Games Appear To Be Up For Missing Musialik
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday March 14, 2008
THE international future of new Sydney FC signing Stuart Musialik could be under a cloud after national coach Pim Verbeek last night confirmed he had been dropped from the squad to play Singapore next week for disciplinary reasons.
Musialik, who this week joined Sydney on a two-year deal from Newcastle Jets, failed to show for the Olympic (under-23) team for the recent trip to California, and he was a notable omission from an Olyroos-based squad named to play in Singapore.Speaking on Fox Sports' Total Football program, Verbeek confirmed Musialik had been dropped for disciplinary reasons, adding he thought the player's no-show was a bigger indiscretion than the grand final brain snap of Olyroos teammate Danny Vukovic.Verbeek yesterday named a provisional 21-man squad of European-based players for the forthcoming World Cup qualifier against China - recalling Nick Carle, Mile Sterjovski, Vince Grella, Michael Beauchamp and Harry Kewell, who all missed last month's opener against Qatar. Meanwhile, there's no gloating from head office - yet - but Football Federation Australia chief executive Ben Buckley believes if Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United can build on their stunning opening day successes the A-League will have a solid claim for more teams in the revamped Asian Champions League.Melbourne and Adelaide ushered in their 2008 ACL campaigns with decisive wins over strong South Korean opposition on Wednesday night - the success of 10-man Adelaide on a frigid night in Pohang especially memorable. Both Australian teams hadn't played competitive football for almost two months after missing out on the A-League finals.Buckley is a member of the Asian Football Confederation's pro-league committee - the body that is finalising plans for a major revamp of the ACL next year. Members of the committee will be in Australia next month, when the FFA will make its final bid for the A-League's quota to be increased from two to four slots in the expanded competition.While the AFC is already favourably disposed to Australia's cause, Buckley believes on-field success by Adelaide and Melbourne in the group stage of this year's ACL could be the clincher."It was a great night, wasn't it?" he said. "To come off six to eight weeks without regular football and play like that speaks volumes for the players and the coaching staff. Obviously, we shouldn't get carried away - it's the first match day, and both Adelaide and Melbourne are in tough groups."But we've got every right to be pleased ... If we keep producing quality performances like we did last night, then it's got to assist us in getting more teams into the Champions League."? Central Coast Mariners will lodge a second appeal in an effort to clear the way for goalkeeper Danny Vukovic to play in the Beijing Olympics. Vukovic last week lost an appeal against a nine-month ban for violent conduct after he slapped the arm of referee Mark Shield in the A-League grand final, and after a week of deliberations with senior legal counsel and the players' union, the Mariners will go back to the tribunal later this month."We're not interested in lodging a frivolous appeal just for the sake of it, but we do believe there's enough grounds to warrant another appeal," Mariners executive chairman, Lyall Gorman said. "As we've consistently said, we don't condone what Danny did, but we do believe the sentence might be excessive, and we're willing to test that."The Mariners, meanwhile, are highly unlikely to pursue Dwight Yorke to become their marquee player after Gorman met the player's representatives on Wednesday. Yorke, who will be out of contract with English Premier League club Sunderland at the end of the season, wants to return to the A-League, where he had success with Sydney FC in 2005-06.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald