FOOTBALL FOCUS ON www.goalweekly.com $4 NOW SHOWING LEIGH TEREK EURO 08 PREVIEW AT A SCREEN FOOTBALL FEATURE ON SIMON MUR Season 4: Issue 16 Monday 2nd June 2008 NEAR YOU. Supporting all colours and reporting in black and white FORZA JUVE! OLD LADY TOO CLASSY FOR NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK www.goalweekly.com Photo by Daniel Flis PLUS► INTERVIEW WITH KNIGHTS CHAIRMAN MATT TOMAS, ALL THE WEEKEND FOOTBALL RESULTS, BOO, KATSA & TSIGAN! AND STILL AVAILABLE FROM ALL GOOD NEWSAGENTS EVERY MONDAY. PO Box 142 Port Melbourne 3207 p (03) 9645 1440 e [email protected] www.goalweekly.com Photos by Nome Risteski Goal! Weekly FOOTBALL FEATURE MELBOURNE VICTORY V JUVENTUS 31 Simon Mur Australian Tour Match JUVE SHOWS ITS STRIPES MUR MAKES HIS MARK Despite a superb strike from Costa Rican star Melbourne Victory 1 (Carlos Hernandez 57’) Carlos Hernandez, Melbourne Victory couldn’t Juventus 4 (Nicola Legrottaglie 7’, Raffaele Pal- contain the might of Italian giant Juventus, ladino 65’ pen/90+4’, Marco Marchionni 90’) And Hodgson Alerts Victory Coach which overcame the home side 4-1 in front of Crowd: 43,357 Venue: Telstra Dome rankston Pines teenager Simon Mur the youngster but few clubs had made ap- 43,357 fans at Telstra Dome on Friday. may be on the verge of trialling for proaches. Hernandez fi red a cracking long-dis- Melbourne Victory: 1.Michael THEOKLITOS (gk), 2.Kevin F tance shot that squared the ledger on 57 minutes, MUSCAT (Captain), 4.Steven PACE, 7.Matthew KEMP, a spot in Melbourne Victory’s youth Both father and son decided that it was time 16.Carlos HERNANDEZ (13.Kaz PATAFTA 80’), 18.Leigh before Italian internationals Raffaele Palladino squad after his coach, Doug Hodgson, for a move and when Adam Jamieson, then BROXHAM (6.Steve PANTELIDIS 74’), 21.Sebastian RY- and Marco Marchionni put Juventus in front and ALL, 22.Nick WARD, 23.Nathan ELASI (14.Adrian CAC- contacted Victory assistant coach Steve senior coach at Pines, invited Mur to pre- then sealed the result. ERES 68’), 24.Billy CELESKI (19.Evan BERGER 74’), Mautone and recommended that he look season training the youngster responded Palladino calmly converted a penalty on 25.Tom PONDELJAK (10.Archie THOMPSON 46’) closely at the 19-year-old. enthusiastically. 64 minutes and registered his second with a clean Yellow cards: Michael Theoklitos 64’ If a dream move to Victory’s youth set-up “I started pre-season on November 10 and shot from close range, which came moments after Juventus: 2.Alessandro BIRINDELLI (Captain), came off it would complete a meteoric rise I think I only missed two sessions. It was Marchionni netted a stunning header in the dying 5.Jonathan ZEBINA, 6.Cristiano ZANETTI, 13.Jess VANSTRATTAN (gk) (12.Gianmarco FIORY (gk) 82’), for Mur from the relative obscurity of State the longest pre-season I’d ever had and I stages. Nicola Legrottaglie had the lively crowd 20.Raffaele PALLADINO, 25.Guglielmo STENDARDO, Three South-East ranks to the periphery of had to make quite a few adjustments. I used 27.Michele PAOLUCCI (36.Luca CASTIGLIA 46’), on its feet early when he rose above the Victory 28.Cristian MOLINARO (34.Cristian PASQUATO 66’), A-League glory in less than a year. It would to drink Coke every day but I gave that up defence and delivered a powerful header on six 30.TIAGO Cardoso Mendes, 32.Marco MARCHIONNI, also represent a triumph for hard work and and I changed my diet. I tried to set myself minutes in Juventus’ fi rst match on Australian soil 33.Nicola LEGROTTAGLIE (29.Andrea ROSSI 61’) Juventus’ Raffaele Palladino sends Michael Thekllitos the wrong way from the penalty spot and puts the game persistence as the youngster is regularly up for a good season because I didn’t know in nearly 25 years. Yellow cards: Nicola Legrottaglie 7’, Cristiano Zanetti 60’ beyond Victory’s reach at 3-1. one of the last to leave the training track, a how I’d go against players at that standard. habit he picked up at his boyhood club Ber- “I was on the bench three or four times wick City where he made his senior debut when Adam was in charge. It was hard to Photos by at just 14 years old. break in to the team because he had a win- Daniel Flis For Hodgson the question of whether or ning squad from the previous year. I spoke not Mur can make it is a no-brainer. “He’s to Adam a couple of times just to fi nd out sharp, he’s quick, he’s enthusiastic, he’s a where I was going wrong and what I need- very hard trainer and he wants to learn. He ed to do.” wants to progress in the game and he’s got It didn’t take long for Jamieson to notice the right attitude to make it,” said the Pines that he had under his care a young player senior coach. Coming from a man who had who was prepared to go the extra yards on a successful professional playing career in the track. Mur would stay back regularly England that’s some recommendation. at the end of training sessions and do extra Mur and his Pines teammates were highly doggies, practice his crossing and generally motivated on Saturday night. While it was work on a variety of aspects of his game. a historic occasion with the unveiling of “A couple of guys at Berwick infl uenced the Monterey Reserve fl oodlights, it was me that way and it just became a habit to the memory of the treatment that Pines re- stay back and do extra stuff.” ceived when they went to Canberra to face When Jamieson approached Mur near the the AIS earlier in the season that mattered end of January and told him that he wanted most. him to join Pines the response was immedi- “It was a debacle up there. We were treated ate. “All I said was ‘where do I sign’. I was like a bunch of lab rats. They (AIS) got rapt.” changed after the game and disappeared to There’s no doubt though that Mur’s fortunes wherever they go to and just left us stand- have brightened since the recent appoint- ing there at the gates. The boys were really ment of Hodgson as Jamieson’s replace- keen to get stuck into them last Saturday.” ment. Hodgson now uses Mur in a wide left But it takes much more than motivation role and the teenager has been excelling in to overcome the challenge posed by Aus- that position. tralia’s elite youngsters and although you “It was hard against Oakleigh the other could not question Pines’ commitment, the week getting up and down the park but control, passing and off-the-ball movement that’s what you have to do in that role. was more than Pines could cope with and We’ve been playing a 3-5-2 system and it’s the AIS ran out a deserved 2–0 victor. been working out well so far. The new boy One person who could be excused for in the middle, Sebastian (Booysen) from having mixed feelings about Mur’s de- Frankston Pines’ teenage midfi elder Simon Mur in action against the AIS last Saturday South Africa, is a breath of fresh air. He had velopment is former Hakoah star and ex- night under lights at Monterey Reserve. a great game against Oakleigh.” Victorian state player Billy Jordanou. It Mur now fi nds himself in a position where was Jordanou’s decision to drop Mur from and after playing most of the reserves game always saw us as long-term prospects. He’s he is re-evaluating his aims. He still has to Berwick’s under-15 Super League side fi ve he sat on the bench and came on as a substi- very passionate about the game and he gen- cement his spot in the team but he already The visiting Italian football giants from Turin, Juventus FC, prepares to take the fi eld against Melbourne Victory in the exhibition match on Friday night at the Telstra Dome. years ago that unexpectedly provided the tute in the fi rst team clash, a game Berwick uinely cares about developing players. has achieved his main goal for 2008. launching pad for a leap into senior ranks. won 3–2. “Joe Carroll’s done all the (coaching) “When the season started my aim was The mascots are junior players from the Foxtel Cup’s Whittlesea Zebras FC. Mur had started playing with Berwick as a The following season, 2004, Mur was a badges and his training drills are relevant to just to play senior football in the Premier six-year-old under the guidance of his dad, regular in the reserves and also made a what you do on matchday but I just didn’t League but when people start talking about Perry, for some time now one of Victoria’s couple of senior appearances but in 2005 he think that we had the personnel to do what Victory’s youth team and that sort of stuff leading referees. The other two coaches cemented his place in the fi rst team, scor- he wanted us to do. I think we only won you start thinking differently and maybe that the young Mur had throughout his ju- ing eight goals as the Saunders-led outfi t one game in the second half of the season setting your goals a little bit higher.” nior career were Paul Eaton and Jordanou romped home in the Provisional One cham- and we didn’t really recruit to make up for How high? “Well I’d jump at the chance and while he describes Eaton as “a good pionship race nine points clear of the fi eld.