A-League 2015: best goals, gaffes and moments
As Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC prepare to duke it out in a dream interstate A-League grand final, we’re feeling a little nostalgic – so much so, we’ve gone back and taken the cream off the top of the season’s milk vat of magic moments.
• David Gallop on the challenges of Australia’s football boom
• Archie Thompson wants to go round again
• Hypocrisy of A-League’s #EraseRacism round
In the spirit of celebrating all that’s great and all that’s not so great about domestic football in Australia, we present’s to you the wildest goals of the season plus a list of other highs and lows from A-League 2014/15.
Best ‘goal porn’
There were a glut of glorious goals in 2014/15.
Thankfully an organised fan has uploaded a 22 minute video with the best strikes of this season that is essential viewing (see below).
But you still need to pick which one is your favourite.
Efforts by Nathan Burns, Awer Mabil, Danny De Silva, Carl Valeri and Roly Bonevacia were all standouts.
And here is the 22 minute epic with all the best hits:
The lowest point: an inglorious cap breach and Mulvey’s sacking
The Perth Glory salary cap breaches were the undisputed low point of the season and perhaps the 10 years of the league. As punishment, the Glory were eliminated from the finals series and heavily fined for the indiscretions.
Will Marc Janko fire Sydney to a grand final triumph? Photo: Getty
Second in the shock stakes was the sacking of Brisbane Roar’s Championship winning coach Mike Mulvey, who was sensationally ousted by club administrators early in the season. He reportedly lost the support of the players,
The highest point: Mark Janko
The Austrian captain and Sydney FC striker, 31, started the season slowly but finished as the Golden Boot winner after 16 goals in 22 appearances.
Janko is exactly the type of player the A-League needs as a marquee.
Forget 34-year-old’s who can’t run out games. Forget big names like David Villa who don’t even want to be here.
Gimmicks are not the way forward – players like Janko are.
Think of Daniel Georkievski, Fahid Ben Khallfallah, Roly Bonevacia, Andy Keogh. They’re the rough diamonds who stun on the field more than off it.
Bravo, Sydney FC and Marc Janko.
Ugliest moment: Zadkovich’s red card in 17 seconds
The midfielder was introduced into the match in the 60th minute as his side led 2-0. All he had to do was calmly slot into midfield for half an hour and help his teammates defend their lead.
But Ruben had other ideas.
Good signs: Wellington Phoenix
A-League Player of the Season Nathan Burns was a delight to watch. Photo: Getty
While they spluttered to the end of the A-League season with a lacklustre elimination final loss to Melbourne City, for most of the year the Nix’ were a joy to watch.
Ernie Merrick rarely smiles but expresses all his exuberance through his wonderful team. They played an attacking and aggressive brand of football.
Nathan Burns, Roly Bonevacia, Michael McGlinchey, Andrew Durante and Manny Muscat are a joy to watch every week.
The AFC and FFA would be wise to do whatever they can to keep the Kiwis in the league.
FFA Cup: media act like they’ve never seen a souvlaki before
The FFA Cup was a resounding success and having nationally meaningful football at many of Australia’s regional and suburban grounds was a treat.
For the most part the coverage was fantastic. It was a delight to open a major newspaper or see on a important news website stories, images and reports on much forgotten clubs.
But we’re not sure the quality of the souvlaki at the Bentleigh Greens’ home ground needed so much attention.
Taking fan engagement to the next level
Things were tough for the Western Sydney Wanderers this season and frustrations often came out in very public ways.
There was no more public display of frustration than when Wanderer’s defender Shannon Cole approached a section of his side’s supporters in response to abuse he’d received.