The Sun-Herald

Friday, May 25, 2007

Is Sydney the cradle of football?

In an often ruthless sport, where self-interest is regularly a star player, there was a poignant moment during Thursday morning's UEFA Champions League post-final hooplah.

As Milan's victorious team walked to collect their medals through a guard of honour, formed by defeated Liverpool players, Australian Zeljko Kalac broke from the celebratory conga line to hug his friend Harry Kewell.

Both players sure deserved a cuddle.

Kewell's appearance crowned a comeback from injury that genuinely threatened to end his career. Kalac may have been confined to the bench but his big picture role with Milan is reward for years of insecurity in Europe's so-called cashed-up top leagues.

Last year, while researching the book The Away Game, I sat with 'Spider' at AC Milan's training ground where he explained what it's like to go for an entire year without being paid.

That two Australians, from neighbouring Sydney suburbs, were involved in one of the world's top sporting events, should not be overlooked.

But a little more scratching prompts an interesting question.

Has Sydney, specifically the city's south-western suburbs, contributed more players to the highest level of international football than any other urban region in the world?

Try this list: Kewell, Kalac, Mark Bosnich, Mark Schwarzer, Jason Culina, Paul Okon, Brett Emerton (yes, for this argument we're counting both Emmo and Cambelltown), and Tony Popovic.

That's before we go up the road to Auburn, Robbie Slater's old stamping ground or cross the bridge to Wakehurst where a young Lucas Neill showed early skills.

Throw in Italy's World Cup star Christian Vieri, born in Bologna but raised in Fairfied, as well. This recent goal for Atalanta suggests he still has a few things going for him besides naming Alan Border as an inspiration.

(Though the argument maybe falls flat when we consider Max Vieri, Sydney-born but best forgotten as one of Frank Farina's follies during his reign as Socceroo coach.)

So, Sydney's south-west can claim not to be just a heartland for Australian football but, considering these guys have genuinely made it to the top in different European leagues, also for the world.

Can anywhere else claim such a production line?

This also points an interesting spin on the argument about a second Sydney team for the A-League. In brief: there is no argument, at least in the near future.

Instead of gibberish and dartboard speculation about where a potential new team may play, maybe more energy can be put into cultivating the west as Sydney FC's footy heartland, something that seems to have gone missing amid a lot of plastic Bling and bluster.

After all, an all-star fantasy team of the area's best-ever players would give a decent account of themselves in the English Premier League or Serie A.

And stroll home carrying the A-League hubcap with ease.

• by Matthew Hall at 05:53 AM
• Comments (9)

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Aussie Joe kicks a red-card record

THE Aussie-born, AIS-educated, Croatian World Cup anti-hero Joe Simunic has set a new low in red card statistics.

Aussie Joe, bizarrely yellow-carded three times during last year's World Cup showdown between Australia and Croatia, was sent off playing for Hertha Berlin for the third time this season - a Bundesliga record. Simmo copped the latest card for a high-flying kung-fu kick on Werder Bremen's Christian Schulz that prompted a four-game ban that will stretch into next season. Check it out for yourself at youtube, and shake your head.

Er, thanks Jorge
JORGE Valdano is a former Real Madrid and Argentina star and the Spanish club's recent sporting director. It seems he's also what Mrs Ellis, Parrot's old English literature teacher, would have described as a dab hand at critical appraisal. But no fan of Liverpool or Chelsea. "Football is made up of subjective feeling, of suggestion," he wrote in Spanish paper Marca of the Champs League semi-final between the two English teams. "In that, Anfield is unbeatable. Put a shit hanging from a stick in the middle of this passionate, crazy stadium and there are people who will tell you it's a work of art. It's not: it's a shit hanging from a stick." Triple A - straight to the top of the class!

Fergie's whine
NO-fan-of-Liverpool Champions League preview, by Alex Ferguson: "I told [Milan manager] Carlo [Ancelotti] at the end of our semi-final there's no way he can now not win this competition. He gave me a magnificent bottle of wine but I immediately told him there is no point in giving such a wonderful gift if he then fails in the final. In fact, I told him I would only drink his wine once I see him lifting the Champions Cup."

Straight from the heart
NO-fan-of-Chelsea, English Premier League review, by Adriano Galliani, Milan vice-president: "[Chelsea's Andriy Shevchenko] remains in our hearts. He and his wife have been invited to Athens to follow the Champions League final."

A Ruud interruption
THE Santiago Bernabeu was bouncing with championship celebrations last Sunday night. Alas, not for Real Madrid. As David Beckham held court with Spanish media after Real beat Sevilla, Ruud van Nistelrooy (pictured), ran up to shout "Manchester United! Manchester United!" before disappearing just as quickly. Both were former heroes at Old Trafford before being chased away by Alex Ferguson.

Quick (eh, long) word with ...
ASIAN Football Confederation President Mohamed Bin Hamman, not happy with Manchester United's planned Malaysian tour, scheduled to clash with the Asian Cup: "We did not organise our competition in March, April, or February when their league is very busy and there are some players from Asia playing in those leagues. We did not want the players to be taken out of the leagues to participate for the national associations. We can do it actually. The FIFA calendar can allow this to happen if we insist, but we didn't want to do it and we organised our competition in the most inconvenient time for us, climate-wise. Some countries have typhoons, some countries have heavy rain or high temperature or high humidity. This is the chance for our fans in Asia to focus only on Asian football."

Agony on the box
MAN U fans nervously watched last Sunday's draw between Arsenal and Chelsea: a Blues win would have reignited the title race while any other result would make United champs. United boss Alex Ferguson was no different, unable to avoid sneaking a peak at unfolding events in London. "I went to see my grandson play in the morning because he had a cup final of his own," Ferg detailed. "They won their league and we won our league, so it's been a great double. Then I went home and watched the racing on telly and when that finished I had nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs, so I watched the last 15 minutes from the Emirates Stadium. I was in agony. My heart was in my mouth."

PREMIERSHIP SURVIVAL IS WORTH $68m
SUNDAY unrolls Wigan away at Sheffield United while West Ham attempt to squeeze a draw from Man U in a three-way kickaround for Premier League survival. Neil Warnock, Sheffield United's manager, phoned Wigan counterpart Paul Jewell at the start of the season to ask tips on Premier League survival. The phones have been quiet this past week. There's more to relegation than status. Premier League clubs will each receive about $68 million as their slice of international TV rights next season. Championship clubs will each net around $2.5 million.

• by Matthew Hall at 01:24 PM
• Comments (2)

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Ulises a true hero for Ecuador village

PREMIER League players, huh? A bunch of carefree, millionaire, party-boy, rich kids. Well, not all of them.

Reading's Ulises de la Cruz spends part of his roughly $1 million a year wage (less than the Premiership average) helping to rebuild his impoverished home town in Ecuador. When Ecuador made the 2002 World Cup finals, he spent his bonus on providing a fresh water supply for the village and now pays for breakfast and lunch for 100 school kids every day. "I want to provide opportunities well beyond the football field," de la Cruz said. "Football isn't the only way out." Ulises, Parrot salutes you.

Roos heavy hitters
PERHAPS it's just as well that the Asian Cup this year will be played in humid, kilo-crushing, Thailand. Word from Football Federation Australia's weight classification department is that the Socceroos may be Asian Cup heavyweights in more ways than one. One well-known player recently weighed in six kilograms more than his World Cup prime and another star player has added four kilos of bulk since the tournament in Germany.

Phil feeling it
HOW Manchester United now wish Phil Neville had quit Old Trafford for Milan rather than Everton (stop laughing up the back). Neville, United furniture for many years, did his old team a favour last weekend, scoring a cracking own goal that allowed United back into a game they seemed destined to lose. Paul Scholes went out of his way to thank his former teammate for his effort. "I told him he was a jammy bastard but he was too busy thanking me for the goal to notice," Neville said. "We're the best of friends and he was asking why I didn't shake his hand after the game. I said I'd speak to him in a couple of weeks when I'm over this."

Barthez's farewell bash
GOALKEEPING legend Fabien Barthez (pictured) knows how to go out in style. The former Man United keeper and French World Cup winner has spent the past few months between the sticks trying to keep struggling Nantes in the top flight. Barthez failed his mission but last weekend it officially all went pear-shaped. Barthez quit the club after fans attacked him as he left the stadium after a 2-0 home defeat to Rennes. It's not unusual for French yobs to attack players. Back in the 90s, baseball bat-wielding Paris Saint-Germain fans took to Robbie Slater when he played for Lens.

Sorry, coaches at it again
A CORRECTION: Parrot recently claimed Man U boss Alex Ferguson and Chelsea supremo Jose Mourinho were the best of pals. This was incorrect. The relationship between the two top managers has, in fact, collapsed following comments made by Mourinho about Manchester United player Cristiano Ronaldo. Parrot's Lisbon office reports Mourinho accused his compatriot of lying, adding: "Maybe it's about a difficult childhood, no education." Ronaldo, who grew up in a poor suburb of Madeira, had told Portuguese television that Mourinho was unable to take responsibility for defeat. Ferguson weighed into the debate, claiming: "Just because you come from a poor, working-class background does not mean to say you are not educated." Parrot regrets the error and apologises for the confusion.

Homing in on stars
PARROT has visited several Socceroos at their homes but is often sworn to secrecy over their locations, usually blindfolded and bundled into the back of a van before a visit. It's perhaps no wonder players are cautious about their addresses. Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina returned home on Wednesday to discover that, while he'd been saving penalties in the shoot-out against Chelsea, his home had been robbed. Liverpool and Everton players seem most vulnerable. Reina joins a club that includes teammates Jerzy Dudek, Daniel Agger, Peter Crouch and Everton's Andy van der Meyde, who had his puppy stolen. The home of Wayne Rooney's parents has also been burgled.

• by Matthew Hall at 01:30 PM
• Comments (2)