Welcome to A-Leagues Life, where KEEPUP brings you all the latest news and goings on at your club. This is how the week is shaping up across the A-Leagues and beyond.
Carpenter opens up on injury comeback
Ellie Carpenter is preparing to represent the Matildas on home soil at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, but this moment has not come easy for the A-Leagues great.
Carpenter suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in Lyon’s UEFA Champions League triumph over Barcelona in the 2021-22 final.
The former Western Sydney Wanderers, Canberra United and Melbourne City full-back returned after more than eight months out in February and she has gone on to scoop titles with Lyon in France this season.
Gearing up for the showpiece tournament, the Liberty A-League Premiership and Championship-winning star provided a raw insight into her injury comeback.
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“When I went down with that injury, that’s one of the first things I thought of – the World Cup,” Carpenter told 7NEWS.com.au, with the Matildas set to face Republic of Ireland, Nigeria and Canada in Group B.
“Obviously, at first, I was quite scared, because I didn’t really know how far it was away until I counted… I was still on the stretcher and already counting ‘okay, 13 months’.
“You can’t get a bigger motivator than trying to get back for a home World Cup.”
She added: “An injury forces you to take a step back.
“I got to do things that I’ve never got to do since I was 15. When I went home to Australia for six weeks to do some of my rehab, it’s the longest I’ve been home since I left.
“I went out for dinner with a couple of my friends on a weekend and I don’t think I’ve ever done that on a weekend because I’m always playing… it felt nice to be a normal 22-year-old.”
“I haven’t had really much of an off-season since I started when I was 15. I was going back-to-back seasons from America to Australia, and then also to Europe with major tournaments in between, so I didn’t have any break,” she said.
“I was hanging on by a thread, I was burnt out before my injury – I was playing burnt out for four months before my injury, actually, and it was just bound to happen … I was at the end of my line really, physically, mentally.
“As much as you don’t want an injury, the next day I thought ‘it’s gonna be really good for me’. I could work on myself for the next nine months, get myself better and feel mentally stronger. I really took the time to make myself better.”
Cklamovski’s epic first speech
The Australian is back in Japan’s top flight, alongside A-Leagues legend Kevin Muscat – who’s in charge of defending champions and leaders Yokohama F.Marinos, after a brief stint with Shimizu S-Pulse in 2020.
Cklamovski – Ange Postecoglou’s trusted former right-hand man – had enjoyed a successful two-year tenure at Montedio Yamagata, where he turned the club from relegation candidates to promotion hopefuls in J2 League.
Now, he is eyeing big things in Tokyo and they stressed that to his new players in an incredible behind-the-scenes squad address shared by the club on social media.
Melbourne City’s history-making season praised
Melbourne City fell short in the Isuzu UTE A-League Grand Final earlier this month, but they still made history in 2022-23.
City became the first ever A-League Men team to claim three consecutive Premierships after topping the regular-season standings once more, though they were swept aside 6-1 by Central Coast Mariners in the decider.
But City Football Group (CFG) and Melbourne City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak saluted the Australian side for their achievements last term.
“A third straight again,” said Al Mubarak. “You look at it in a wage controlled environment, our ability to show consistent success just again is a testament to the management and the philosophy we have as a Group.
“A great team. You know that in any competition to win three in a row and to be there for three in a row. Of course, we weren’t successful in the Grand Final. But that’s football.
“Finals are 90 minutes and it’s different than when you’re playing a league. In a league, inevitably, the best team wins over 38 games, 24 games, whatever the number of games. Most of the time, the best team wins.
“In a final, it’s 90 minutes. Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t. And when it does, it’s great. And when it doesn’t, it doesn’t.
“Melbourne, unfortunately, over the season were the most consistent team, but in the grand final they weren’t successful.”
TRANSFER CENTRE: Your Isuzu UTE A-League club’s ins/outs
City are going through a rebuild after their Grand Final defeat, with Aiden O’Neill (Standard Liege), Jordan Bos (Westerlo), Thomas Glover, Thomas Lam and Richard van der Venne all departing for Europe, while Marco Tilio has also been tipped to test himself abroad.
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