The Sporting Hack

Revenge is on the minds of Melbourne Victory as they face cross-city rivals, Melbourne City, at AAMI Park on Saturday evening. The two clubs met in last season’s A-League Grand Final with City edging the game 1-0 but in former Spain and Manchester United star, Juan Mata, the hosts have a potential matchwinner in their ranks. The 38-year-old (above) netted his first goal for the club in the recent win against Perth Glory and that could be a positive sign of things to come for the Big V. “He's an unbelievable guy. What he has done in this game and how humble and respectful he is, is phenomenal and we should count ourselves lucky in Australia to have someone like that in the A-League,” said captain Jason Davidson. “He's got the hunger and the will to win, both on and off the pitch, and it's fantastic. If you look at his career and what he's accomplished and the trophies he has won, then that speaks for itself. “To have longevity like that at the clubs that he...

Three-goal Walcott: hitting headlines for the right reasons It’s likely that Match of the Day pundit Alan Hansen, an infamous stickler for the defensive aspect of football, will have spectacularly combusted at the state of the defending on show during this week’s League Cup action. Man-marking and tactics seemingly went out the window in one fell swoop in favour of a gung ho approach and a reckless abandon for any semblance of ‘structure’ – whatever that is. It is what was needed after the toxic opening fortnight to October 2012.  Just two weeks ago the tag of the beautiful game was nothing but ironic.  A farcical and frustrating downpour in Poland, which saw England’s World Cup qualifying game delayed by 20 hours, interspersed a racist riot in south-east Serbia and a drunken act of thuggery from a Leeds United fan. The fallout from the two serious offences listed on the charge sheet above still linger within touching distance, as does the wider is...

Congratulations today must go to Didier Drogba who will be leaving Chelsea this summer after an illustrious spell at Stamford Bridge spanning eight years. Some may view his decision to leave the Blues and potentially head east to Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua in search of a healthy pension as greedy. Perhaps financially so, however, not only is it the least he deserves for a glittering club career, but would staying in the Premier League chasing trophies not be equally avaricious? Let’s be honest, Chelsea are hardly in the best of places at the moment; they still have an ageing squad, uncertainty surrounds the manager’s position and they were, to all intents and purposes, a tad lucky to win the Champions League on Saturday night. Therefore congratulations are in order to the Ivorian who has decided to leave on a high. As highs go, there are few better ways to go out than to strike the decisive penalty in the Champions League final. Mention the name Zidane for ex...

A little over a year ago I left the Keepmoat Stadium on a Tuesday night a disgruntled fellow – local rivals Barnsley had eased to a 2-0 win over Doncaster Rovers. The only solace was to be found, of all places, in Blackpool. At Bloomfield Road to be precise, where the Tangerines had thrown away a two goal lead against Manchester United to lose 3-2. It was consoling for the fact that, as very much an anti-Manchester United fan, I was also in the miniscule minority of the footballing world who also wanted Blackpool to struggle and accordingly had struck a £5 bet with my father that they would be relegated despite their lofty – and comfortable – position of twelfth. Why? From a hazy recollection I was watching Match of the Day while inebriated and said that I thought the Seasiders were the sort of side who were either red hot or ice cold – far too inconsistent, and therefore said “These lot will go down.” My dad, who does not part with money easily, smelled a bet – and one that ...

A Manchester United fan from Macclesfield rang a radio phone-in on Saturday night to express his desire to see the club he supported field a ‘B’ side in the English leagues. It is an idea that has been mooted by foreign managers from Arsene Wenger to Andre Villas-Boas but has been declared ‘fanciful’ by traditionalists and many ‘morally correct’ former professional footballers. The presenter of the radio show, rightly, quizzed his caller as to a) why he didn’t support Macclesfield and b) what would happen if Manchester United reserves took the 16 th position of League 2 which the Moss Rose side currently occupy? His answer that he was desperate to travel to Torquay on a Tuesday night to see a mixture of kids and crocks play took some believing. At this point, and after a bit of internet research, I’d like to highlight the case of a German-born Spaniard called Joselu (above). A ‘promising player, one for the future’ – but then again, who at the Santiago Bernabeu isn’t? The only ...

It’s possible to suggest that Sunday’s Manchester derby had everything you could wish for from a football game – goals, controversial talking points, and the potential for a City shock, which had it been achieved would, at 3-0 down and with 10 men, have eclipsed that John Macken winner in February 2004 at White Hart Lane. It was not to be. However, the quality of the game, which United won 3-2, means that the main controversy and talking point - Vincent Kompany’s red card - seems to have partially slipped the radar. Maybe not to the blue half of Manchester though, who could wishfully remonstrate all day that, with a full complement of players, they would have made an even better fist of it. Chris Foy, a referee berated to the hilt by Spurs boss Harry Redknapp in recent weeks, for a dreadful refereeing performance in a league game at Stoke, was the man entrusted with making split-second decisions in one of the fiercest games in the land. He was bold, he was decisive, he was unluc...

Manchester City 2-3 Manchester United FA Cup R3, Etihad Stadium, Att: 46,808 Two headed goals from Wayne Rooney helped Manchester United put out arch-rivals, and Cup holders, Manchester City in one of the most compelling FA Cup games of all time. A re-run of last season’s FA Cup semi-final provided the spectacle for an unforgettable derby day, which at half time seemed to be going only one way after Rooney’s double (right) sandwiched Danny Welbeck’s acrobatic volley which saw the visitors enter the break with a 3-0 lead. A City fightback seemed all the more improbable on 12 minutes, when, at 1-0 down, Vincent Kompany was shown a contentious straight red card by referee Chris Foy for a two-footed lunge on Nani. If it looked like United were going to return the 6-1 drubbing they received earlier on in the season with interest then all inside the Etihad Stadium, and across the country were wrong. Goals from Aleksandar Kolarov and Sergio Aguero within 20 minutes of the interval set up...