Sports analysis and statistics
It took the better part of four weeks, but all twelve A-League teams have played a game. Perth were the last to do it, 25 days after the season began, and they had the most exciting start of anyone – an eight-goal, seven-scorer thriller that ended in a 5-3 victory over Adelaide.
Last weekend’s W-League games saw some strong football being played, including an impressive away victory to Adelaide in Perth, but the round was marred by Melbourne Victory supporters in the second derby of the season. Melbourne City keeper Tegan Micah’s strong performance in a 3-2 win earned herself a shower of bottles being thrown by a group of male Victory fans, a shameful display that showcases the fundamental differences between men’s and women’s supporter groups.
Continue reading “W-League Predictions – Round 5, 2021”
Canberra weren’t able to keep up a perfect record, with Brisbane giving them a fight in a 1-1 draw that probably should have gone the way of the Roar. Sydney and Adelaide both got victories, in each case proving too strong for Newcastle and Perth respectively, but the real shock was the Melbourne derby – hastily moved from Dandenong to Fawkner, no fewer than six Victory players scored, including an absolute stunner from Lisa de Vanna, to comprehensively defeat Melbourne City.
Continue reading “W-League Predictions – Round 4, 2021”Never mind that it’s 1.30am, we missed one of the games on a two-match weekend, and we’d had a fairly big calculation error for our previous posts: here are the tips.
The W-League kicked off last week, and after two rounds we’ve gotten a rather surprising result: Canberra United, of all teams, sitting on top of the table. The much-loved underdogs have two wins from two games, both of them thanks to stoppage time winners in one-goal margins.
Continue reading “W-League Predictions – Round 3, 2021”For the first time in many years, the men’s and women’s soccer seasons in Australia are starting at the same time. As others have said ahead, this year’s W-League is the first one since the announcement that Australia is cohosting the 2023 Women’s World Cup, and the hope is that that (and the fact that many of Australia’s best international players have moved into the developing European leagues) will help us usher in a new generation of Matildas to take us to World Cup glory.
Continue reading “W-League Predictions – Round 1, 2021”The one benefit that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on Australian sport is that it’s given the A-League an excuse to hold a transitional season on the move to winter. And so, just after Christmas, the 16th season is kicking off at the unlikely locale of Kardinia Park in Geelong.
Continue reading “A-League Predictions – Matchweek 1, 2021”The shortened round from last week helped show a clear divide in the A-League, with two tiers of good teams and bad. The good sides sit in the top six, with the bad sides in the bottom four – Brisbane Roar (6th) are seven points and a game clear of Western Sydney (8th); with new team Western United bridging the gap – they’re halfway between the two, but they’ve only gotten one win in the last two months.
Continue reading “A-League Predictions – Round 20, 2019-20”Last week’s results hammered home what’s seemed pretty clear for a while – it’s a two-horse race for the W-League title. And even within that, Melbourne City are the clear frontrunners, dismantling Melbourne Victory (who themselves were on a four-game winning streak) 4-0 on Sunday afternoon.
Continue reading “W-League Predictions – Round 13, 2019-20”
The Flag 