Word of the Week : Love

By Vinnie Venezuela

While it pleases me no end that Melbourne Victory’s Archie Thompson no longer beats the bejesus out of the corner flag when he celebrates a goal, I don’t think what he does these days is quite about love. I’m not judging.

What I can say, however, is that I pretty much do love him in a platonic  - “I respect your work” / “You are an A League legend” - kind of way. But love doesn’t always come easily and Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat clearly hated the free kick given for the soft foul on Damian Duff which led to Mooy’s fine delivery and Wielaert’s clinical finish to give Melbourne City an early lead. And though he certainly detested the way his defence had a bit of a kip as the ball sailed into the net, Musky would have loved, adored and delighted in Archie’s first goal, even if it was offside. No complaints there.

The Melbourne derby was indeed a beautiful thing, and while there was no love lost between the fans, the amazing 43,000 strong crowd contributed to yet another fine spectacle of A League football. Loved it.

Victory fans would also be loving the way their boys are bringing it together;

Kosta Barbarouses was exceptional and his footwork that led to Berisha poaching a goal, his marauding runs and his ball that put Archie through for their fifth were lovely. Berisha was also in the mood Saturday night and his third goal was so David Villa like that the Victory had to check his contract to make sure they have him for more than 4 games.

As for City, though it was clear that the “pass it to David” instruction they each had scrawled on their hands was working for a while, the fact that he couldn’t manufacture a goal would be a little heartbreaking. Of course, the good news was that someone other than Villa finally scored and, if the Melbourne City defenders can find the net, well the only way is up.

Brisbane Roar would be hating their start to the season and they would have to be seething that Marc Janko scored a goal from so far down town that nobody had any idea what suburb he was in. Gosh, he got onto it well. I have to say that I loved Sydney’s second by Milos Dimitrijevic a little bit more because you could tell he knew exactly what he wanted to do with the ball. And I do love it when they are curlers. Goals like Janko’s are gold but require a little bit more of blessing from the Soccer gods.

Wellington would be absolutely rapt that it emphatically smothered Newcastle, with “tough love”, winning 4-1 at home. Coach Ernie Merrick now has back to back wins with Nathan Burns again starring for the Phoenix.

And wasn’t the sight of Joseph Gombau kissing his bench to death and then being straddled by Awer Mabil as he came to share the love after scoring that beautiful little goal that gave Adelaide the 2 zip lead over Perth a wonderful thing?

Finally, you might shower your team with Saudi Arabian love by booking out the whole hotel because you are so loaded you can, but not even that can prepare you for a Western Sydney Wanderers team that never accepts that it isn’t good enough or rich enough to be there and is driven by steely resolve and fierce passion.

Its players, fans and coaching staff led by Tony Popovic are all doing us proud and the 1- 0 win against Al Hilal in the first leg of the Asian Champion’s League final now puts the Wanderers on the cusp of making A League and Australian football history. You just have to be loving that.

Vinnie Venezuela

The Four Diegos

This article first appeared on the excellent and must have A-League Live app by Sportsmate.