The inaugural Melbourne Derby has finally arrived; one week later than scheduled but still one week too soon from a Melbourne Heart perspective. Coming off a humiliating 4-0 loss to the Brisbane Roar a fortnight ago, the thought of coming home to a home crowd was music to the side's ears. However by all reports the Heart army will be outnumbered by their Victory counterparts, and without skipper Simon Colosimo and the suspended Dean Heffernan the Heart could be in for a torrid time tomorrow night.

But it's not all doom and gloom. Several players will be better for the enforced weekend off due to the AFL Grand Final replay; Aloisi, Worm, Skoko and Terra have all struggled with injury at one time or another in the past month. And the crowd, albeit slightly pro-Victory, will be a massive lift. Tomorrow night we will witness 30,000 screaming football fans in AAMI Park for the first time and it will be magnificent; both for the game in this country and the competing teams. My hopes for this week are optimistic to an extent; I'm expecting a high scoring draw, due to the Hearts makeshift defence they will have to score goals to gain a result, 3-all.

It is a big weekend for football in Australia; a week after the competing codes dispersed for the summer we will see the national team play on home soil for the first time since the World Cup send-off against New Zealand. A number of A-League players have received a call-up; most notably Michael Thwaite and Matt McKay, two of the standouts of the A-League season thus far. Although I feel that this match, against South American powerhouse Paraguay, could've been the perfect opportunity to blood a number of young hopefuls. Adelaide youngster Mathew Leckie has taken all before him this season, consistently running at defences and scoring goals for fun. He could well be Australia's equivalent of England's Adam Johnson, who has burst onto the scene for his club in the past season and a half before having a similar impact on the national stage.

Come on Holger; don't make the same mistakes as Pim and allow young Aussie talent to go unnoticed!