Spirit of Canberra shines - United gain first win
Canberra United beat Queensland Roar 1-0 in Brisbane today to gain their opening win of the W-League season so I thought I'd better write something, because we all love a winner:)
A hard fought win, United were focused for the full ninety with so many heroes all over the park.
The game was televised on ABC, and it was great to see the local team on the box.
And for the listeners Coach Robbie Hooker's comments entertained as much as his side.
United lost their opener last week and away to one of the favourites for the competition this week only diehards thought they'd get the win.
Lauren Colthorpe, Claire Polkinthorne, Kate McShea, Alicia Ferguson all represented Australia at last years World Cup and formed a formidable defensive Roar unit.
But Hooker showed why he is called, "the Poacher," he's moulded a pacy outfit with a determined team spirit showing through even at this early stage.
Kara Mowbray and this weeks Nearpost guest Sasha McDonnell despite carrying injuries were a pain in the Roar defence all game. Their pace and work rate caused many problems. Isn't it great to see hard-working fast forwards.
Mowbray scored the only goal and was outstanding all game, indeed the ABC gave her the player of the match award.
Canberra opened well, controlling the tempo and were quick to the ball. A bouncing ball on a hard surface made it hard to play quality football, but there was plenty on show, particularly from Canberra.
And it was great to see young players playing their part. Nicola Sykes, from Dubbo, Rebecca Kiting played well on debut. Kiting alongside Thea Slatyer kept the Roar strikers quiet for most the game.
The drive of Weston Creek's Cian Maciejewski and the guile of Grace Gill were important in the midfield. And their efforts in the second half were vital to this result.
And of course the effervescent Amy Chapman was never far from the action. And nearly snatched a second late on with a typical inventive shot.
Leading 1-0 at half-time United came under severe pressure in the second half.
Players were dropping with the heat and intensity of the game. But United stood firm.
And they had to. But in truth the Roar huffed and puffed but lacked any real inventiveness or any ability to change their tactics during the second half
Thea Slatyer was all class, Lydia Williams showed why she is the Matildas keeper. She dealt with everything that got past the United defence. And even had to take some Roar Bore fans chanting against her everytime she kicked the ball.
All class in Brisbane!
But with Captain Ellie Brush and Thea Slatyer leading the defence, in truth the Roar didn't really penetrate.
And once the storm was weathered United started to play some good football late on. And with a little luck could have grabbed a second.
Next week United are at home for the first time and if they can grab a win they'll be well placed to give this competition a shake.
At the moment it would seem only injuries can halt this side.
Pace all over the park, neat quick interpassing and a robust and gutsy team effort were all evident.
This United team is on a roll and could be the surprise packet of the tournament.
Nice one United!
My player of the match: Cian Maciejewski.
You can hear the Nearpost team gloat over the United win on Tuesday from 7pm on the 98.3fm 2XX.
42 comments:
I agree with you on player of the match. But the whole quality of play from both sides was very ordinary. Hard to justify paying to watch these teams. Lucky its free in Canberra. Provided amusing TV entertainment nonetheless.
Miskicks, high turnover, poor passing, rough play, low skill level. Canberra may have done better if Munoz played. But then again it looked like Qld rolled out their B team.
G'day Eamonn. I went along to watch the girls so here's a brief report.
Have to agree with Mr Anonymous that the quality of football was very ordinary indeed. If it was the mens, even at a senior amateur level, that game would have been slam dunked from every commentator. But I did enjoy the afternoon. Good easy atmosphere at Perry Park, and I watched the second half from the grass where I could recline and smoke cigarettes. The $5 was well worth it despite the low quality on the park.
It was the most aerial game I've ever seen, at any level, ever, by quite a lot. Sometimes there was more headers than touches from feet for quite long periods of time. That was disillusioning because on a theoretical level I've had the hope that women's football has the potential to be more technically and tactically interesting, rather than less, but the bloke next to me reckoned they (The Lionesses) played heaps better last week, so maybe it really was freakish.
I know you know I love women's football and I certainly have no agenda to diss it (it's a shame I feel this qualification is necessary at all). I'm just being straight about my impressions on the day.
Of course there was some lovely moments of play though.
And I cannot tell lies. There was much more than football on display. I'm not sure if we're allowed to say this because it just doesn't get said much in the MSN, but these women are completely hot. And I'm completely jealous because there was no question that Canberra won on the hot stakes. Don't get me wrong - noone on the field was hard to look at (as long as the soccer is ignored).
Specifically, the two tall brunettes in Canberra's defense look like Brazilian goddesses, and they did look dangerous on the field too (their clean sheet must say something). But the real shock was Sasha McDonnell. Jesus man, I fell in love with her a couple of years ago, and was devastated when I heard she was 'having a break' from football, and feared I'd never see her again. So of course I'd scanned the Queensland team list (she's a Queenslander as you know) for her to no avail. So then when I discover Canberra United's got her... I'm jealous mate, and torn.
Anyway, go girls. We got a glimpse of real magic in the Women's World Cup and I have no doubt that the local competition will improve. And with a 'game of the week' on ABC every Saturday, it has the potential to attract an audience who like watching/playing soccer but can't justify the large expense of following the A-League.
Both of you are being a bit tough.
I've been bored to death watching some of the men's A League going around.
The conditions looked pretty ordinary too me (the men never have to play on that rubish)and there were some pretty good patches of play in what was a dour event.
QLD B team what a joke. 10 of the QLD starting 11 were in the Matildas. They should have done a hell of a lot better so more credit to plucky ACT that not only held them but won the game.
Midfield of Gill, Majieski, Chapman and Allen dominated.
Don't worry about these Queenlanders they don't like it up em.
The Canberra team were brilliant, the fact that we had Queenlanders who could run and score....just hurt Hamish even more....
Bring on them Mariners
and from Media Monitors today..100 pages of AFL...no mention bar a in brief story in any newspapers...bar the CANBERRA TIMES which has had the most coverage of any of the W-League teams so far this season.
Only Newcastle comes second, a very poor second at that.
As for dour event, I was nervous as all hell whenever they got into our half....never occured to me it was a dour event...so thanks for that:)
Hamish, It is unlike you to be so negative about women's soccer or was it a bad game because Queensland lost.
Why provide sexist commentary and then wonder if you are allowed to do that? You have shown your true colours. Women and sport, not worth taking seriously, you went for a 'look' and made sure you demeaned the players at the same time.
How about something positive or do you secretly wish W league will fail like so may others?
BTW it doesn't take a great deal of intelligence to smoke these days. No doubt we (including women)will have to pick up your medical bills eventually. Why don't you quit?
wasnt to be a criticism
Dour = Sternly obstinate;unyielding
hope all going ok Eamonn: have missed your activity on NPB.
ha ha...in Ireland dour means boring bastards...or maybe thats just me:)
I'm always better when my team wins:)
Lol. I'm sure you're partly right Eamonn, in that I was bemusedly cheesed that you guys have Sasha.
I should make clear though that Canberra deserved the win, as they generally dominated and made less mistakes. But right back at you, I reckon the only way you can say the Canberra team was 'brilliant' is through the naturally opaque eyes of a fan watching your team win.
Really, for credibility as a commentator, I reckon you should be careful of talking games up when they don't deserve it. That game was actually terrible by any of the criteria that get thrown around. Was there ever a string of more than 4 passes (and 3 or 4 was rare enough)? As Anonymous 2 said, there were some nice little moments, to go, "Oooh, nice" at, but really they were few and far between. The error rate on both sides was shocking, but let me be clear that it was even worse for Queensland. Alicia Ferguson was making elementary mistakes, which let's just say is out of character. And please do NOT tell me the name of the Queensland player on the back left - she had a shocker to the extent that I started wincing every time the ball went to her.
Again, don't get me wrong. I love women's soccer (for both noble and wicked reasons), and will continue to support it. I'd even love to talk it up, and have when I think it's a good moment (oh the Women's WC was glorious). I have no doubt there will be much better games. But I could never go on public record as to say that game was anything but poor. Sincerely, be careful.
No credibility! I'm Aghast!
Actually Hamish I totally agree!
I'm a one-eyed Canberra blogger and have no need or desire to present things as perhaps a neutral may wish:) or even as the game deserves.
I'll leave that for all the other "serious football writers" in Australia.
As for your pitch, how can you expect quality football if the State of Queensland's best field is a bouncing rutted paddock.
Tend to your fields Roar man!
The game was definitely not the best example of the new W-League and I'm sure it won't make too many highlights, but Canberra played well in the conditions. That pitch looked terrible and I heard that apparently the Qld coach wanted to move the game last week because it was so bad.
For just the second elite women's game for both teams, it was good. Canberra didn't have many Matildas and last week they did open it up more with Caitlin Munoz there, but otherwise they seem to be a tough, grinding kind of team and I don't expect them to play wide, pretty football all the time like Sydney FC have already. Queensland were rubbish because Canberra pushed them out of it and didn't let them take their time. So it wasn't pretty, but they did try and play that way, so in terms of executing a plan Canberra did it well.
And yes, I'm a fan, so I am biased, but I don't care how they win, as long as they do!
I have to say that it's a little unfortunately that Saturday's ABC game had to take place at a venue I wouldn't even walk my dog by the looks of it on tv.
Having seen highlights and bit and pieces from other fixtures this year, the W-League offers so much more than what was seen on the weekend.
I think it's fair to say that many football matches are won around the world everyday that can be classified as 'ugly' so there's certainly no reason to get stuck into the girls about how they went about getting the points.
In the end, it doesn't matter how the three points are earnt, a win is a win and a win against the league favourites is even sweeter!
Congratulations to Canberra United!
OMG don't start rating Sydney, the play back team back.
Canberra is not just a team of hustlers and can string passes together as good as the best. I watched a game last year against boys where they strung together 90 + passes (under intructions from the coach).
Our stikers are very fast but technically a bit 'light' so that will always be a problem. The midfield are technically sound. Macjiewski, and Chapman have good first touch.
Our major strength is speed with Walters, Sykes x 2 , Chapman , McDonnald and Mowbray. Given them a few more weeks together to work as a team and they could be awesome.
Caitlin will be good when she comes back especially if she goes out wide. Caitlin and Chaps outside Gill and macjiewski makes a very nice platform for our strikers. They will just need to learn to play with such a strong midfield feeding them.
Did you watch the game and lsiten to the commentary. Apparently the ground was as hard as rock, very bumpy and there was a very strong wind.
I think we will see a better quality game on our ground at McKellar.
"Could have done better if Munoz played". (Anon 1)
Give them a break. These girls played with Munoz out plus the three Young Matildas were also missing.
What more did you want? They were the absolute outsiders , no one gave them a chance. This was an away game played on a paddoack.
A very young team (quite a few 16/17yos) with only 3 senior international players (and 2 of those are young as well) defeated a team made up of 10 Matildas. WELL DONE UNITED!!!! I am converted fan to women's football.
A half decent goalie would never had made the mistake the second string Qld goalie made that led to the UGLY win. Sure a win is a win and congrats to Canberra against the might of the QLD roar favorites. Only wish it wasnt televised. As for your hot ex Qlder Hamish it may disappoint you to know that she bats for the other team.
I reckon i have seen quite a few ugly (and boring) games of football in my day and most of them have been men's games.
hamish u need to get out more pal
Just wanted clarify, was it the Canberra United or Queensland Roar goalkeeper copping the sledging? In todays Sydney Morning Herald, "The Big Wrap":
On the sledge
W-League Queensland Roar goalkeeper Lara Boon copped the sledge of the weekend. "You're shit and so's your mother," shouted a Canberra United fan, over and over again. The ABC microphones kept picking up the chant and commentators found a positive: "Good to see some passion in the crowd."
Either way it's not the way to attract families and children to W-League games!!!
it was the Roar fans doing all the shouting at United keeper Lydia Williams..
And the Mariners are very fearful of Ashleigh Sykes so I hear
YM are back on Sunday so Kyah Simon and co may play for Mariners if they are recovered same goes for United players I guess
Why would we be fearful of Sykes? What position does she play?
I am not sure 4 (out of 18) goals against India should be taken too seriously.
Ym didn't even start their strongest team. i think even I could have scored a bucket load agst India adn I play basketball
CM has the likes of Simon and Polias. Now that is a reson for CU to be worried.
It was your Coach Stephen Roche who said eh was afraid of the pace of Ashleigh Sykes
you can hear his comments on Nearpost radio tomorrow or on the podcast here on Wednesday...
as for 4 goals against India I reckon that's pretty good...they've got a billion people to choose from we know...
there's not many people in Dubbo:)
Have you ever seen and Indian athlete in any sport except cricket? YM D-Team would have flogged them. 18-0 is a joke a bit like watching last saturdays live Qld game. I must say Ive never laughed so hard and so much. Great free entertainment.
Guess you haven't heard of the men's Kalkuta Derby with 120,000 in attendance...so yes Indians do play football
they just aren't that good....yet:)
"I must say Ive never laughed so hard and so much. Great free entertainment."
What's with the anonymous put downs. If you don't have the courage to be openly critical then say nothing. These players put their heart and souls into this sport not big bucks like the men but constant male put downs. It is really annoying.
it's interesting to note that the response to this post has had a record ever number of replies for my blog, that includes all the interviews, comments, Socceroos, you name it, Canberra United holds the record...
make of it what you will!
i suppose we can thank the free to air tv coverage for the volume of comments - interesting.
i suppose we can thank the free to air tv coverage for the volume of comments - interesting.
unfortunatley its more about bagging out and defending womens football.A pity there is not much constructive about our team and maybe the next game.
I hear that the game this week has been moved from saturday to sunday. can someone confirm if this is the case. That would be really unfortunate as all the publiciyt has been for the scheduled game. :-{ Crowd may be affected
Nah always on Sunday as far as I knew ;-] see you there
back to the commnenatry: I agree with the comment about our midfield. It is very strong. A pity Caitlin can't play but I think if sykes went wide right and swing chaps over to wide left (as sykes can't play on the left i think) and leave cian and grace in the middle we would have 2 quick and fit wides, 2 fast strikers and 2 strong midfielders to feed the strikers.
Will need a strong defender behind sykes as she is still pretty inexperienced.
Hi All,
As a parent of two of the girls signed up in the W league, I'm very proud of the effort that all girls have been putting in and not only from United. For a lot of the girls playing this is the highest level of competiton they have played and many will get better as they each get more game time. Its easy to bag these games, but hey, they are out there training hard and improving their skill levels. I too have seen the mens games that have'nt been worth watching - even current A league games haven't had a lot to offer at times. This weekend promisies another round of good value entertainment for the whole family. At the Jets / United game many parents made comment that it was good value and a brilliant game, so why focus on one game that probably wasn't pretty but still a result for our girls. Lets hope the season continues to grow in strength and popularity. Go United!
P.S Why be worried about Ash - because she is one of the fastest women players around and because he wasn't successful in getting her on his team. Not bad for a girls that twelve months ago didn't exist as far a football world is concerned.
well said!!
As far as the team goes the crucial line is the defence. If that is not up to scratch we are vulnerable. It still worries me a bit as there are a couple of younger players there, very good but still quite inexperieinced, and it only takes 1 mistake for the wheels to fall off. A lot will depend on how well the GK keeps them in order. Oh and Robbie is a very good defenders coach.
I am not sure why there is this fixation with Ashley Sykes. THere are other girls as fast if not faster in the w-league as well as in the united team. THe Canberra game last week was pretty awful compared to how they played against Newcastle. Qld gave the game to Canberra. They didn't even trouble the defence at all. Kiting was slow and lazy in defence and up front the strikers didn't even get a ball on target. It will be better when the YM girls and Munoz return. Canberra has the potential to be a great team when you get the best starting eleven on the field and not make do with the second string like last week. Let's go Canberra
A bit harsh! Sykes is the fstest player going around at the moment but technically there is still a lot of imporvement required. No point getting there first if you can't do anything withe the ball.
Agreed strikers need to come through.Not so sure their runs are particularly great.
I think the midfield with cian, gill chappo and caitlin when back is the strongest in the comp.
Canberra dominated the first half of the qld game and then held on by the skin of their teeth, the midfield at that stage dropped back and did well.
What a great Blog!!
Congratulations Eamonn! 32 comments! (Now 33). I think Brendan may be right that the free-to-air coverage may have stirred up some non-regular interest.
It would be good for potential dialogue, especially once you get a run of comments like this, if people would either use a name or if they are 'anonymous' to sign their name (or pseudonym if they must). There are too many Anonymouses.
To the Anonymous who pointed out that Sasha bats for the other team, Exactly! She plays for Canberra!
Let's keep comments about our young Canberra players clean and encouraging. If you have nothing positive to say, keep it to yourself.
just a thought, but could everyone stop commenting as 'anonymous'? Would make it a bit easier to ascertain who's bagging who. Many thanks.
Here here,lets keep encouraging all our players...It is far to easy to sit on the side line or on your butt and criticize
I have been following this blog with interest. I am happy to go on record. I have seen both games and I love CUs tenacity. I agree the midfield 4 (with caitlin in) are going to be awesome, once the forwards learn to play with these guys the fluidity of the play will improve. Bring on the rest of the season, it is quite tantalising. I think Robbie has done a good job wiht these girls, tough when necessary, very quick and quite adventurous .
It was very boring - like watching paint dry. All Canberra did in the second half was boot it as hard as they could without looking for support.
To be honest, I thought their win was a bit of a fluke. They were brought back to earth yesterday though.
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