Sydney FC V Newcastle Jets Preview

By: Liam | September 11th, 2008

Well, after the international break and over a hundred matches, the A-league is finally going to get back under way.
With the Socceroos showing some fine form in beating the Dutch 2-1 and then getting their World Cup Qualifying campaign off to a flier with a win over Uzbekistan, hopefully football fever will be spreading some more in the domestic competition after some meagre crowds in the opening few rounds.

The news coming out of the camp is Santalab, Musialik and Tsattalios are back in the squad, and Timpano (5 weeks) and Colosimo (12 weeks… ouch) joining the sick list with Casey and the omni-injured Enfield. Hopefully Santalab can recapture the form he had towards the end of last year. Dont expect Musialik to get a starting role, to be honest I’m quite suprised that hes back in the squad after that complete lack of professionalism and respect for the referee in getting red carded against the Victory in Round 1.

For the Jets Adam Griffiths is back in the squad after picking a knock last week. The danger man for the Jets so far this season has been the Korean, Song. It’s imperative Sydney mark him tightly, he has shown what he can do many times this season, not least this brilliant move on Matthew Kemp which left me rolling around on the floor laughing. Unfortunately, marquee signing Edmundo Zura hasnt been as effective.

Sydney will be hoping their own marquee John Aloisi can score his first goal for the club. After coming off the bench last week, the international break has given him time to return to optimum fitness. Talking about internationals, Aloisi has expressed his desire to return to the National Scene under Pim Verbeek.

Steve Corica has been in sparkling form this season, scoring goals at will and breaking down the opposition defences with ease. All the while he is also coaching some of the finer youth players in the state, I discovered this week after going down to watch a youth training session at Macquarie University. Such a great guy.

And who can forget Shannon Cole? After going agonizing close to scoring on debut against the Victory, he got off the mark with a fantastic goal against the Central Coast, followed by another goal against Perth. The deadly set piece specialist will be looking to hitting the back of the net once again this NSW derby.

Well my prediction is hard fought game with the final score being Sydney 3, Newcastle 2. Goals to Aloisi, Cole and Corica. Thanks for reading!

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