A-Leaque Soccer News Australia

Socceroo Tim Cahill earned the praise of Everton manager David Moyes after the midfield player scored his fourth Premiership goal of the season to earn Everton a 1-1 draw away to Newcastle United.

Cahill headed home Mikel Arteta cross to stun the St James' Park crowd who were in full voice when everyone bar the linesman and referee saw Shola Ameobi offside before slotting home in the 14th minute.

Having had a sizeable wager on Everton to win this game, I can only presume the linesman is…I can’t finish that line I’ll get in trouble.

Everton boss Moyes was equally bemused afterwards as he said, "I've not seen an offside like it. I really am trying not to mention referees and linesmen this season because I make mistakes and so do my players.”

"We push up for offside, Ameobi's the last man, the ball goes directly to him and he scores so you can't even say there was a mix-up. What do I do? Do I just stand back and say that's fine? I'm passionate about winning for Everton and we got a bad decision.”

"I don't want my players to mob officials. The referee had a good game but I didn't think both the assistants did."

In an entertaining game, which saw end to end play during the second half, both sides were reduced to 10 men as referee Steve Bennett handed out yellow cards as though they were Xmas cards.

Newcastle defender Titus Bramble was first to go after he brought down Leon Osman on the edge of the box before Everton full-back Tony Hibbert earned a second caution on former Manchester City midfielder Antoine Sibierski.

Round 5 of the Hyundai A-League kicked off on Thursday night with Sydney FC posting a 1-0 win over the New Zealand Knights FC thanks to a stunning strike by skipper Mark Rudan. The big defender crashed home a 58th minute winner when he lashed at a loose ball in the Knights box.

The action continued on Friday night at Suncorp Stadium where a 10 man Adelaide United outfit managed to hold out the Queensland Roar to return to the city of churches with a well earned point.

Hyundai A-League preseason cup winner Adelaide was reduced to 10 men after Chinese import Shengqing Qu had a brain explosion and head-butted Roar skipper Chad Gibson forcing him out of next weekend’s clash against last season’s A-League winner Sydney FC at Hindmarsh Stadium.

More red mist at Central Coast Stadium where former Socceroos skipper Paul Okon was marched in the 75th minute before Joel Griffiths picked up his second booking in injury time to see the Newcastle Jets finish with nine men against the Gold Coast Mariners in an entertaining 1-1 draw.

Melbourne Victory FC remains unbeaten after scoring a comfortable 2-1 win over the Perth Glory FC at members Equity Stadium.

Former Glory midfielder Adrian Caceres gave Melbourne the lead when he found himself in acres of space on the right hand side of the box as he swept home a first time shot in the 55th minute.

Skipper Paul Muscat gave the visitors a two-goal cushion after he converted from the spot before Perth defender David Tarka headed home a consolation goal in the final minute.

The Victory are now four points clear of the Queensland Roar with the defending champions Sydney FC a further three points adrift in third spot.

Football is continuing to challenge Australian Rules Football and is now well ahead of the Rugby codes as the football code in which most Australians are interested according to the 2005-06 summer edition of the Sweeney Sports Report.

Its research showed that 50 per cent of the Australian adult population is now interested in soccer, the sport's highest level of interest since the Sweeney Sports Report was first published 20 years ago. The Report, recognised as Australia's most authoritative sports and sponsorship survey, calculates 'interest' by combining involvement of participation, attendance, television viewing, radio listening and print media readership.

Soccer's rating is now only four percentage points fewer than Australian Rules' rating, the narrowest gap between the two codes since the Report began. And the research was conducted between October last year and March, before this summer’s World Cup at which the Australian team reached the knock out stages.

Australian Rules' overall interest of 54% is only one point short of its record level. It has the highest proportion of attendees (29%) among all 50 sports measured by the survey and also the highest proportion (51%) of television viewers. Both figures are records for the sport. Rugby League (at 42%) is now well behind soccer in the proportion of people interested while Rugby Union has possibly plateaued (at 40% interest) after increasing its fan base virtually year after year between 1988 and 2004.

Australian defender Tony Vidmar is expected to resume his career in the A-League with with the Central Coast Mariners.

Vidmar had surgery to repair a blood clot in his left coronary artery, which caused an irregular heart rhythm and ultimately forced him to miss the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

The 36-year-old is now cleared to return to playing soccer and will arrive in Sydney shortly to announce his future plans.

Australia will bid for the 2018 World Cup! With a good chance in winning the bid the FIFA World Cup would for the first time take place in the Pacific basin. Australia has some of best sporting facilities in the world to offer combined with the climate, safety and scenery to match!

England and USA have been mentioned as the some of the other candidates.

The next World Cup is in 2010 in South Africa.

Marco Bresciano will be playing for the Italian Serie A club Palermo next season. The deal will see Bresciano at least involved in UEFA Cup action as Palermo finished eight in the Serie A last season, but with Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina all barred from competition in European football due to the fall-out from the Italian match-fixing scandal, Palermo is set to play in one of Europe's biggest football competitions.

It is the third Italian club for Bresciano after he played three seasons with the Empoli before moving to Parma and now Palermo. Bresciano played 123 matches for Parma and scored 17 goals. He was the top-scoring midfielder in the 2003-2004 Serie A season.

Ljubo Milisevic moves to Swiss team Young Boys from fellow Swiss club FC Thun.

FC Basel is interested in Luke Wilshire who currently trains with FC Twente in Holland. Also Sheffield United and Leeds United, and some Italian clubs are interested in Wilkshire following his performances in the World Cup.

Defender Hayden Foxe is attempting to resurrect his career with trials at Leeds United. Foxe played a full game for Leeds in a pre-season match against Hartlepool.