Australia’s golden weekend in Europe makes history
Connor Melcalfe lit up Millerntor-Stadion with a superb strike in FC St. Pauli’s 5-1 win and over in the Netherlands Garang Kuol opened up his account for FC Volendam in style.
From the Premier League, to the 2.Bundesliga, France’s Ligue 2, to the Scottish Premiership. KEEPUP has you covered on all the Aussie-related news outside the A-Leagues.
It was one of the great weekends for Australians playing football overseas.
From players scoring stunners, to making debuts for some of the biggest clubs in world football and coaches continuing to make their mark on the global game.
The last 48 hours has well and truly had it all!
- Hayley Raso became the first Australian to play for Real Madrid.
- Ange Postecoglou was voted as the Premier League Coach of the Month and Tottenham came from two goals down to continue their undefeated start to the Premier League season and extended his unprecedented unbeaten run at home.
- Garang Kuol fired home his first goal for Volendam in style.
- Caleb Watts scored the winner for Exeter City, only a day after signing for the club.
- Connor Metcalfe scored a goal of the season contender in St Pauli’s 5-1 win over the weekend.
- Mary Fowler helped herself to a brace in Manchester City’s win over Everton in pre-season.
- Mohamed Toure helped himself to a debut goal for Ligue 2 side Paris FC.
- Katrina Gorry fired home a screamer for Vittsjo GIK.
- Ryan Strain’s brilliant season continued as he got an assist in St Mirren’s victory over Motherwell.
Goals galore for our Aussies!
Connor Metcalfe, Garang Kuol and Katrina Gorry all fired home long-range belters for their respective club sides over the weekend.
Metcalfe opened the scoring for St Pauli in their 5-1 rout of Holstein Kiel on Sunday evening (AEST) with a sweetly hit, first-time pile driver from the edge of the box, before helping himself to an assist later in the game.
Meanwhile, Kuol scored his first goal for Volendam on Sunday morning (AEST), with an equally impressive curling effort from the edge of the area in their 3-1 loss to Fortuna Sittard.
Over in Sweden, Gorry scored a cracker of her own in Vittsjo GIK’s 2-1 victory over Uppsala.
The Matilda gathered the ball on the edge of the area before firing a unstoppable effort into the top corner.
Fellow young gun Mohamed Toure also opened his account for Paris FC in France’s Ligue 2, scoring a penalty in their 3-0 win over Amiens FC.
Olyroo Caleb Watts was just as prolific over the weekend, scoring the winner for English League One side Exeter City against Cheltenham Town.
Watts had only signed for Gary Caldwell’s side a day earlier on a short-term deal following his release from Southampton in the off-season and immediately made his presence felt by scoring the decisive goal on debut.
Matilda Mary Fowler added two goals in Manchester City’s 4-3 pre-season victory over Everton.
In Spain’s Segunda Division, Ryan Edwards fired home two goals in two minutes to help SD Amorebieta to a 2-0 victory over Mirandes.
And while he didn’t score, Aussie striker Harrison Sawyer helped himself to two assists for Finnish outfit VPS in a 2-0 win against KuPS. VPS are now undefeated in 11 straight games in the Veikkausliiga and sit in third in the Championship group.
Ange’s unprecedented undefeated streak continues
Ange Postecoglou continues to weave magic at Tottenham Hotspur.
Spurs came from a goal behind to beat Sheffield United, with Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski both finding the back of the net in the 98th and 100th minute to continue their undefeated start to the Premier League season.
The win featured the latest winning goal in Premier League history.
It extended Postecoglou’s unbeaten run at home to 50 straight games, stretching back to his time at Japanese side Yokohama F. Marinos and Scottish champions Celtic.
READ MORE: Postecoglou’s message to Spurs fans after unprecedented undefeated streak continues
MATCH REPORT: Ange’s Spurs complete dramatic late comeback as Tottenham make Premier League history
In the Championship, Massimo Luongo and Cam Burgess started again as Ipswich Town defeated Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 to make it five wins from six games to start the season.
Sammy Silvera and Riley McGree came off the bench in Middlesbrough’s 2-1 loss to Blackburn as Michael Carrick’s side continue to languish in bottom place.
Hearts’ boss praise for Socceroo, who returned to form over the weekend
Kye Rowles responded after a difficult start to the Scottish Premier League season with a Man of the Match performance in Hearts’ 2-0 win over Aberdeen.
Rowles was heavily scrutinised for his early season performances for the Jam Tarts, but bounced back in a big way, helping keep a clean sheet en route to their first home victory of the campaign.
Steven Naismith – who was re-appointed Hearts head coach in early September after serving as interim boss last season – was full of praise for the Socceroo’s performance.
“I challenged him before the game because I think in recent weeks he has found it tough at moments,” Naismith said.
“I think there have been small moments in games but because of where he plays it gets magnified. He showed today that he is mentally tough to put in the performance that he did. I thought he was really good. But overall our composure at the end of the game, not getting carried away or lacking discipline, showed because Aberdeen never really had a threat.”
Fellow Aussies Nathaniel Atkinson and Cameron Devlin started the game as well, while Calem Nieuwenhof played 40 minutes off the bench in his return game from injury. Former Central Coast Mariners defender James McGarry also started the game for Aberdeen.
Meanwhile, Nick Montgomery’s first game in charge of Hibernian ended in a 2-2 draw with Kilmarnock.
Hibs had a two-goal lead early in the game, with Lewis Miller seemingly scoring the opener before it was credited as a Will Dennis own-goal. However, the home side battled back after half-time to ensure Montgomery’s tenure wouldn’t get off to a winning start.
Keanu Baccus and Ryan Strain both saw minutes as St Mirren continued their unbeaten start to the season with a 1-0 victory over Motherwell. Strain helped himself to an assist for the winner, teeing up Scott Tanser for the decisive goal.
Over in Switzerland, Josh Laws and Awer Mabil started in Grasshopper’s 3-0 loss to Sion in the Swiss Cup, while in Norway, Nick D’Agostino and Patrick Yazbek came off the bench as Viking extended their unbeaten run to 12 straight games following a 2-0 victory over Bodo/Glimt.
And in Spain, Hayley Raso made her first appearance for Real Madrid, coming off the bench in their 2-0 win over Valencia.
Socceroos stars have their moment in the sun
Mat Ryan kept yet another clean sheet as AZ Alkmaar made it four wins from four games to begin the Dutch Eredivisie season.
Alkmaar have been flying to begin the campaign and continued their solid start after seeing off Sparta Rotterdam 2-0 on Monday morning (AEST).
Ryan’s Alkmaar haven’t dropped a point all season, and have only conceded two goals to start the season, which puts them second in the league behind PSV Eindhoven who have only conceded one.
Meanwhile, Alessandro Circati helped Parma to a 5-0 win over Catanzaro on Monday morning.
Parma currently sit top of Italy’s Serie B after five games, with Circati helping them to an equal league best defensive record (one goal conceded) to begin the season.
Read More:Australia’s golden weekend in Europe makes history