CITY INSIDER
CENTRAL COAST MARINERS TUESDAY 22 FEBRUARY AAMI PARK
MELBOURNE CITY v CENTRAL COAST
CITY INSIDER TUESDAY 22 FEBRUARY
CAPTAIN’S MESSAGE WELL, HOW ABOUT THAT FOR A FRIDAY NIGHT OUT AT AAMI? IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT I WISHED I COULD HAVE BEEN A PART OF THE BOYS’ SUCCESS, BUT HOPEFULLY IT WON’T BE TOO LONG UNTIL I’M BACK AT AAMI AS A PLAYER RATHER THAN A SPECTATOR. That said, watching on as a spectator helps me both see the game from your point of view and from a better position to observe the team’s performance, and I was pretty happy with what I saw from both perspectives. I continue to believe that we’ve been gradually improving over the course of this season and getting closer and closer to our best – what we need to see from ourselves now is the ability to perform at our best consistently, and that comes from putting the results on the board with a sustained winning run. Again, I’m confident that we can do exactly that because, as you saw on Friday night, every single player in the squad is prepared to give it their all to ensure that they’re contributing to the team. I’ll repeat what I said last week: regardless of age or time with the squad, it’s up to every one of us to contribute to the team when we’re called upon to do so. That kind of shared responsibility and unity creates an awesome energy at training – we all push each other to give our very best and to make sure that we’re playing for one another. At the moment, we’re obviously buzzing to get back out there and keep playing football, but that’s especially true because we’re at home again tonight. It’ll be the last time we play in front of you all at AAMI this month, so we’re keen to make sure that we leave things off on a positive note until we next return. It’s another short turnaround for us following on from Friday to tonight, but we don’t mind one bit. We’ll be turning up to AAMI Park with three points on our mind and we’ll give everything from the first whistle until the last to make that happen. See you in the stands, C’mon City! Scott Jamieson Melbourne City FC captain
Together We Move
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MELBOURNE CITY v CENTRAL COAST
CITY INSIDER TUESDAY 22 FEBRUARY
CITY MARINATING MID-SEASON FORM OUR CITY BOYS WILL LOOK TO CONTINUE THEIR STRONG RUN OF FEBRUARY FORM WITH A WIN AGAINST CENTRAL COAST MARINERS IN TONIGHT’S A-LEAGUE MEN’S AT AAMI PARK. The boys overcame a midweek loss against Adelaide United with a resounding 3-0 win over Newcastle Jets on Friday night, and we’ll now be looking to maintain that momentum against the Mariners in a bid to create separation at the top of the table. Our home win against the Jets was the type of complete performance that we’ve all been yearning for, with the boys netting three goals courtesy of Jamie Maclaren, Mathew Leckie and Carl Jenkinson, all the while keeping a clean sheet for just the second time this A-League Men season.
Our attacking might has served us well this season as we rank first for goals-per-game at 1.92, and we’ll all be hoping to see a continuation of this form in front of goal when the freely conceding Mariners come to visit tonight. Nick Montgomery’s side has conceded 12 goals in its past five games and were most recently held to a 1-1 draw by last-placed Perth Glory at home. Marco Urena is also a major attacking threat who scored the last time we faced Central Coast. It was our travelling City boys who came away with the
three points on that occasion, securing a 3-1 victory in late January. Maclaren opened the scoring, but the Mariners hit back before half-time through Urena. Fortunately, a strong second half saw Andrew Nabbout and an on-debut Jenkinson find the back of the net to secure the result that broke our run of three consecutive draws prior to that. A promising bit of trivia for you is that we’ve never lost to the Mariners as Melbourne City, with Central Coast last finding success at AAMI Park against us back in 2013/14 when we were still Melbourne Heart. Do you remember who scored?
A-LEAGUE MEN PREVIEW
DANGER PLAYER
SEASON STATS - CENTRAL COAST
JASON CUMMINGS The Scottish-born forward who is eligible for the Socceroos came to the Mariners with much fanfare of his exploits off the field rather than on it but it’s been his football that has done the talking since touching down in Australia last month. Cummings joined the Central Coast from Dundee FC in the Scottish Premiership and the striker has made a name for himself in his native Scotland and the English lower leagues as a lethal centre forward with a relentless attitude. If the Mariners are to buck their stuttering form tonight, Cummings will play a role.
10
3
LEAGUE POSITION
GAMES WON
14
15
GOALS SCORED
GOALS CONCEDED
A-LEAGUE LADDER
LAST RESULT
LAST TIME WE MET
CENTRAL COAST
1
CENTRAL COAST
1
PERTH GLORY
1
MELBOURNE CITY
3
Isuzu UTE A-League Sunday 13 February, 2022 Central Coast Stadium
VIDEO HIGLIGHTS
Isuzu UTE A-League 2021/22 Sunday 23 January, 2021 Central Coast Stadium
VIDEO HIGLIGHTS
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MATCH SQUADS
HEAD COACH: PATRICK KISNORBO
A-LEAGUE MEN
1. TOM GLOVER
2. SCOTT GALLOWAY
3. SCOTT JAMIESON
4. NUNO REIS
5. ROSTYN GRIFFITHS
7. MATT LECKIE
8. AIDEN O’NEILL
9. JAMIE MACLAREN
10. FLORIN BERENGUER
13. NATHANIEL ATKINSON
15. ANDREW NABBOUT
16. TARAS GOMULKA
17. STEFAN COLACOVSKI
18. CONNOR METCALFE
20.MANUEL PUCCIARELLI
22. CURTIS GOOD
23. MARCO TILIO
33. MATT SUTTON
34. JORDAN HALL
36. KERRIN STOKES
37. MAX CAPUTO
38. JORDAN BOS
42. AHMED TALEB
35. RAPHAEL BORGES RODRIGUES
39. ANTHONY LESIOTIS
1 50
MARK BIRIGHITTI LAWRENCE CARUSO
3 5 14 15 18 21 23 25
LEWIS MILLER NOAH SMITH KYE ROWLES STORM ROUX JACOB FARRELL RUON TONGYIK DANIEL HALL MATTHEW HATCH
4 7 8 16 27 28 34
JOSH NISBET CY GODDARD OLIVER BOZANIC MAX BALARD NICOLAI MULLER JAMES BAYLISS HARRISON STEELE
9 10 11 12 17 19 33
JASON CUMMINGS MATHEUS MORESCHE BENI NKOLOLO MARCOS URENA SAVVAS SIATRAVANIS MATT SIMON GARANG KUOL
HEAD COACH: NICK MONTGOMERY
CENTRAL COAST MARINERS
MELBOURNE CITY v CENTRAL COAST
CITY INSIDER TUESDAY 22 JANUARY
NEW TO THE CITY: A HISTORY OF VISAS NOW INTO HIS FOURTH SEASON AT MELBOURNE CITY FC, IT SEEMS AS THOUGH 2022 COULD BE FLORIN BERENGUER’S YEAR AS THE FRENCHMAN CONTINUES TO TAKE HIS GAME TO NEW LEVELS, MUCH TO THE DELIGHT OF FANS. In just 13 appearances, Berenguer has already surpassed each of his goal involvements tallies from his first three campaigns at City, with two goals and three assists to his name at present. Even more impressively, the Frenchman is just two games away from becoming City’s all-time highest foreign appearance-maker, with Berenguer set to draw level with Bruno Fornaroli on 83 appearances should the midfielder feature against Central Coast Mariners tonight. The impending achievement by the Frenchman to surpass his four-time Uruguayan teammate from the 2018/19 season serves as a reminder of some of the contributions of international signings across City’s history, with this no more explicit than the two aforementioned players being a league-double winner and FFA Cup-winning captain respectively. As the title of City’s mostcapped foreign player looks set to change hands, there’s surely no better time to take a deep dive into the trends and quirks of the Club’s international signings over the years. In 12 seasons in the A-League, players of 25 foreign nationalities have turned out for Melbourne City, with the overwhelming majority (17) unsurprisingly hailing from
the dominant footballing continent of Europe. Three Asian nations (Japan, Philippines and Singapore) and three South American nations (Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay) have been represented. Martinique-international Harry Novillo and eight-time Liberian national team defender Patrick Gerhardt are unique in that they are the only City players to have represented their entire continents of North America and Africa respectively. There’s certainly been a strong Dutch influence at City over the years, with a record seven players and inaugural Head Coach John van’t Schip all hailing from the Netherlands. City’s next most prominent foreign contingent is split three ways between Brazil, England and Italy, who’ve each been represented by four players, including Carl Jenkinson and Manuel Pucciarelli for the latter two nations respectively this season. City has certainly had players hailing from some pretty nontraditional footballing nations over the years, with Malta, Singapore and Liberia’s respective current FIFA Global Rankings of 174th, 161st and 145th highlighting that fact. A special mention has to be given to Novillo’s Martinique, who aren’t a FIFA-affiliated national team. Finally, onto the record-
breakers and makers, it’ll be Berenguer and Fornaroli who are tied on 83 appearances in all competitions if the Frenchman takes to the pitch tonight. The title of the next most-capped foreign City player is also a tie, jointly held by Argentinian Jonatan Germano and Dutchman Bart Schenkeveld on 57 appearances. Englishman Craig Noone (55) rounds out the top five. Whilst Berenguer may soon have Fornaroli’s measure in the appearances-stakes, he may need to have a likely illfated discussion with Patrick Kisnorbo and Jamie Maclaren if he wants to reach the Uruguayan’s foreign record of 57 goals in all competitions. Fornaroli may be sitting on that one for a while, with no current City players in the top five. League double-winner Craig Noone managed 15 goals in his time with City, whilst Ross McCormack (Scotland), Harry Novillo (Martinique) and Adrián Luna (Uruguay) round out the five highest-scoring foreigners with 14, 13 and eight goals respectively.
MELBOURNE CITY v CENTRAL COAST
CITY INSIDER TUESDAY 22 JANUARY
CITY WOMEN EYE TOP SPOT MELBOURNE CITY FC IS NOW WITHIN TWO POINTS OF LEAGUE LEADERS SYDNEY FC WITH A GAME IN HAND AFTER A 2-1 WIN ON SUNDAY. RHIANNA POLLICINA AND KAITLYN TORPEY NETTED IN THE FIRST HALF BUT A LATE PRINCESS IBINI SPOTKICK MADE FOR A TENSE FINISH TO THE BLOCKBUSTER CLASH. Rado Vidosic was forced into two changes for the do-ordie clash, bringing Meisha Westland and Leticia McKenna into the starting lineup in place of Rebekah Stott and Hannah Wilkinson, who are away on international duty with New Zealand. In a high-stakes bout, the competing teams traded blows early, with a Cortnee Vine opportunity well-saved by Melissa Barbieri in the opening two minutes before Rhianna Pollicina came close from a free-kick in the 6th. Following an end-to-end opening period, City began to get on top and the team’s strong start was rewarded with a goal in the 13th minute. A great team move culminated in Kaitlyn Torpey feeding a ball into the box for Pollicina, who found the bottom left corner with a composed finish. Whilst the game settled after the early goal, it was still City who remained on top in the majority of general play over the first half,
with our back five and Barbieri holding strong against the pace of Sydney’s front three. The home side got another good chance in the 39th when Leah Davidson pulled a ball back into the penalty area for Pollicina, who fired straight at Whyman to save comfortably. City’s strong first-half showing would continue right into stoppage time too, with the team netting a second through Torpey, who placed her shot into the bottom left corner after she was found with an exquisite, line-breaking through ball from TJ Vlajnic. Fans were treated to an exhilarating start to the second half, with massive moments for either side. It began with a 48th-minute McNamara cross from the byline that nearly became an impossible goal, with the ball bouncing off the top of the crossbar to the huge relief of Whyman who appeared beaten. It was City’s keeper who was in
action next, with Barbieri pulling off two brilliant diving saves in the 49th and 53rd to keep Sydney at bay amidst a fiveminute barrage from the Sky Blues. It was then City’s turn to draw some unbelievable saves from Whyman as momentum swung back in the home side’s favour over the next five. The remainder of the encounter was overshadowed by a gameending knee injury for Holly McNamara, who needed to be supported off the field by her teammates after going down without contact. A 78th-minute penalty for Sydney set up a grandstand finish but the City girls were able to withstand the pressure and hold on for the 2-1 win. Our destiny is now in our own hands, as wins in our final three games will ensure that City finishes top of the A-League Women table. That massive task begins on Thursday night against Brisbane Roar at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex.
MELBOURNE CITY v CENTRAL COAST
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CITY INSIDER TUESDAY 22 FEBRUARY
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