TPO Rankings Daily Briefing

Just a heads up that this will be our last Daily Briefing for the year - more on that at the end of today’s briefing.

It’ll be a rematch of last years FFA Cup Final with Adelaide to face Sydney FC after Sydney got over their cross town rivals Western Sydney Wanderers 3 nil last night in the second semi final. We had to wait until the second half to see any goals with Bahagiar breaking the deadlock in the 49th minute. De Jong scored a cracker of a free kick in the 64th minute and Le Fondre wrapped things up from the spot in the 75th minute.

Heading overseas and Mat Ryan's Brighton recorded their first Premier League win since August 19 as they overcame West Ham United 1-0.
And an under-strength Matildas have suffered a 2-0 defeat against 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup hosts France in an international in Saint Etienne.

Missing rested headline names such as Sam Kerr, Alanna Kennedy, Lydia Williams and Emily van Egmond, the Matildas rode their luck at times to avoid a hefty defeat.
Australia went into the match having suffered just one loss in the last eight outings, but their rejigged backline was under constant pressure with France dominating possession.

As mentioned at the top of the briefing, this will wrap up this season’s coverage - Jake and I are going to take a few months off from both our weekly show and the daily briefing. Thanks for listening, be sure to keep up to date on Facebook and Instagram and we look forward to ramping things back up early next year.

The first of the FFA Cup Semi Finals took place on Friday night, and it was Adelaide United who progressed to the Final for the third time, defeating Bentleigh Greens 2-0. Adelaide looked in control for most of the game, with Goals to Ben Halloran and Jordan Elsey propelling the Reds to their comfortable win. Head Coach Marco Kurz now findes himself in his second Cup final in as many seasons with Adelaide.

Former A-League boss Archie Fraser has put his hand up to help Football Federation Australia reinvent itself in the post-Steven Lowy era.
Fraser quit the governing body after just 12 months in the job back in 2011, disillusioned with the direction taken by the FFA board and with a belief that his “hands were tied behind his back”.
He’s been an avid observer of the game’s administrative misfortunes ever since, and a staunch critic of the Lowy-led regime.

Hibernian player, Martin Boyle, is set to "pledge his allegiance" to Australia when he is tipped to be named in Graham Arnold's Socceroos training camp squad in the UAE next month. "Red tape" means the 25-year-old Aberdeen born Boyle will be unable to play in the match against Kuwait while the paperwork to determine his eligibility to play for Australia - due to the Australian birth of his father - is dealt with.

Keisuke Honda has netted his first goal in Melbourne Victory colours. The Japanese star fired home a first half penalty during Victory’s 3-1 behind-closed-doors friendly defeat to Wellington Phoenix earlier today.
While Honda’s debut strike for Victory will take the headlines from the Wellington clash, the New Zealanders will undoubtedly be buoyed by a fine performance against the reigning Hyundai A-League Champions.
A strong, defensive showing from Mark Rudan's men was highlighted by a hat-trick from Phoenix star Roy Krishna, who struck a first-half penalty and put away two second-half efforts to seal a confidence boosting friendly win.

The Western Sydney Wanderers have signed Rashid Mahazi for the 2018/19 A-League season.

Mahazi joins the Wanderers from Victorian NPL club Moreland Zebras.
The defensive midfielder has had a wealth of experience in the A-League, having played in over 90 matches for Melbourne Victory, winning both the Championship and Premiership in 2014/15 as well as the FFA Cup in 2015.

Dimi Petratos will be a Newcastle Jet until at least the end of the A-League 2021/22 season.

An upgraded and extended contract was locked in today by the 25-year-old, who won a bunch of individual accolades last season and starred in the Novocastrians' remarkable 2017/18 campaign.

Promising Sydney FC defender Ben Warland has been ruled out of action for up to three months with a foot fracture. Recruited from Adelaide United in the middle of last season, Warland is considered an important member of the Sky Blues' defensive rotation but they could now be without the 22-year-old until early 2019.

Harry Kewell's Notts County earned consecutive League Two victories for the first time this season after the Magpies cruised past former club Crawley Town 3-1 at Meadow Lane.
With Notts now in the midst of a four-match unbeaten run, it appears Kewell has turned the corner at the club.
And with it being a slow news day, I’m going to give you an update of the TPO Rankings based on the FFA Cup and NPL Championship results.
With Bentleigh Greens defeating Heidleberg United in the FFA Cup last week, Bentleigh move up to 9th on the TPO Rankings, and are now the highest ranked NPL club in Australia. Heidelberg United remain in 11th.
APIA’s loss to Adelaide United means that they drop down to 10th, and Adelaide have moved ahead of Melbourne City and are now the 3rd best club in the country.
And after Campbelltown were crowned 2018 NPL Champions with their defeat of Lions FC, they move up to 14th in the rankings ahead of Central Coast Mariners. Lions FC, on the other hand, drop one place to 18

Today’s news is dominated by FFAs governance of Australian Football, but first a little bit of signing news.

Jason Hoffman and Nigel Boogaard who were instrumental in the Jets’ charge to the 2017-18 grand final and have both signed on for another two seasons.

And now on to the main news that has dominated headlines in the last day or so. In true TPO Rankings Daily Briefing style - we’ll do our best to keep it short.
Australian football will travel a new road when Steven Lowy stands down as FFA chairman and a new board and Congress come into being.
The Football Federation Australia extraordinary general meeting on Tuesday has the potential to re-cast the sport in Australia.

Here's what the changes will mean...

Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak has announced his retirement from international football effective immediately.
After 79 caps, 20 goals, three FIFA World Cup appearances and an Asian Cup triumph, Jedinak has decided to call time on his international career.

Jedinak made his international debut in 2008 a friendly against Singapore. In 2014 he was appointed captain by then-coach Ange Postecoglou ahead of the World Cup in Brazil.
Football fans have used the hashtag #ThanksMile to congratulate outgoing captain Mile Jedinak on his storied Socceroos career.

Australia will play at the under-17 FIFA World Cup in Peru next year after qualifying for the first time since 2015.
The Joeys defeated Indonesia 3-2 in a thrilling match in front of a hostile pro-Indonesia crowd in Kuala Lumpur to progress to the semi-finals of the AFC under-16 championships.

Congratulations to Campbelltown City who are the 2018 NPL Champions after beating QLD NPL Champions Lions in the Grand Final yesterday. Campbelltown scored in the 5th and 32nd minute to lead 2 nil at half time. Lions got one back early in the second half, but it wasn’t enough as Campbelltown held on to win 2-1. Not only are they crowned champions, but they have also won themselves a place in next years FFA Cup round of 32.

A peace agreement has been reached that could end Australian football's long-running governance saga. Barring a last-minute intervention by FFA chairman Steven Lowy, the agreement on changes to the FFA Constitution could be ratified this week.

FFA members say the fresh agreement reaches a consensus position on the future governance of the sport in Australia.

Socceroos star Mathew Leckie had a season debut to remember as Hertha Berlin defeated defending Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich 2-0 on Saturday
The surprise win was Hertha's first over the Bavarian giants in nine years and came courtesy of first-half goals to Vedad Ibisevic and Ondrej Duda.

Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak had a more difficult time of things with Aston Villa, settling for a 1-1 draw away to a Bailey Wright-less Bristol City in the Championship.

Sydney FC has, once again, thrown down the gauntlet to its W-League rivals ahead of the 2018/19 W-League season, announcing the arrival of a trio of American stars ahead of the upcoming campaign.
Following on from publicizing the capture of a number of Matildas standouts earlier in the month, Sydney on Friday afternoon announced that NWSL stars Sofia Huerta, Danielle Colaprico and Aubrey Bledsoe would all be making their way harbourside in 2018/19.

Former Celta Vigo midfielder Alex Lopez has signed for Brisbane Roar, subject to completing a medical.
Most recently on the books of Sporting Gijon, the 30-year-old joins John Aloisi's side after a long and successful career in Spain.
Lopez spent a significant portion of his career at La Liga side Celta Vigo but recently enjoyed loan stints at second-tier side Real Valladolid and English Championship outfit Sheffield Wednesday.

With Australian football governance’s D-Day imminent, the Football Federation Australia (FFA) Board on Friday evening once again outlined its position, releasing an information statement sent to member federations to the public.

Australia are through to the quarter-finals of the AFC Under-16 Championship after defeating Afghanistan 4-0 in the final match of Group D in Malaysia.
The Joeys will face Indonesia in the last eight on Monday night.
Should they win that match they will not only be through to the semi-finals but also qualify for the U17 FIFA World Cup.

We start with some overseas Socceroos news as Mustafa Amini scored a double for AGF Aarhus in a Danish Cup tie. Amini also turned provider for the next goal and AGF eventually strolled to a 5-1 win.

Trent Sainsbury scored his first ever goal for PSV Eindhoven as they beat Excelsior Maassluis 4-0 away from home in the Dutch Cup.
Sainsbury netted from a set piece in the 44th minute.

The match was also significant for Aziz Behich, who made his debut for PSV and played 90 minutes, receiving a yellow card in the 34th minute.
Milos Degenek played 90 minutes for Red Star Belgrade in a 3-0 win over Napredak, with the Serbian champions now having not lost a match since March.

And Adam Federici conceded three goals in Stoke City's 3-2 defeat away to Nottingham Forest in the EFL Cup.

Panthers Stadium will host the FFA Cup semi-final derby between defending champions Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers on October 6.

Former Roar and Mariners attacker Peter Skapetis Signed with NPL Victoria side Dandenong Thunder.

Signing with the Brisbane Roar ahead of the 2017-18 season, Skapetis made 14 appearances for the Roar before making a midseason move to the Central Coast Mariners. He went on to make a further five A-League appearances in Gosford, scoring in the Mariners Round 19 loss to Western Sydney Wanderers before his contract expired at the end of the season.

Bentleigh Greens coach John Anastasiadis says he is pleased Adelaide United counterpart Marco Kurz shone the spotlight on the quality of National Premier League grounds.

Kurz branded the quality of NPL surfaces generally as “sh*t”, and said they had made it difficult for the Reds to recruit players plying their trade in the local NPL SA competition.

The prospect of music during corners, goal kicks and substitutions at A-League matches appears dead in the water after clubs distanced themselves from the radical measures.
All but two Australian clubs have categorically ruled out the controversial in-game entertainment.
The two on the fence, Adelaide United and Central Coast, also say they're unlikely to adopt the divisive party-starters.

Hibernian winger Martin Boyle is primed to make his international debut for Australia, after accepting an approach from Graham Arnold to join his squad for next month’s friendly against Kuwait.
Boyle, who can operate on either flank and has two goals in six league appearances this season, was on the cusp of a Scotland call-up before injury intervened at the end of last season.
But now Arnold has pounced to try and lock Boyle down ahead of January’s AFC Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

Heidelberg are Victorian NPL champions after they defeated Avondale 2-1 in the grand final yesterday. 2 unanswered first half goals gave them the lead heading into the sheds. Avondale surged in the second half and got one back in the 78th minute, but it wasn’t enough. Congratulations to Heidelberg.

Green Gully will remain in the Victorian NPL next season after an unbelievable comeback win against Moreland City. City scored in the 89th minute to go 2 nil up but Green Gully scored 2 goals in injury time to send the game into extra time. A 117th minute goal won the game for Green Gully and a spot in the NPL next season.

We’ll finish with the Illawarra Premier League Grand Final where Bulli FC have broken a 32 year grand final hoodoo with a 3-2 win over Wollongong United. Bulli took a 2 nil lead and it looked to be going to extra time after Wollongong brought it back to 2 all. With only a minute left on the clock, Bulli scored to win 3-2.

Retired Socceroo Harry Kewell will become the first footballer inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame (SAHOF) in 22 years, joining Peter Wilson, Ray Baartz, John Warren, Joe Marston and Alfred Quill.

In the NPL Championship Semi Final, a 93rd minute penalty proved the difference as South Australia’s Campbelltown City defeated Sydney Olympic to set up a Grand Final next weekend against Lions FC.

In the Illawarra District League Grand Final, Coniston has finished off a great year which already included the Premiership and promotion to next years Premier League, with a 3-0 win, adding the Championship to their trophy cabinet.

And in the Victorian NPL2 Grand Final, Dandenong City has beaten Altona Magic 3-1, despite playing most of the game with 10 men.

Socceroos goalkeeper Danny Vukovic made a strong start to life in the UEFA Europa League, keeping a clean sheet for KRC Genk in their 2-0 win against Malmo.

And with not a lot of other news worth mentioning, let’s take a look ahead to a couple of important games to be played on Saturday.
Firstly to the Victorian NPL2 Grand Final between Altona Magic and Dandenong City. Altona were the Western Conference Champions and Dandenong City the Eastern Conference Champions, both finishing well ahead of the 2nd place teams. The game will kickoff at 5pm at ABD Stadium.
Next in Football South Coast’s District League Grand Final, where Premiers Coniston will play 3rd placed Warilla Wanderers at 3pm.
And finally in the NPL Championship Series, the 2nd Semi Final between Sydney Olympic and Campbelltown will take place from 3pm. You can watch the live stream of this game on the Hyundai A-League Facebook page.

Central Coast have landed Ross McCormack and Tommy Oar to bolster their attack a month out from their A-League season opener.

The Mariners have brought in Scottish striker McCormack on a season-long loan deal from Aston Villa and Socceroos attacker Oar on a two-year deal. McCormack was the A-League's equal-third leading scorer last season with 14 goals in 17 appearances for Melbourne City.

Football Federation Australia's search for a new technical director has ramped up with the appointment of a three-person panel to lead the hunt. Former Matilda Rae Dower, former Socceroo Tony Vidmar and Professional Footballers Australia chief executive John Didulica will form the panel.

They will also be advised by Socceroos coach Graham Arnold, his Matildas counterpart Alen Stajcic and the Asian Football Confederation's technical director Andy Roxburgh.

And we’ll finish with some overseas news as a Massimo Luongo goal has helped give QPR...

The FFA Cup Quarter Finals kicked off on Wednesday night with two games.

Melbourne City 1-2 Western Sydney Wanderers
Avondale 2-4 Sydney FC (AET)

Newcastle Jets have announced the signing of Kaine Sheppard on a one-year deal from NPL Victoria club Avondale FC.
The talented 24-year-old striker joins the Jets after hitting 20 goals in 26 appearances this season.
Sheppard also guided Avondale to the FFA Cup 2018 Quarter Finals, finding the back of the net in 4-1 victories over Marconi Stallions and Devonport City respectively.

- Lions beat Heidelberg

- Curtis Good to City

- Martins declines Phoenix

- Sainsbury and Behich sit on bench as Messi scores hat trick

- FFA Cup tonight

A tug-of-war has erupted between Australia and England for rising star and Manchester City rookie Alex Robertson, who is making waves in English football at the age of just 15.
Such is the intensity of competition for the allegiance of the Scotland-born but Australia-raised midfielder, that Australia coach Graham Arnold took the unprecedented step of inviting him to join his Turkey-based camp for Socceroos present - and future - earlier this month.
Football Federation Australia received a letter back from City claiming that Robertson - whose father Mark and grandfather Alex both played for the green and gold - was injured.
Robertson is also eligible to play for Scotland and Peru, courtesy of his mother.

Robbie Kruse enjoyed an excellent outing for VfL Bochum, scoring and assisting in their crushing 6-0 win over Ingolstadt.
Kruse played the full 90 minutes in the victory that brings Bochum up to second on the 2.Bundesliga table.

We start with the NPL Finals Series where South Australia’s Premiers and Champions Campbelltown City have beaten ACT’s representative Canberra FC 3 nil.

In yesterday’s other NPL Finals game which was held in QLD, Lions beat Northern New South Wales Premiers Edgeworth Eagles 1 nil thanks to a goal in the 4th minute.

Moreland City have set up a promotion/relegation battle with Green Gully after they beat St Albans Saints 4-1 yesterday. The equation is simple, whoever wins next weekend is in the VIC NPL next year.

And if you haven’t heard - APIA Leichhardt are doing their best to bring Totti to Australia for their FFA Cup game against Adelaide United on September 26.

The 2 Victorian NPL semi finals were played overnight. If you can get over to facebook you’re going to want to watch the reply of the last few minutes of the Bentleigh v Avondale game. It finished 1-1 after 90 minutes thanks to a first half Chris Lucas goal for Bentleigh and an equaliser in the 48th minute from Katebian. In extra time Lucas scored his second and then third to go 3-1 up with only 5 minutes to play. With 1 minute of normal time remaining Avondale got their second through an own goal and then it got crazy. In injury time of extra time, Avondale scored twice more (one of these another own goal) to finish the game 4-3 winners and to progress to next weeks grand final. Apparently there were light outages during the game too - what a game....

Wellington Phoenix are hoping to use the A-League's marquee fund to help mount a bid for former Inter Milan and Newcastle United star Obafemi Martins.
The Phoenix have received the green light from Football Federation Australia to pursue Martins, who is currently contracted to Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua.
It comes after Wellington's previous attempt at signing Michael Essien fell flat, but they remain firmly in the market for a big-name recruit at the right price.
Former Manchester United fringe defender Ritchie De Laet has been linked with Melbourne City in a move that would reunite the Belgian with coach Warren Joyce.

Capped twice by Belgium, De Laet is currently on the books of Aston Villa - whom he joined from Leicester in 2016.
However a switch to City - most likely on loan - is looking increasingly likely for De Laet, whose contract expires in mid-2019.

Sydney FC could find themselves taking on FIFA World Cup winner Andrea Pirlo in the FFA Cup next week, with opponents Avondale FC confirming they have approached the Italian football legend to play for the club.

Sam Kerr’s star is set to shine even brighter with the Matildas striker to feature in sportswear giant Nike’s latest global advertising campaign.
The minute long commercial ‘Rallying Cry’ shows Kerr in action for the Matildas alongside clips of tennis great Serena Williams and Australian boxer-turned-AFLW-player Tayla Harris.

Ex-Western Sydney Wanderers and Perth Glory defender Michael Thwaite is ready to share his experience after reuniting with Kristian Rees at former club Gold Coast United.
Thwaite has re-joined the side he formerly skippered in the Hyundai A-League to lend a professional edge to next season's NPL Queensland assault.

Adelaide United legend Aurelio Vidmar has returned to the club on the Reds’ 15th anniversary as Director of Football, it has been announced.

Young prospects Joel King and Cameron Devlin have earned call ups to the senior ranks of defending Hyundai A-League Premiers Sydney FC.
The Young Socceroos duo have signed contracts to join up with Steve Corica's first team squad for the 2018/19 season, while three other academy starlets have been handed Hyundai A-League scholarships.

Perth Glory has won the race to sign Chris Ikonomidis, with the winger becoming the fourth Caltex Socceroo to join the club in the Hyundai A-League off-season.

The 23-year-old joins defenders Matthew Spiranovic, Ivan Franjic and Jason Davidson as Caltex Socceroos to have joined the Tony Popovic revolution in the west.

Melbourne City have moved to replace the recently departed Dean Bouzanis with fringe Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Birighitti.
The 27-year-old has signed a three-year deal, returning to Australia after two years abroad.

A rather slow day in Australian football news - regardless we push on - let’s get into it.

Former Socceroos Coach Guus Hiddink has been tasked with ensuring China qualify for the finals of the 2020 Olympic Games football tournament after the former Real Madrid and Netherlands coach was handed the reins of the country's under 21 team on Monday.

Trent Sainsbury, who is part of Graham Arnold’s Socceroos squad in Turkey – is buzzing to get going in Europe.

And to do it all alongside Behich will only add to the experience, he says.

“It’s a crazy group that we’ve been drawn in, but getting to walk out there to that theme song, it’s the stuff you dream of as a kid,” the defender explained.

“Being able to do it alongside a fellow Aussie, that’s something special.
Just a reminder - PSV have been drawn in Champions League Group B alongside Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspur and Inter Milan.

Yesterday there were 2 big NPL Grand Finals - one in QLD and the other in NSW. Let’s start with QLD where Premiers Lions, in their first year in the NPL took on Olympic. Jake and I were lucky enough to get to the game along with a couple of thousand supporters. Olympic were the better side in the first half and were rewarded with a 13th minute goal by Steve Whyte. Lions game out of the half the stronger side and equalised through a Nathan Reardon header. The game headed to extra time where a 95th minute header by Lions striker Madle was enough to get them over the line and to become champions in 2018.

To the NSW NPL Grand Final and it was 2 giants of Australian Football - Sydney Olympic v APIA Leichhardt. Olympic took an early lead, scoring in the 4th minute. They then doubled their lead in the 35th minute and went in to the sheds at half time 2 nil up. They went 3 nil up in the 75th minute and the only slight...

Today we wrap up all the Grand Finals around the country:

Canberra Olympic 1-2 Canberra FC
Edgeworth Eagles 0-3 Broadmeadow Magic
Perth Glory Youth 1-4 Perth SC
Peninsula Power 2-0 Eastern Suburbs

And in other NPL results:
Avondale 3-1 Port Melbourne Sharks (Qualifying Final)

NPL Championship:
Devonport Strikers 2-3 Heidelberg United

Oakleigh Cannons are through to the Victorian NPL Semi Finals after beating Pascoe Vale 2-1. They will have to wait to see who wins out of today’s game between Avondale and Port Melbourne Sharks to know if they will face Heidelberg or Bentleigh Greens.

Former Socceroo Tommy Oar is set to return to the A-League with the Central Coast Mariners after leaving his club in Cyprus.

Oar was on the outer at the Cypriot champions, only playing 19 matches during his first season with the club and being left out of the Champions League squad.

Sport Australia has waded into the FFA congress war, with CEO Kate Palmer declaring that Sport Australia does not support governance changes proposed by a FIFA-backed working group.

The working group’s proposals are due to be put to a vote at an FFA extraordinary general meeting later this month...

Yesterday Jake reported that Arzani was overlooked for Celtic’s 43-man Europa League squad - today we have an update. Coach Chris Davies has responded to questions saying Arzani’s exclusion is because of a lack of fitness.

Central Coast are in talks to bring former Melbourne City player Ross McCormack back to the A-League.

The Mariners have two vacant slots for marquee players and are hoping to use one of them on Scottish striker McCormack to lead their attack this season.

SBS have announced the return of the W-League for the 2018-19 season, with matches to be shown LIVE, FREE on SBS VICELAND and streamed via The World Game website and app.

Following his disappointment at the Brisbane Strikers pulling their A-League bid, Cameron Atfield states that Brisbane City also pulling out is the perfect opportunity for Brisbane to address its stadium issues and build a boutique rectangular stadium. He believes the Women's World Cup bid presents that opportunity.

Socceroos star Daniel Arzani has been left out of Celtic's 43-man squad for their upcoming UEFA Europa League campaign.

FFA confirmed on Wednesday in a statement that it would conduct a review of the National Club Identity Policy (NCIP).

The NPL Championship kicks off this weekend when Devonport Strikers FC from Tasmania host last year’s Champions Heidelberg United FC from Victoria at Valley Road in the first of the Elimination Finals.

Riley McGree has been nominated for the 2018 FIFA Puskas Award for his ‘scorpion kick’ goal in the 2018 Hyundai A-League Semi Final.
The 19-year-old’s incredible backheel effort, which went viral around the world, will be judged against nine other strikes for the honour of the most beautiful goal of the year.
McGree’s stunning goal will vie with Champions League overhead kicks from Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, and dazzling efforts from Lionel Messi and Mohamed Salah.
However, the Melbourne City midfielder’s goal is eerily similar to Olivier Giroud’s scorpion kick against Crystal Palace, which won the 2017 FIFA Puskas Award.

In case you missed it, Tim Cahill has joined the Indian Super League to play with Jamshedpur FC.

Dimi Petratos has withdrawn from the Socceroos Turkey training camp due to an ankle injury.

The Matildas' World Cup preparations will return to home soil in November for a two-game series against Chile.

The matches will take place at Panthers Stadium in Penrith on Saturday, November 10 and Newcastle's McDonald Jones Stadium on Tuesday, November 13.

Melbourne Victory have strengthened their midfield ranks with the loan signing of Raul Baena from Spanish side Granada.

That’s their fourth visa player of the off-season as Baena joins Honda, Ola Toivonen and Georg Niedermeier as new faces in Kevin Muscat’s side for the 2018/19 season.The 29-year-old, who has appeared in more than 150 La Liga games, will begin his one-season loan spell next week, subject to completion of a medical, and Muscat was delighted to get the deal over the line.

Sunday NPL Results - let’s get on with it.
The last round of the Victorian NPL was played yesterday - all games at 3pm. Here’s your results:

- Northcote City 2 - 1 Oakleigh Cannons
- Heidelberg 2 - 3 Avondale
- South Melbourne 0 - 1 Port Melbourne Sharks
- Pascoe Vale 1 - 1 Hume City
- Melbourne Knights 1 - 2 Dandenong Thunder
- Green Gully 1 - 3 Kingston City
- Bentleigh Greens 6 - 2 Bulleen Lions

So it’s Port Melbourne Sharks who sneak into the 6th finals spot and will play Avondale in the Qualifying Finals. Pascoe Vale will play Oakleigh Cannons in the other Qualifying Finals with Bentleigh and Heidelberg getting the weekend off. At the other end it’s Green Gully who end up in the play off relegation spot.

It’s Broadmeadow Magic who will face Edgeworth Eagles in the NNSW NPL Grand final after they beat Maitland FC 3-2 over the two legs. Maitland won 1 nil yesterday, but it wasn’t enough.

And we’ll finish in QLD where it’s a Lions v Olympic grand final next weekend...

Today we look at all the Saturday NPL results, and for most States that means finals football!

Harry Kewell has taken on his second management job after being hired as coach of the last-place team in England's four professional leagues Notts County, who are last in the fourth division.

Kewell's first senior management role was at Crawley Town, who he guided to a 14th-place finish in the fourth tier last season. The former Liverpool and Leeds winger agreed to a compensation fee with Crawley allowing him to join Notts County.
Melbourne Victory have announced the signing of star Swedish striker Ola Toivonen on a two-year contract.
An accomplished striker at both club and international level, Toivonen was one of the most prominent Swedish players at the World Cup, scoring for Sweden against Germany in Russia
First-choice Melbourne City goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis has departed the A-League on a loan move to Europe.

The 27-year-old heads overseas, a decade after failing to make it at English giants Liverpool as a highly rated youngster.

Graham Arnold's first Socceroos squad features just one A-League player among the 31 names heading to a week-long training camp next week.

Dimi Petratos is the sole Australian-based name among the group returning to Turkey - the site of their pre-World Cup training camp.
Uncapped players Denis Genreau, Ben Garuccio, Kenneth Dougall, John Iredale and Awer Mabil are among the names that will get the chance to forge international careers under Arnold.

Arnold has also restored Alex Gersbach, Bailey Wright and Mitchell Langerak to the national setup.

Melbourne City have bolstered their midfield stocks for the Hyundai A-League 2018/19 Season with the signing of playmaker Florin Berenguer.
The 29-year-old joins City with more than 200 games of experience in France's French Ligue 1 and Ligue 2.

And there goes another big night off FFA Cup. This time there were no real surprises - let’s have a look at the results and then the quarter final draw that was help after the games.

Heidelberg dispatched of Adelaide Comets 4 nil, Western Sydney Wanderers beat Bonnyrigg White Eagles 2-1, Melbourne City beat Newcastle Jets 1 nil and Adelaide United might consider themselves lucky, beating Lions FC 1 nil.

And in the next round of the FFA Cup we will see
Melbourne City v Western Sydney Wanderers
Bentleigh Greens v Heidelberg United
APIA Leichhardt v Adelaide United
Avondale v Sydney FC

Brisbane Roar have added experienced mentor Darren Davies to their coaching staff for the Hyundai A-League 2018/19 Season.
Davies has an impressive resume, including six seasons at Melbourne Victory where he worked under both Ange Postecoglou and Kevin Muscat, while he was also a part of the coaching staff for the Caltex Socceroos at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.
He also worked as a Head Coach at the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS), taking charge of future Hyundai A-League players such as Brandon Borrello.


Sydney FC midfielder Paulo Retre has renewed his contract with the club and extended it for a further year, the club revealed this afternoon.
It will take him to the end of the Hyundai A-League 2019/20 season.

Usain Bolt admits ‘there will be nerves’ as he takes the first step of his fledgling professional football career by running out as a Central Coast Mariners player on Friday.

Just one game played on Monday night, and it was in Victoria where Bulleen Lions picked up a rare win over Melbourne Knights 1-0. The game finished with 19 players on the field after three red cards were dished out, along with Bulleen’s coach being sent from the team area. The win does nothing to save Bulleen from relegation, but it makes the Knights job of making the Finals a lot more difficult.


Former Socceroo and Sydney FC defender Luke Wilkshire has been lined up to coach Wollongong Wolves next season
The A-League aspirants are facing a major shakeup after coach Jacob Timpano elected to step down after more than three years at the helm of the NPL club.
According to the Illawarra Mercury ex-Leeds striker Michael Bridges, who was previously on the coaching staff at Newcastle Jets, will assist the 36-year-old Wilkshire.

And we count down the Top 20 clubs in the country right now, according to the TPO Rankings.

In NSW Sydney Olympic are the first club into the Grand Final, smashing Sydney United 4-0 on Sunday. Sydney United get a 2nd chance next weekend when they play APIA Leichhardt with the other Grand Final spot up for grabs.

In the 1st leg of the Semi Final in Northern NSW, Broadmeadow Magic has beaten Maitland 3-1. Maitland’s season will go on the line in the 2nd leg next weekend.

And in a couple of games that don’t really have any impact on the final league ladders, firstly in Tasmania where South Hobart has beaten Hobart Olympia 2-1, and secondly in Queensland where Olympic FC made sure that North QLD’s final game in the NPL was one they’d rather forget - the final score was 6-2.

APIA Leichhardt has had a great week - firstly in their surprise FFA Cup win over Melbourne Victory, and then an 8-2 win in the NSW NPL Finals against Rockdale City Suns. Those wins have seen APIA move 2 places up the TPO Rankings to be the 7th best club in the country.

Perth Soccer Club are premiers of the Western Australian NPL after a dramatic last round. They beat Joondalup United 2 nil to finish 1 point above Perth Glory Youth who dropped the ball, going down 1 nil to Subiaco. Inglewood United would have qualified for finals if they won, but instead they finish 5th after they went down 2-1 to Balcatta. It’s Bayswater who do end in 4th after they drew 1 all with ECU Joondalup. Forrestfield are relegated after they were thrashed 8-1 by by Stirling Lions. In the other games Floreat Athena beat Sorrento 2-1 and Cockburn City beat Armadale 4-1.

To Victoria and Avondale and Bentleigh have both picked up wins - Avondale 6-2 over South Melbourne and Bentleigh beat Port Melbourne Sharks 1 nil. Hume City drew with Green Gully 2 all, while Dandenong Thunder keep their finals hopes alive after beating Northcote City 4-2.

3 top tier NPL games last night - the first of which was between Lions and Redlands in QLD where Lions wrapped up their final round of the regular season with a 4 nil win to go 10 points clear at the top of the table.

To Victoria and we head into the second last round of the season. Oakleigh Cannons beat Pascoe Vale 2-1 which sees Pascoe Vale remain in 4th and Oakleigh remain in 5th, with Oakleigh all but confirming their place in the finals.

In the nights third game we saw a huge upset as Kingston City beat top of the table Heidelberg 4-1. With that win Kingston go to 8th on the ladder and keep their finals chances alive.

Newcastle Jets have announced that scholarship player, Angus Thurgate has been upgraded to a senior contract for the 2018/19 A-League season.

It has been rapid rise to the senior squad for the Port Macquarie product – who signed a scholarship contract midway through the 2017/18 season – after some standout performances in the club’s youth system.

Sydney FC have signed former Ajax captain Siem De Jong on a season long loan.

The four-time Eredivisie winner and six-time Netherlands international was announced as the clubs marquee signing on Thursday.

De Jong is a product of the Ajax academy, and has scored 67 goals in 209 Eredivisie appearances.

Just weeks after PSV signed Trent Sainsbury, reports emerged on Wednesday night that fellow Socceroos defender Aziz Behich is set to join him at the Dutch club.

A new dawn in Australian football is beckoning after proposed governance reforms were rubber-stamped by FIFA, sounding the death knell for outgoing Football Federation Australia (FFA) chairman Steven Lowy and his board.

Lowy and his board are strongly opposed to the changes, but FIFA have endorsed the recommendations of the congress review working group.

Graham Arnold has indicated that a "bolter" for the Asian Cup squad could be 25-year-old midfielder Kenny Dougall, who recently joined English third tier team, Barnsley, from Sparta Rotterdam. Arnold says Dougall is good on the ball, and has good engines and good pass.

Dougall is set to be named in a 30-man training squad in Turkey next month.

Arnold also says that he hopes that Mark Milligan's new contract with Hibs in the Scottish Premier League will help ensure Milligan does not opt for international retirement.

And in a little bit of Overseas news Socceroos midfielder Jackson Irvine has delivered an inspired performance for Championship side Hull City scoring a brace in their thrilling 3-2 win against Rotherham United.
It was a difficult night at the office for Socceroos midfielder Massimo Luongo as his QPR side slumped to a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Bailey Wright's Bristol City.

What a night of FFA Cup - with plenty of goals, let’s jump into the results.

In the most one sided scoreline Bentleigh Greens beat Broadmeadow Magic 4 nil. With that win they move up 1 place in the TPO Rankings to 10th and Magic move down 6 spots to 36th.

It was a good night for Victorian NPL sides with Avondale beating Tasmanian Entrants Devonport City 4-1. They were rewarded handsomely in the TPO Rankings, moving up 4 spots to 13th - 1 spot above Central Coast Mariners by the way, while Devonport move down 5 spots to 52nd.

Despite taking a 16th minute lead, Cairns were unable to hold on, eventually going down 2-1 to the highest ranked team in the TPO Rankings, Sydney FC. Sydney stay in at number 1 on the Rankings while Cairns move down 1 spot to 74th.

And what a huge result for APIA Leichhardt, beating A-League powerhouse Melbourne Victory 3-2.

Cairns FC, ranked 73rd in the country vs Sydney FC, ranked 1st. The TPO Algorithm gives Cairns just a 1% chance of causing an upset.
APIA Leichhardt Tigers, the highest ranked non-A-League club coming in as the 9th best club in the country, playing Melbourne Victory, the 2nd highest ranked club. Victory are clear favourites, but TPO Rankings gives APIA a 19% chance of winning.
Muscat has refused to reveal whether Keisuke Honda would travel to Sydney for the clash but did admit he would not be starting if named in the match day squad.
Avondale FC, ranked 17th in the country vs Devonport City from Tasmania, ranked 47th. Avondale are favourites, with a 65% chance of winning in normal time, and Devonport City outsiders at a 17% chance.

And finally, Broadmeadow Magic, ranked 30th, against Bentleigh Greens, ranked 11th. The home advantage isn’t enough to make Broadmeadow favourites, and are only a 22% chance of winning, with Bentleigh Greens expected to get the job done.

Not a lot of Sunday NPL games, but the few that were played were important ones.

Firstly in Victoria, where Heidelberg United and South Melbourne played a catchup game, with Heidelberg coming away 4-2 victors. That win is enough to see Heidelberg crowned as the Victorian NPL Premiers for 2018, with two rounds remaining. It also severely damages South Melbourne’s finals hopes.

In the ACT, and another catch up game was played between Canberra Olympic and Canberra FC. This was an interesting one because the final round of the competition was actually last weekend, and all the star aligned so that this last game of the season was also the playoff for the Premiership. And Canberra FC came away with a 2-0 win, and the title of 2018 NPL Premier.

So when we add Lions FC from Queensland, that makes it three Premierships that were decided this weekend. The only titles still up for grabs are in Western Australia and Tasmania.