This past week has been a big one for the club,
plenty happening off the field at board level, which according to most people,
is good news for the club and its future. We also had a couple of preseason
victories over the weekend and a date for the AGM has finally been announced.
In December last year we had an early preseason match against Blacktown
Spartans, we suffered a 5-1 defeat then, in what was not a great display it has
to be said, all be it with half a squad missing. So it was nice to see us turn
the tables only a few short months later and grab a 2-1 win on Friday night.
Obviously the status of the squad was different in December compared to
February, but it shows at least a steady improvement. Oliver Green and Jason
Madonis were the goal-scorers for our victory.
On Sunday we backed up to play Chinese Super League outfit, Guangzhou R&F, we
played well and managed to come away with a 4-1 victory. Niko Tsattalios scored
twice, whilst Brayden Sorge and Chris Triantis grabbed the other two. Make of
the result what you will, I have no idea if this Chinese team had reserves
playing or whatever, and the Chinese have had quite a full schedule it must be
said, something like 3-4 matches in just over a week.
Good or bad I am not one to take preseason form all that seriously, but it is
always nice to win. We have had a quite a few matches now and most of the squad
has been given a run, but I expect now that with less than 3 weeks until the
season begins, in the remaining preseason games we will see what is close to
our starting XI.
When it comes to the make-up of that XI or any match-day squad, hopefully
greater consideration is given to players who are performing well and to how
much a player can contribute to the team and not how old somebody is. If you’re
good enough you’re old enough, in my book.
Other news this week, were some changes in personnel inside the Sydney Olympic
board. Look, I’m no expert here, but from what I’ve been told, this is good
news, especially in regards to the much anticipated Tempe re-development.
Anyone who has done in the past or is willing to do so in the present, put in
their own money to help the club, I tip my hat to them. Stability and the
future of the club is of paramount importance and we all hope Tempe becomes a
reality.
Finally the club announced the date for the AGM, which will be held on the 31st
of July this year, we hope to see it.
Monday 22 February 2016
Monday 8 February 2016
Bank of Sydney Cup
The preseason games
continued over the weekend. On Friday night we were at Kogarah Oval to see
Sydney Olympic take on old rivals South Melbourne for the “Bank of Sydney Cup”.
It had been a while since we played them in Sydney (12 years ago in the last
round of the last season of the NSL, at the same ground) and 5 years since our
last meeting in Melbourne back in 2011.
Like a lot of the great suburban grounds in Sydney, Leichhardt, Belmore, Kogarah (all of which have been our home over the years), they are great places to go and watch sport.
We came out a little slow in the 1st half, the first 15 minutes South Melbourne were having the better of the play. After that, I thought that we took control of the match and began to play better and create the better of the chances. We had some great chances to take the lead before half-time, but a combination of some dreadful finishing and some good goalkeeping kept the score at 0-0 going into the half-time break.
In the 2nd half we continued to dominate the play, creating more and more half chances, once again failing to capitalise. Midway through the 2nd half we had a freekick on the edge of the box and Harris Gaitatzis’ resulting shot was going into the top corner until a fantastic save from the South Melbourne goalkeeper turned the ball away for a corner. Nearing fulltime both sides created chances to score, neither side was able to find the winner, so it was off to a penalty shoot-out. Both goalkeepers acquitted themselves well, but Sydney Olympic’s veteran goalkeeper Paul Henderson was the hero in the shootout ensuring us the Bank of Sydney Cup.
Pretty much the entire 1st Grade team got a run, except for Brayden Sorge, Niko Tsattalios and Leigh Egger. Madonis was good at RB, Stamatellis marshalled the defence well. Although out of position Angel was solid at LB. Tomelic, Fondyke were good in midfield and the Gaitatzis brothers and Triantis worked well together up front. The others along with the guys who came on off the bench did well and contributed to the team. If the first 75 minutes are anything to go by, putting the ball into the back of the net might be a problem for us going forward this season, so it was a bit surprising to see that the coaching staff waited until the last 15 minutes to put a guy like Adrian Vranic on, who is a predator in front of a goal.
Overall it was a good night, there was a great turnout, the football was OK for a preseason match, and we even got a piece of silverware for our efforts.
On the Sunday, less than 2 days later, we were in action again, all be it with a more youthful and inexperienced side against Rockdale, and it showed as we went down 4-1.
The primitives of Rockdale, were up to their old tricks. Most of them are not there for the football to begin with and instead are there to push their well known agenda. As Sydney Olympic supporters we must rise above this nonsense and not be dragged down into their gutter.
As for those Rockdale coaches and people screaming for their players “to break the legs” of the Sydney Olympic players, the less said about them the better, utterly disgraceful. All in all, you can’t expect FNSW to do anything about it, because they are an agenda driven, incompetent organisation, who are asleep at the wheel.
Questions do need to be asked about why we are organising preseason games against such a team that we all know are trouble-makers. Hopefully this is a lesson learned for the club.
Our next preseason game is next Sunday afternoon down in Wollongong, at John Crehan Park in Cringilla, kickoff is 5pm.
Like a lot of the great suburban grounds in Sydney, Leichhardt, Belmore, Kogarah (all of which have been our home over the years), they are great places to go and watch sport.
We came out a little slow in the 1st half, the first 15 minutes South Melbourne were having the better of the play. After that, I thought that we took control of the match and began to play better and create the better of the chances. We had some great chances to take the lead before half-time, but a combination of some dreadful finishing and some good goalkeeping kept the score at 0-0 going into the half-time break.
In the 2nd half we continued to dominate the play, creating more and more half chances, once again failing to capitalise. Midway through the 2nd half we had a freekick on the edge of the box and Harris Gaitatzis’ resulting shot was going into the top corner until a fantastic save from the South Melbourne goalkeeper turned the ball away for a corner. Nearing fulltime both sides created chances to score, neither side was able to find the winner, so it was off to a penalty shoot-out. Both goalkeepers acquitted themselves well, but Sydney Olympic’s veteran goalkeeper Paul Henderson was the hero in the shootout ensuring us the Bank of Sydney Cup.
Pretty much the entire 1st Grade team got a run, except for Brayden Sorge, Niko Tsattalios and Leigh Egger. Madonis was good at RB, Stamatellis marshalled the defence well. Although out of position Angel was solid at LB. Tomelic, Fondyke were good in midfield and the Gaitatzis brothers and Triantis worked well together up front. The others along with the guys who came on off the bench did well and contributed to the team. If the first 75 minutes are anything to go by, putting the ball into the back of the net might be a problem for us going forward this season, so it was a bit surprising to see that the coaching staff waited until the last 15 minutes to put a guy like Adrian Vranic on, who is a predator in front of a goal.
Overall it was a good night, there was a great turnout, the football was OK for a preseason match, and we even got a piece of silverware for our efforts.
On the Sunday, less than 2 days later, we were in action again, all be it with a more youthful and inexperienced side against Rockdale, and it showed as we went down 4-1.
The primitives of Rockdale, were up to their old tricks. Most of them are not there for the football to begin with and instead are there to push their well known agenda. As Sydney Olympic supporters we must rise above this nonsense and not be dragged down into their gutter.
As for those Rockdale coaches and people screaming for their players “to break the legs” of the Sydney Olympic players, the less said about them the better, utterly disgraceful. All in all, you can’t expect FNSW to do anything about it, because they are an agenda driven, incompetent organisation, who are asleep at the wheel.
Questions do need to be asked about why we are organising preseason games against such a team that we all know are trouble-makers. Hopefully this is a lesson learned for the club.
Our next preseason game is next Sunday afternoon down in Wollongong, at John Crehan Park in Cringilla, kickoff is 5pm.
Tuesday 2 February 2016
Off and running
The Pre-Season has officially started and with that,
we will be involved in many warm-up matches leading into the start of the NSW
NPL season, which is set to begin in late March.
First cab off the rank was Parramatta FC, a name I just cannot bring myself to call them, they’ll always be Melita to me and I suspect to many of you. The match was supposed to take place at Melita Stadium, but due to the weather they moved it to FNSW Headquarters, Valentine Park in Glenwood, quite the trek.
Anyway, onto the match itself. In the 1st half we started off brightly, dominating possession and having the better of the chances, we were looking pretty good and we were rewarded with a nice goal from new recruit, Mark Cindric. In reality due to our fine play, we probably should have been further in front and gone to half-time with a bigger lead.
The coaching staff rang the changes during the 2nd half, with a few younger players getting a run. A combination of that and Melita lifting a gear saw the match turn into a real arm-wrestle. As it happened, Melita managed to grab 2 goals to take the lead, and despite our best efforts that’s the way the score-line stayed.
All in all, a few players were tried in different positions, plus we had some important players who didn’t play, Chris Triantis, Howard Fondyke and Niko Tsattalios to name a few. Some would say, “it’s only preseason” or conversely, “things are not looking good for the season”. I probably have a foot in each camp, acknowledging that it’s only preseason, but also the boys could do with a win for their confidence.
Due to the much publicised slashing of the 1st Grade budget, much has been made of our “youth policy” for this season. I personally can’t see why a 19-20 year old shouldn’t be able to compete in and even dominate this NSW NPL Competition, they should be dominating at this level.
Obviously times have changed, but there was a time when we had 15 year-olds like Peter Raskopoulos, Chris Kalantzis and Nick Carle debuting for Sydney Olympic and playing 1st Grade at the top level in this country, we also had many others throughout the years who have made their debut for the club at 16, 17, 18 years of age.
These days guys who are 19-20 years old are seen as “young boys” - “youth players”. Surely if you are 19-20 and struggling to make it at State League Level, you just aren’t going to make it to the next level. Is it too much coddling? Is it lack of desire? Is it the fact that there are limited opportunities to progress further in this country at least?
I guess my point is, yes we might have many younger players in the squad for this season, but there is no reason why they can’t contribute greatly and help the club have a good year.
Our next preseason match is this Friday Night at Jubilee Oval, Kogarah, against old rivals, South Melbourne. Kickoff is 7:30pm.
Till next time
First cab off the rank was Parramatta FC, a name I just cannot bring myself to call them, they’ll always be Melita to me and I suspect to many of you. The match was supposed to take place at Melita Stadium, but due to the weather they moved it to FNSW Headquarters, Valentine Park in Glenwood, quite the trek.
Anyway, onto the match itself. In the 1st half we started off brightly, dominating possession and having the better of the chances, we were looking pretty good and we were rewarded with a nice goal from new recruit, Mark Cindric. In reality due to our fine play, we probably should have been further in front and gone to half-time with a bigger lead.
The coaching staff rang the changes during the 2nd half, with a few younger players getting a run. A combination of that and Melita lifting a gear saw the match turn into a real arm-wrestle. As it happened, Melita managed to grab 2 goals to take the lead, and despite our best efforts that’s the way the score-line stayed.
All in all, a few players were tried in different positions, plus we had some important players who didn’t play, Chris Triantis, Howard Fondyke and Niko Tsattalios to name a few. Some would say, “it’s only preseason” or conversely, “things are not looking good for the season”. I probably have a foot in each camp, acknowledging that it’s only preseason, but also the boys could do with a win for their confidence.
Due to the much publicised slashing of the 1st Grade budget, much has been made of our “youth policy” for this season. I personally can’t see why a 19-20 year old shouldn’t be able to compete in and even dominate this NSW NPL Competition, they should be dominating at this level.
Obviously times have changed, but there was a time when we had 15 year-olds like Peter Raskopoulos, Chris Kalantzis and Nick Carle debuting for Sydney Olympic and playing 1st Grade at the top level in this country, we also had many others throughout the years who have made their debut for the club at 16, 17, 18 years of age.
These days guys who are 19-20 years old are seen as “young boys” - “youth players”. Surely if you are 19-20 and struggling to make it at State League Level, you just aren’t going to make it to the next level. Is it too much coddling? Is it lack of desire? Is it the fact that there are limited opportunities to progress further in this country at least?
I guess my point is, yes we might have many younger players in the squad for this season, but there is no reason why they can’t contribute greatly and help the club have a good year.
Our next preseason match is this Friday Night at Jubilee Oval, Kogarah, against old rivals, South Melbourne. Kickoff is 7:30pm.
Till next time
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