Football Matters with Cyclops 2 October

After a long season Burdekin Panthers can look forward to a few months off, except for the Clash of Clubs and the Escriva Cup! The Clash of Clubs is on this weekend, and the Escriva Cup will be played early in November.

In the Good News Department, three Panthers Players have been picked in the Football North Queensland Team of the Year. Congratulations to Ryan Scodellaro, Matthew Kolb and Josh Valle, a great achievement.

The Burdekin FC Presentation Night will be held on Saturday 25 October. Get your tickets now.

Night Soccer

In the first week of the competition proper, the twenty games produced seventy-two goals with Ladies team Kicken’ Goals scoring seven of them. Goal Diggers, and 7 Stooges both scored six and Body Tune scored five. Top individual scorer was Charley Ruskin with a hat trick. This year the Men’s A Grade has twelve teams and B Grade is split up into two Groups. The Women are also divided into two groups.

Juniors

Preparations for Junior Social Soccer in Term 4 are in full swing! Get your teams in if you have not already done so. If your child is keen to play but does not have a team, email the club and we will find them a team.

National and International

The Matildas next match is a friendly against Wales, in Cardiff on 25 October, followed by another friendly against England on 29 October. They then have a rest before the AFC Women’s Asia Cup. Their first match is against the Philippines on 1 March, they then play Iran on 5 March, and their final group match is against South Korea on 8 March. In the FIFA World Rankings, Australia is ranked at 15.

The Socceroos have two friendlies coming up. They are away to Canada on 11 October and then play USA on 15 October. In the FIFA World Rankings, the Socceroos are currently ranked 25th,

The 2026 World Cup starts on 11 June with the Final on 19 July. Forty eight teams will compete in twelve groups of four teams, with the top two teams from the groups plus the best eight third placed teams qualifying for the Round of 32. The Group Draw will be made in Washington DC on 5th December. And yes, Australia has qualified!

In the EPL, Liverpool lost to Crystal Palace but still have two point lead over Arsenal with Palace in third place and Spurs, fourth. Nottingham Forest lost at home to Sunderland and Ange Postecoglou is still waiting for his first win. And at the foot of the table, Wolverhampton managed a draw and now has one point from six games.

In Germany’s Bundesliga, after five games, Bayern is the only club with maximum points. They lead Dortmund by two points with Leipzig a point behind in third place. At the foot of the table Heidenheim have won a game and moved off the bottom a point ahead of Monchengladbach.

In Italy’s Serie A, Napoli lost away to AC Milan and drops to second place, behind AC on goals. Roma in third place also has twelve points. Juventus drew again and is in fourth place. At the bottom of the league all three teams drew. Lecce, Pisa, Parma and Genoa are all now equal on two points from five games.

In Spain’s La Liga, Real Madrid was thumped 5-2 in the local derby against Atletico. Barcelona has taken over at the top of the League, one point ahead of Real with Villarreal third and Elche fourth. Girona and Oviedo are holding up the table with three points each.

Meanwhile in France, PSG and Lyon top the table with fifteen points and Monaco, Marseille and Strasbourg all have twelve points. This after Marseille had beaten PSG. Metz managed a draw but is still in trouble at the foot of the table.

Quote of the Week is from former Spurs manager - Ange Postecoglou “By keeping my distance from players and staff, it means my decisions are unemotional. It makes sure every decision I make is best for the team ...

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Ryan Scodellaro, Josh Valle, Matthew Kolb have been picked in the Football North Queensland Team of the Year. Photo supplied

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