Football Matters with Cyclops

Local

Last weekend the Burdekin Panthers had just three games. On Friday the Division 1 were at home to Estates and lost 2-3 and on Saturday the Panthers had two home games against Olympic.  The Under 23s drew 2-2 the Premiers lost 1-3 and the Ladies forfeited their match against Olympic. This week the Panthers have four away matches. On Friday night The Division 1 Funkies play Ingham in Townsville then, on Sunday the Premiers, Under 23s and Ladies meet Brothers, also in Townsville.

The Ayr Anzac Club Premiers had not played MAO yet this season and the Panthers were keen to test themselves against the top of the table team. The game got off to the worst possible start when after only two minutes MAO found the back of the net with a venomous volley. Olympic doubled their lead on the 30th minute and scored again in the 40th to make it 3-0. Right on the stroke of half time, after a well placed ball from Kai Goodman, Jay Leckenby found the back of the net with a thunderous strike to make it 3-1 at half time. The second half was much improved for the Panthers, reducing the number of long balls, Burdekin dominated for long periods and could well have scored another goal but couldn’t find the back of the net to set up a tense finish. With no goals in the second half the game ended with a 3-1win to Olympic.

The Burdekin Tyre Service Under 23s came to this game on the back of a good training week and the strongest squad yet assembled this season. Confidence was high in putting in a good showing against the competition leaders. This confidence was well founded with an excellent start to the match, constant possession and goal scoring chances were being created. By the 36th minute Burdekin was 2-0 up with goals from Kai Goodman and Jack Shears. Half time talk was positive and the second half resumed with a continuance of the good football already played. MAO applied more pressure and for a disappointing ten minutes the Panthers lost control of the game and allowed Olympic to score two quick goals. Burdekin rallied in the last fifteen minutes and created more chances to score but just could not get the result any better than the draw. The reality is, the Panthers had a good result by drawing against the ladder leaders, but there was definite disappointment that they had not got the win they deserved.

The Austral Masonry Funkies played Estates FC Navy on Friday night at International Park, losing 2-3. Burdekin were the better team for most of the first half but couldn’t turn this pressure into goals. Estates did manage to get in behind the Burdekin defence a couple of times but some excellent cover defence by James Dwyer snuffed out any chance of a goal. The score remained 0-0 at the half time break. The second half was more even with both teams having chances. Estates took the lead in the 74th minutes with a long range shot dipping in over the keeper. The Funkies struck back with Chris Achille scoring from inside the box. Burdekin took the lead in the 82nd minute when Chris Achille scored his second. However, the lead was very short lived as Estates scored directly after the kickoff to make it 2-2. The Funkies had a chance to take the lead again but failed to score from a penalty. The game looked to be headed for a draw, but Estates scored in the 3rd minute of extra time to regain the lead.

The Under13 Panthers had a day to forget at Honeycombes Park going down 12-1 to Warriors on Saturday. The team failed to’ turn up’ and the score reflected that. The goal scorer for Panthers was Will Shears. On Sunday the Under 13 Panthers travelled to Townsville to take on Brothers going down 6-1. Burdekin dug deep in the first half to stay in it but a lack of fitness saw the Panthers effort fade late in the second half and brothers made them pay. The Panthers goal scorer was Lincoln Innes

The Under 14/15 played MAO Maroon on Saturday and after being a goal down at half time lost momentum in the second half, and disappointingly lost 0-8.  On Sunday they played MAO Blue and in a much better performance lost 0-1 when they conceded a goal in the final seconds of the match. They play top of the table Osmac Warriors Green on Saturday in Townsville at 2:45pm.  Shoutout to Zack Durrant, Max Kelly & Angus Innes who refereed the Schoolboys/Schoolgirls games after their Sunday game and to Shaize Christie for helping in the Canteen.  

Juniors

It was another great morning on Saturday for Juniors with teams from Warriors, Estates and Wulguru coming down from Townsville.  It is great to hear the positive feedback from Townsville teams of how our Saturdays are going.  Did you all see the new Burdekin Pink Panthers banners outside the clubhouse? How good!

The junior girls had fun during Female Football week, with bowls and dinner on Tuesday night, training Wednesday night and a three way game on Saturday afternoon, all including the senior women.  Not enough thanks can be given to Sian Reardon for organising it all!

Ayr also held the Burdekin schoolboys and schoolgirls soccer trials on Sunday and Monday.  The weather was great and so was the level of play.  The Burdekin teams played amazingly well and really held their own and were often better against all the opposition.

Masters

Had a better turnout and in match full of action, and dodgy refereeing, Arsenal beat Manchester City 5-2. Bryce Davis was the Player of the Night. Now that it is cooler the Masters are hoping for a few more players escaping domesticity.

National and International

On the Socceroos front, there are two games coming up in the Asian World Cup qualifiers. They are away to Bangladesh on 6th June and home to Palestine on 11th June.

The Matildas have two matches against China in the lead up to the Paris Olympics. The first is at home on 31st May in Adelaide and the second, in Sydney on 3rd June. In the Paris Olympics, in their group Games, The Matildas play Germany on 26th July followed by Zambia on 29th July and USA on 1st August.

In the A League, Central Coast had a good week. On Wednesday they beat Adelaide 2-0 at home, to secure the minor premiership and then, on Saturday in the 1st leg of the semi-finals they travelled to Sydney FC and won 2-1. In the other semi-final Wellington Phoenix did well to draw 0-0 away to Melbourne Victory. The 2nd leg of the semi-finals will be played on Saturday.

In the EPL, with two rounds left Arsenal lead Manchester City by one point, although they have only one match left. Man City is away to Spurs and home to West Ham and Arsenal is at home to Everton. Liverpool is now out of contention. Aston Villa and Spurs stay in fourth and fifth place. At the foot of the table, Burnley and Luton will accompany Sheffield Utd down into the Championship.

In Germany’s Bundesliga with just one round left Leverkusen are already champions. Second placed Bayern need one point from their last game to secure second place from Stuttgart. Leipzig and Dortmund are assured of fourth and fifth places. At the foot of the table, Darmstadt and Cologne are already relegated together with either Union Berlin, Mainz or Bochum.

In Italy’s Serie A, with two rounds left, Inter are already champions with AC Milan assured of second place. Bologna and Juventus are contesting third place with Atlanta looking likely to finish fifth. Relegation is a battle with Salernitana already gone together with two others from Udinese, Empoli, Sassuolo, Frosinone and Cagliari.

In Spain’s La Liga, with three rounds left Real Madrid are already champions with second placed Girona two points ahead of Barcelona. Atletico is a further three points away in fourth place with Bilbao certain to finish in fifth place. At the foot of the table Almeria and Granada are already relegated and Cadiz will probably accompany them.

Finally in France, PSG are champions with two rounds left.  Monaco will finish second while Lille and Brest battle it out for third place. Nice looks likely to finish fifth. In the relegation stakes, Clermont and Lorient are already down and Metz looks most like to join them.

In the Europe Champions League, the second leg of the semi-finals were played last week. Real Madrid beat Bayern 2-1 to win 4-3 on aggregate and Dortmund won 1- 0 away to PSGs to go through 2-0 on aggregate. The final will be played at Wembley on Sunday 2nd June.

This week’s quote is from Dutch Maestro Johan Cruyff. “ Soccer is simple, but it is difficult to play simple.”

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