Newcastle United’s controversial tour of Australia ended in embarrassment as a team made up mostly of under-21 players was defeated by the A-League All Stars, a select team that had never won a match before, and lost 8-0. .
The match came less than 48 hours after a 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which Newcastle eventually won 5-4 on penalties, and Eddie Howe branded a young team at Marvel Stadium proud of himself. A great league will begin between them.
The manager did not introduce any senior players from the bench, although Kieran Trippier, Lewis Hall and Elliott Anderson were named among the substitutes, believing that the short rotation between games made it too dangerous. Unusually, Howe also sat on the bench for much of the game, with assistant Graham Jones the most prominent figure on the touchline.
Goalkeeper Mark Gillespie, who has never played a competitive match for Howe, was the elder statesman on display, while Alex Murphy, a 19-year-old defender, Joe White, a 21-year-old midfielder, and Amadou Diallo, 21 The 19-year-old winger and 19-year-old striker Ben Parkinson train regularly with the first team. Garang Kuol, a 19-year-old Australian striker, also made his first start for Newcastle, being included in the away game due to market reasons, although Howe was not ready for the first team.
Howe’s younger team was badly beaten (Martin Cape/AFP via Getty Images)
Howe is the club’s top representative in Australia on a tour organized by businesses and marketing to reinforce Newcastle’s brand, during which the team will be in the country for just under four days. They arrived on Tuesday morning local time and left immediately after their 4-2 win over Brentford at the weekend, before departing on Friday night immediately after the All Stars friendly.
In terms of financial interests, Newcastle have received rewards, but they are not believed to be variable or in the millions, which has raised doubts about the logic of the trip. This only exacerbates environmental concerns, as well as player welfare issues, as it comes at the end of a tired and traumatized campaign.
Bruno Guimaraes and Miguel Almirón, who are expected to play for Brazil and Paraguay in this summer’s Copa América, and Joelinton, who is marrying his partner, were excused from the trip early, so they missed the match back. Alexander Isak and Emil Kraft, who will represent Sweden in the coming weeks, also left before the match.
Fabian Schar and Anthony Gordon missed the trip to Australia due to hamstring and foot injuries respectively, while Shaun Longstaff is expecting a baby. Also absent from the tour were goalkeepers Martin Dubravka and Loris Karius, the latter of whom left Newcastle this summer, with the former likely to join his teammates in doing so.
“I don’t think we could have done it,” Howe said when asked if any of the first-team players could have been involved in the game. “Especially considering the travel time we had and the speed of the return, it was a huge risk of injury and we couldn’t afford it.
“We gave the young people a chance and today they had difficulties. We should do better than we have done. I think the All Stars forced too many errors and they played very well, they had a good game. For us, I think the players individually have to think about it and see if they can come back stronger.”
In the second leg of the tour in Melbourne, played to a full stadium despite the Marvel Stadium having a capacity of 53,000, a select Australian eleven, with four veteran players, almost destroyed a young Newcastle team.
Ben Auld gave the A-League Stars the lead within five minutes before Nicolas Milanovic and Adam Taggart made it 3-0 at half-time.
The second half only brought more problems for Newcastle, with Apostolos Stamatelopoulos scoring twice, while Jake Hallman, Jordan Courtney-Perkins and Bojidar Kraev all scored once.
The All Stars won their first time in convincing fashion, beating Manchester United 5-1 in 2013, Juventus 3-2 in 2014 and Barcelona 3-2 in 2022.
The result provoked ridicule, and the unofficial scoreboard in the San Marino X, one of the lowest ranked international teams, responded to Newcastle: “We want to play against you. “We have similar levels.”
Despite Wednesday’s win over the Spurs, it’s hard to argue that the benefits of this trip outweigh the obvious drawbacks. In fact, quite the opposite.
Newcastle required Manchester City to beat Manchester United in the FA Cup final to qualify for next season’s UEFA Conference League, ensuring the news cycle continues from this humiliating defeat.
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(Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
