grab a point. Travis Dodd showed some nice touches and Ognenovski looks like he was a quality acquisition for the club. Vidmar no doubt had half an eye on the upcoming Asian Champions League fixture, so it is perhaps fair to cut them some slack.

Queensland and Wellington was much of the same, with the sides battling to a rather dour and uninspired 1-1 draw in the New Zealand capital. Neither side showed any real adventure, and both appeared content to sit deep and earn a point rather than chase the match to grab all three.

Maybe I’m a being a little harsh given that it was the opening weekend of the competition, but when I think back to the same round last year, I distinctly remember a thriller between Syndey and Central Coast, and a similar nail-biter between the Phoenix and Melbourne.

What do you think? Drop me a comment and let me know.

Adam Brown is one of the founders of Yellow Fever – the Wellington Phoenix supporters group. As a freelance writer, he covers football for Sportal in both New Zealand and Australia as well as writing for several local publications. He is a keen footballer himself, but has never managed to excel beyond plodding through the local divisions in Wellington.

Photo credit: Victory In Melbourne on Flickr via the84thminute photo pool.

I think Herbert will opt for a 4-2-3-1 formation, which is essentially what they put out in the Pre-Season Cup Final against the Melbourne Victory last week. This gives a solid platform at the back and some stability in the center of midfield, as well as giving some of the more adventurous midfielders and wingers the chance to have a free role behind a target man in the middle up front.

You’d have to start with Moss between the sticks. He was one of the standouts of the previous campaign, and has done nothing since to suggest he is anything but Herbert’s first choice.

I think that the two central defenders select themselves. John McKain has produced some outstanding performances in pre-season and the ever reliable Andrew Durrante will partner him and skipper the side. I am going to go out on a bit of a limb and say that Herbert will take a gamble and start David Mulligan at right back. Whilst the former Barnsley man is lacking some match fitness, his experience and ability at set pieces will be a welcome addition to the side. I also think that Ricki Herbert will start with Tony Lochhead on the left. The pacy wing back recently missed out on a contract at Middlesborough, but will no doubt be keen to show them what they have missed out on.

New signing Manny Muscat can probably consider himself a little unlucky not to have a starting berth (assuming my prediction is correct), but I think Herbert will look to put his best foot forward and Mulligan and Lochhead provide the adventure and impetus to push forward and create chances more than the defensively minded Muscat. However, with Vince Lia being out of the side due to injury, Muscat will provide some much needed cover and versatility for the squad.

The midfield is arguably where the Phoenix have the most competition for places. The two holding midfielders in front of the back four are the two most difficult to place. Richard Johnson, Karl Dodd, Michael Ferrante and Tim Brown are all vying for sports, and with Tim Brown only just starting to play again following a long injury layoff, I think it is safe to rule him out for the weekend’s match.

I’m going to go out on a limb to an extent, and go with Ferrante and Dodd. Ferrante’s distribution is superb, and the former West Ham and Melbourne Victory man has made himself the first choice for the center of midfield. His ability to get forward and assist the front players, as well as his movement around the park on defence makes him the first choice for me. Johnson played well against the Victory in the Pre Season Cup final, but did look a little leaden-footed towards the end of the match and I’m not convinced that he is able to graft in that holding role for 90 minutes. Herbert seems keen to run Dodd in that role, and whilst a few of my fellow supporters may disagree, I think that he has performed well there from what I have seen. Whilst his decision making seems a little hesitant at times, his distribution is excellent which more than makes up for it.

The three midfielders is also a difficult proposition, as there are four quality players that will continually compete for places. Leo Bertos, Lei Lei Gao, Daniel and Adam Kwasnik are the front runners for spots, which gives Herbert a wealth of options. Gao’s fitness is questionable following a hamstring strain that he picked up at training this week, so on that assumption my job becomes a little easier! My pick is Bertos, Daniel and Kwasnik, and I would expect to see them all roaming around the pitch rather than fixing themselves in specific roles.

Obviously, Smeltz is the main man up front, and us Wellingtonians are hoping to see a similar return on goals to what we saw last year.

Coming off the bench, expect to see strong performances from Troy Hearfield and Costa Barbarouses. Both players are young and fearless, and will snatch any opportunity they are given.

Adam Brown is one of the founders of Yellow Fever – the Wellington Phoenix supporters group. As a freelance writer, he covers football for Sportal in both New Zealand and Australia as well as writing for several local publications. He is a keen footballer himself, but has never managed to excel beyond plodding through the local divisions in Wellington.

Photo credit: Adam Brown

Farina seems to be setting the team up to play at least two systems. To keep the shock and awe fresh, he may play cat-and-mouse as to when the young guns will be applied. I think we all learnt last year that teams worked to bully and close down Zullo and Kruse once their skills and danger were known. Therefore the ability to spring the wide wingers as a surprise against a tiring opposition defence - used to short passing between van Dijk and Smits or Reinaldo - may turn out to be a real asset.

The purchase of van Dijk is a great move as he clearly can score, but also shows just how strong the Dutch roots of our club are. It has also been a surprise that we haven’t seen Tahj Minniecon in the pre-season and that he has been sent off to young Socceroo’s camp with Mitch Nichols during the opening round. Tahj has been injured but I feel he could really make his mark this year. It is great to have Tommy Oar but he just may be a few seasons from his best. Likewise, I am keen to see 19 year old midfielder Isaka Cernak, but a pre-season injury may mean he will have to wait to show us what he can do.

In the defence, injuries to McCloughan (back for the opening game) and Packer (to miss the first few games in a repeat of last season) exposed the Roar during the Pre-Season Cup. The key signing has been 19 year old Luke de Vere from the AIS. And to-date, de Vere has stood tall, is great in the air, and would be in my team. Roar may miss Sasa Ognenovski’s on-field skill and intimidation but they won’t miss his off-field behaviour and disruption to the squad (remember the lead up to that last Adelaide game?).

Expect to see a lot of the ‘engines’, Murdocca and McKay. McKay will want to score goals this year, while Murdocca has been pushed forward in the pre-season. Of the jack-in-the-boxes Tiatto and Miller, how much brilliance will the A-League allow them to produce and can they keep their cool?

Anyway, the first eleven:

Bench: Robbie Kruse, Michael Zullo, Tim Smits, Tahj Minniecon, Andrew Packer

Kruse could be the best player in the squad, even the A-League, but he will have to exert a new and real mental toughness. And Smits, praised by Kosmina, may fight his way into the starting lineup.

Other players will have a turn, including Mitch Nichols and David Dodd (Karl’s brother) and perhaps Grossman and Griffiths will be given an opportunity to show they can live up to their original promise.

As this article is for an Australian organ, I shall start by admitting something frankly: I haven’t the foggiest what chance your guys’ national team has of a podium finish in the Olympic Football Tournament in China. I’m a Brit and, as may not have escaped your notice with the talk about London 2012, we don’t generally enter a team for the Olympic tournament (which may or may not be a cover for the fact that they wouldn’t be good enough to qualify against the other European Under-23 sides anyway).

I know a thing or two about a side who most definitely are in with a shot, though, and this is why I’ve been asked to pen this article, because they’re a side your young Aussie countrymen will be getting know face-to-face fairly shortly. Because whilst Serbia and the Ivory Coast will provide an interesting challenge in any group, there’s one side who have the potential to give this competition the look of something a little more prestigious than the somewhat discredited tournament it’s become.

Other countries have accepted that their biggest stars won’t be released to take part among the over-aged players in the OFT. Brazil talked briefly about including Kaká in their squad, but ended up naming Ronaldinho, Robinho and Diego as their overage players. They’ll be challenging, with full international boss Dunga aiming to take the only title Brazil have never won back home. It’s their biggest South American rivals, though, who will be the team to beat in China.

Because determined though Brazil may be, promising though the likes of Italy’s young attackers may look and even considering the always important say of the African sides in this tournament, it’s the defending champions who look the most complete team. The overage players in the Argentina squad are veterans from the 2006 World Cup: Inter’s Nicolás Burdisso, Liverpool’s Javier Mascherano and a certain Juan Román Riquelme of Boca Juniors.

But whilst most other sides in the contest look to these players to lead the team amidst the relative inexperience of the others, there’s no such attitude for Argentina’s Olympians. Burdisso’s exit from the squad with an injury, in fact, has simply resulted in one of the under-age ‘reserve’ players, Nicolás Pareja of Belgians Anderlecht, getting a call-up. No need for age and experience here. So why the confidence?

Their two goalkeepers are both in their clubs’ first-team squads, whilst their defence includes two of La Liga’s best starlets as well as new Real Madrid signing Ezequiel Garay. But although they may lack real experience in terms of pitch-time in the back third, there’s a very real sense that Argentina’s midfield and attack will be able to steamroller any side they come up against.

As well as Masche and Riquelme, their midfield contains more full internationals: Fernando Gago and Ever Banega, of Madrid and Valencia respectively, are Boca Juniors’ two most stellar recent graduates. José Sosa is learning well at German champions Bayern München, and remember where you heard the name Diego Buonanotte first; the midfielder-cum-forward was leading goalscorer and leading assist-maker for River Plate this year as Argentina’s most domestically successful club finally ended a four-year wait for the national championship. Meanwhile Angel Di María, of Benfica in Portugal, has pace and control as well as height which could see him used further forward if there’s any need to vary the attack.

But that need probably won’t arise, because if the midfield looks solid and full of creativity, then Serb, Ivorian and Aussie defences could be forgiven for requesting brown shorts be included in their sides’ kits for the group stage. Lautaro Acosta has recently been unveiled as Sevilla’s new signing as the ambitious Spaniards try and break back into the Champions League places in La Liga, whilst Ezequiel Lavezzi has now been with Napoli in Italy’s Serie A for a year. When he was signed from San Lorenzo, many Napoli fans expected great things. When he was given the number 10 shirt – yes, an Argentine forward being given the number 10 for Napoli – well, you can see why the expectation might have become too much for some, can’t you? Lavezzi responded to the demands of the stands instantly though. On his debut, Lavezzi came off the bench and scored a hat-trick. Maradona casts a long shadow, but that’s one way of shining a little yourself. He followed it with an impressive first season in Italy, and in any other side he’d surely be the star forward.

But for Argentina he’s got to sit very comfortably back in third place. Because if there are only two young players at this tournament who are of genuinely world class, they’re the two who are likely to spearhead the Argentine attack. Sergio Agüero is coming off a season in which he’s lead what some have called Atlético Madrid’s best ever strikeforce and driven the club back into the Champions League for the first time in twelve years; for a club with a seemingly chronic reputation for shooting themselves in the foot, that’s impressive, and El Kun has shown in the last twelve months that he truly is the real deal.

And if there’s little need to convince anyone of Agüero’s class, the name of the side’s final attacker (in every sense of the phrase) is surely all that’s needed. He’s left for last here because, frankly, the best should be saved until last, but also because he was the last member of the squad whose attendance was confirmed. Ronaldinho is with AC Milan now but when the Brazilians named their squad, was with Barcelona, who were only too happy to allow him to travel to Beijing (and then, more permanently, to Italy). Argentina, though, are able to call upon a player Barça valued sufficiently highly to declare him untransferable – and then to attempt to block his call-up even though FIFA’s own regulations stated they had to let him go. Because if Mascherano and Garay can’t stop opponents scoring, if Riquelme, Lavezzi and Agüero can’t pull their defences apart, Lionel Messi might just have the quality to win it all by himself anyway.

The reason Argentina are such heavy favourites to start with, though, as that he’s not going to try to. Messi spent too long injured during 2007-2008, but when he did play he demonstrated another level in his improvement: he’s becoming more of a team player than ever before. Sure, he’s got the ability to beat half the opposing team en route to goal if he so wishes, but increasingly he’s picking the right time to bring team-mates into play, improving his knowledge of when to move wide and when to cut inside, and he’s also now added the ability to play some truly killer through-balls. Whilst Cristiano Ronaldo was so conpicuously failing to shine in Manchester United’s two Champions League semi-finals, Messi, although his side eventually lost the tie, showed the world how complete his game was becoming; and the first leg was just a week after he’d come back from a three-and-a-half month injury layoff.

Of course football history is littered with examples of pre-tournament favourites coming unstuck. With Argentina having such a wealth of talent to call on, though, and such intelligence as Messi, Agüero and Riquelme in the final third, they’re likely to prove an entertaining team to watch even if they can’t repeat their Carlos Tevez-led heroics of Athens, when the football side won Argentina’s first ever Olympic gold medal (the all-time tally was doubled, in the fashion of London buses, the very next day by the basketball title). At the very least, Adam Federici and his defenders should get ready for the test of their lives next Sunday afternoon.

Sam Kelly is an Englishman who has followed Argentine football for the last six years, and written about it for nearly two years for various websites. He is the editor of Hasta El Gol Siempre, which aims to be the best English-language website on Argentine football, and has been published, among other places, in UK magazine When Saturday Comes. He also enjoys travelling, reading, and taking photographs. If you’ve got anything more you’d like to know about the beautiful game in Argentina, you can contact him at sam@hastaelgolsiempre.com.

Photo credit: Panos Photographics(Peter) on Flickr via the84thminute photo pool.

History shows that I got it spot on with one exception, Broxham starting in the place of Kemp in the unlikely position of Wing-Back. History also shows that Milicevic was injured by a clumsy tackle barely two minutes into the game, and the gradual deterioration the Victory was to experience during that 90 minutes (blowing a 2-0 lead and finishing with and extremely lucky 2-2 draw) was to pretty much typify Melbourne’s season. Only a strong finish in its final 4 games saved it from complete embarrassment (at one point, Melbourne was in a serious battle for the wooden spoon with Perth and Wellington).

One year on and the good news is that I am finding it extremely difficult to pick the likely Melbourne Victory line-up, such is the improved strength across every line. Questions abound. Back 4 or back 3, and will Muscat be amongst it? Is Lopez good enough to move immediately into the holding midfielder role? Is Ernie bold enough to go with just the one defensive midfielder? Covering a back 3 to boot? And what combination up front where the options are now many? I don’t really know the answer to any of these questions, so I’ll stick with 3-5-2 formation, and provide the following guess:

And there we have it - my proposed Melbourne Victory formation for the start of the 2008-09 season.

The ability to mix and match any two of the three to suit the opponent of the day is a luxury that Ernie didn’t have last season.

Prior to the loss of Leijer and Milicevic last season, the Victory was shaping up as a team more than capable of defending its crown. So we all know how quickly things can change (and that applies to every team in the A-League, so thin is the margin between success and failure). If lightening doesn’t strike twice, the Victory certainly looks to have the goods to challenge for some silverware in the upcoming season.

Pippinu d’Angelo is author of Li pila di pippinu, a blog about the wonderful combination of football and linguistics. He was also one of the founders of the Sicilian version of Wikipedia. Pippu has followed the Socceroos closely since they first appeared in the 1974 World Cup. More recently, he jumped on the Melbourne Victory bandwagon and despite being born and raised in Melbourne, but he has not lived there for 20 years.

This article was originally published on Li pila di pippinu as The Big V for 2008-09.

Okay, it wasn’t always pretty, and got a little scary in the week between Matchday 4 in Dubai and Matchday 5 in Doha, but the fact we survived a tough group, which put paid to the Asian Champions and the populous China, was good news.

Ultimately, we did enough in the early going, with a comprehensive Matchday 1 win in Melbourne against Qatar and a slightly fortunate away draw in Kunming, in which Mark Schwarzer got himself out of jail by saving the spot-kick he’d just given away, to provide a bit of a buffer for the odd Super June slip-up, which eventually came.

The opener was really the only time Verbeek had anything resembling a full-strength front-line, with Josh Kennedy and Scott McDonald supported by the Second-Ball-King Tim Cahill, who was very much missed for the remainder of the phase. It was also an opportunity to bid farewell to defensive stalwart Craig Moore, and his calming presence was soon missed. Fair enough, the victory was achieved against a team missing Sebastian Quintana, but it was a great start, even if it disguised the difficulty that was to come.

Fast forward to March and all the talk was about how the Socceroos would cope with the altitude in Kunming. The negative though-process had been sown, and became very hard to shake. The fact the Socceroos were also missing a truckload of strikers, compounded by Archie Thompson’s early injury, meant Verbeek was happy to escape with a point, but it was a lucky one. There were a number of positives though, including the man of the match form of Jade North at the back, the wonderful combination and intricate keep-ball play of the two screening midfielders, Carl Valeri and Vince Grella, and the counter attacking work of Brett Holman off the bench.

By the time Super June arrived, Verbeek knew he needed two wins from the four games to get through, but he, and the nation, wanted to avoiding going to matchday 6 needing something to confirm passage.

Next up was the much-awaited double against the Asian champs, the first being the on-again, off-again match in Brisbane, which only went ahead after a bit of attention-seeking work from the FIFA president. In the end the Socceroos performance matched the build-up; all over the place.

Yes, Verbeek had his victory and maintained his ‘win at home, draw on the road’ ideal, but the patchy work, especially in defence, was worrying

By the time the Roos touched down in the Middle East, with expectant father Lucas Neill still unavailable, a mini-crisis was developing. As Aussie fans were being charged ridiculous mark-ups to get in, little-known Chris Coyne was lacing up for his debut in a re-shaped back three, while Kewell foraged alone up front. The defence improved, but when Emad Mohammed caught Schwarzer day-dreaming, the defensive mind-frame proved too difficult too shake. On came the cavalry, Holman, Kennedy and McDonald, but the tactics were archaic, with crosses coming in from far too deep.

Verbeek had gambled on a 0-0 and lost. The criticism of his negative tactics came flooding in, the honeymoon well and truly over.

A week later, against a resurgent Qatar, Verbeek and his men responded. Emerton was pushed forward, Mark Bresciano was back in, Holman started behind Kewell and Australia pressed high.

Suddenly, the excuses stopped and the action began. The positive energy was obvious, and the result followed. Quintana was still giving Beauchamp the run-around, but Emerton, Holman and Bresciano were having a day-out, and the heat appeared to have little impact. Relief was the overwhelming emotion, the ten points guaranteeing safe passage, but only after a bout or two of drama.

All that was left was the matter of a home qualifier in front of 70,000 fans, this correspondent among them, against still-winless China. The European regulars were finally afforded an abbreviated off-season and the Euro-kids and A-League second-stringers came in for an opportunity of a life-time. Very few, if any, took it, and Verbeek suffered not only his second loss but a fresh dose of criticism. Such are the vagaries of managing a national side, as Verbeek knows from his time in Seoul.

Ultimately, he had his points and progress, and can now plan around the likes of Japan, Uzbekistan, Bahrain and Qatar again, but you sense he will need more of the big-names on deck to get anywhere near South Africa.

Verbeek was pilloried when he criticised the standard of the A-league and questioned the depth at his disposal, but on the evidence of our first six world cup qualifiers in Asia, he had a point, or two.

Certainly he will be hoping for few more points than that in the next phase, and with a number of tough road trips early, he would do well not to be chasing too many points half-way through phase four.

Having the likes of Neill, Mark Viduka, Kennedy and Cahill available sure would help, but on the evidence of what we’ve seen to date, others will need to step up to the plate, and soon.

As we look ahead, here are the winners, losers and those with question marks from Phase Three;

Winners

Carl Valeri; really grabbing ever opportunity. Excellent in Kunming and one of the only bright spots in Sydney.

Jade North; carried on his brilliant domestic form with some assured performances, moving to the head of the pecking order to sit alongside Neill.

Brett Holman; a player that divides opinion, and can be a little up and down, but he is certainly a favourite of the decision-makers. Got plenty of game time and had two influential performances on the road, in Kunming and Doha.

Brett Emerton; after a great start, went a little quiet against Iraq, but bounced back when he was moved higher up the pitch in Doha, bagging a brace.

Harry Kewell; his body held up, and that was a victory in itself, but the fact he managed to lead the line, often on his own, was a credit to his versatility. Was excellent in Brisbane, but disappointed with his post-match sentiments in Sydney.

Matthew Spiranovic; locked in, he had a comfortable half-hour in the Ghana friendly, and then did well in his starting debut in Sydney.

Mark Schwarzer; did well in Brisbane, rescuing some points, but he also did some daft things. Pity no-one is putting pressure on him.

Losers

Michael Beauchamp; right at the head of the pecking order to replace Craig Moore at the start of the campaign, he has slipped back to third or fourth choice central stopper. Good at shadowing a striker, he is less comfortable reading the game and then using the ball.

Scott McDonald; goals galore for his club, but most of them were scraps inside the box. International football is completely different and, these days, requires the front-man to sacrifice himself for the team. Still feeling his way in.

Mile Jedinak; can win a ball, but showed his limitations at this level through an ability to use it well and dictate the shape and tempo of a side.

Ruben Zadkovich; caught out technically and mentally in the heat of Sydney, will be interesting to see how he responds.

Nick Carle; warmed the bench, warmed the bench, and then disappeared. We’ve long known Graham Arnold doesn’t rate him. Now it seems Verbeek has joined the queue.

Jury still out

Pim Verbeek; started well, but soon a defensive mind-frame emerged, and he even showed some sensitivity towards the criticism he received. Some of his selections have been a little puzzling to say the least, but ultimately his job is to get results and get us through to South Africa, so he deserves full-support.

Bruce Djite; many are hoping he is the next Viduka, but the comparison is a little unfair. Viduka is technically among the best players we’ve ever produced. Djite is, at this stage, a battering ram.

James Troisi; done a couple of good things for the Olyroos, but really needs to find a club, and fast.

James Holland; being played out of position out wide. Looks a central player to me

Tony Tannous is a Sydney-based football writer and has been an advocate the game down-under since the early 1990s. For the past three years he’s been keeping on top of all A-League and national team matters via his comprehensive site, The Round Ball Analyst, which has built quite a following. Tony’s been following the Socceroos around since the 1994 campaign and fulfilled a life-long dream of travelling to see his beloved Socceroos on the world stage in 2006. Now he’s hoping we don’t have to wait another 32 years. Four will suffice.

Photo credits: JAMedia.com on Flickr (top), micamera on Flickr (bottom) and El Fotopakismo on Flickr (front page) via the84thminute photo pool.

Uzbekistan, the AFC’s perennial dark horse, qualified impressively for this round of World Cup Qualifiers from Group Four, a group that contained serial qualifier Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Singapore. They managed to record five wins and suffer only one loss, that being at the hands of eventual group winner, Saudi Arabia, after both teams had already qualified with a match to spare.

Uzbekistan also managed to score the highest amount of goals in this phase of qualifiers off all groups, with an impressive tally of fifteen. Next best was Saudi Arabia with fourteen, which may or may not say something about the quality of opposition in Group 4. Equal top scorers for the Central Asians were midfielders Odil Ahmedov and Server Djeperov with four apiece.

The national team plays at the Pakhtakor Markaziy Stadium in the capital of Uzbekistan, Takshent and has a capacity of 55,000. Uzbekistan’s greatest footballing triumph came when they won the 1994 Asian Games tournament defeating China 4-2 in the final only two years after independence from the Soviet Union

Players to watch:

Maksim Shatskikh
The Uzbekistan captain and leading striker has an profilic scoring record for both club and country. A member of the national squad since 1999, Shatskikh has hit the back of the net twenty-nine times in only thirty-eight matches. He has also been voted his country’s best player fourt times, the last time being in 2007. Shatskikh recently joined Russian Premier League side Krylia Sovetov Samara after a successful nine season stint with Ukrainian side, Dynamo Kiev.

He joined Kiev in 1999 as a replacement for the AC Milan-bound Andriy Shevchenko and became an immediate hit at the Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium, scoring a season-best 20 times as the Bilo-Syni (white-blues) won the 1999/2000 league and cup double. The 30-year-old helped Dynamo claim four more league and four more cup titles and in the process scoring an impressive 118 times in 244 domestic matches, winning the Ukraine league top-scorer award for the second time in 2002/03 with a record-equalling 22 goals. Shatskikh is also the most prolific Asian in European club competition having scored 23 times in 70 games.

Server Djeperov
The 25-year-old Uzbek midfield playmaker will be certainly one to watch when the Socceroos pay a visit to the Pakhtakor Markaziy Stadium in early September. Djeperov, took over the playmaker role for the national team in 2007 and wasn’t at all phased by having to step into the big shoes of Uzbekistan legend, Mirdjalal Kasimov. Like his captain, Shatskikh, he has recently changed clubs, joining PFC Kuruvchi for the 2008 Uzbek Oliy League campaign after spending five years with current champions, FK Paxtakor Tashkent. He has enjoyed great success so far with Kuruvchi as they currently lead the league by two points and have qualified for the quarter finals of the Asian Champions League.

Djeperov has been a member of the national team since 2002 and was part of the Uzbekistan team that reached the quarter finals of the 2007 Asian Cup where they lost to eventual finalists, Saudi Arabia. In forty-five matches for the national team he has found the back of the net eleven times, four of those being in the recent Phase 3 WCQ campaign. He also sports a rather fetching mullet.



Vitaliy Denisov
Denisov is certainly a player on the rise, with the 21-year-old defender coming in third place behind both Djeperov and Shatskikh in the 2007 Uzbekistan player of the year award. As with Shatskikh, he plies his trade in the Russian Premier League, having joined FC Dnipro in 2006 after spending time CSKA Moscow and “Spartak” Nizhniy Novgorod. He has made thirty six appearance for the first team and is yet to find himself on the scorers’ sheet. The blonde-haired Denisov, who lists Arsenal as one of his favourite teams, played in all but one of the Phase 3 qualifiers for the national team and opened his scoring account for the national team in the 7-3 demoliton of Singapore.

As stated above the Socceroos will take on Uzbekistan in their first qualifying match in Takshent on 9th September 2008, with the return match in Australia being played on the 1st April 2009.

Other things to know about Uzbekistan

1.
Uzbekistan is located in the heart of Central Area and covers an area of 447,400 square km. It is a landlocked country that is surrounded by Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. As of 2006, the population was approximately 27.3 million people. Ethnically, Uzbekistan comprises Uzbeks, Russians, Tajiks, Kazakhs, Karakalpaks and Tartars with the vast majority of its population being Muslim.

2.
Uzbekistan is basically dry and hot, although subject to extreme variations in temperature. In summer months, temperatures of 40°C are common. There is little rain (average 200mm per annum), but severe frosts and sub-zero temperatures are the norm during winter (down to -38°C).

3.
Since the post-Soviet constitution that was ratified on the 8 December 1992, Uzbekistan has only had one President, that being Islam Karimov. Constitutionally, the Government of Uzbekistan provides for democracy. In reality, the president holds a great deal of power and the legislature and judiciary has little power to shape laws. Many in the international community are concerned about ongoing human rights violations and also that the elections and referendums that have been held since independence fall well below international standards. Political parties do exist but only have been with governmental approval and must maintain a pro-government stance.

4.
Best way to get to Takshent for the game is via Kuala Lumpur with Malaysia Airlines. Total flight time being about sixteen hours. Another option is to go via Hong Kong and Moscow with Cathay Pacific and Aeroflot.

Neil Zimmerman is the editor of the84thminute and also runs the Victory In Melbourne site. On most weekends Neil can be found at a football match, be it either A-League, Victorian Premier League or a match that he happens to come across whilst walking his dogs.

Photo credit: leeshanizm on Flickr, via the84thminute photo pool.

Also thanks to my favourite travel agent Paul, who supplied me with the flight details to Takshent, not that I’ll be going anyway.