A-Leagues news: Van Egmond quits Jets, Unite Round crowds disappoint
Newcastle coach Gary van Egmond has quit the club to take up a role with the Chinese Football Association. Also full A-Leagues Tackle with Marco Monteverde and Robbie Slater.
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Newcastle Jets return to form has hit a speed bump with coach Gary van Egmond handing back his whistle to take up a job with the Chinese Football Association.
Van Egmond’s role with the Chinese Football Association hasn’t been confirmed but the nation’s head women’s coach Shui Qingxia was sacked in November after failing to guide China to a spot at the Paris Olympics.
The 58-year-old isn’t the first A-Leagues women’s coach to depart this season for a national team role with Western United coach Mark Torcaso named Philippines head coach.
It’s the second time in as many seasons the Jets’ head women’s coach as left mid-season.
Van Egmond was the interim coach when former coach Ash Wilson left midway through the Jets’ 2022/23 season.
The father of Matildas midfielder Emily van Egmond, who made her start playing for the Jets, officially took over the role in March last year.
Van Egmond at least got to finish his time at the Jets on a high after the women’s team secured an impressive win over Brisbane Roar on Saturday night – putting them in sixth place and in finals contention.
Newcastle Jets CEO Shane Mattiske said van Egmond was offered the job by the Chinese Football Association late last year.
“With our Women’s team drawing record support and building great momentum at the halfway mark of the competition, Gary has made a big contribution to the team and we are disappointed that he is leaving the Club at this point,” Mattiske said.
“Gary has received an attractive offer from the Chinese Football Association however it is clear that the timing of his departure is not ideal for our team and our fans.
“Gary had raised the possibility taking up this opportunity late last year with the last few weeks being focused on whether he would take the role and discussions around an appropriate release from his contract.”
Assistant coach Ryan Campbell will take charge as interim head coach while the club works to find a permanent solution.
THE A-LEAGUES TACKLE: IMPORTS SHINE, CROWDS NOT AS THEY SEEM IN UNITE ROUND
It was a massive weekend for the A-Leagues, with every side in the competition meeting in Sydney for Unite Round.
Robbie Slater and Marco Monteverde run the ruler over their likes and dislikes from the round.
LIKES
STARS RISE TO THE OCCASION
The highlight of “Unite Round” was seeing two of the A-League’s best foreign players lift their teams to another level in Friday’s pulsating 3-3 draw between Macarthur FC and Western United.
The Bulls’ Ulises Davila and United’s Penha were superb, scoring five goals between them at CommBank Stadium in one of the games of the season.
Arguably the best player in the competition, Macarthur’s Mexican captain Davila was not going to let his side leave the ground with anything to show for their efforts.
And Penha, who is seemingly close to regaining the superb form he displayed at Newcastle a couple of seasons ago, was equally as determined in his efforts to inject some much-needed life into United’s season.
Such were their performances, it was perhaps fitting that the game ended in a draw.
The A-League needs more games like this where the competition’s foreign talent shows why their clubs have put so much faith and trust in them.
Davila summed it up perfectly after the match when he suggested that imports need to be better than the competition’s Australian players, otherwise there is no point bringing them to the A-League.
HIRO WORSHIP
And while we’re praising the A-League’s imports, let’s not forget Adelaide United’s Japanese striker Hiroshi Ibusuki, who netted a magnificent hat-trick in the Reds’ pulsating 4-3 win over Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night.
“Hiro” has now scored six goals in his past five games, and it’s extremely timely considering he’s off-contract at the end of the season.
Ibusuki loves Adelaide and wants to stay, and his recent form is making it very hard for the Reds to not offer him a new deal.
However, Adelaide coach Carl Veart also wants to bring a new striker to the club in the current transfer window.
Perhaps that’s also spurring on Ibusuki, and that’s what Veart wants.
Competition for places will only make the Reds stronger, and despite Ibusuki’s recent spate of goals, there’s no doubt that Adelaide – who will lose teenage forward Nestory Irankunda to Bayern Munich next season – need more depth in attack.
FIGHTING MARINERS
Credit must go to the Central Coast Mariners for the resilience they showed to grab a late equaliser against the unbeaten Melbourne Victory.
Let’s not forget this was the Mariners’ first match since the departure of Brazilian star Marco Tulio, who left Central Coast to join Japanese club Kyoto Sanga.
With the Mariners having already lost a host of key players in the off-season, there were doubts they could cope with the departure of another star.
But the champions showed what they were made of against a Victory team that has staked an early claim for title favouritism this season.
After losing their first four matches of the campaign, the Mariners are now unbeaten in their past eight games.
The knives were out early for coach Mark Jackson, who had the tough task of replacing championship-winning mentor Nick Montgomery.
However, Englishman Jackson has found a formula that seems likely to ensure the Mariners won’t give up their title without a fight.
DISLIKES
SKY BLIES MISS RODWELL
The importance of Jack Rodwell to Sydney FC’s defence was evident in his absence in the Sky Blues’ 4-3 weekend loss to Adelaide.
The Sydneysiders, who will be without the injured Rodwell for eight weeks, were torn to shreds by the Reds.
Before Saturday night’s defeat, the Sky Blues had won three successive matches, all of which involved the former English Premier League star, who has only made four appearances this season due to ongoing injury problems.
Rodwell brings some much-needed composure and calmness to Sydney’s back four.
Without him, the Sky Blues defence was lost on Saturday night.
It’s no wonder Sydney coach Ufuk Talay was furious on the sideline. Conceding four goals on your home ground isn’t good enough.
LET’S BE CONSISTENT
Handball confusion continues to mar the A-League.
The evidence seemed pretty clear that the ball hit the outstretched arm of Western Sydney midfielder Josh Brillante in the dying stages of his side’s 1-0 win over Melbourne City at CommBank Stadium on Friday night.
City understandably claimed a penalty, and when referee Jonathan Barreiro went to the sideline to check the video footage, it seemed certain he was going to change his mind and award the Melbourne side a spot kick.
However, after watching the numerous replays of the incident, Barreiro stuck with his original decision not to point to the penalty spot.
It seemed that Brillante’s arm was away from body and not in a “natural position”, so why wasn’t a penalty awarded?
If the same thing happens in the A-League next week, you can bet that a penalty will be given.
All that anybody wants is consistency. Is that too much to ask for?
CROWDS NOT GOOD ENOUGH
Were 7117 people really at the Wanderers-City game?
That was the official crowd number supplied, but there didn’t seem to be that many at CommBank Stadium.
And even if there was, that’s still a poor attendance for a game featuring two of the competition’s best teams and clearly the marquee match of “Unite Round”.
There were no excuses for this game not being able to attract at least 10,000 people.
Perhaps it should have been played on Saturday night in the A-League’s marquee time slot rather than Friday night.
Scheduling is definitely in need of improvement when ‘Unite Round” returns next season.
Team of the round: (4-1-2-3) Daniel Margush (Western Sydney Wanderers); Storm Roux (Central Coast Mariners), Marcelo (Western Sydney Wanderers), Damien De Silva (Melbourne Victory), Jack Clisby (Western Sydney Wanderers); Max Balard (Central Coast Mariners); Daniel Penha (Western United), Ulises Davila (Macarthur FC); Ben Halloran (Adelaide United), Hiroshi Ibusuki (Adelaide United), Dylan Pierias (Western Sydney Wanderers). Coach: Marko Rudan (Western Sydney Wanderers)
Player of the round: Ulises Davila (Macarthur FC)
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Originally published as A-Leagues news: Van Egmond quits Jets, Unite Round crowds disappoint
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