Football Matters with Cyclops 4 December

Local

Training for Men and Colts for the 2026 season starts on this Thursday night at 6.15.

Small sided games for the next three weeks. Be There!

Night Soccer

The tenth week of competition and another low scoring night. There were four forfeits (Schoolies?) and the sixteen games produced just fifty one goals. And there were three Sin Bins. Top scorers were Mottin Earthmoving and Ladies team Goal Diggers with five goals and UDS and DL Lager each with four. There were three drawn games and just nine teams failed to score!

In Men’s Competitive Group, UDS now top the table with twenty four points one point ahead of Clare Cutters with Mottin Earthmoving a further point behind in third place and Nutrien Ag drop to fourth place. In Mens A Grade Social 1, DL Lager is still in first place followed by Borin n Scorin with Willy Wackers in third place. In Mens, A Grade Social 2, Oary’s Levellers lead Wires Down on goal difference with Always Fits dropping to third place. In Mens B Grade Social 1, the unbeaten Bennetts Old Grumpies top the Group with nine points and are five points clear of Fair Call and Hardly Normal and in Mens B Grade Social 2, His Haas, Real Steel Fab and BA all have three points.

In Ladies A Grade 1, Scoregasms lead Rocky Pond Warriors by three points with Young Guns in third place and in Ladies A Grade 2, Body Tune leads DILLIGAF by three points with 6 TO UR 7 in third place. In Ladies B Grade 1, Kicken Goals are three points clear of Goal Diggers with Short Staffed in third place and in Ladies B Grade 2, Chicks and Chooks are three points clear of We’ve got the Runs.

Juniors

The played their last games of Junior social soccer on Tuesday afternoon and had a great time. That is it for the season and year.

National and International

In the A League Men, after six rounds, Brisbane were the only club in the top five to win. They beat Melbourne Victory and are in second place, one point behind Sydney FC who lost to Western Sydney. Auckland lost to Newcastle and is in third place on goal difference.

In the A League Women, only one game was played over the weekend with Melbourne Victory beating Perth 3-0. The table is somewhat confusing at the moment. Some teams have played five rounds, Melbourne Victory, others three or four and Melbourne City has only played two games!

Victory is now top of the table after their win against Perth and Sydney FC is one point behind. Brisbane did not play and is now in fourth place, with two games in hand. Western Sydney, Central Coast and Perth are holding up the league with three points from four matches.

The Socceroos do not seem to have any more games planned but doubtless, with the World Cup starting in June, arrangements are being made. In the FIFA Rankings Australia is 26th.

The Matildas have two friendlies against New Zealand coming up. Last Friday in Gosford they won 5-0 and then they played again on Tuesday 2nd December in Adelaide. In the FIFA World Rankings, the Matildas are currently 15th and New Zealand 33rd.

In England, in the EPL, six of the top eight teams won and Arsenal and Chelsea drew 1-1. After thirteen rounds Arsenal leads Manchester City by five points and Chelsea and Aston Villa by six points. In a return to form both Liverpool and ManU won. At the foot of the table the bottom five teams all lost and so far, Wolves have two points.

In Germany’s Bundesliga, after twelve rounds the still unbeaten Bayern now has an eight point lead over Leipzig with Dortmund another point behind. Leverkusen drops to fourth place a further two points adrift. At the foot of the table Heidenheim was the only one of the six bottom clubs to win and Mainz and St Pauli are in big trouble.

In Italy’s Serie A, one point separates the top five teams. After thirteen rounds AC Milan leads Napoli on goal difference and Inter and Roma are just one point behind. At the bottom of the foot of the table the bottom four teams all lost and Verona and Fiorentina with six points each, already look doomed.

In Spain’s La Liga, Real Madrid drew their third match in a row and Barcelona has taken over at the top, one point clear of Real. Villarreal is a further point behind and one point ahead of Atletico. At the bottom of the league, it is not looking good for Oviedo and Levante with just nine points each from fourteen rounds.

In France’s Ligue 1 Lens now leads PSG by one point with Marseilles in third place a further point adrift. Fourth placed Lille is another three points behind. At the foot of the table Lorient was the only one of the bottom seven teams to win. And it is not looking good for Auxerre, Metz, and Nantes.

And incidentally, in the English Championship, Coventry City is ten points clear of Middlesbrough at the top!

Forty two countries so far have qualified for the 2026 World Cup, and this includes the three host countries, USA, Canada, and Mexico. The Group Draw will take place on Friday, and the Socceroos will then know at least two of the other countries in their group. The final six places will be sorted out in March next year. The competition starts on 11 June, and the Final is on 19 July. Forty eight teams will compete in twelve groups of four teams in the US, Canada, and Mexico. The top two teams from the groups plus the best eight third placed teams qualifying for the Round of thirty-two.

Quote of the Week

Is from Manchester United and Northern Ireland’s George Best "I used to go missing a lot... Miss Canada, Miss United Kingdom, Miss World."

He died on 25 November 2005 at the age of 59.

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