Striker Ray O’Donovan off radar as Adelaide United set to lock in teen sensation; Alex Chidiac celebrates in Spain; and amateur player’s ban to stand
Adelaide United will surely be on the hunt for a proven goalscorer next year but apparently Irishman Roy O’Donovan is not a target as they get set to lock in a young talent. Plus, Alex Chidiac celebrates in Spain and amateur player’s ban to stand.
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Irishman Roy O’Donovan has attracted interest from A-League clubs without a notable striker for next season but Adelaide United hasn’t made a play for the ex Newcastle Jet according to sources.
With Adelaide’s Papa Babacar Diawara not getting a contract extension, the Reds will surely be on the hunt for a proven goalscorer once current coach Marco Kurz’s tenure ends.
The 33-year-old has scored 39 goals in 80 appearances for Jets and Central Coast.
He has scored five goals against Adelaide in seven matches.
The Jets on Monday withdrew its contract offer for O’Donovan.
Brook earns extension
Adelaide United appears set to re-sign teenage sensation Lachlan Brook for a two-year extension.
The 18-year-old made his A-League debut in a scoreless draw with Sydney FC last year, eight months after featuring in a Reds AFC Champions League clash against Jiangsu Suning (0-1).
He spent a lot of the time sidelined with a knee injury this season.
Brook is the third off contract player out of the 10 at the start of the season to re-sign for Adelaide after Michael Marrone and Nikola Mileusnic recently penned extensions.
Adelaide has lost youngsters Apostolos Stamatelopoulos (Western United) and Scott Galloway (Melbourne City) to rival clubs.
Papa Babacar Diawara was told via the media his contract won’t be extended.
Vince Lia has according to sources been told a decision on his Reds future won’t be made until a new coach is appointed.
Taylor Regan wanted out in January and paid for his own transfer fee in January to Selangor.
Kristin Konstandopoulos is also uncontracted.
Ken Ilso is serving a provisional ban for alleged doping.
It’s understood Adelaide’s on loan striker Jordy Thomassen’s representatives are interested in getting the Dutchman to Central Coast Mariners next season.
Thomassen is contracted to De Graafschap until June 2020, a club which is currently in the Dutch relegation play off zone.
Chidiac a title winner
South Australia’s Alex Chidiac has marked her debut season in Europe by winning the
Primera Division Femenina title with Spanish giant Atletico Madrid.
The Matildas playmaker joined in the celebrations with her star-studded teammates as they wrapped up the club’s fourth championship with a 3-1 win at Real Sociedad on Sunday.
Chidiac featured in 19 games and scored three goals to help Atletico finish the campaign six points clear of powerhouse Barcelona.
The success came 10 months after the former Adelaide United talent rejected offers to remain in the W-League in favour of moving 16,000km from home to sign for her first overseas club.
Hola 🆠@AtletiFemenino pic.twitter.com/GLBe3ghlZQ
— Alex Chidiac (@chidiac10) May 6, 2019
Chidiac was part of the squad which attracted a world record women’s game crowd of 60,739 to a clash with Barca and had trained daily at the same complex as the club’s men’s team.
The 20-year-old said it had been a challenging, but worthwhile, learning experience on and off the pitch.
“Everything to do with me going overseas is helping me become a better person and a better player,” Chidiac told The Advertiser late last year.
“The main thing in Spain is just understanding the game better.
“Every game our coach is playing us in different formations and different styles and the midfield is moving all over the place.
“It’s very different to anything here (in Australia), but I’m getting more of an understanding of the game now and it’s really helping me improve.”
Chidiac, who was not in the matchday squad on the weekend, would hope to regain her place as Atletico vied for the double in Sunday’s Copa de la Reina final, also against Sociedad.
Her next challenge would be gaining a place in the 23-player Australian squad for next month’s Women’s World Cup in France.
The Football Federation SA National Training Centre product earned the last of her 17 international caps in the 3-0 victory over Argentina in the Cup of Nations in March.
But she was omitted by coach Ante Milicic for last month’s friendly defeat to world champion USA.
Johnnie’s ban to stand
JOHNNIE Catalano has zero chance of having a five-year ban being cut short according to Football Federation SA chief executive Michael Carter.
Catalano said his mental and physical health is suffering after he was sent off for spitting at a referee, which he denies.
“It’s not a surprise, they haven’t taken anything into consideration, I’m mentally not well and physically not well and they just don’t care, all I want is to play amateur soccer,’’ Catalano said.
“I want to play that’s all.”
During a 12-month ban for the spitting allegation Catalano admitted to making a gross error of judgment which added another four years to his original ban.
Catalano, 27, played for the now defunct Eastern Elite club under another name when they couldn’t field 11 players.
“The independently disciplinary tribunal handed down the penalty and it was not appealed,’’ said Carter.
“Football Federation SA does not have the capacity nor the jurisdiction to amend the penalty. As a result the remainder of the penalty will stand.”
The former Eastern Elite amateur player must serve a ban until May next year.
If you or someone you know is in need help, call Lifeline on 13 11 14, visit www.lifeline.org, or call beyondblue on 1300 224 636.
Lucky number inspires veteran
Raiders great Justin Bralic drew the curtain on his playing career in fine fashion as he scored a stoppage-time winner in the FFA Cup SA round-of-16 clash with Adelaide Blue Eagles.
Co-incidentally, the veteran midfielder’s 400th and final senior game on Saturday came facing the same opponent he made his first-team debut against aged 17 in 1998.
But that was not where the similarities ended between Bralic’s last-gasp triumph on the weekend and his introduction to the former SA Premier League.
Bralic lined up for Raiders at Blue Eagles’ former Adey Reserve home ground, a decade after joining the Gepps Cross-based club as a junior.
By chance the youngster wore the No.17 shirt in his maiden appearance, a theme he would continue throughout his time in the game.
“It was the only one left in the kit bag, but I was proud to have anything as I lined up next to guys I had idolised since I was a kid watching them play,” Bralic, now 37, recalled.
“We lost that day and I got skinned by Angie Giannitto, a legend of their club.
“But I feel I have left a legacy at this club and have left the club and the playing number in a better place than when I started.”
Bralic wore 17 on his back for the remainder of his career, which took in a two-year stint with Victorian side St Albans Saints before he returned to Raiders in 2016.
He was hanging up his boots to spend more time with his partner Brooke and 10-week old daughter Daphne, while concentrating on his solar panel business.
Snapper’s Hall of Fame oversight
JOE Janko is SA soccer’s legendary photographer extraordinaire.
He is a living museum since he took his first pictures of the local game in 1971.
The son of a Polish-born couple what were sent to German concentration camps Janko is one of true characters of local soccer that has given just everything for very little fiscal reward.
Even the Dalai Lama was in awe of the man when he toured SA said Janko.
“The Dalai Lama walked up to me and bowed in front of me when I was taking photos of him in Adelaide years ago,’’ Janko said.
“He hugged me.
“Who am I to deserve that?
“I don’t know, they say he could see something there in me, I don’t know if it’s an aura or something.
“I was born just outside of Stuttgart (Germany) and moved to Adelaide when I was about two.
“My mum was Polish, she got taken to the concentration camps, she worked for German soldiers and worked on the farms doing potatoes and stuff.
“The Germans came through Poland and three of her brothers and her got taken away at 14 or 15 years old and they went to the camps.
“Me old man met my mum at the German camp, he was Ukrainian/Polish and he got taken away from Poland as well.
“When the camps were finished they got together and they got married after the war.”
Janko first went to Lobethal primary school, Our Lady Queen of Peace at Albert Park and then Hindmarsh primary where he played rugby.
And he was good at it.
“I played rugby with a former Blue Eagles coach Robbie Sen and I won a best and fairest playing rugby in 1959 and then we moved to Croydon and that’s when I took up soccer with Polonia (Croydon Kings),’’ he said.
“I played for Polonia from 1964 and then I went overseas in 1969, I played a few games in the first team, the coach was Edmund Kreft.
“Then in 1969 I hitch hiked around the world just watching soccer.”
Janko came back to Adelaide in 1971 armed with a camera and lenses that he bought in India.
It was the tools which ignited a new passion.
“The closest I could get to playing was taking photographs on the sidelines,’’ he said.
“A Polish photographer that followed Polonia then taught me some of the tricks of the trade.
“So I called the federation in to see if I could photos of games in 1971.
“I have taken close to a million photographs and loved just about every game I have done.
“I put in about seven to eight hours working on game day and send pictures to clubs and all the people that want the photos.”
“Pele and George Best coming out was greatest to photograph, but I’m thankful that I’m doing what I love.”
New rooms up and running
Adelaide Comets have officially opened their $3.5 million western parklands clubrooms, marking a new era for the National Premier Leagues SA outfit.
Past and present players, including men’s captain Allan Welsh and women’s skipper Sarah Chappel, were on hand on Friday night to formally launch the new Ellis Park headquarters.
The double-storey complex, which was funded by a State Government grant, features four changerooms, referee amenities, a gym and storage space on its ground floor.
A multipurpose function space with a kitchen, office, meeting room and covered terrace overlooking the pitches made up the top level.
Comets’ junior teams would remain based at venue, while the club’s senior sides would train at the ground but continue to play matches at the nearby SA Athletics Centre.
The new clubrooms were shared with Western Districts Athletics Club.
Tweet of the Week
🔥🔥🔥#ADLvMCY #ALeague #ALeagueFinals pic.twitter.com/Kdo9qOcoyN
— Joey Lynch (@joeylynchy) May 5, 2019
SA players abroad
Brandon Borrello — Freiburg (Bundesliga): Played 90 minutes in the reserve team in a 3-1 win over Hoffenheim.
Alex Chidiac — Atletico Madrid (women’s Spanish Primera Division): Not in the match day squad in a 3-1 away win over Real Sociedad.
Ben Garuccio — Hearts (Scottish Premier League): Recovering from an ACL injury.
Meni Haralampopoulos - Acharnaikos (Gamma Ethniki): End of season
Bradden Inman — Rochdale AFC (English League One): Came on in the 80th minute in a 2-1 loss to Sunderland at home.
Awer Mabil — Midtylland (Danish Super League): Played 90 minutes in a 3-1 away loss to OB
Osama Malik — Al-Batin (Saudi Arabia League): Competition on a break
Andrew Marveggio — Macva Sabac (Serbian Superliga): No details in the 1-1 draw with Vozdovac
Ryan McGowan — Dundee (Scottish Premier League): Played 90 minutes in a 1-0 home loss to Hamilton Academical.
Dylan McGowan — Vendsyssel FF (Danish Superliga): Competition on a break
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