Berisha scores 4, Roar extend A-League streak

Posted Sunday, October 30, 2011 by YAHOO Sport

BRISBANE, Australia (AP)—An Albanian starred and a Brazilian and Canadian had support roles to help the Brisbane Roar extend their unbeaten streak in Australia’s A-League to 32 matches with a 7-1 win over an embarrassed Adelaide United.

Besart Berisha scored a first-half hat trick within six minutes before adding his fourth of the night in the second half. Berisha was born in Yugoslavia but received Albanian citizenship in 2006 and has played 17 matches for his adopted country.

Brazilian Henrique Silva scored twice, while Calgary-born Issey Nakajima-Farran, who has played 24 matches for Canada, added the final Brisbane goal.

Daria Vidosic put Adelaide briefly ahead 1-0 in the fifth minute, the only goal allowed by the Roar in four matches this season.

“I fell in love with all the Brisbane team tonight,” said Berisha, who had not scored four goals in one game in his professional career. He was substituted with 20 minutes left to play Friday.

Adelaide coach Rini Coolen was left to state the obvious.

“It was very poor defense,” said Coolen, who spent most of the match on the sidelines with his head buried in his hands.

“If you give a team like Brisbane that many chances they are going to hurt you. The way they played in the first half they could have scored another five or six goals and it could have been a disaster.”

Brisbane still has a way to go to match other unbeaten streaks in world football. Statistics released by Football Federation Australia say Spain’s Real Sociedad has the La Liga record of 38 matches (1979-1980), Arsenal the English Premier League mark of 49 unbeaten (2003-2004) and that Italian Serie A superpowers AC Milan were undefeated in 58 matches from 1991 to 1993.

The Central Coast Mariners beat Perth 2-1 Saturday, ending the Glory’s 3-0 start to the season and leaving the Western Australia side three points behind first-place Brisbane. In another match, Nick Carle’s goal in injury time enabled Sydney FC to draw 1-1 with Melbourne Heart.

On Sunday, the Melbourne Victory, with their star recruit, former Liverpool and Leeds midfielder Harry Kewell playing strongly, scored their first two goals of the season in a 2-1 win over the Wellington Phoenix.

The Victory had two scoreless draws and a 1-0 loss in their first three matches, but New Zealand-born Archie Thompson, the A-League’s all-time leading scorer, ended the goal drought in the 24th minute.

Carlos Hernandez added the second in the 68th with a penalty earned by Thompson. Dani Sanchez scored Wellington’s goal in the 72nd minute.

In the final match of the fourth round, James Brown scored the winner in the 83rd minute as Gold Coast United beat Newcastle 3-1.