In New Zealand, in the early hours of Argentina, Auckland FC and Melbourne Victory battled to a scoreless draw in the A-League. The first goal of the new year was later scored by Drew for the Macarthur Bulls.
Some people might see this as a bad omen, but the 2025 professional football year began with a goalless encounter. This took place in New Zealand where Auckland FC, who should not be confused with City, Boca’s rivals in the Club World Cup, managed to draw with Melbourne Victory and currently dominate the A -Oceanic League.
The match, which began at 1 a.m. Argentinian time (with a 16-hour time difference), featured clear chances but ended scoreless, against a backdrop of children playing, food trucks and miscellaneous attractions. A radical change from the Riestra swimming pool…
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A notable detail: the Melbourne Victory striker was Bruno Fornaroli, who had a brief and forgotten stint with San Lorenzo in 2009. The 37-year-old Uruguayan became an Australian citizen, has been playing there since 2015 and was called up to the national team national in 2022.
Then, at 4am in the same league, Western Sydney faced the Macarthur Bulls, where the first goal of 2025 finally arrived, thanks to Jed Drew for the visitors, who are currently trailing in a championship that comes to complete 11 days.
The home team included Juan Mata, a world champion with Spain in 2010, but he was unable to make a significant difference to avoid a 3-2 defeat, where Drew—undeniably the player to watch so far this year—scored another impressive goal worthy of a special to come from Lavecchia.
While January 1 is an action-packed day in various leagues around the world, the main event of the day will take place in the Premier League, where Brentford will host Arsenal at 2:20 p.m. Argentina time.
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