Round 7: Lady Reds vs Sydney FC

[Red-4-Life]

Adelaide United vs. Sydney FC
Saturday, 18 December 2010
Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide
Local kick-off: 2.30 pm (3.00pm AEDT)
Referee: Jacqui Melksham
Assistant referees: Airlee Keen and Lee Corey
Fourth official: Stacey Sasopolous

Live and exclusive on ABC1 from 3.00pm

Adelaide United: 20.Kristi HARVEY (gk), 2.Ashleigh GUNNING, 3.Renee HARRISON, 4.Ruth BLACKBURN, 5.Stacey DAY, 7.Racheal QUIGLEY, 8.Katrina GORRY, 9.Ruth WALLACE, 10.Victoria BALOMENOS, 11.Vedrana POPOVIC, 12.Selin KURALAY, 13.Loren MAHONEY, 14.Donna COCKAYNE, 15.Katherine EBBS, 16.Christina PAPAGEORGIOU (c), 17.Angela FIMMANO, 18.Georgia MACRI, 19.Nenita BURGESS, 30.Hayley TRUSKEWYCZ (gk)
* four to be omitted*

In: Katrina GORRY (returns from suspension), Renee HARRISON (promoted), Ruth BLACKBURN (promoted), Christina PAPAGEORGIOU (returns from injury)
Out: Nil
Unavailable: Sian McLAREN (gk) (knee – season)



Sydney FC: 1. Dimi POULOS (gk), 2. Teresa POLIAS, 3. Danielle BROGAN, 5. Alannah Kennedy, 6. Servet UZUNLAR, 8. Renee ROLLASON, 9. Caitlin FOORD, 10. Kylie LEDBROOK, 11. Lydia VANDENBERGH, 13. Catherine CANNULI, 14. Nicola BOLGER, 15. Teigen ALLEN, 17. Kyah SIMON, 19. Leena KHAMIS, 20. Erin HERD (gk)

In: Nil
Out: Nil
Unavailable: Heather GARRIOCK (injured – 1 week)

Sydney are back on track for the league title and this week they take on struggling Adelaide United, who could potentially be Sydney's next victim, as Adelaide are still searching for their first win, in Week 7.

Last week all eyes were on the Sky Blues, after they dropped a game to the Jets earlier on in Week 4. The girls from Sydney didn’t disappoint fans against Perth on Saturday, securing the much-needed 2-0 win and silencing their critics.

Leena Khamis and Kyah Simon each notched a goal, while team mate Kylie Ledbrook led the way with a strong performance in the midfield.

The win should be concerning for all other teams, given that Sydney clinched it without Captain and Westfield Matilda Heather Garriock. This is testament to the depth and self-belief held by the team, which they are continuously revealing to opponents and fans alike each time they play.

Self-belief may be the one thing lacking in the Lady Reds camp this week, as they are yet to secure a win after losing to league leaders Brisbane Roar 3-1 last week.

One positive to come out of the match is that Adelaide pulled a goal back to equalise in the 28th minute through midfielder Selin Kuralay.

Equalising, however, won't be enough to stay in the race for a place in the final four; time is running out for the Lady Reds and a win against Sydney is a must!

Stranger things have happened in this beautiful game, though, and an Adelaide win this week is not out of the question. So if you’re a Reds fan get yourself down to Hindmarsh to show your support!

If you can’t make it to Hindmarsh this Saturday, this match happens to be the ‘match of round’ and can be viewed live and exclusive on ABC 1 at 3pm AEDT.

http://www.a-league.com.au/default.aspx ... y&id=37520

Sydney by 2 or 3 goals on form...unless the Lady Reds can cause a major upset this weekend

[boltonunited]

ANOTHER DISGRACEFUL EFFORT . 2 NIL DOWN ALREADY

[themagnet]

0-4 loss, but for the most part the Lady Reds were pretty competitive, a couple of Sydney's goals were absolute crackers. AU unlucky not to score a goal or two. They fell away a bit towards the end (not unlike the boys last night), but Harvey made some fantastic saves to keep the scoreline as it was.
Noticed Gunning has already been given the captain's arm band, pretty impressive since she's only been here for a few weeks.

[Red-4-Life]

Disappointed with the result, but the girls did do their best. They started really well and were unlucky to not take the lead early in the game, Sydney are just a far better team and deserved to win.

24 games without win now...

Keep the support strong!

[boltonunited]

WE LUCKY SYDNEY DIDNT GET ATLEAST ANOTHER 5 GOALS
GOALIE WAS THE ONLY SHINNING LIGHT REALLY

[Red-4-Life]

chillax, bro

[rain maker]

Oh well, there won't be an Adelaide United team next year so at least there won't be more than potentially 27 games without a win, I guess that's a positive right?

Congrats Barnett, you have successfully been the world's worst coach. Why can't FFSA adapt a system similar to the U.S. where, regardless of the contract, if a coach doesn't perform or provide results, they get the sack. Maybe that's why soccer in Australia will always be behind the eight ball - there isn't any common sense coming from the people in charge.

[Red-4-Life]

There will be an Adelaide United womens team, but run by the FFSA like Melbourne Victory are run by the FFV. The Lady Reds will still be around but lets hope with a better coach and thanks to the FFSA, some more money to spend on some players!

P.S. Barnett, fuck off

[vietcongsniper]

Thought Balemenos was a tad "greedy" early on when she was half through and shot when the better option was to play it to the team mate across the goal who was running in. Great opportunity to go 1 up.
At times she seems to be playing for herself or more likely for a spot in the national team conscious.
Here's a tip Vicky , national coaches can see if you can play or not and scoring instead of creating a goal yesterday would have had the same effect and got you noticed just the same. In fact even if you'd scored the coaches might have thought you were greedy anyway.ok.

Oh & whilst i'm here...

[*]thought the girls played very well yesterday and should have had a couple of goals at least
[*]we dont close down fast enough nor close enough , letting opponents always get 1 more pass or more importantly 1 more cross
[*]when we defend going backwards or retreating we allow too much space for our opponents , where as we should be defending higher
[*]we are not direct enough to the goal - good teams like Sydney hone straight in on the goals, - but they do have good fwds
[*]our fitness seems to be poor ...we seemed out on our feet at 75mins ...not for the first time i've seen them this year
[*]Gunning played excellently yesterday at FB & should stay there

look there was a lot of good positives to work on out there
girls dont be too down-beat ....you are good players just not working as a "good team" right now.....keep going and finish this season as best you can. Hopefully next year will be different. VERY DIFFERENT.

[Red-4-Life]

[*]thought the girls played very well yesterday and should have had a couple of goals at least
[*]we dont close down fast enough nor close enough , letting opponents always get 1 more pass or more importantly 1 more cross
[*]when we defend going backwards or retreating we allow too much space for our opponents , where as we should be defending higher
[*]we are not direct enough to the goal - good teams like Sydney hone straight in on the goals, - but they do have good fwds
[*]our fitness seems to be poor ...we seemed out on our feet at 75mins ...not for the first time i've seen them this year
[*]Gunning played excellently yesterday at FB & should stay there

look there was a lot of good positives to work on out there
girls dont be too down-beat ....you are good players just not working as a "good team" right now.....keep going and finish this season as best you can. Hopefully next year will be different. VERY DIFFERENT.

Good points, lets hope with the last 3 games, some points can be accumulated and also next season will be much better. Do not make so many changes to the squad, keep it similar so they can continue to build as a team. The more a team has wholesale changes, the less competitive they will be every season, which has been a problem for the Lady Reds since the league started.

[AnonymousFootballer]

This is a reply to VietCongSniper. First of all buddy who is the only South Australian player apart from Di Alagich to play for the Matildas?? Secondly I do agree that she should have squared it up in the 3rd minute but you cant just ridicule one of the players. The whole team needs to improve and there are many other players who are not up to scratch skill, fitness and football intelligence wise. So just because Balomenos is trying to impress the National selectors she at least has some ambitions in her life to play women's football at the highest level. I don't see any other players in that team gunning for the Aussie squad position so I think even having a player like Balomenos in the team is a great help to the other players to aspire to that standard. However, later on in the game Balomenos was not so selfish and squared it up to Rachel Quigley but she was unfortunately too slow to get to the ball. I think this was a key chance in the game and the first shot by Balomenos was a strikers instinct and if you have some clue about football then you would know that most of the best players in the world aspire to play for their country so you have to impress the selectors.

Nice Post buddy >:)

[guess_who]

This is a reply to VietCongSniper. First of all buddy who is the only South Australian player apart from Di Alagich to play for the Matildas?? Secondly I do agree that she should have squared it up in the 3rd minute but you cant just ridicule one of the players. The whole team needs to improve and there are many other players who are not up to scratch skill, fitness and football intelligence wise. So just because Balomenos is trying to impress the National selectors she at least has some ambitions in her life to play women's football at the highest level. I don't see any other players in that team gunning for the Aussie squad position so I think even having a player like Balomenos in the team is a great help to the other players to aspire to that standard. However, later on in the game Balomenos was not so selfish and squared it up to Rachel Quigley but she was unfortunately too slow to get to the ball. I think this was a key chance in the game and the first shot by Balomenos was a strikers instinct and if you have some clue about football then you would know that most of the best players in the world aspire to play for their country so you have to impress the selectors.

Nice Post buddy >:)

Hi Vicki

[Kitchimo]

This is a reply to VietCongSniper. First of all buddy who is the only South Australian player apart from Di Alagich to play for the Matildas?? Secondly I do agree that she should have squared it up in the 3rd minute but you cant just ridicule one of the players. The whole team needs to improve and there are many other players who are not up to scratch skill, fitness and football intelligence wise. So just because Balomenos is trying to impress the National selectors she at least has some ambitions in her life to play women's football at the highest level. I don't see any other players in that team gunning for the Aussie squad position so I think even having a player like Balomenos in the team is a great help to the other players to aspire to that standard. However, later on in the game Balomenos was not so selfish and squared it up to Rachel Quigley but she was unfortunately too slow to get to the ball. I think this was a key chance in the game and the first shot by Balomenos was a strikers instinct and if you have some clue about football then you would know that most of the best players in the world aspire to play for their country so you have to impress the selectors.

Nice Post buddy >:)

Hi Vicki

My thoughts exactly

[themagnet]

This is a reply to VietCongSniper. First of all buddy who is the only South Australian player apart from Di Alagich to play for the Matildas?? Secondly I do agree that she should have squared it up in the 3rd minute but you cant just ridicule one of the players. The whole team needs to improve and there are many other players who are not up to scratch skill, fitness and football intelligence wise. So just because Balomenos is trying to impress the National selectors she at least has some ambitions in her life to play women's football at the highest level. I don't see any other players in that team gunning for the Aussie squad position so I think even having a player like Balomenos in the team is a great help to the other players to aspire to that standard. However, later on in the game Balomenos was not so selfish and squared it up to Rachel Quigley but she was unfortunately too slow to get to the ball. I think this was a key chance in the game and the first shot by Balomenos was a strikers instinct and if you have some clue about football then you would know that most of the best players in the world aspire to play for their country so you have to impress the selectors.

Nice Post buddy >:)

Hi Vicki

[cheesecake shop 2]

learn how to defend and actully mark up!!!!

It may help!!!

[vietcongsniper]

This is a reply to VietCongSniper. First of all buddy who is the only South Australian player apart from Di Alagich to play for the Matildas?? Secondly I do agree that she should have squared it up in the 3rd minute but you cant just ridicule one of the players. The whole team needs to improve and there are many other players who are not up to scratch skill, fitness and football intelligence wise. So just because Balomenos is trying to impress the National selectors she at least has some ambitions in her life to play women's football at the highest level. I don't see any other players in that team gunning for the Aussie squad position so I think even having a player like Balomenos in the team is a great help to the other players to aspire to that standard. However, later on in the game Balomenos was not so selfish and squared it up to Rachel Quigley but she was unfortunately too slow to get to the ball. I think this was a key chance in the game and the first shot by Balomenos was a strikers instinct and if you have some clue about football then you would know that most of the best players in the world aspire to play for their country so you have to impress the selectors.

Nice Post buddy >:)

Hey Anonymous ....look I never meant my post to be taken that I was belittling or "ridiculing" Balomenos. That was not my intention. I concede that it was a criticism of 1 moment on Saturday and my own view of how she plays sometimes as an individual. Granted. But dont take it totally the wrong way. Maybe in retrospect I wouldn't again use the word "greedy" to describe that moment. But what I meant was for her to understand that scoring goals is not the be all & end all for her to gain selection in national teams. Sermani can see other facets of her game, as I can, that are as important as scoring.
Another thing is not to try & overdo it to impress the selectors. Selectors may see a completed simple pass as the equivalent or superior to a full field dribble ......know what I mean?
I think that Balomenos, along with her teammates, have become entwined by the bad situation the team finds themselves in and everyone is overdoing & overcooking things to try & win just one game and unfortunately it's just not happening......but yous are close and it will get better. Saturday showed that the whole team can play ....just small things need to go your way & then you'll be on your way.
Personally I think there is at least 3 Adelaide girls that should be considered for the national team & Balomenos is certainly 1 of them.

PS ....I've got a feeling you'll win this weekend !! Go for it !!

[bennylava]

i don't reckon balomenos has been playing overly good to be honest