2008–09 Adelaide United FC season explained

Club:	Adelaide United
Season:	2008–09
Manager:	Aurelio Vidmar Chairman Mel Patzwald
League:	A-League
League Result:	2nd
Cup1:	Pre-Season Cup
Cup1 Result:	2nd
Cup2:	AFC Champions League
Cup2 Result:	Runners-up
Biggest Win:	6–1 (Wellington Phoenix)
Biggest Loss:	3–0 (Central Coast Mariners)
League Topscorer:	Cristiano (8)
Season Topscorer:	Cristiano (10)
Highest Attendance:	23,002 (vs Sydney FC, 3 January 2009)
Lowest Attendance:	7,832 (vs Wellington Phoenix, 30 August 2008)
Average Attendance:	12,500
Pattern B1:	_Kit_frount_AU_reebok_spikes
Leftarm1:	FF0000
Body1:	FF0000
Rightarm1:	FF0000
Shorts1:	FF0000
Socks1:	FF0000
Leftarm2:	FF0000
Body2:	FFFFFF
Rightarm2:	FF0000
Shorts2:	FFFFFF
Socks2:	FFFFFF
Prevseason:	2007–08
Nextseason:	2009–10

The 2008–09 Adelaide United FC season was the club's fourth A-League season since the inception in the Australian football league since it first started in 2005. The club competed in the 2008–09 A-League, 2008 AFC Champions League and 2008 FIFA Club World Cup.

For the 2008–09 season, Adelaide United made some significant signings to strengthen the squad, most notably striker Cristiano from Willem II for two years on a free transfer. Another key signing to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Richie Alagich was Alemão formerly of CA Juventus. Saša Ognenovski joined the club from Queensland Roar to help shore up the defence, midfielder Paul Reid joined from Brighton & Hove Albion F.C., while promising youngsters Scott Jamieson, Daniel Mullen, Mark Birighitti and Robert Younis also signed. Bobby Petta, Shaun Ontong, Milan Susak, Dez Giraldi and Robert Bajic were all released, Bruce Djite was sold for an A-League record of A$850,000 to Genclerbirligi, whilst Nathan Burns also transferred to pursue his European dreams, joining Greek first division outfit AEK Athens^[1] for A$500,000.^[2] Kristian Sarkies, Lucas Pantelis and Fabian Barbiero all had their contracts renewed.

This season, Adelaide United passed the one millionth spectator milestone of total crowds since the inception of the A-League. They reached this achievement when their 7,052nd fan passed through the gate, for the Round 3 match against Wellington. Adelaide United are only the third A-League club to do so thus far, the other two being Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC.^[3]

The round 18 A-League match against Sydney FC at the Adelaide Oval saw $23,002 donated to the Starlight Foundation as $1 from every ticket sold for the match went to the charity.^[4]

By the end of round 27, Adelaide had drawn level for first, equalling Melbourne's 38 points on the ladder, having needed to win 2–0 against the Central Coast Mariners away to win the premiership and only securing a 1–0 win. Adelaide was pushed down to second because of goal difference. The Reds, along with Melbourne, the Queensland Roar and Central Coast, proceeded to the finals where they lost 1–0 against Melbourne Victory in the grand final at Etihad Stadium, Melbourne.

An early highlight for the season was Adelaide's run to the final of the AFC Champions League against Gamba Osaka.^{[5] [6]} Because of this performance, Adelaide participated in the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup. They played in the play-off round against Waitakere United on 11 December, defeating them 2–1.^{[7] [8]} The Reds' next game was played against AFC Champions League rivals, Gamba Osaka, in the quarterfinal round on 14 December in Toyota, Japan. This match, despite Adelaide's grown skill since their first meeting with ACL champions, was won by Gamba Osaka 0–1.^{[9] [10]} Adelaide's last appearance in the Club World Cup was against Al Ahly, from Egypt, to determine the fifth-placed club. The match was played on 18 December, and Adelaide defeated Al-Ahly 0–1.^{[11] [12]}

This season also saw the introduction of the Adelaide United W-League team and the A-League National Youth League team. Former Adelaide player Richie Alagich, along with Michael Barnett and former Socceroos Tony Vidmar and Joe Mullen joined the coaching staff of these teams.

Players

Squad information

Youth Team roster

Transfers

First Team

In

Name	Position	Moving from	Fee
	Goalkeeper		Free
	Defender	Queensland Roar	Free
	Defender	Australian Institute of Sport	Free
	Defender	Bolton Wanderers	Free
	Defender	CA Juventus	Free
	Midfielder	Brighton & Hove Albion	Free
	Striker	Willem II Tilburg	Free
	Striker	APIA Leichhardt	Free

Out

Name	Position	Moving to	Fee
	Goalkeeper	Released	–
	Defender	Released	–
	Defender	Retired	–
	Midfielder		Free
	Midfielder		Free
	Striker		€500,000
	Striker	Released	–
	Striker		€290,000

Youth Team

In

Name	Position	Moving from	Fee
Lucas Andreucci	Goalkeeper		Free
Alex Sunasky	Defender		Free
Michael Doyle	Defender		Free
Scott Weidnebach	Defender		Free
	Defender		Free
Joel Allwright	Midfielder		Free
Andrew Ciarla	Midfielder		Free
	Midfielder		Free
	Midfielder		Free
Angelo Arambatsis	Striker		Free
	Striker		Free
Shane Tobias	Striker		Free

Out

Technical staff

Position	Name
Head coach	Aurelio Vidmar
Assistant coach	Phil Stubbins
Specialist coach	Carl Veart
Goalkeeping coach	Peter Blazincic
Youth Team Coach	Joe Mullen
Youth Team Assistant Coach	Tony Vidmar
Women's Team Coach	Michael Barnett
Women's Team Assistant Coach	Richie Alagich

Statistics

Squad statistics

No.	Pos.	Name	A-League		A-League Finals		Pre-Season Cup		ACL		CWC		Total		Discipline
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	Daniel Beltrame	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	DF	Robert Cornthwaite	17	2	3	0	3	0	10	2^1	3	0	35	4^1	10	0
3	DF	Alemão	18	2	2	0	3	0	0	0	2	0	25	2	2	0
4	DF	Angelo Costanzo	12	0	0	0	3	0	10	0	1	0	26	0	8	0
5	DF	Michael Valkanis	5	0	1	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	10	0	2	0
6	DF	Cássio	14	4	2	0	3	0	10	0	1	0	29	4	6	1
7	MF	Lucas Pantelis	10	2	4	0	2	0	11	1	0	0	26	3	2	0
8	MF	Kristian Sarkies	10	1	1	0	0	0	7	0	2	0	20	1	1	0
9	FW	Paul Agostino	7	0	3	0	1	0	3	0	0	0	13	0	0	0
10	FW	Cristiano	21	8	4	0	3	2	6	1	3	1	36	12	4	0
11	MF	Osama Malik**	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	0
13	MF	Travis Dodd	20	7	4	0	3	0	12	3	2	1	40	11	6	0
14	DF	Scott Jamieson	21	2	2	0	3	0	6	0	3	0	36	0	7	0
15	MF	Jonas Salley	17	0	2	0	3	0	5	0	1	0	27	0	2	1
16	DF	Daniel Mullen	9	0	4	0	2	0	3	0	3	1	20	1	1	0
17	DF	Isyan Erdogan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
18	MF	Fabian Barbiero	15	1	4	1	3	0	6	1	2	0	29	3	6	0
19	DF	Saša Ognenovski	20	3	4	0	1	0	9	0	2	0	35	3	12	0
20	GK	Eugene Galekovic	18	0	4	0	3	0	11	0	3	0	38	0	2	0
21	MF	Jason Spagnuolo	10	0	0	0	3	0	9	0	1	0	23	0	2	0
22	MF	Diego	8	0	0	0	1	0	11	4	2	0	22	4	3	0
23	DF	Michael Marrone	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	0	0	0
24	MF	Paul Reid	18	1	4	0	0	0	5	0	3	0	29	1	3	0
25	FW	Robert Younis	12	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	3	0	17	0	1	0
26	MF	Matthew Mullen	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
28	MF	Rostyn Griffiths	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	0
30	GK	Mark Birighitti	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	4	0	1	0
——	DF	Richie Alagich*	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	1	0	0	6	1	1	0
——	FW	Bruce Djite*	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	0	0	3	1	0	0
——	DF	Milan Susak*	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
——	FW	Nathan Burns*	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0	0	0	6	0	0	0
——	FW	Dez Giraldi*	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	5	0	0	0
——	MF	Shaun Ontong*	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0

<sup>1 – does not include own goal(s)
* – player(s) who competed in the ACL but not in the 2008–09 A-League season or the CWC
** – player(s) who competed in the CWC but not in the 2008–09 A-League season or the ACL</sup>

Goal scorers

Total	Player		Goals per Round
			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
8					2			2	1							2							1
7			1	1					1		1	1		1		1
4												1				2				1
3														1	1	1
2									1	1
2											1									1
2					1																1
1																			1
1																					1
1																						1

	Two goals were scored from penalty kicks

Attendance at home games

Round	Date	Opponent	Score	Attendance	Weekday
1	17 August 2008		1–0	10,510	Sunday
3	30 August 2008		3–0	7,832	Saturday
6	27 September 2008		2–0	8,111	Saturday
7	3 October 2008		3–3	9,074	Friday
9	26 October 2008		2–1	10,126	Sunday
10	31 October 2008		2–3	13,191	Friday
12	22 November 2008		2–0	9,509	Saturday
14	5 December 2008		6–1	9,442	Friday
16	14 January 2009		0–0	14,450	Wednesday
18	3 January 2009		2–0	23,002	Saturday
19	9 January 2009		2–0	13,585	Friday
SF1	7 February 2009		0–2	14,119	Saturday
PF	21 February 2009		1–0	8,472	Saturday

Competitions

Pre-season

Round	Date	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance	Stadium
1	20 July 2008		1–2 Cristiano,		4,720	Aurora Stadium
2	26 July 2008		0–0		2,756	Baddeley Park
3	2 August 2008		0–0		3,000	Vansittart Park

A-League

See main article: 2008–09 A-League.

Matches

Round	Date	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance	Stadium
1	17 August 2008		1–0 Dodd		10,510	Hindmarsh Stadium
2	24 August 2008				12,761	Suncorp Stadium
3	30 August 2008		3 -0 Pantelis Cristiano,		7,832	Hindmarsh Stadium
4	12 September 2008		1–0		24,812	Telstra Dome
5	20 September 2008		3–0		12,462	Sydney Football Stadium
6	27 September 2008		2–0 Cristiano,		8,111	Hindmarsh Stadium
7	3 October 2008				9,074	Hindmarsh Stadium
8	17 October 2008				11,117	Suncorp Stadium
9	26 October 2008				10,126	Hindmarsh Stadium
10	31 October 2008				13,191	Hindmarsh Stadium
11	15 November 2008		3–0		7,865	Bluetongue Stadium
12	22 November 2008				9,509	Hindmarsh Stadium
13	30 November 2008				7,136	Energy Australia Stadium
14	5 December 2008				9,442	Hindmarsh Stadium
15	6 January 2009^[13]		1–0		27,196	Telstra Dome
16	14 January 2009		0–0		14,450	Hindmarsh Stadium
17	26 December 2008				12,581	Members Equity Stadium
18	3 January 2009				23,002	Adelaide Oval
19	9 January 2009				13,585	Hindmarsh Stadium
20	18 January 2009				8,241	Westpac Stadium
21	25 January 2009				12,351	Bluetongue Stadium

Finals series

Final	Date	Home team	Score	Away team	Attendance	Stadium
Semi (1)	7 February 2009		0–2		14,119	Hindmarsh Stadium
Semi (2)	14 February 2009		4–0		34,736	Telstra Dome
Preliminary	21 February 2009		1–0		8,472	Hindmarsh Stadium
Grand	28 February 2009		1–0		53,273	Telstra Dome

FIFA Club World Cup

See main article: 2008 FIFA Club World Cup.

Final	Date	Team 1	Score	Team 2	Attendance	Stadium
Play-off	11 December 2008				19,777	National Stadium, Tokyo
Quarter	14 December 2008		0–1		38,141	Toyota Stadium, Toyota
Fifth Place	18 December 2008				35,154	International Stadium Yokohama

External links

• Official website
• AFC Champions League

Notes and References

1. http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/77984,burns-is-athens-bound--official.aspx?r=rss Burns is Athens bound
2. "Rivaldo Inspires Burns", Adelaide Advertiser, Friday 13 June 2008, p118
3. http://www.adelaideunited.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=23354 Adelaide United set to reach magic million
4. News: Adelaide regains top spot with win over Sydney FC . Adelaide United . 3 January 2009 . 4 January 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110414165744/http://www.adelaideunited.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=25855 . 14 April 2011 .
5. Web site: AFC Champions League 2008 Final (First Leg) Summary . . 5 November 2008 . 14 January 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090106055811/http://images.the-afc.com/Documents/competitions/fixtures/218-1919.pdf . 6 January 2009 . dead .
6. Web site: AFC Champions League 2008 Final (Second Leg) Summary . . 12 November 2008 . 14 January 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090106044858/http://images.the-afc.com/Documents/competitions/fixtures/218-1918.pdf . 6 January 2009 . dead .
7. Web site: Adelaide United – Waitakere United Match Report . . 11 December 2008 . 14 January 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081220000856/http://www.fifa.com/clubworldcup/matches/round%3D252218/match%3D300073488/report.html . 20 December 2008 . dead.
8. Web site: Travis makes Adelaide sing . . 11 December 2008 . 14 January 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081214095609/http://www.fifa.com/clubworldcup/matches/round%3D252218/match%3D300073488/summary.html . 14 December 2008 . dead.
9. Web site: Adelaide United – Gamba Osaka Match Report . . 14 December 2008 . 14 January 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090130072925/http://www.fifa.com/clubworldcup/matches/round%3D252217/match%3D300073122/report.html . 30 January 2009 . dead.
10. Web site: Endo the road for Adelaide . . 14 December 2008 . 14 January 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090202042611/http://www.fifa.com/clubworldcup/matches/round%3D252217/match%3D300073122/summary.html . 2 February 2009 . dead .
11. Web site: Al-Ahly – Adelaide United Match Report . . 18 December 2008 . 14 January 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081221115026/http://www.fifa.com/clubworldcup/matches/round%3D252221/match%3D300073126/report.html . 21 December 2008 . dead.
12. Web site: Adelaide's high five . . 18 December 2008 . 14 January 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090202131435/http://www.fifa.com/clubworldcup/matches/round%3D252221/match%3D300073126/summary.html . 2 February 2009 . dead .
13. Match rescheduled due to Adelaide's participation in FIFA Club World Cup