Welcome to A-Leagues Alumni: Our new 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.
Gorry’s big day out in the UK amid chaos
Katrina Gorry (BRI, ADL, MVC) earned player-of-the-match honours in a Women’s Super League blockbuster featuring five Matildas over the weekend, but it almost didn’t happen..
Gorry was the star of the show as West Ham stunned star-studded Arsenal for their first ever WSL win against the club’s London rivals.
The Brisbane Roar legend was in the starting XI alongside Matildas teammate and West Ham captain Mackenzie Arnold (BRI, CAN, PER, WSW), while Australia international teammates Caitlin Foord (PER, SYD), Steph Catley (MCY, MVC) and Kyra Cooney-Cross (MVC, WSW) were on the other side.
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But Gorry almost missed the clash with the WSL title hopefuls following a “busy week” with two-year daughter Harper, who had thrown up in the back of the car en route to the stadium.
“We drove straight back home to bath her and put her to bed. I somehow made it back for warm-up,” Gorry said via her Instagram story.
It led to two-time Liberty A-League Premiership winner Gorry praising West Ham for their support of her parenting duties
“Every player and staff member got behind me so I could still do my job then get back home to my girl. There’s something special about this club and I’m so incredibly grateful to be a part of it.”
West Ham’s result against Arsenal was huge on numerous fronts.
Not only did it boost West Ham’s survival hopes as they jumped up to ninth in the standings after 13 rounds, it struck a blow to Arsenal in their quest for the title.
West Ham came from behind to stun Arsenal, who are third and six points behind defending champions Chelsea.
“Honestly, it’s unbelievable. It’s hard to put into words. On one half it’s Arsenal, they’re such a hard team to beat, on the other half you see our position on the table and how important it was to us,” said Aussie goalkeeper Arnold, who made her senior debut for Perth Glory before spending time with Canberra United, Western Sydney Wanderers and the Roar.
“Unbelievable, I’m just so proud of our girls. I think we had it coming and we deserved every part of this win.
“It’s a long time coming. The results weren’t going our way but we were still putting in the performances. The belief has always been there, the results just haven’t come our way.”
Elsewhere in the WSL, Mary Fowler (ADL) came off the bench in Manchester City’s 2-0 win over Leicester City, who had Courtney Nevin (MVC, WSW) in the starting XI while Remy Siemsen (SYD, WSW) played the second half.
Charli Grant (ADL) played the entire match as Tottenham and Liverpool played out a 1-1 draw, while Clare Wheeler (NEW, SYD) came off the bench in Everton’s 3-0 loss to Sam Kerr-less Chelsea.
In France, there is just no stopping Ellie Carpenter (CAN, MCY, WSW) and Lyon.
Lyon made it 14 wins from 14 games in Division 1 Feminine with a 4-1 rout of Reims.
Liberty A-League product and Matildas star Carpenter had an assist in the comfortable victory.
Clare Hunt‘s (CAN, WSW) Paris Saint-Germain were held to a 1-1 draw by Fleury after topping their UEFA Women’s Champions League group midweek. Hunt played 60 minutes.
Behich welcomed by Ronaldo and Co.
Aziz Behich is officially an Al Nassr player and the Australian received quite the reception in Saudi Arabia.
The Socceroos full-back has linked up with Al Nassr after Graham Arnold’s Australia heartbreakingly lost to South Korea in the quarter-finals of the AFC Asian Cup in Qatar.
Behich had his first training session with the Saudi giants, who are second in the standings and he was welcomed by none other than five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo, who was also celebrating his 39th birthday.
“It was a good first day. Everyone was very welcoming right from the beginning,” he said afterwards.
“It was nice to meet everybody – all the players, staff and everyone involved with the club. Really excited to get going from now.”
This season, Behich has played 10 Isuzu UTE A-League games and 19 across all competitions, including six in the AFC Champions League.
Al Nassr are second in the Saudi Pro League, seven points behind unbeaten leaders Al Hilal after 19 rounds.
The club boast former Liverpool star Sadio Mane, ex-Inter midfielder Marcelo Brozovic, former Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte and ex-Manchester United full-back Alex Telles.
Red-hot Krishna reaches milestone
Can anyone stop Roy Krishna (WEL) right now?
The former Wellington Phoenix star scored again on Tuesday to extend his lead atop the Indian Super League’s Golden Boot standings.
Krishna scored in table-topping Odisha’s 3-0 win at Hyderabad – taking his tally to six goals in his past four matches.
The 36-year-old, who has scored 10 goals this season, also bagged a double in Saturdays’ 2-1 victory against Kerala Blasters to bring up 50 goals in the ISL since arriving in 2019.
He is just the third player in the history of the competition to score 50 or more goals.
Odisha, who were once coached by Brazilian and Real Madrid legend Roberto Carlos as well as Josep Gombau (ADL, WSW), are three points clear at the top of the standings.
However, FC Goa have three games in hand on Odisha – a club who have never won the ISL but did win the Indian Super Cup in 2023.
Elsewhere in Europe…
In the Scottish Premiership, Calem Nieuwenhof (SYD, WSW) completed the full 90 minutes in Hearts’ 3-2 win away to Dundee FC.
Former Central Coast Mariners defender Nectar Triantis (CCM, WSW) made his debut for Hibernian in their 3-0 loss at home to St Mirren.
Triantis is on loan at Hibs from EFL Championship outfit Sunderland after reuniting with ex-Mariners boss Nick Montgomery (CCM).
Former Sydney FC star Adam Le Fondre (SYD) also came off the bench for Hibs in the defeat.
Ryan McGowan (SYD) helped St Johnstone keep a clean sheet in their 1-0 success over Ross County.
