Archive for March 2010
Elephants go for Eriksson
Eriksson will replace Vahid Halilhodzic who was sacked after the Elephants were eliminated from the 2010 Africa Nations Cup before the semis.
This will be Eriksson's third conscutive World Cup having been at the showpiece tournament with England in 2002 and then in 2006.
This becomes Eriksson's third national job after he had a similar role with Mexico.
Eriksson's appointment means that two African countries will be coached by Swedish coaches after Nigeria appointed former Sweden coach Lars Lagerback last month.
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Phoenix first off the blocks
Considering just the first half result only, the Phoenix accumulated a total of 40 points going into half time, leading in nine matches and drawing in 13 others.
However, it should be pointed out that the team in seventh place Newcastle Jets is just five points behind.
The actual final A-League table is here and below is the first half table:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wellington Phoenix | 27 | 9 | 13 | 5 | 15 | 14 | 1 | 40 |
| Melbourne Victory | 27 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 22 | 21 | 1 | 39 |
| Sydney | 27 | 8 | 14 | 5 | 17 | 9 | 8 | 38 |
| Gold Coast | 27 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 38 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 27 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 16 | 14 | 2 | 37 |
| Perth Glory | 27 | 8 | 12 | 7 | 20 | 14 | 6 | 36 |
| Newcastle Jets | 27 | 8 | 11 | 8 | 19 | 23 | -4 | 35 |
| Brisbane Roar | 27 | 7 | 11 | 9 | 16 | 17 | -1 | 32 |
| Adelaide Utd | 27 | 7 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 13 | -2 | 32 |
| NQ Fury | 27 | 5 | 9 | 13 | 10 | 21 | -11 | 24 |
I think a first half lead is very important in the A-League because in 68 matches a team winning at half-time went on to win the match.
This is 64.4% of the 106 matches that didn't end in a draw.
Back to the table, the North Queensland Fury went into half time behind in 13 matches and its therefore not surprising that the team only got 24 points in the half time table.
Madrid derby: Atletico face high flying Real
This will be Real's second Madrid derby in a week having played Getafe in a midweek fixture.
Real has double the number of points their city rivals have at the moment and a win will increase the gap even further.
Its more than two months now since Real failed to score three or more goals in a league match.
Atletico's away record is far from impressive at the moment and you have to go back to January for the last time Atletico won an away match. That was a 4-nil over Valladolid.
In their previous match this season, Real just managed to edge out Atletico 3-2.
Here is some of the stats for the two teams so far this season:
| Real Madrid | Atletico Madrid | |
|---|---|---|
| Streak | WWWWWW | LWDWLW |
| Played | 28 | 28 |
| Points | 71 | 37 |
| Drawn | 2 | 7 |
| Won | 23 | 10 |
| Lost | 3 | 11 |
| Goal difference | 54 | 0 |
| Clean sheets | 13 | 5 |
| Failed to score | 4 | 6 |
| Goals scored | 78 | 42 |
| Goals conceded | 24 | 42 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.8 | 1.5 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.9 | 1.5 |
| Biggest win | Real Madrid 6 - 0 Zaragoza | Atletico 4 - 0 Espanyol Valladolid 0 - 4 Atletico |
| Biggest loss | Sevilla 2 - 1 Real Madrid Barcelona 1 - 0 Real Madrid Athletic Bilbao 1 - 0 Real Madrid | Málaga 3 - 0 Atletico Barcelona 5 - 2 Atletico Osasuna 3 - 0 Atletico Mallorca 4 - 1 Atletico |
| Score 3 or more | 18 | 4 |
| Concede 3 or more | 0 | 5 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 14 | 14 |
| Points | 42 | 27 |
| Drawn | 0 | 3 |
| Won | 14 | 8 |
| Lost | 0 | 3 |
| Goal difference | 36 | 10 |
| Goals scored | 47 | 27 |
| Goals conceded | 11 | 17 |
| Ave. goals scored | 3.4 | 1.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.8 | 1.2 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 14 | 14 |
| Points | 29 | 10 |
| Drawn | 2 | 4 |
| Won | 9 | 2 |
| Lost | 3 | 8 |
| Goal difference | 18 | -10 |
| Goals scored | 31 | 15 |
| Goals conceded | 13 | 25 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.2 | 1.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.9 | 1.8 |
Out of 28 matches, Real has scored three goals or more in 18 of them.
Victory shines on the road
For comparison the final 2009/10 A-League table can be found here. So here is the away table:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Victory | 13 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 19 | 14 | 5 | 22 |
| Sydney | 13 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 15 |
| Gold Coast | 13 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 14 | 24 | -10 | 15 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 14 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 18 | 16 | 2 | 14 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 14 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 22 | -10 | 14 |
| Brisbane Roar | 13 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 18 | 24 | -6 | 13 |
| Newcastle Jets | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 13 | 23 | -10 | 13 |
| Adelaide Utd | 13 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 14 | -5 | 12 |
| Perth Glory | 14 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 17 | 26 | -9 | 11 |
| NQ Fury | 14 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 13 | 28 | -15 | 11 |
Victory also had the least amount of away losses losing just five matches. The most number of away losses who lost nine on the road.
The North Queensland Fury had the worst away form winning just two matches away from Dairy Farmers Stadium.
The Fury amassed 11 away points which is the same as Perth Glory and that was one point behind Adelaide United.
A closer look shows that five teams had just one more away win than Fury and three with two more wins.
Only two teams Victory and the Mariners had a goal difference of more than one goal away from home.
Sydney tops home form
In the next few posts I will present the first and second half tables and also the home and away tables just to wrap up the 2009/10 season.
For those who want to compare with the actual final table you can check here. So here is the final home table:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 14 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 23 | 11 | 12 | 33 |
| Gold Coast | 14 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 25 | 11 | 14 | 29 |
| Perth Glory | 13 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 23 | 8 | 15 | 28 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 13 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 25 | 7 | 18 | 26 |
| Melbourne Victory | 14 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 28 | 18 | 10 | 25 |
| Newcastle Jets | 13 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 20 | 22 | -2 | 21 |
| NQ Fury | 13 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 16 | 18 | -2 | 21 |
| Adelaide Utd | 14 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 15 | 19 | -4 | 17 |
| Brisbane Roar | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 14 | 18 | -4 | 17 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 13 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 14 | 13 | 1 | 16 |
So the champions had the best home record winning 11 out of 14 matches.
Its interesting to that even though the Mariners have the worst home record they lost the same number of matches as Sydney and also Gold Coast and Melbourne.
Also its interesting to see two teams Sydney and Newcastle Jets never drew at home in the league matches the whole season.
Perth Glory and Wellington Phoenix only lost just once at home but its the number of draws at home that drew them back.
Verbeek to move on
So it means that the Socceroos will have somebody else in the dugout come the Asian Cup in January 2011.
Verbeek guided Australia's qualification to World Cup and also the 2011 Asian Cup and the World Cup will be his first and last tournament with the Socceroos.
Also on the coaching front, Ivory Coast are still to find a new coach to replace Vahid Halilhodzic who was sacked after the Africa Nations Cup.
Whoever takes over the Elephants will have very little time to get ready for the tournament.
Gunners draw Barca in quarters
The first leg will be at the the Emirates with the second leg at Nou Camp.
Bayern Munich has been drawn against Manchester United and the second leg of this tie will be at Old Trafford.
Inter Milan will face CSKA Moscow after they beat Chelsea to reach the quarters. The first leg will be at the San Siro.
The last pair will be the French teams Bordeaux and Lyon. Lyon dispatched Real Madrid and will now face fellow Ligue 1 team Bordeaux to ensure that there will be a French team in the semis.
The Champions League semi-final draw has also been conducted and the winner between the French teams will face either Bayern Munich or Manchester United.
The winner between Barcelona and Arsenal will face the winner between Inter Milan and CSKA Moscow.
Hull turns to Dowie
Hull are currently second from the bottom of the table and they have only won at home with no away wins to talk about.
Starting to win away could be the key to survival in their remaining nine fixtures, five are at home and four away.
The away matches are against fellow strugglers Portsmouth and then Stoke, Birmingham and Wigan.
The home ones will be against Fulham, Burnley, Sunderland, Wigan and the last fixture of the season will be against Liverpool.
Pompey deducted nine points
Pompey becomes the first English Premiership team to enter into administration and have points deducted as a result.
The bottom placed side now has ten points and the next team Hull is 14 points away.
With nine matches remaining, Portsmouth will need to win all of them in order to have a chance of surviving another year in the top flight.
The 27 points will leave the team on 37 points but its very unlikely that the team will get all points especially when you look at its season stats as given below:
| Portsmouth's season | |
|---|---|
| Played | 29 |
| Points | 10 |
| Won | 5 |
| Drawn | 4 |
| Lost | 20 |
| Goal difference | -26 |
| Clean sheets | 5 |
| Failed to score | 11 |
| Goals scored | 25 |
| Goals conceded | 51 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.8 |
| Biggest win | Portsmouth 4 - 0 Wigan |
| Biggest loss | Man United 5 - 0 Portsmouth |
| Scored 3 or more | 1 |
| Conceded 3 or more | 7 |
| Home matches | |
| Played | 14 |
| Points | 11 |
| Won | 3 |
| Drawn | 2 |
| Lost | 9 |
| Goal difference | -5 |
| Goals scored | 17 |
| Goals conceded | 22 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.2 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.6 |
| Away matches | |
| Played | 15 |
| Points | 8 |
| Won | 2 |
| Drawn | 2 |
| Lost | 11 |
| Goal difference | -21 |
| Goals scored | 8 |
| Goals conceded | 29 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.5 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.9 |
Brown's reign ends at Hull
Brown took the Tigers to the premiership and in their first season in the English Premiership Hull managed to beat top sides like Arsenal and Tottenham away from KC Stadium.
However, despite the good start to the 2008/9 season, Hull did not perform particularly well in the second half of the season.
That poor spilled into this season and now the team lies second from bottom with just 24 points and a win from safety.
Hull has played 29 matches and therefore the new manager has nine matches to secure premiership survival.
Hull has won just five matches and all the wins were at home.
All the wins were won by a one goal margin. Hull is one of just two teams not to have won away so far this season. The other team is Burnley.
So here is some of the stats for Brown's Hull this season in the premiership:
| Brown's Hull | |
|---|---|
| Played | 29 |
| Points | 24 |
| Won | 5 |
| Drawn | 9 |
| Lost | 15 |
| Goal difference | -34 |
| Clean sheets | 4 |
| Failed to score | 11 |
| Goals scored | 27 |
| Goals conceded | 61 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.1 |
| Biggest win | Hull 1 - 0 Bolton Hull 2 - 1 Wigan Hull 2 - 1 Stoke Hull 3 - 2 Everton Hull 2 - 1 Man City |
| Biggest loss | Liverpool 6 - 1 Hull |
| Scored 3 or more | 2 |
| Conceded 3 or more | 10 |
| Home matches | |
| Played | 14 |
| Points | 20 |
| Won | 5 |
| Drawn | 5 |
| Lost | 4 |
| Goal difference | -3 |
| Goals scored | 19 |
| Goals conceded | 22 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.6 |
| Away matches | |
| Played | 15 |
| Points | 4 |
| Won | 0 |
| Drawn | 4 |
| Lost | 11 |
| Goal difference | -31 |
| Goals scored | 8 |
| Goals conceded | 39 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.5 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.6 |
Grand final: Victory vs Sydney
Sydney FC overcame the Wellington Phoenix 4-2 to get the right to face the defending champions at Etihad Stadium.
This will the third time that the Victory will be in the grand final but the first time they will face a team that is not Adelaide United.
For Sydney this will be the second time in a Grand final and also the first time away from home.
Sydney FC hosted the first A-League grand final which they won.
Below is a list of all the previous matches between Victory and Sydney FC in the A-League:
Previous Matches - Melbourne vs Sydney FC
| Season | Round | Team | Goals | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006/7 | 2 | Melbourne Victory | 3 | Sydney FC | 2 |
| 2006/7 | 9 | Sydney FC | 1 | Melbourne Victory | 2 |
| 2006/7 | 16 | Melbourne Victory | 0 | Sydney FC | 0 |
| 2005/6 | 1 | Sydney FC | 1 | Melbourne Victory | 1 |
| 2005/6 | 8 | Melbourne Victory | 5 | Sydney FC | 0 |
| 2005/6 | 15 | Sydney FC | 2 | Melbourne Victory | 1 |
| 2007/8 | 7 | Sydney FC | 0 | Melbourne Victory | 1 |
| 2007/8 | 12 | Melbourne Victory | 0 | Sydney FC | 0 |
| 2007/8 | 21 | Sydney FC | 2 | Melbourne Victory | 2 |
| 2008/9 | 1 | Sydney FC | 0 | Melbourne Victory | 0 |
| 2008/9 | 9 | Melbourne Victory | 0 | Sydney FC | 2 |
| 2008/9 | 17 | Melbourne Victory | 3 | Sydney FC | 2 |
| 2009/10 | 10 | Melbourne Victory | 0 | Sydney FC | 3 |
| 2009/10 | 20 | Melbourne Victory | 0 | Sydney FC | 0 |
| 2009/10 | 27 | Sydney FC | 2 | Melbourne Victory | 0 |
| 2009/10 | 28 | Melbourne Victory | 2 | Sydney FC | 1 |
| 2009/10 | 29 | Sydney FC | 2 | Melbourne Victory | 2 |
Victory reaches Grand Final
Victory will meet the winner between Sydney FC and Wellington Phoenix. The Phoenix got the right to enter the Preliminary Final after beating Newcastle Jets 3-1.
A draw was good enough for Melbourne after winning the first leg 2-1.
This will be the third grand final that the Victory will host at the Etihad Stadium.
Its interesting to note that all the finals matches so far that could enter extra time have reached extra-time.
Two have got to the penalties whilst the other two have been decided in extra time.
The Jets have bowed out after scoring just one goal in four hours of play in the finals.
Here is an update for the goal margins in the A-League so far this season:
| Goal Margin | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 | 35 |
| 1 | 53 |
| 2 | 32 |
| 3 | 11 |
| 4 | 7 |
| 5 | 1 |
| 6 | 1 |
Real continue scoring spree
In the last five matches Real has scored a minimum of three goals each match and its total goals for the season stands at 64 so far.
It looks likely that the number will reach 100 if the current form persists.
Real leads the lowest scorers in the league by 50 goals. Xerez has only scored 14 goals so far after 24 matches.
The following graph shows clearly how Real leads in the scoring stakes:
Socceroos seal 2011 Asian Cup place
The 2011 tournament will be hosted by Qatar in January 2011( and not the usual July).
The Soccerooos only needed a draw to qualify but won the match 1-0 with the goal being scored towards the end of the first half and that goal was enough to win group B. Kuwait finished as runners up
This will be the Socceroos second venture into the Asian Cup after qualifying for the 2007 tournament.
TipsChallenge will once again be running an Asian Cup tipping competition after successfully running another one for the 2007 edition.
Here is a full list of the countries that have qualified:
Qatar (Hosts)
Iraq (defending champions, winner 2007)
Japan
Bahrain
Australia
Kuwait
China
India
Iran
Jordan
North Korea
South Korea
Saudi Arabia
Syria
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
