Day: November 28, 2002

Thursday, 28 November 2002 12:00 AM

South Melbourne will take on the Young Socceroos in a warm up match, before the U20’s travel to Vanuatu for the Oceania World Youth Championship Qualifying tournament.

Postecoglou’s boys will compete in an exhibition match against our own Blue and Whites, in their last full hit out before they head overseas on Wednesday 4th December 2002.

The game will be played on Tuesday 3rd December 2002 at Bob Jane Stadium. Kick off is scheduled for 7:00pm and admission is FREE.

Everybody is encouraged to come along and support the Blue and Whites and farewell our Young Socceroos before they head to Vanuatu to represent our nation. South Melbourne’s Michael Baird, Massimo Murdocca and Vince Lia have all been selected in the touring squad and they will certainly do the club and country proud.

The Young Socceroos will play only two matches in their qualifying group (Group A) due to the late withdrawal of the Cook Islands.

The fixtures are:

Saturday December 7
Vanuatu Vs Australia – 2.30pm

Monday December 9
Australia Vs Papua New Guinea – 2.30pm.

The winner of Group A will playoff against the winner of Group B, which includes Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga.

Should Australia progress from its group, playoff matches are scheduled for Thursday December 19 (away match) and Sunday December 22 in Melbourne.

The winner of the playoff shall represent Oceania at the FIFA World Youth Championship to be held in the United Arab Emirates from 25 March – 16 April 2003.

Thursday, 28 November 2002 12:00 AM

Date: Sunday 1st December 2002
Venue: Bob Jane Stadium
Kickoff: 6.00pm AEST

HEAD TO HEAD (Overall):
Played: 6 South Melbourne wins 4, Parramatta wins 1, Draws 1

HEAD TO HEAD (at Melbourne):
Played: 3 (Regular Season), South Melbourne wins 2, Parramatta wins 0, Draws 1

LAST WEEK:
South Melbourne 1-0 home win Vs Marconi; Parramatta 4-1 home loss Vs Newcastle

Position on Ladder: South Melbourne 6th Vs Parramatta Power 10th

SOUTH MELBOURNE SQUAD: E Galekovic (gk), N Tolios, P Kisnorbo, M Durakovic, B Damianos, M Murdocca, D Clarkson, V Lia, P Trimboli, V Coveny, P Buljan, M Baird, S Iosifides, S Panopoulos, D Anastasiadis (gk)

IN: P Buljan, M Baird
OUT: Yet to be confirmed

PARRAMATTA POWER SQUAD: L Reddy (gk), A Ceccoli, M Thompson, W O’Sullivan, J Buonavoglia, M Beauchamp, J Sobczyk, A Elrich, M Langdon, N Orlic, B Renaud, R Brownlie, K Salapasidis, P Zorbas, D Vukovic (gk)

IN: unchanged
OUT: P Cardozo (groin – 6 weeks)

Thursday, 28 November 2002 12:00 AM

South Melbourne moved to fourth spot, its highest position of the season, thanks to a late winner by New Zealand International Vaughan Coveny.

Last nights 1 – 0 victory over Parramatta Power took the Blue and Whites to 17 points, behind third placed Newcastle only on goal difference. South Melbourne has won their past three consecutive home matches and travel north to hopefully continue their winning streak in the Sunshine State this Saturday.

Nick Theodorakopoulos’ Parramatta Power took it to the home team, playing a very tactful game continuously pressuring, closing the South Melbourne attacks and moving the ball quickly when in possession.

Danny Wright’s men kept penetrating the Power goal and with the match destined for a draw, Vaughn Coveny stepped up to capture the three points and score his fourth goal of the season.

“Although we are happy with the result we are not happy with the way we played. We have to readdress the training schedule to ensure players are peaking on a Sunday and not at a Wednesday night training session”, says Wright.

The goal came in the 85th minute when Vince Lia slipped passed his opponent to swerve a cross to an awaiting Michael Baird, who’s directed header across goal found Vaughan Coveny’s thigh which guided the ball past the goal line.

“Baird directed his header well and the keeper made a good save which luckily fell to me. The ball was awkward to hit but I got my shin onto it and it went in”, says Coveny.

The hard fought victory came at the expense of playmaker and in form midfielder Bill Damianos. Damianos had to be substituted in the 13th minute after he caused damage to his hamstring trying to rapidly surpass two opponents.

“Billy went into the game under an injury cloud but tests on Friday showed no immediate tear. Unfortunately hamstrings can defy medical advice and Damianos has now a tear to his upper thigh and will be out from 2 to 4 weeks”, says Wright.

Due to the upcoming Australian Under 20 World Cup qualification tournament, South Melbourne are without Vince Lia, Michael Baird and Massimo Murdocca for the game against Brisbane. The Strikers will also miss young talents Matthew McKay and Wayne Heath and Fernando Rech who is suspended.