Workhorse Emerton shows Socceroos his inner show pony

OK people don't worry, Emo made it through today's game unscathed, set up a goal with a sweet cross and played well (Bert Mk2 returns) in Australia's 3-0 win over Qatar.

Rovers v Crystal Palace

5-4 victory

Sound slightly out of sync. Sorry.

This is probably a stupid question; Why is there a sign at the Blackburn End which says; "Please no bad language Don"?

Well there is a new Gomez album out called How we operate. It's very good, so if you like their brand or bluesy rock and roll, then get it bought, you won't be disappointed.

Just got this album recently and totally agree with you about the quality of it. It's also tempyed me to look at some of their older stuff (I only have Liquid Skin at the moment).

3 & 3 for me, just a shame I just bought a new home kit as I would of waited till next season for a red 'n black halved shirt.

BBDU, hoping to have at least another fan I know through the Souths' forum, but he's waiting for clearance.

Hey!Surely there won't be any DVD available as far as I know from the Polish side.But u can watch it down under on SBS:)

Coming up on SBS

Highlights during The World Game

Oct 22: Wisla Krakow v Blackburn (UEFA Cup)

Oct 29: Marseille v Lyon (Ligue 1)

Thanks! I'll keep an eye out

Any chance of a video/DVD of this and the Salzburg game making it's way to Australia?

Hey SR... Is that the pub you were asked to leave last time I was up north ?

No that was The Orient, and we haven't been back there since. Anyway at the Lord Nelson, atmosphere is better, the food is better (pie. mash, and peas ) and the beer is a lot better at the Lord Nelson.

poida...LOL

the lord nelson just round the corner from the rocks, is a favoured watering hole when i am in sydney. does a good pint and they also have alternative beers, like what we have never heard of before...it is also a nice place to drink. i know sydney rovers will be in on that, but hey....since when has he turned down the chance for a good session :ph34r:

lets get options from other folks who know sydney too!!

Agree Blueboy, and it's the choice of Sydney based Rovers fans since 2003. Just hope I don't have another incident like the last few times I've been there.

Seeing as JPW and the other lads are here till the 9th, maybe a Saturday afternoon session on the 6th of January might be a good idea.

After Craig Moore suspension, Neill is the Aussie captain for the friendly agist Paraguay this Saturday - http://www.smh.com.au/news/football/neill-...9641506967.html

Looks like Keano's first signing will be Dwight Yorke from Sydney FC. Not too sure what the fee will be, but Yorke will earn around $AUS1.5 million a season.

Also recommend Augustiner Bräustübl 4-6 Augustinergasse which is beer garden/hall with beer brewed by monks. I spent way too much time there when I was over in Salzburg a few years ago.

Chances are that Lucas and Bert will be called up for the Bahrain game in Sydney on the 11th of October and a possible fixture in Brisbane on the 7th.

Now there is a fixture on the 7th October against Paraguay, so they would be available for this game and the Baharin game as it's a FIFA Internationals date.

Rovers 1 - 1 Sheep Shaggers

Yes, yes you can, in fact I will pay for his flight

I think I could get some money from Sydney FC fans to help chip in

Well, from what I understand, that is wrong. Australia will be fielding all domestic players for the ACQ game against Kuwait next week and latest news is that, most Euro-based players will be available for the Bahrain game in Sydney on Oct 11th.

Spot on AIU, the only players that might get a call-up are players in Italy (the league hasn't started yet), and maybe one or two from the Scandinavian Leagues or lower English Leagues.

Chances are that Lucas and Bert will be called up for the Bahrain game in Sydney on the 11th of October and a possible fixture in Brisbane on the 7th.

Sydney - bloody hell, small world then! I know The Fat Bloke from when he was living in Hamilton... :ph34r:

It is, way too small.

You've just made me feel totally inadequate.

But thanks for that Sydney, it all adds to the info.

Colin

Don't worry about it, considering the amount of great match previews done through the years, I thought I'd at least contribute.

Yer mate wouldn't be David Cross by any chance?

Yeah it is.

A big thanks to David aka Hard News for the Q&A session;

What is the local New Zealand league like?

Improving. It has undergone an A-League style change to be franchise based rather than club based as it was for the last 30 or 40 years. We're due to start the third season in October. It seems to tun towards the middle of New South Wales state league to give you a pointer and the champions of the first two seasons almost turned over Sydney FC in the World Club Qualifiers in the middle of last year. It is mostly locals with a few imports (Australians, South Africans, Solomon Islanders, English, and Scottish in the main) although most of the imports have settled here rather than turning up for the New Zealand Football Championship (NZFC).

The NZFC is a Summer competition, Winter remains with clubs and there are pretty much 4 top regional winter leagues plus a national knock-out cup called the Chatham Cup. Participation numbers are huge at all levels and ages.

A team based in New Zealand which is playing in an Australian League might be weird thing for Rovers fans to understand, explain why they're there and your views on this?

They're there because New Zealand can't support a Professional League. The NZFC is an Amateur (well, Semi-Professional) competition. The sport in new Zealand does not have the population base or the profile to support a league at that level. The game struggles for any media coverage against the sport of Rugby Union which completely dominates the Psyche of the whole nation. The Knights should provide a path for young locals to experience the professional game and earn a profile that takes them forward in the game. Unfortunately the clubs focus seems to be on imported talent, but they are making noises that they are going to change it.

What style of play does the New Zealand team play?

Holding on for dear life. Most of our talent is in our defenders so we're generally pretty solid defensively, but don't always threaten in front of goal as much as we'd like. We did used to focus on a 4-3-3 formation but manager Ricky Herbert is playing with other options. I suspect you'll see one up front an quite a defensive mindset for the first 30 as they try and work up what we're up against, particularly as we're missing so many of the first choice squad.

What have been New Zealand's most recent results?

It's been a busy year. Last year we played just one match, against Aus and lost 1-0 at Craven Cottage. This year we've already played 9 matches and turned down a game against Tunisia pre-World Cup. We started with wins over Malaysia, then lost a pair of games in Chile. Most recently a pre-World Cup tour gave us our first international win in Europe, over Georgia 3-1, a draw with Estonia 1-1, a 2-0 loss to Hungary and a 4-0 loss to Brazil. As usual it was a pretty depleted side with no Simon Elliot or Ryan Nelsen and four others from the side that played Australia 12 months earlier.

Most recently we drew 1-1 with Charlton at The Valley earlier this week.

Which New Zealand players do you see joining Ryan Nelson and Simon Elliot in the Premier League?

The obvious one is Chris James who is currently on the books of Fulham and was part of the extended first team squad last season. You should see him start against Blackburn. There is a bit of a gap between Nelsen and Elliott and the younger generation that is most likely to yield more Premier League players. Chris Killen at Hibernian in Scotland is possibly a chance if he can keep up his scoring form and avoid the injuries that have plagued him.

There is a generation coming through that includes James at Fulham, Winston Reid who plays in Denmark and a few players in Germany as well as players that are already showing out domestically at a very young age.

Australia played in their first World Cup in 32 years, can you see new Zealand repeating the feats of the 1982 New Zealand team now they are the big fish of Oceania?

Getting past the 5th placed South American side may be a bridge too far for the current side, particularly as we struggle to put the first team out, but we have more and more players playing professionally. I suspect that moves will be made to try and change Oceania's path to Asia or similar, if that is successful I think our first team is up to it.

Who will play in New Zealand's first XI this Saturday?

We've lost Ivan Vicelich who plays in the Dutch Eredivisie since the Charlton game, but hopefully Danny Hay will be fit. We're missing 14 of the normal first choice squad so it is a little inexperienced, but I suspect it will be something like this:

Mark Paston (New Zealand Knights - Aus)

James Pritchett (Auckland City - NZ)

Steven Old (Newcastle Jets - Aus - father is an ex-All Black)

Danny Hay© - (ex-Leeds, Walsall - Currently unemployed)

Tony Lochhead - (New England Revolution - US MLS)

Jarrod Smith - (West Virginia - US College - father Ian was Wicketkeeper for the New Zealand Cricket team for many years)

Tim Brown - (Richmond Kickers - US A-League)

Andrew Barron - (Team Wellington - NZ)

Chris James (Fulham)

Campbell Banks (Youngheart Manawatu - NZ)

Shane Smeltz (Halifax Town - may have club duties and be unavailable)

If he is fit and plays in White I suspect Ryan Nelsen would play in place of Pritchett with Old moving to Right back.

Which New Zealand player will cause Rovers the most danger?

Chris James seems to be the person the hype is about currently, but under-estimate Campbell banks at your peril. He's better than the level he plays at.

What do you think of Blackburn Rovers?

A bit of a soft spot for them due to Ryan, but they have too many Australians :-)

Has Rovers' profile increased since Ryan Nelson signed for us?

Definitely. TV updates generally include the Blackburn result, plus he is the figurehead for the game here as Captain and playing at the level he does so you see him pictured quite a lot in Blue and White.

Can you have a word in Ryan's ear and ask him not to leave Rovers?

Not me personally, but I know some people :-) Sol Campbell may have that decision for him though.

Who do you see as Rovers' danger man?

I've seen Benni McCarthy play here in NZ against the NZ Olympic squad a few years back and if he's on his game he can be very impressive. I've always thought Friedel was exceptional but for the part of me that is an Ipswich fan, it's the Flying Finn Shefki Kuqi

What do you think the result will be?

I suspect you'll be stronger than Charlton and we might struggle to score even if we're defensively sound. 1-0 to 2-0 to Blackburn but can we have a re-match when we can get the full squad out ?

I'm just plain ol' brfc on that one.

Ah, your secret is safe with me

I've got my contacts emails so I'll ask a few questions and get him to respond.

Hard News?

Yep, thought he'd be the guy that would know most about them.

BTW, who are you on TWG?

Colin, I hoping to get the contact details for the New Zealand football expert on The World Game Forum so he can posts his views on the Kiwi team.

You fat #5$*&@)

I'm just filled with football kulchaaa

Been on the German ale, I'll bet

Well it's that Bratwurst and Schnitzel.

Which one are you, SR?

Centre of this photo wearing an Aussie jersey and wearing a gold Australia Football cap.