Football Matters with Cyclops

Local

In the 1st Round of the Kappa Cup, where the Premiers are away to Saints Eagles Souths in Townsville, the game was postponed yet again. The match, weather permitting, will now take place this Saturday at Aitkenvale Park at 7.00pm. This will be the fourth attempt. Perhaps scheduling these games in February is not a good idea in North Queensland.

Seniors

Men train on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6.15 and the Ladies are in action on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5.30 to 7.00. Fixtures start on the weekend of 20- 22 March. The Division 1 and Funkies teams play Estates at home on the Friday, and the Ladies are away to MA Olympic. On the Sunday the Premiers and Reserves are away to Rebels. The Premiers first home game of the season is against Estates on Saturday 28 March.

Juniors

Registrations are now open and will close on Sunday 1st March. Teams will be hopefully getting sorted out in the next few weeks. Pre-season games will Kick Off on Saturday 21st March. Please head to Facebook for registration information. If you have any questions, please email the club at burdekinfc@hotmail.com. Potential Coaches must also register by 1 March, together with their preferred age group.

Masters

The Masters will be on again next Monday Night. The Magic (or Mayhem) kicks off on 23 February. All are welcome, male, and female, useful and hopeless. Be there, International Park for 6.30 Kick off.

National and International

The Matildas are now only two weeks away from their first match in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup which is being hosted by Australia. The Matildas are in Group A with Iran, South Korea, and the Philippines. The current FIFA Rankings of the Group A teams are Australia 15th, South Korea 21st, Philippines 41st and Iran 68th. The Matildas first match is against the Philippines in Perth on 1st March. They then meet Iran on 5th March and South Korea on 8th March.

The Oakland Roots/Soul Training Facility has been selected as the Socceroos’ official Base Camp training site for their seventh FIFA World Cup appearance. Located on Bay Farm Island in Alameda, California, the Oakland Roots and Soul Sports Soccer Club’s first-class training facility will host the Socceroos squad.

The Socceroos have two friendlies lined up. They play Cameroon on 27 March and Curacao on 31 March and very soon after that, Socceroos fans will not know their first opponents in the 2026 FIFA World Cup until 1st April. They know that Australia will meet USA and Paraguay but will not know their third opponents until 1st April. It could be any of four countries, Türkiye, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo. The play offs start on 27 March and finish four days later. In the meantime,

In the A League, after seventeen rounds Newcastle are still the League leaders. They won 3-1 in Perth and have now won their last seven games. Second placed Auckland has yet to play, and Adelaide moves into third place after beating Sydney FC 2-1. Sydney drops to fourth, level on points with Macarthur. Brisbane drew away to Melbourne Victory and stays in eighth place. Western Sydney continue to hold up the league two points adrift of Central Coast

In the A League Women, Melbourne City are still top despite drawing 0-0 in the local derby. Wellington lost 1-2 away to Central Coast but stays in second place on goal difference from Canberra who lost 0-1 away to Perth. Fourth placed Adelaide has yet to play, and Brisbane lost 0-4 away to Sydney but hangs onto sixth place. Sydney and Western Sydney are holding up the League.

Europe

In England it was the FA Cup 4th Round and one of shocks so far was Burnley losing at home 1-2 to Mansfield Town from the third tier. Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool, West Ham, Leeds, Wolves and Newcastle are all through to the next round. The EPL resumes next week with Arsenal away to Wolverhampton, Manchester City at home to Newcastle and Chelsea at home to Burnley.

In Germany’s Bundesliga, with twelve rounds left to play, all four top teams won with Bayern winning 3-0 at Werder Bremen to maintain their six point lead over Dortmund. Hoffenheim is a further six points behind, and fourth placed Stuttgart is a further three points adrift. Heidenheim and St Pauli both lost hold up the table and Mainz, who won again, are almost out of the relegation zone.

In Italy’s Serie A, only two of the top five teams won and Inter is still eight points clear of AC Milan who have a game in hand. Napoli who drew at home to Roma is a further three points behind and Juventus who lost to Inter drops to fifth place one point behind Roma. The two bottom teams, Pisa and Verona both lost and look Serie B bound.

In Spain’s, La Liga both Barcelona and Real Madrid won and Real leads Barca by one point, but Barca has a game in hand. Third placed Villareal lost and is now thirteen points off the pace ahead of fourth placed Atletico on goal difference. At the bottom of the league, none of the last three teams won and Levante and Oviedo are still in deep trouble.

In France, PSG lost 1-3 at sixth placed Rennes and drops to second place, one point behind behind Lens who beat Paris FC 5-0. Lyon is a further six points behind but five points ahead of fourth placed Marseille, who drew at home to Strasbourg. Only Auxerre of the bottom five teams won, and Metz, Auxerre and Nantes are in severe trouble.

The Quote of the Week is from ex- Nottingham Forest Manager Sean Dyche “Life's not a dress-rehearsal. So, if you want to do it; do it.”

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