Football Matters with Cyclops

Local

The Escriva Cup is due to be played on Friday evening, 1st November and is a fundraiser held by The SLoBs (Soccer Legends of the Burdekin) to help out ex-players with health problems. Last year fourteen Men’s teams and two Ladies teams took part. Hopefully, we will have more teams involved this year.

Night Soccer

Delta Cleaners Night Soccer’s Week 7 had to be postponed until Thursday because of the rain. The 21games produced 67 goals and surprisingly there were only three forfeits and even more surprisingly, no Sin Bins! Top scorers for the Men were Plumb Dingers who thumped Karls Mowing Service 11-1 and UDS who defeated iComply 7-0.

Mottin Earthmoving are still top of Group AI, UDS still lead in Group A2 and Wires Down head Group B.

In the Women’s competition DILLIGAF and Let’s Get Messi both scored three goals and UDS Ladies still top the A Grade table and Shin Kickers are the leaders in B Grade.

Juniors

Junior Social Soccer was called off on Tuesday afternoon but will, hopefully recommence next week. With 40 teams taking part this year, it is a very big afternoon.

National and International

The Socceroos managed a 1-1 draw away to Japan. In the context this was a good performance as Japan, the group leaders had previously won all three of their games, scoring fourteen goals and not conceding any. This result moves Australia up to second place in their Group and they need to finish in the top two.

The Socceroos next match is against Saudi Arabia on 14 November in Melbourne. Five days later the reverse fixtures start, and the Socceroos are away to Bahrain.

The Matildas will soon be in action again as they have two friendly matches in October. The first is away to Switzerland on 25 October and they then play Germany on Monday 28th October in Duisburg. Their next games are not until late November - December when they play Brazil, home and away.

The A League kicked off its 2024-25 season last weekend. Surprisingly, Macarthur head the League after marmelising Perth Glory 6-1. Sydney FC beat Western Sydney Wanderers 2-1, Melbourne City won away at Newcastle and newcomers Auckland beat Brisbane Roar 2-0. Next week Macarthur is away to Newcastle and Brisbane has the bye.

The A League Women will kick off on 1st November with Western Utd at home to Wellington and on the Saturday Brisbane Roar is away to Canberra. There are twelve clubs in the competition this season.

In the EPL, Liverpool and Manchester City both won and with Arsenal losing, Liverpool is top of the table a point clear of City with Arsenal and Aston Villa a further three points behind. Brighton has moved up to fifth place! Wolves and Southampton continue to hold up the League with one point each from eight games.

In the Bundesliga, the top five teams all won and after seven rounds Bayern and Leipzig are level on seventeen points. Freiburg stays in third place two points behind and Leverkusen, last year’s champions, are another point adrift. At the foot of the table Holstein and Bochum are yet to win a game.

In Italy, the top six teams all won so there is no change at the top of Serie A. Napoli still lead Inter by two points with Juventus a further point away and AC Milan fourth. At the bottom of the league Venezia, Monza and Lecce are in deep trouble.

In Spain’s La Liga, Villareal who drew, were the only team out of the top seven who didn’t win. Barca still leads Real Madrid by three points with Atletico a further four points adrift as Villareal drop to fourth place. Las Palmas and Valencia are having problems at the foot of the table, but Valladolid managed a win.

In France, only three of the top six teams won. With Monaco only managing a draw PSG is back on top of the table with twenty points and a superior goal difference to Monaco. Marseille is third and Lille a distant fourth. Angers and Montpelier are in trouble after eight rounds.

Finally, In the Albanian Super League, Partizani Tirana leads Egnatia and KS Dinamo Tirana by one point after nine rounds. I thought you should know.

In Europe, next week the Champions League resumes. Arsenal is at home to Shaktar. Juventus plays Stuttgart, Barcelona is at home to Bayern and Liverpool travels to Leipzig.

The Quote of the Week is from new England Manager Thomas Tuchel, “Sometimes, it is good to lose - you learn.”

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