Football Matters with Cyclops

The local season got off to an unexpected start last Saturday when South Melbourne won the Australia Cup. Photo: South Melbourne FC

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With the 2026 season finished, all that is left now is this year’s Burdekin FC ‘s Presentation Night. This will take place at Populin’s Hall on Saturday 24^th October. This promises to be a very big night, especially for the Colts who won everything in sight.

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Meanwhile, Night Soccer is well into it’s forty eighth season and Junior Social Soccer kicks off shortly. Also, the Escriva Cup takes place on Friday 30 October.

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Night Soccer – Delta Cleaners

Night Soccer’s 3rd week of competition was played in prefect conditions; there were two forfeits and the eighteen games produced eighty-two goals.

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Top scorers in the Men’s competition were FJV with eight goals and Rocky Pond Warriors and UDS with seven goals. In the Ladies competition Kicken Goals scored five goals and Chicks and Chooks four. Individually, Jay Leckenby was top scorer with a hat-trick for UDS. The first Sin Bin of the season went to the Old Grumpies’ Khrisneel Singh.  

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There were five draws, and just one game was won by just one goal. This year initially the Men are split into three tables of eight teams and after three matches there are only three teams with maximum points, Mottin Earthmoving, UDS and Nutrien Ag Solutions. In the Ladiesonly Bodytune Bombers and Scoregasms have won all three games.

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National

The local season got off to an unexpected start last Saturday when South Melbourne won the Australia Cup. They beat Melbourne Victory on penalties after a 1-1 draw after extra time. This is the first time a non-A Leagues club has won the cup. The Burdekin Panthers played in the early Cup rounds back in March!

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The A Leagues kick off shortly. The men’s Division of twelve teams is in action this weekend with Sydney FC at home to Western Sydney Wanderers on Friday night. Brisbane Roar does not kick off until next Friday when they are at home to Perth Glory. Each Club will play twenty-eight matches before the finals begin in May.

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The A League Women also kick off this week with two games on Saturday, Brisbane Roar is at home to Central Coast Mariners and Western Sydney Wanderers at home to Melbourne Victory. This season the League will have eleven teams and then next season, should have twelve.

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International

The Socceroos have another couple of friendlies against Qatar and Jordan lined up in November, as they get ready for the AFC Asian Cup. In the Cup’s Group D they play Singapore on 9^th January, Iraq on 14ht January and Tajikistan on 19^th January.

The Matildas played Germany, in a friendly in Germany on last week and lost 2-4. They now have a couple more friendlies lined up, the first one is away to Haiti on 14 October then on 28^th November, at home to Colombia. The Matildas have qualified for the 2027 World Cup to be held in Brazil in June - July next year.

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International

Meanwhile in the rest of the world, the Nations Cup is on hold until the middle of November. The fifty-four countries involved then spend another couple of weeks disrupting the various European leagues! At this stage, France, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Northern Ireland, Austria and Sweden all head their groups.

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Normal Service was resumed in Europe last weekend and in England Manchester City celebrated with a 3-0 win at Liverpool, and still has maximum points from six games, which gives them a three point lead over Arsenal with Brighton third and Brentford fourth. In Germany, Freiburg and Dortmund jointly head the Bundesliga with Bayern in third place and Leverkusen fourth.

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In Italy after six rounds, Inter and Lazio are joint leaders with a two point lead over Roma. Cagliari are fourth and Juventus are in sixth place. In Spain’s la Liga, Barcelona with maximum points from eight games, is five points clear of Atletico and Real Betis with Real Madrid languishing in fourth place.

Finally, in France after six Rounds Monaco leads Lille and Rennes by one point with Lyon in fourth place. PSG is presently sixth.

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Quote the of the Week is from Limerick and Ireland Manager Eoin Hand, “There are only two certainties in this life. People die and football managers get the sack.”

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