On this week’s episode of The Official Isuzu UTE A-League Podcast, host Daniel Garb and KEEPUP’s James Dodd and Nicholas D’Urbano highlight the performances of Sydney FC’s Anthony Caceres, while discussing the emergence of Western United’s Noah Botic. Listen below.
He has three Championships to his name, plus an Australia Cup title, an A-Leagues All Stars appearance – and even once signed for Premier League powerhouse Manchester City – but is Anthony Caceres the most underrated player in the Isuzu UTE A-League?
On this week’s episode of the Official Isuzu UTE A-League Podcast, host Daniel Garb made that claim after the Sydney FC star secured a crucial 1-0 win over rivals Melbourne Victory in Saturday night’s Big Blue.
Caceres’ thunderous strike 11 minutes before half-time settled the blockbuster contest, a result that further entrenched the Sky Blues in the top six amid a thrilling race to the finals.
Garb showered the 30-year-old in praise and compared him to Manchester City’s German star İlkay Gündoğan.
Listen below, or via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you consume your podcasts
“He is just about the most underrated in the A-League over the last two or three years,” Garb said on The Official Isuzu UTE A-League Podcast.
“You look over that period and how consistent he’s been. He is an intriguing Australian footballer all up. I mean what a finish, from that angle… smashes it into the roof of the net with a lot of composure.
“This is a guy who has won three Championships; with Central Coast Mariners and two with Sydney now. He has been the heart of a lot of those teams.
“Let’s not forget when he was signed by Manchester City when they first took over Melbourne City. A lot of people shook their heads at that, ‘what is this all about, Anthony Caceres… is there something else at play here?’.
“He hasn’t made his Socceroos debut. He’s never really been linked strongly to a squad, yet he’s been such a crucial player in three Championship teams and has been fantastic for Sydney FC in a bit of a tricky time the last couple of years.
“I thought he was head and shoulders above any other player on the pitch on Saturday. It summed up just how vital a player he is to that team and how underrated he has been.”
KEEPUP’s James Dodd weighed in, saying: “He is a beautiful player to watch.
“The way he has the ability to wriggle away from people, but to run with the ball and run past people.
“When he first moved to Sydney FC, he was kind of being deployed in that 4-4-2 system that they were playing. Most people presumed he was sort of a no.10, but now in this incarnation of the formation, he is playing more of an eight. He has that license to roam and he is a great passer of the ball. He picks up excellent positions. His awareness is very good – a very intelligent footballer.
“When you see someone like him score a goal like that, even if you don’t support Sydney FC, there is always an appreciation of just how technically gifted that footballer is. Anthony Caceres is that player for me.
“The other players look up to Anthony Caceres, they look to him to make things happen…. When you have a player like Anthony Caceres who can make the difference like that, it can genuinely make the difference to Sydney FC’s season.
“If the likes of Joe Lolley don’t click, Robert Mak… if they don’t find their feet in a game, it’s usually Anthony Caceres that will. He is also the player who will make a difference in some way – whether it’s the pass before the pass or the winning goal he scored against Victory.
“If you’re Steve Corica and you’re in this tight finals race in order to just secure a space in there, if you have Anthony Caceres in your team, that’s always a massive, massive positive.”
Garb added: “He is the Ilkay Gundogan of Sydney FC for me.
“You don’t always notice his influence, he is not always the headline grabber but you look back, and you go wow, he had a big impact.”
‘Sorry Johnny’, but the Botic hype train is gathering steam
Western United head coach John Aloisi is trying to curb the hype around Noah Botic, but the excitement is real.
We have seen Garang Kuol burst onto the scene and now Adelaide United’s Nestory Irankunda take the Isuzu UTE A-League by storm in 2022-23 and now Botic is the latest Australian talent making a splash.
In a stuttering title defence, the 21-year-old has been a shining line with three goals in two games and four across his last four appearances for the reigning champions.
Former Hoffenheim youth player and ex-Joeys captain Botic – who has been likened to Socceroos legend Mark Viduka previously – scored the winning goal in the 2-1 victory at home to Perth Glory in Round 19.
He even kept Serb star Aleksandar Prijovic out of the line-up in Ballarat, such has been the quality of his performances for Western.
Aloisi stressed the importance of not weighing the rising striker down with any expectation-laden comparisons in the aftermath of the result that kept Western within five points of the top six.
But KEEPUP’s Nicholas D’Urbano said: “When we have a number nine that is scoring goals like this, you can’t help but get excited.
“I mean, Noah Botic has had wraps about him for such a long time now. It’s just been about getting his opportunity and when he gets that opportunity, what is he going to do when he does get it.
READ: Aloisi calls for Botic patience
“We have seen glimpses. Earlier this season, every time he got on the field, you felt something was going to happen. He was getting in really good areas and adding a lot of energy to that frontline.
“And you’re like okay, there is a player here. There is a reason why Manchester United gave him a trial. He was on Hoffenheim’s books, he was winning awards as a youngster and there were all these heavy wraps.
“All that it was waiting for was that breakthrough, that one goal. Now he is confident… He has that position as his, that number nine position.
“I know Prijovic has had his injury concerns but Prijovic was back and he was on the bench, but they didn’t bother to play them together. This is Noah Botic’s frontline now and that’s the exciting part of all this.
“It brings me back to listening to The Players Pod last week, Robbie Cornthwaite was chatting to Damian Mori and Bobby Despotovski about the dying breed of number nines and how Jamie Maclaren is one of the last ones, and we don’t have many Australian strikers in the league that banging in the goals consistently.
Maybe we have found someone to keep an eye on over the next few seasons who could reach that double-digit level and someone, I think as time goes on, will be definitely wearing a Socceroos jersey as well.
“We do have numbers nines with Maclaren, (Jason) Cummings, (Adam) Taggart and (Mitch) Duke but after that, what’s the next wave? This might sound ludicrous here, but Noah Botic in this sort of form, you can’t help but go, ‘he is really shooting up the pecking order here’.
“There is every reason to suggest that maybe by the end of this calendar year. We’re really looking at how some of these youngers can catapult themselves into contention. There is every reason to suggest he could get a Socceroos call-up if he continues this form.
“Maybe not by March, it might be a step too soon, but by the end of the calendar year, there has to be consideration if he keeps scoring at this level because he has all the tools to be a really, really talented player.”
Garb added: “If he stays fit. You probably want a little bit more football under his belt.
“But you look at the way in which he chests that ball down, keeps his balance and then finishes. Just that moment, you go alright, there is something a little different about him. Now I get it because that is not an easy thing to do.
“And because players in that position are so scarce. We’re not the only country that fails to produce them. People go on about Australian football – ‘where are our strikers?’. How many top countries in the world have top-drawer number nines? They’re the hardest players to produce.
“How many American top-class strikers have there been?… Go through Scandinavia, there is Zlatan (Ibrahimovic) of course but how many others have they been able to produce? Norway have (Erling) Haaland now… before him? football is the number one sport in those countries.
“They are very difficult players to find, so yeah you do get excited about them. It doesn’t mean you say they’re the next whoever and so and so, but there is reason to be enthused.
