The Sun-Herald

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Sydney FC's Magic Roundabout

Surprise! It's all change. Again.

Coach John Kosmina need not clear his desk - not just yet, anyway.

Instead of yet another spin on the coaching roundabout, this time it's the A-League club's ownership structure that's getting a very interesting shake-up.

On Saturday, the Sydney Morning Herald claimed Frank Lowy was - finally - set to sell his majority ownership in Sydney FC to Russian businessman David Traktovenko.

Traktovenko, a former chairman of Russian super club Zenit-St Petersburg, was the only significant investor blocking Lowy, also Football Federation Australia's chairman, from effective total control of the club.

The suggestion had previously been that Traktovenko, who currently holds about 22 per cent of the club, would bail out before Lowy - but recent developments suggest something very interesting is happening behind the scenes.

As this news broke, I was tapping out a story to appear in The Sun-Herald this Sunday that Hollywood actor Anthony LaPaglia had quit his role at the club.

LaPaglia had poured money into the A-League start-up since 2004 but declined to reinvest in the latest round of recapitalisation that Sydney FC annually requires to stay afloat.

LaPaglia's financial input has significantly decreased since the club launched but his exit is highly symbolic. He had advice for anyone considering investing in an A-league club.

"Unless you have a lot of money and have philanthropic tendencies there's not much upside in investing in a club unless you have a real say in the direction the organisation goes," LaPaglia told me.

"If you just want to be part of an event - that's great. However, if you want some real participation and influence then you have to own a major part of your team and be prepared to recapitalise your original investment every year."

"That's because at this point clubs in the A-League are, for the most part, running at a deficit. This hopefully will change in time."

So, goodbye then too, to Frank Lowy. Apparently.

But here's the thing - like LaPaglia, Lowy loves football. He also loves football clubs.

At a press conference in Sydney last Thursday the FFA chairman hinted a Western Sydney team was the preferred option in A-League expansion.

FFA insiders quietly gasped at the claim, praying that no one in the media would pick them up. Somehow, only my colleagues in attendance can explain how, they passed without further question.

In a subsequent conversation with Ben Buckley, the FFA CEO told me that Lowy's words were perhaps misinterpreted. But perhaps not.

Lowy would be cautious about a bullish Western Sydney team if he was the major shareholder of the Moore Park mob. In fact, he likely wouldn't stand for it.

But what if Lowy, always a guy with one eye on the market and the other on an opportunity, was to now get behind a new club in Western Sydney?

Just asking, that's all.

The Sydney Morning Herald also quoted an unnamed source suggesting Traktovenko may enter a partnership with another investor "somebody with an impeccable reputation who has been involved in another sport".

Two words: Nick Politis.

The Sydney Roosters rugby league team boss wanted in with the A-League back in 2004 before changing his mind after a meeting with Lowy.

Just suggesting, that's all.

For those that know about these things, follow me on Twitter here.

• by Matthew Hall at 05:06 AM
• Comments (10)

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Steal It When You Can

For the Socceroos, how things change.

On a sunny afternoon in Kaiserslautern, Germany, in 2006, Australia unfairly lost a World Cup football match.

That game, a sudden death knockout with Italy to find a World Cup quarter-finalist, has gone down in Australian sporting history as a great injustice.

I was in the stadium that day as Francesco Totti, an Italian player writing his own personal tale of redemption as he lined up his last minute penalty kick, scored the ruthless, desperate, unjust winning goal.

Totti, returning from injury, became a hero. Around me, Italians cheered, hugged, kissed, and cried. And these people were members of the professional working media.

Australia had lost. Italy had won. The underdog Socceroos had been the measure of - and at times better of - the eventual World Cup winner.

But who cares?

One of the excruciating pleasures of football above many other sports is that domination can count for nothing.

It's often argued that possession is nine-tenths of the law - so it is in football. It's the tiny ten per cent that counts and so it was in Kaiserslautern.

Italy was down to 10 men but Australia failed time again to score what probably should, and would, have been a match-winning goal.

Italy, though, were resilient, made fewer mistakes, and had one brutally cruel chance. They made it, took it, and won.

So champions are made.

Last week in Manama, Australia were truly woeful against Bahrain.

Faced with something of a minor selection crisis, coach Pim Verbeek opted for at least two players who on other days should not have got within a shout of the Australia dressing room.

Chris Coyne, who plays in England's THIRD division, and David Carney, who currently can't get a game in England's SECOND division, were not quite up to the task against a desperate Bahrain side that had been in camp for several weeks rather than Australia's several hours.

Still, last week, they were the best that we'd got.

Bahrain might have had more possession and created more goal-scoring chances but - here's the important part - they didn't score.

Simply - they weren't good enough.

Bahrain striker Jaycee John Okwunwanne, yet another African import into the Middle East, attracted some media attention before the game for his alleged wily ways but on the big day failed to do his job - score just one goal and make the difference.

He had several clear cut chances to win the match.

He failed. Bahrain lost.

Boo hoo.

On the flipside, Australia was, indeed, woeful.

But when Mark Bresciano was allowed a sneak of goal late, late, late, in the game, he did his job.

Bresciano was offered a gift but still had work to do as the clock ticked down.

He was faster, stronger, fitter, and held a cooler head than his opponents.

One chance. He scored. Australia win.

Hooray.

This is the drama of campaign we've long craved. Remember American Samoa? Here's a reminder. Give me a bad game over Bahrain over that 2001 mismatch any day, week, or year.

Beating Bahrain was cruel? Kind of. Fair? Probably not.

Welcome to life.

Welcome to the World Cup.

For those who know about these things, follow me on Twitter here.

• by Matthew Hall at 03:39 AM
• Comments (22)

Friday, November 14, 2008

The A-Team: Not the A-League

Pim Verbeek has unleashed the beast.

Finally, we know who the Socceroos coach considers his top, if not team, then squad.

For this week's 2010 World Cup qualifier against Bahrain in Manama, Verbeek is taking no prisoners, no chances, and no passengers.

(OK, maybe David Carney, so far outcast at Sheffield United he may as well travel to Bahrain on a raft).

Before the withdrawal of Vince Grella and Matthew Spiranovic, just Craig Moore, a wily veteran with over a decade of experience in Europe (yes, Scotland is Europe), was the only A-League player considered good enough for selection.

Then Grella's hammy went twang (again), Spiranovic's ankle went snap, and Moore offered the males among us at least two reasons why we should regularly check our engines (gentlemen, I'm serious here - finish reading this and then go check 'em out).

So, interestingly, Verbeek looks to the locals to make up numbers.

Up steps Jade North (who almost moved to Europe this year), Mark Milligan (ditto) breathes a sigh of relief that Verbeek still recognises him, and Mile Jedinak receives notice that if he's ambitious (and talented) enough to eventually win a contract in Europe he might get a call up to the national team a little earlier next time.

These are all details that we needn't consider right now, however.

What's important is that Verbeek, naming a squad with at least seven goal scorers within it, is not going to Bahrain to muck around.

I can't blame him. I've visited Bahrain, funnily enough on the advice of former Newcastle Jets (and Wollongong) coach Nick Theodorakopoulos. Nick is often a good judge but on that occasion he was wrong.

Very wrong.

My diplomatic advice to Pim is similar to how Craig Moore's doctor operates - get in, get it done, get out.

I wish I'd done the same rather than be marooned in a desert hotel for three days. Bahrain is not Dubai and makes Doha seem the life of the party (and, trust me, in comparison, it truly is).

But Verbeek doesn't require my advice.

Just two games into the final stage of World Cup qualifying he seems to want to get this over and done as quickly as possible and book some tickets for South Africa as soon as he can.

With Uzbekistan, Qatar, and Bahrain (possibly) out of the way, nine points from three games is a nice way to face Japan next year.

And who would have thought, our first real World Cup qualifying campaign in several decades might be over - in a good way - by Christmas.

Am I getting ahead of myself here?

Pim's A-team: Mark Bresciano (Palermo), Jacob Burns (Unirea), Tim Cahill (Everton), David Carney (Sheffield Utd), Chris Coyne (Colchester Utd), Jason Culina (PSV Eindhoven), Bruce Djite (Genclerbirligi), Brett Emerton (Blackburn Rovers), Adam Federici (Reading), Richard Garcia (Hull City), Brett Holman (AZ Alkmaar), Mile Jedinak (Central Coast Mariners), Josh Kennedy (Karlsruhe), Harry Kewell (Galatasaray), Jade North (Newcastle Jets), Scott McDonald (Celtic), Mark Milligan (Newcastle Jets), FC Lucas Neill (West Ham), Michael Petkovic (Sivasspor), Mark Schwarzer (Fulham), Shane Stefanutto (Lyn Oslo), Mile Sterjovski (Derby County), Carl Valeri (Grosseto), Luke Wilkshire (Dynamo Moscow).

Oh, and you can follow me on Twitter here.

• by Matthew Hall at 11:02 AM
• Comments (1)

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Lucas Neill FC: Sydney's Second A-League Team

The cat is finally out of the bag.

This weekend Lucas Neill revealed his well-developed plan to launch Sydney's second A-League club.

Of concern to other entities that have so far gone public - South Coast FC, Canberra, and Tasmania - is that Neill's bid appears very strong.

Before Football Federation Australia even get to value Neill offers in marketing dollars, the new team his delivered financial details - a bible of dollars and cents over 300 pages deep - that has been well-received by FFA's own money men.

It's planned the team will join the A-League in 2010, after the World Cup, and at the same time as Melbourne acquires a second side, the intriguingly-named Melbourne Heart.

Neill's team will play most home games at a redeveloped Parramatta Stadium but also use Homebush for blockbuster games against Sydney FC and Melbourne rivals.

Matches at Penrith and Campbeltown are also mooted.

A deal has been struck to use Football New South Wales proposed new $40 million facilites - announced just last week - at Riverstone as a state-of-the-art training facility and club headquarters.

The argument for a second Sydney team is strong.

But so is expansion on the South Coast and in Canberra (besides geography, Tasmania is on the flimsiest ground).

Sydney FC officials will also have some views on the proposal. FFA Chairman Frank Lowy's family are co-owners of the club and his own influence is wide and strong.

But has Sydney made the most of its five-year licence and has it penetrated grassroots across the entire city?

In fact, has it made any penetration of support anywhere west of Parramatta?

Neill has long been interested in reinvesting in the local game.

His scholarships, where young players get the opportunity to travel to Europe on his dime and train with top clubs and top players, was one significant if small step. Now, he's thinking bigger.

"The timing and opportunity is now there to go better and give something more back to the game and the country," Neill told me on Friday. "I have been fortunate and had so many good things in my time that it is time to start passing it on."

FFA has longed for overseas Socceroos to return home and play in the A-League.

With Neill's plan they have got more than they wished for - a successful player investing his energy and money in establishing a club in football's heartland.

How can they resist?

• by Matthew Hall at 05:38 AM
• Comments (29)

Saturday, November 1, 2008

David Beckham's Flying Circus

Don't shoot the messenger but last week I played heartbreaker.

It's official - David Beckham's supposed love affair with Australia is over.

Get that? O.V.E.R.

It took just one call to Los Angeles to truly reveal Beckham's two-timing ways.

I admit - I suspected something was up all along.

Milan this. England that. Los Angeles? Well, Beckham would return. Honest.

Spending time in Europe over winter was just something he had to do.

But David!

You promised you would see me in Brisbane in December!

Blub! Sob! Blub!

Enough hysterics.

Beckham's initial flirtation with Milan (he approached them, according to a Milan insider) was always going to cause casualties.

Who knew Los Angeles Galaxy's trip to play Queensland Roar would be the first?

OK, I confess - I did.

I had a hunch and called Los Angeles Galaxy last Monday and asked the question: are Beckham and Galaxy still scheduling a trip to Australia?

Thankfully, the man on the other end of the line was candid, straight-up, and not too economical with the truth.

"Possibly not" was the reply and that's what I wrote for the SBS website The World Game.

Unsurprisingly, the match promoters weren't too happy about the bad news and did their best to patch holes in my theory that Beckham's move to Milan was a greater priority than a trip to Brisbane.

They were wrong.

Galaxy in Brisbane without Beckham was unbankable and unthinkable even if the team did feature one of the more exciting players in America, Landon Donovan, and Frank Farina would get a chance to get one over coach Bruce Arena, the former US national team coach who predicted before the 2006 World Cup that Australia would be among the worst teams in Germany.

Galaxy, after all, finished their Major League Soccer season early this year - avoiding being placed stone mother last by benefit of ONE sole goal.

In other words, they sucked.

That was the end product of a team coached by, at various times, former Chelsea and Newcastle United coach Ruud Gullit and the aforementioned Arena and "starred" Donovan and Beckham among its line-up.

Nice work if you can get it.

And so, to Milan.

Bruce Arena has already suggested the move doesn't make sense for Galaxy, a team he's trying to rebuild and inspire after two insipid seasons.

He's the boss. He knows what he has to do to improve on next season. He's the one balancing team harmony (some Galaxy players earn around $17,000 per year) and risking a Beckham injury in Italy.

Milan, however, win.

They get an experienced player who will have some impact among their ageing squad and will sell ship loads of replica shirts (Manchester United, Real Madrid, Los Angeles Galaxy, Milan - collect the set!).

But Beckham, bouncing around the world, is the real winner.

He retains his huge pay cheque from Galaxy, plays in Serie A for a top club with elite players (something he's missed in LA), lives in Milan over the winter, and stays in the picture to become England's most-capped player.

Oh, and doesn't have to make trek Down Under to keep the Galaxy till ticking over.

Follow me on Twitter here.

• by Matthew Hall at 05:57 AM
• Comments (9)