A-League (alternate Australia soccer history)

Chapter 9
As the competition gets to the final third of the first season, the battle for the top of the tree is really heating up so what did happen in between the Rounds of 8 to 14.

Round 8
Perth opened the second third of the campaign when they defeated South Melbourne by a single goal from Brian Deane getting the goal. Melbourne Victory had a shock 1-1 draw with the Newcastle Jets. This was after Nick Carle scored his second of the season to get the lead for Newcastle. Melbourne would get one late from Kevin Muscat to finish with a draw. Sydney and Wollongong would also record victories to confirm their top 4 spots.

Friday 21st October: Brisbane 0-2 Sydney
Saturday 22nd October: Perth 1-0 South Melbourne
Saturday 22nd October: Newcastle 1-1 Melbourne
Sunday 23rd October: Adelaide 1-2 Wollongong

Round 9
Newcastle jumped in the top 4 during the ninth round of the competition after they ended up with a 1-1 draw against Wollongong. This was after Ante Milicic scored the equaliser to get a point. They replaced South Melbourne in the four after two goals from Sasho Petrovski put him to the top of the goal tally with 6 goals this season. South Melbourne would get one back from Zenon Caravella but it was too little, too late. Perth went back to back over Brisbane, while Adelaide drew with Melbourne after Michael Valkanis scored a late goal to finish the game level.

Friday 28th October: Brisbane 0-1 Perth
Saturday 29th October: Melbourne 2-2 Adelaide
Saturday 29th October: Wollongong 1-1 Newcastle
Sunday 30th October: Sydney 2-1 South Melbourne

Round 10
Melbourne Victory came back to the winner’s circle in Round 10 of the competition after Kevin Muscat scored two goals in the 3-0 victory over Brisbane to bring his overall goal tally for the season to five. But the big upset of the round was Sydney who was defeated by the Newcastle Jets. The winning goal coming off a 23 year old (James Monie) who scored the winner to record the first loss of the season for Sydney FC. South Melbourne took home a win over Wollongong while Perth and Adelaide would draw in the other Friday night match.

Friday 4th November: Newcastle 2-0 Sydney
Friday 4th November: Perth 1-1 Adelaide
Saturday 5th November: Melbourne 3-0 Brisbane
Sunday 6th November: South Melbourne 2-1 Wollongong

Round 11
The big result was the demolition of Brisbane by South Melbourne with Carl Reechia being the main man for the team as he scored three goals to boost his tally to five goals this season. He was joined by Kristian Sarkies and Zenon Caravella (3rd for the season) in the demolition of the Brisbane Roar. Brian Deane scored his fourth for the season to force a 1-1 draw against Sydney and put the pressure on them in the top of the table clash against Melbourne the next week. Melbourne would defeat Wollongong away from their home track while Adelaide would knock over Newcastle.

Friday 11th November: South Melbourne 5-0 Brisbane
Saturday 12th November: Sydney 1-1 Perth
Saturday 12th November: Newcastle 0-2 Adelaide
Sunday 13th November: Wollongong 1-2 Melbourne

Round 12
Big games led to big results and Kevin Muscat scored a goal to put him to the top of the goalscoring tally on seven after he led his team to a 2-0 victory over former leaders Sydney FC. This meant that Melbourne would now be the new leader which they would hold until Round 14. Bobby Despotosvki scored a late goal to tie their game against Wollongong to bring his 3rd and stop all of the momentum that Perth had in the game. In other results, a late goal from Carl Veart couldn’t help his team defeat South Melbourne while Newcastle knocked over Brisbane.

Friday 18th November: Adelaide 1-2 South Melbourne
Saturday 19th November: Brisbane 0-2 Newcastle
Saturday 19th November: Wollongong 1-1 Perth
Sunday 20th November: Melbourne 2-0 Sydney

Round 13
Sydney struggled in their Friday match when they drew with Wollongong. The closest being from the Wollongong side with Stewart Petrie almost adding to his four goals this season. Really this round was all about the draws with three of the matches ending up in ties. The only real winner for the round being Perth Glory as Brian Deane scored his fifth for the season in a 3-1 victory over Newcastle.

Friday 25th November: Sydney 0-0 Wollongong
Saturday 26th November: Adelaide 1-1 Brisbane
Saturday 26th November: South Melbourne 1-1 Melbourne
Sunday 27th November: Perth 3-1 Newcastle

Round 14
The Brisbane Roar was the first team to be eliminated from top two contention after they had a 1-1 draw against Wollongong. After a goal from Alex Brosque in the opening half, they struggled to keep the lead and it would soon lose that lead with Dean Hefferman scoring his fifth of the season. For Wollongong, that would be a critical point in the race for the finals. Newcastle put them under the pump when they defeated South Melbourne 3-2. Matt Thompson scoring two goals in the victory. In other results, Archie Thompson scored a double to bring him into the top goal scoring competition with six after a 3-0 over Perth. Sydney, on the other hand, defeated Adelaide to keep touch with Melbourne on top.

Friday 2nd December: Melbourne 3-0 Perth
Saturday 3rd December: South Melbourne 2-3 Newcastle
Saturday 3rd December: Sydney 2-1 Adelaide
Sunday 4th December: Wollongong 1-1 Brisbane

Code:
Standings                  Pld   W    D    L    GF    GA    GD    Pts
1.    Melbourne Victory    14    8    4    2    26    11    +15   28
2.    Sydney FC            14    8    3    3    23    12    +11   27 (-1)
3.    South Melbourne      14    6    3    5    23    17    +6    21 (-7)
4.    Wollongong Wolves    14    5    5    4    20    18    +2    20 (-8)
5.    Newcastle Jets       14    5    5    4    22    22    0     20 (-8)
6.    Perth Glory          14    3    6    5    12    18    -6    15 (-13)
7.    Adelaide United      14    2    6    6    13    21    -8    12 (-16)
8.    Brisbane Roar        14    1    3    10   10    32    -22    6

After fourteen rounds, it's Melbourne Victory that now has the lead with a single point separating them with Sydney FC on top. Six points further back are South Melbourne who has struggled in these seven rounds and is trying to fight with Wollongong and Newcastle for the final two spots in the finals. Despite Perth only being five points behind the four, they need the luck to go their way while Adelaide needs everything to steal a finals spot out of nowhere. For Brisbane, you think they would be eliminated from finals contention with the only win coming in Round 7 against Perth. But anything is possible.

Goalscorers that we know
Kevin Muscat (Mel) 7
Archie Thompson (Mel) 6
Sasho Petrovski (Syd) 6
Brian Deane (Per) 5
Carl Reechia (SMel) 5
Alex Brosque (Bri) 4
Ante Milicic (New) 4
Matt Thompson (New) 4
Stewart Petrie (Wol) 4
Bobby Despotovski (Per) 3
Zenon Caravella (SMel) 3
Dean Heffernan (Wol) 3
Carl Veart (Ade) 2
Nick Carle (New) 2
David Zdrilic (Syd) 2
Scott Chipperfield (Wol) 2
Tony Hatzis (Ade) 1
Michael Valkanis (Ade) 1
Andy Vlahos (Mel) 1
James Monie (New) 1
Vaughan Coveny (SMel) 1
Kristian Sarkies (SMel) 1
Steve Corica (Syd) 1
Leo Carle (Wol) 1
Paul Agostino (Wol) 1
Sydney - 14 unknowns
Melbourne - 12 unknowns
Wollongong - 11 unknowns
South Melbourne - 11 unknowns
Newcastle - 9 unknowns
Adelaide - 9 unknowns
Brisbane - 7 unknowns
Perth - 4 unknowns

sasho-petrovski-of-sydney-runs-with-ball-after-beating-jade-north-of-picture-id73114599

Sasho Petrovski up against the Wollongong Wolves in Round 13.
 
OOC: This is all news stories type only

Chapter 10
December 9, 2005 - FIFA World Cup draw
Australia's draw for the 2006 FIFA World Cup has been revealed with some saying that they will be a dark horse in this cup [1]. For Australia, their first opponent will be up against Japan (rank 15). They will then have to take on the defending champions in Brazil (rank 1) before Croatia (rank 20) becomes their final opponent of the group stage. For Australia, they have avoided the group of death which goes to Group E with Italy, Ghana, Czech Republic and the United States filling that role.

December 12, 2005 - Wollongong lose against Saprissa
For the Wollongong Wolves, the dream to take home the first Club World Championship is over after they lost in the quarterfinals to Deportivo Saprissa from Costa Rica. In what was a struggle for the team, it would be Alvaro Saborio who would score two goals in the second half to record the victory and have the Costa Rican team into the semi-finals. While for the Wollongong Wolves, they will be taking on Al-Ahly for fifth.

December 16, 2005 - Wollongong finishes in 5th
For the Wollongong team, they have finished in 5th place after they defeated Al-Ahly from Egypt. In what seem to be a tough business for Wollongong, they did have one bright spark with the Nick Mrdja on debut scoring the opening goal of the game in the 63rd minute to give Wollongong a chance. They would soon get another one from Russel Woodruffe in the 85th minute to confirm the fifth place for the Australian team.

December 22, 2005 - The AFC draw for Australia is revealed
Australia's draw for a spot at the 2007 AFC Asian Cup has been revealed with Australia getting Bahrain, Kuwait and Lebanon in their group. For the Socceroos, it will be a tough road trip for the nation as they will open their account against Bahrain away before holding their first match at home against Kuwait who are the 1980 Asian Champions. Then it will be a double trip back to the middle east with games against Kuwait and Lebanon back to back within two weeks. Their final two matches will be at home as the top two teams in each qualifying group will go through to the Asian Cup.

[1] - This was from an English news source saying that Group E was the toughest in OTL and ITTL its the same.
 
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