Huuuuuugene and Jamo for the Roos

Yep, Galekovic and Jamieson have been named in Verbeek's 23-man squad for the upcoming Asian Cup qualifier away to Kuwait on January 6. All of the English Premier League guys are unavailable, so there's an opportunity for some of the A-League boys to stake their claim leading up to the World Cup.

Eugene is probably the best keeper in the league (if not an actual God walking amongst men) and he has had another good season, so his inclusion is a no-brainer; Jamo hasn't reached any great heights this year but he had a brilliant previous season and Pim has seen enough to give him another shot in the green & gold.

Galekovic will be up against Fumbles Velaphi and High Five Vukovic for the 'keeper spot, ex-Red Matthew Kemp and highly-rated Plymouth Argyle young'un Shane Lowry will probably be Jamieson's main competition for the left back position. Also interesting from a Reds point of view is the inclusion of big bad bustling Bruce Djite in the squad, time for him to step up & stake a claim for a World Cup spot.

Oh and congrats to Tommy Oar, if he gets on the pitch he'll be the youngest Socceroo since Harry Kewell.

THE SQUAD

Alex Brosque, Jacob Burns, Nick Carle, Simon Colosimo, Jason Culina, Bruce Djite, Eugene Galekovic, Scott Jamieson, Mile Jedinak, Matthew Kemp, Shane Lowry, Matthew McKay, Craig Moore, Tommy Oar, Nikita Rukavytsya, Matthew Spiranovic, Mile Sterjovski, Archie Thompson, Matthew Thompson, Tando Velaphi, Dario Vidosic, Danny Vukovic, Luke Wilkshire

Adelaide 1-1 Wellington

With the chances and possession Adelaide had they should have put this game to bed. There were about 20 minutes at the start of the second half where the team played better than they have all season, and it was great to see. And Alemao scored an absolute belter. Yet in true Reds fashion they couldn't hold it together, lost concentration and conceded a soft equaliser.

The past couple of matches have definitely been a step forward for United though, if their form continues to improve we could be in for a decent ACL after all.

Time for some positive news

The weekend's 1-0 win over Roar came hot on the heels of news that the Reds were successful in snaring the services of Argentine midfielder Marcos Flores for two years, starting with the upcoming ACL campaign. Since Diego left the team has been in need of a creative attacking mid, and maybe Flores is the guy to fill the gap.

There's more positive news on the transfer front, as well - striker Michael Baird and defender Hayden Foxe are currently training with the Reds, and apparently Mark Rudan is set to sign a contract extension.

Baird moved to Romanian side FC Universitatea Craiova after a good season with the Roar in 2005-06 - he's a handy player and still in his mid 20s, exactly the sort of guy that A-League clubs should be trying to lure back to Australia.

Foxe has had a tough time at Perth Glory with injuries, but he's a class act and he's spent many seasons playing for some big clubs in England - West Ham, Portsmouth and Leeds Utd. Since Veart retired I've always thought Adelaide was in need of a new talismanic ranga, Foxe ticks all the boxes.

With any luck there will be some better days ahead for Adelaide United - the signs are good.

Hayden Foxe - new Red?

Brisbane 0-1 Adelaide

Last Saturday night, for the first time in two months, Adelaide United recorded a win. A Barbiero header sealed the result over fellow table-propper-uppers Brisbane, in front of the Oranje's lowest ever home crowd. It wasn't a completely convincing performance but it was definitely well fought, and for the first time in a while the players showed a bit of heart.

Vidmar rang in the changes, leaving Cornthwaite, Rudan, Hughes and Pantelis at home and giving Shin and Monterosso a bit of well-deserved game time. The absence of Rudan's leadership was notable in a backline that was shaky at times, but the boys in red managed to keep their first clean sheet in a long time, thanks mostly to a few brilliant stops by Galekovic.

The best thing about the win was the reaction of the players at the full time whistle. Finally the team is starting to look united again.

I'm back

Hooray!

Yeah, I'll admit, I'm lazy... I went overseas for a couple of months and didn't really find the motivation to write much once I came back. The way AUFC have been travelling hasn't really inspired me much anyway.

So let's get back into the swing of things. Here's a piece I've submitted for this month's issue of the excellent Half Time Heroes zine:

-----

I think we're now in a position where we can safely say that this year has not quite gone to plan for Adelaide United. Two thirds of the season has passed and we're sitting dead last, with misfiring strikers, a leaky defense and a coach whose motivational genius is exemplified by his suggestion that his players might benefit from having their heads severed from their bodies. Well, at the moment anything's worth a shot.

I do feel for Vidmar, though. He's obviously a capable coach, and he's still got some brownie points up his sleeve after the feats of last season and the ACL. But the pressure is definitely on, and it's showing. Bad results piling up, unhappy players and behind-the-scenes issues at the club create a vortex that is very difficult to escape from. And the fans want blood.

Football supporters aren't known for being the most rational creatures when things aren't going well. Once a scapegoat has been identified, the knives come out. Viddie is number one with a bullet on the terrace hate-list at the moment, with a few of the players not far behind.

Of course, by and large, we supporters don't know what the hell we're talking about. If decisions were made based on terrace opinion, Kristian Sarkies would have been sent packing last season. This year, he's been our best player. 'Two up front!' became a mantra earlier in the season for supporters sick of drab football - well now Viddie's tried it, and the team played worse than ever.

Once things are going this badly, the vortex of negativity is so strong that it starts to override anything positive. Last home game, for example, there was a period of play where Adelaide actually kept possession for a little while. The team was holding the ball, patiently passing it around outside Newcastle's penalty box, probing for an opening. Fair enough it wasn't quite like watching Brazil circa 1970 but it was the right idea. Behind me, though, there was a bloke going absolutely off his nut: "Put the fucking ball in the box you muppets! You are FUCKING USELESS!" This was the same guy that made donkey noises whenever Cornthwaite or Hughes went near the ball, and gave Vidmar a massive spray every time a substitution was not made.

Obviously, that guy was a moron. But for all his negative, irrational idiocy, one thing about his ranting struck me: at least he cared. It takes a lot of commitment to hate your own team so strongly. It's better than the antipathy of some of my mates, who have just gradually stopped coming to games because they can't be arsed any more. It would be nice if we could all go to every match happy, watch some great football and come away with a win every week, but reality doesn't work like that. Through the bad times, it's the discontent, injustice and endless disagreement that keeps us going as fans. It’s not pretty, but being a football supporter rarely is.