Aloisi sets course for more spoils
WHEN the Central Coast Mariners annexed the A-League’s
premiership plate last weekend, it was, surprisingly, the first
piece of silverware that Socceroo hero John Aloisi had won during a
long and decorated career spent almost exclusively in the top
leagues of Europe.
Now the striker, who turns 32 only weeks before the A-League
grand final, is confident that the Mariners, having got over a form
slump just in time, can double his tally of trophies by taking out
the A-League title in a month with victory in the grand final.
Central Coast begins its quest tomorrow with a short trip to
Newcastle for the first leg of the major semi-final against its
keenest local rivals, the Jets, whom they pipped for the
premiership on goal difference.
Aloisi, the tall and rangy hitman who has averaged better than a
goal in every two games (seven in his 12 matches) since joining the
club halfway through the season, is still getting to grips with
A-League fever.
“It’s been brilliant the crowds, the games, I didn’t
expect it to be as good as it is, and it’s going to get better. I
am just really enjoying it all,” said Aloisi, the only Australian
to have played at the highest level in Europe’s three biggest
leagues England’s Premier League, Italy’s Serie A and
Spain’s La Liga.
And with the bonus of the Asian Champions League to come in
2009, there are plenty of reasons for him to keep enjoying life in
Gosford, where, he says, he feels right at home.
“I will sit down and think about re-signing”, he said, when
asked about his plans when his short-term contract with the club
ends. “I just want to get through these finals first. It’s good,
everyone loves playing in these different competitions. It’s great
for the club and the community, it puts them on the map.”
Aloisi is not likely to agree with new Socceroo boss Pim
Verbeek’s views of the A-League. He thinks it’s a pretty decent
standard now, and will improve greatly over time.
“I think the older experienced boys have helped the league come
on a bit and the younger boys are getting better and better. You
see some of them coming now they are good players, the Olyroos are
a good team. I think this league is already a good league, and I
think it’s going to get better and better.
“People say the defences are raggedy (after several high scoring
games late in the campaign) but we went through five or six rounds
at the beginning of the season when no one could score. It’s just
towards the end of the season teams need to come out and try to
win. Melbourne and Adelaide had to try to win because they would
have been out of competition, so would Sydney.”
The round-21 win over Wellington helped steady the Mariners’
floundering ship (they had been beaten by Newcastle, Melbourne and
Sydney and drawn with Perth in the four weeks before they beat
Wellington) and Aloisi says optimism in the camp is now high.
“We are more confident now that we had a good result on the
weekend. Our main aim was to win the game, make sure we went to the
finals with confidence and lucky enough, other results worked out
for us and we won the minor premiership.
“All we were concerned about was keeping a clean sheet and
getting the three points.
“None of the teams in the finals hold any fears, but they are
all good and dangerous teams. Anyone can win it. It wasn’t like
Melbourne 12 months ago when they were dominant %26#133; this year
the teams are very even.”
%26#9632;Queensland Roar and Sydney FC played the first leg of the
other semi-final in Sydney last night.
THE MATCHNEWCASTLE JETS v CENTRAL COAST MARINERS
EnergyAustralia Stadium, 6pm tomorrow
TV: Fox Sports One, 5.30pm
SQUADS NEWCASTLE JETS: Ante Covic (gk), Adam
Griffiths, Jade North (capt), Stuart Musialik, Andrew Durante, Matt
Thompson, Joel Griffiths, Denni, Tarek Elrich, Adam d’Apuzzo, Jobe
Wheelhouse, Scott Tunbridge, Troy Hearfield, Noel Spencer, Mark
Bridge, Ben Kennedy (gk), Jason Hoffman, James Holland, Song Jin
Hyung.
CENTRAL COAST: Matthew Trott (gk), Matt Simon, Paul
O’Grady, Bradley Porter, Andre Gumprecht, John Hutchinson, Tom
Pondeljak, Damien Brown, Greg Owens, Tony Vidmar, Andrew Clark,
Nigel Boogaard, Alex Wilkinson, Adam Kwasnik, Danny Vukovic (gk),
Sasho Petrovski, Mile Jedinak, John Aloisi, Alvin Ceccoli.
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Monday, January 28th, 2008 at 12:13 am under