Welcome to A-Leagues Alumni: A weekly piece that keeps you up to date with the best stories from our products flying the flag abroad. The acronyms of the A-Leagues club(s) each player has represented are in brackets after their name.
Youngster’s big call after historic move
It was a special weekend for Melbourne City graduate Sebastian Esposito (MCY), who was part of Lecce’s matchday squad for the first time in Serie A this season.
Esposito made history in December when he joined Lecce from three-time reigning Isuzu UTE A-League premiers City – the 18-year-old becoming the first Australian player to be part of the club in their 97-year history.
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Having impressed for Lecce’s Primavera team, the teenage defender was brought into the senior team for Sunday’s 4-0 loss to Serie A leaders Inter – a squad boasting FIFA Men’s World Cup winner Lautaro Martinez, Nicolo Barella, Benjamin Pavard and Hakan Calhanoglu.
While the Young Socceroos centre-back did not make it off the bench, it further highlights his crowd at Lecce, where he is highly rated.
Esposito, who left City without making a senior appearance, has already been touted as a first-team option by Lecce’s director of football Pantaleo Corvino.
Earlier this month after Lecce missed out on signing Swedish defender Gustaf Lagerbielke in the January transfer window, Corvino told reporters: “We appreciated his desire to come to Lecce. This summer we were interested, but we couldn’t hold back the exorbitant requests, so he went to Celtic for €4.5million and 800k in wages.
“We had Pongracic and Baschirotto. When he didn’t feel comfortable, he and his agent asked us to come to Lecce. It was a request from him.
“However, we had assessed (Marin) Pongracic, (Federico) Baschirotto, (Ahmed) Touba and Esposito as suitable already at the beginning of January.”
“Physically strong, Esposito is skilled with his head and anticipation, although he has a lot to improve, especially in the setting phase,” they added.
Meanwhile in Saudi Arabia, Craig Goodwin (ADL) teed up a former Manchester United striker in a matchup against star-studded Al Ittihad.
Former Adelaide United captain and Socceroos winger Goodwin, playing as a no.10, provided an assist for Odion Ighalo in the 2-1 defeat to reigning Saudi Pro League champions Al Ittihad.
Goodwin’s second assist of the season, having also scored six of his own, gave Al Wehda a 35th-minute lead before the home side – who spent $205million on transfers, including superstars Karim Benzema, Fabinho and N’Golo Kante – scored twice in the final 10 minutes.
Kewell’s wild J1 League bow
There has been nothing dull about Harry Kewell‘s (MVC, MCY) start to life at Yokohama F.Marinos and Sunday was no different!
Then in Sunday’s J1 League opener, F.Marinos stunned promoted Tokyo Verdy in the third minute of stoppage time.
Marinos – runners-up under Kevin Muscat (MVC) last season having won the 2022 title – were off the pace throughout the contest away to Verdy and trailed heading into the final minute of regulation before 2023 Golden Boot winner Anderson Lopes converted an 89th-minute penalty.
With time running out, Ken Matsubara found the back of the net with an incredible strike four minutes later, sparking wild celebrations.
After the match, Kewell revealed the advice he received from his two Aussie predecessors at Marinos – now-Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou (BRI, MVC) and Muscat.
“When I decided to go to Japan, I first asked coach Postecoglou what the place was like, and he told me about when he was in the J.League at the time,” Kewell, who has Central Coast Mariners legend John Hutchinson as his assistant, told reporters post-match.
“He said that winning in the J League is not easy, and that it is a tough and physically difficult league. And above all, he said, he had great players. As for coach Muscat, he said it was a really difficult league.
“First of all, he said that it is a league with a lot of passion. Football really needs fans and supporters, and how many of them come and support the teams they support.
“I also felt that the atmosphere and passion were really wonderful, and I thought they were very important elements. Even before I arrived, I was clear that no match would be easy. Today’s match was the opening match, and we were also away.
“I think it will be a tough game every game. No matter what game you play, if you don’t prepare well, you’ll be swept off your feet. I know that. We will prepare well and each match will be tough, but we will do our best.”
There were three other Australians in action over the weekend in Japan’s top flight.
Peter Cklamovski (PER, ADL, MVC) oversaw FC Tokyo’s 2-2 draw at Cerezo Osaka, star goalkeeper Mitch Langerak (MVC) wore the captain’s armband as Nagoya Grampus lost 3-0 at home to Kashima Antlers, while Thomas Deng (MVC) played the entire 90 minutes in Albirex Niigata’s 2-1 victory over Sagan Tosu.
Mitch Duke (CCM, WSW) was absent from Machida Zelvia’s 1-1 draw with Gamba Osaka.
Super Cup defeat for A-Leagues great
Kevin Muscat’s first competitive match in charge of Shanghai Port did not go according to plan on Sunday.
Chinese Super League champions Shanghai Port lost 1-0 to city rivals Shanghai Shenhua in the Chinese Super Cup.
The season curtain-raiser pits the CSL champions against the Chinese FA Cup holders.
In front of a big crowd in Shanghai, Cephas Malele’s 55th-minute goal separated the two sides as Matheus Jussa saw red for Port four minutes from the end.
“The game had a good atmosphere, though we could have played better,” said Kevin Muscat, who had former Brisbane Roar boss Ross Aloisi (ADL, WEL, BRI) and Vincenzo Ierardo (WUN) on his coaching staff.
“We could still control the first half, then found it more difficult in the second half.”
Muscat also said: “There are many differences between test matches and the true matches. For example, the atmosphere is different from that of test matches.”
In Thai League 1, Arthur Papas (NEW) and his Buriram United remain top of the table.
The defending champions crushed Police Tero 6-2, which included a goal from Australian midfielder Kenny Dougall.
“In the first half, we were fantastic as every member of the team played some beautiful football,” said Papas. “We had worked very hard and we were focused. Tonight, we took our chances with good accuracy although the opponents were able to score two goals against us.
“Guilherme has been working very hard and it showed tonight. He is very disciplined and I am sure he can be better than this.
“The atmosphere at the venue was really great. The fans came to support the team, so we wanted them to have a good time.”
Aussies on track for promotion
Connor Metcalfe (MCY) and Jackson Irvine (MVC youth) remain on course for promotion to Germany’s top tier following a seven-goal thriller against Holstein Kiel in their top-of-the-table battle.
St Pauli – the 2.Bundesliga leaders – visited Holstein and former Melbourne City star Metcalfe ended up scoring what proved to be the decisive goal on the road.
Socceroos midfielder Irvine teed up Metcalfe for his third goal of the season in the 57th minute, which was his first since October.
St Pauli are now six points clear atop the standings through 23 rounds.
“It was another wild game at Kiel just like it was last year,” Irvine said via St Pauli. “We knew Kiel would come at us after the break and they livened things up again.
“They have lots of individual quality and are capable of scoring from all manner of situations, but we also knew we could be a threat with our transitional play on winning possession. We did that well. In the end we could have scored a couple more.
“Today was about one thing only and that was three points. We had to win this game no matter what.
“Kiel could have drawn level with us on points but instead we’ve widened the gap to six. We had to give our all against another team on top form. I’m proud of the way we all gave it everything we had.”
Elsewhere abroad…
It was a huge weekend for Maty Ryan (CCM), who kept a clean sheet in AZ Alkmaar’s 2-0 win over Ajax in the Dutch Eredivisie.
Socceroos captain Ryan went up against ex-Melbourne City boss John van’ t Schip (MCY) and Michael Valkanis (ADL, MCY) and came out on top.
AZ are fourth in the standings after 23 games, six points clear of fifth-placed Ajax.
Tom Glover (CCM, MCY), Riley McGree (ADL, NEW, MCY) and Sammy Silvera (NEW, CCM) all started in Middlesbrough’s 2-0 EFL Championship defeat to Plymouth Argyle, who had Ben Waine (WEL) come off the bench.
In League One, Kusini Yengi (ADL, WSW) was a second-half substitute for Portsmouth in their 0-0 draw with Charlton Athletic.
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Over in the Scottish Premiership, ex-Central Coast Mariners boss Nick Montgomery (CCM) oversaw Hibernian’s 2-1 win over Dundee FC.
Lewis Miller (CCM) was in the starting XI, while Nectar Triantis (WSW, CCM) and Adam Le Fondre (SYD) came off the bench as Hibs moved within two points of sixth spot.
It was a rough weekend for Hearts’ Australian quartet Kye Rowles (BRI, CCM), Calem Nieuwenhof (SYD, WSW), Nathaniel Atkinson (MCY) and Cammy Devlin (SYD, WEL, NEW) following a 5-0 rout at the hands of leaders Rangers.
Keanu Baccus (WSW) played the final 15 minutes of St Mirren’s 2-0 triumph at home to St Johnstone.
Jordy Bos (MCY) played the full 90 minutes in Westerlo’s 1-0 loss to Sint-Truiden in the Belgian Pro League, while Aiden O’Neill (CCM, BRI, MCY) also completed the full game as Standard Liege lost 2-1 to league-leading Union SG.
Jason Davidson (PER, MVC) put in a full shift as KAS Eupen crashed to a fifth consecutive defeat following a 2-0 loss to Cercle Brugge.
Charles Lokolingoy (SYD, BRI, WEL) made it five goals in three games with his goal in Arema’s 3-2 win over Persija in Indonesia’s top flight.
