{"id":19547,"date":"2016-03-30T19:51:09","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T09:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=19547"},"modified":"2016-03-30T19:58:45","modified_gmt":"2016-03-30T09:58:45","slug":"a-league-201516-round-25-down-to-the-wire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=19547","title":{"rendered":"A-League 2015\/16 &#8211; Round 25 &#8211; Down To The Wire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?attachment_id=5928\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5928\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5928\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tagfootball.jpg\" alt=\"tagfootball\" width=\"600\" height=\"75\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tagfootball.jpg 600w, http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/tagfootball-300x37.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?attachment_id=19548\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-19548\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19548\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/arnold.jpg\" alt=\"arnold\" width=\"620\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/arnold.jpg 620w, http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/arnold-300x160.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>MELBOURNE VICTORY 2 WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS 0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>NEWCASTLE JETS 1 PERTH GLORY 2<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>BRISBANE ROAR 3 SYDNEY FC 2<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>ADELAIDE UNITED 4 CENTRAL COAST MARINERS 2<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>MELBOURNE CITY 3 WELLINGTON PHOENIX 0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?attachment_id=19552\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-19552\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19552\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1516r25.jpg\" alt=\"1516r25\" width=\"511\" height=\"515\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1516r25.jpg 511w, http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1516r25-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1516r25-298x300.jpg 298w, http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1516r25-70x70.jpg 70w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 511px) 100vw, 511px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Brisbane Score A Goal From Kick Off To Snatch All Three Points<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/az0CPpkAtbM\" width=\"853\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">If you were to ask me what my favourite regular season Brisbane Roar game of all time is, it would be their <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=6595\">2-1 win against Sydney FC<\/a><\/strong> from January 2012. \u00a0The Roar trailed Sydney FC until stoppage time at which point Mohammed Adnan banged in a peach of free kick and then a minute later, Besart Berisha poked in a header and the Roar snatched all 3 points. \u00a0After the game there was a free for all as Berisha invited Pascal Boschaart into the parking lot for a brawl. \u00a0If you were there that night you would understand. \u00a0It was magic.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">There&#8217;s something especially sweet about beating Sydney FC and this weekend it was satisfying in more ways than one. \u00a0Once again the Roar won the game in a houdini act as they conceded a late equalizer to Filip Holosko only to take the lead again after four passes from the kick off. \u00a0The win ensured that the Roar stayed in strong contention for the league title, it all but ended Sydney FC&#8217;s finals hopes and it must surely heap immense pressure on Graham Arnold who is now winless in ten.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The game was a milestone for Jamie Maclaren who netted his eighteenth goal in twenty one games making him the most prolific Australian goal scorer in a single season of the A-League. \u00a0Dimi Petratos also continued his rich vein of form as he scored his sixth goal of the campaign. \u00a0It&#8217;s an amazing comeback when you think back to Dimi&#8217;s poor form and shaky confidence last year. \u00a0He\u00a0started this season with a goal against Liverpool FC and hasn&#8217;t looked back.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">A quick tip of the hat to Steve Lustica. \u00a0Roar captain Matt McKay was unavailable for this game due to a Socceroos call up\u00a0but Lustica was a fine replacement. \u00a0I don&#8217;t feel Lustica gets the praise he&#8217;s due with pundits that cover the A-League but he is a much loved and appreciated figure in Brisbane.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sydney FC fans right now <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BRIvSYD?src=hash\">#BRIvSYD<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/aleague?src=hash\">#aleague<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Sjs0Mmasbh\">pic.twitter.com\/Sjs0Mmasbh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ben Smith (@BenSmith94) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BenSmith94\/status\/713674542229512192\">March 26, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>News and Notes<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Wanderers stumbled but Brisbane, City and Adelaide all won their games to ensure a finish that will go down to the wire. \u00a0City are the form team but have the toughest final two games (Adelaide and Perth). \u00a0The Wanderers have the shakiest form but have the easiest final two games (Mariners and Nix). \u00a0Not sure what to make of Brisbane&#8217;s run (Jets and Victory). \u00a0Newcastle are theoretically an inferior team but they are a bogey team for the Roar. \u00a0And who knows with Melbourne Victory. \u00a0They beat us four nil, we beat them five nil.<\/li>\n<li>It was a weekend for records.<\/li>\n<li>Bruno Fornaroli broke Besart Berisha&#8217;s record for the most goals in a single season as he was heavily involved in City&#8217;s 3-0 dismantling of Wellington Phoenix. \u00a0Ridiculously, after less than a single season he is also Melbourne City&#8217;s leading goal scorer <em>in their entire history<\/em> which says a lot about how much previous strikers have struggled at the club. \u00a0City also broke the competition record for most goals scored in a season. \u00a0They&#8217;re up to 61 with 2 rounds to go.<\/li>\n<li>Bruce Djite tied Travis Dodd&#8217;s record for most goals at Adelaide. \u00a0They&#8217;re both on 30. \u00a0It seems kinda low considering Adelaide have been two time grand finalists and have won the league before.<\/li>\n<li>Central Coast Mariners broke the league record for most goals conceded as they hit the sixty mark. \u00a0Goddamn.<\/li>\n<li>Perth Glory&#8217;s Andy Keogh tied Marc Janko&#8217;s record of most goals in consecutive matches: \u00a07.<\/li>\n<li>Wellington Phoenix announced the signing of Melbourne Victory marksman Gui Finkler.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">NEWS | Wellington Phoenix get a Brazilian as Gui Finkler signs from Melbourn&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UAKhI5NzxY\">https:\/\/t.co\/UAKhI5NzxY<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/4KnPhS1NDw\">pic.twitter.com\/4KnPhS1NDw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Yellow Fever (@YellowFever_NZ) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/YellowFever_NZ\/status\/712813812420706304\">March 24, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Socceroos played two World Cup qualifying games at home winning 7-0 against Tajikstan and 5-0 against Jordan. \u00a0The team look as strong as they&#8217;ve ever been under Ange Postecoglou and there is genuine competition for spots right across the park. \u00a0Tom Rogic is an exciting goal scoring proposition at an international level, Aaron Mooy is an amazing midfield general and the evergreen Timmy Cahill continues to score goals with his head. \u00a0He&#8217;s only two shy of fifty international goals.<\/li>\n<li>The Socceroos visit was also a sorry reminder of how far the Mariners have fallen. \u00a0Matt Ryan, Trent Sainsbury and Mile Jedinak are all quality players and all Mariners alumni. \u00a0The current crop of youngsters look all at sea by comparison.<\/li>\n<li>Sadly, the footballing world lost a giant of the game this week as Johan Cruyff passed away at 68.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?attachment_id=19551\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-19551\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19551\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/cruyff.jpg\" alt=\"cruyff\" width=\"620\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/cruyff.jpg 620w, http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/cruyff-300x160.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The A-League is headed down to the wire with two rounds left to go<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[218,342,2485,2484,1230],"class_list":["post-19547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-a-league","tag-brisbane-roar","tag-bruno-fornaroli","tag-graham-arnold","tag-sydney-fc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19547"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19555,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19547\/revisions\/19555"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}