John Kosmina

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Personal information
John Kosmina

Full name	Alexander John Kosmina
Date of birth	August 17, 1956 (age 50)
Place of birth	Adelaide, Australia
Nickname	Kossie
Playing position	Unemployed
Club information
Current club	Unemployed
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1973-1976 1977 1978 1979 1979-1980 1981-1986 1987-1988 1989	Adelaide Polonia West Adelaide SC Adelaide City Arsenal F.C. West Adelaide SC Sydney City Sydney Olympic APIA Leichhardt	? (?) 23 (12) 4 (0) 1 (0) 44 (12) 150 (89) 44 (13) 24 (6)
Teams managed
1994-1995 1995-1998 1999-2003 2003-2007	Warringah Dolphins (NSW) Newcastle Breakers Brisbane Strikers Adelaide United
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Alexander John Kosmina (born August 17, 1956) known as John Kosmina is a former Australian international Football player. He is also the former head coach of the Australian A-League football club Adelaide United. He had previously coached the Newcastle Breakers and Brisbane Strikers in the NSL. He is a member of the Football Federation Australia Football Hall of Fame.

[edit] Playing career

Kosmina was a striker in his playing days, and has represented the Australian national team 60 times, making his debut for Australia in 1976. In his club career, he played for Polonia and then West Adelaide, before signing for English side Arsenal in February 1978. However, he only played one first-team game for the Gunners (as a substitute against Leeds United on August 18, 1978), and returned to Australia in May 1979. He went on to play for Adelaide City, West Adelaide (for a second time), Sydney City, Sydney Olympic and A.P.I.A. Leichhardt Tigers before retiring in 1989.

[edit] Coaching career

His coaching career began domestically in the NSL with the Brisbane Strikers. When it announced that a new Adelaide side would be formed to replace Adelaide City, Kosmina was one of the favourites for the job. Kossie was soon confirmed as the inaugural coach of Adelaide United FC. Kosmina coached United to a highly impressive 3rd in the final season of the NSL. It got better for John though, in the Hyundai A-League Season One, Kosmina managed to lead a side many regarded as inferior to be the inaugural Premiers before choking in the Finals Series to finish 3rd overall. Kosmina was preparing for Season 2 of the A-League before being announced as the Assistant Coach for the Socceroos in their Asian Cup qualifiers with Graham Arnold as head coach. Two members of his Adelaide squad were also in the Australia squad, Michael Valkanis and Travis Dodd.

[edit] Controversies in the A-League

In October 2006, Kosmina was involved in an incident with Melbourne Victory captain Kevin Muscat. Late in the game while Melbourne were trailing by one goal, the ball travelled out of bounds towards Kosmina's chair. Kosmina appeared to pick up the ball, however Muscat - eager for the ball to return to play - ran over and reached for it. Muscat then shoulder-barged Kosmina to the floor. After Kosmina stood up, he clasped Muscat's neck and words were exchanged. Many Adelaide fans are still at a loss to understand how Muscat went unpunished for his part in the incident, while Kosmina was given a lengthy touchline ban and a monetary fine.

Kosmina was again involved in a controversial incident following United's penalty shootout victory over the Newcastle Jets in the Preliminary Final of 2006/07, where he gave referee Matthew Breeze a spray after the game. This was after defender Matthew Kemp had been yellow carded for a fair tackle, a card which suspended him from the Grand Final versus Melbourne. Kosmina was handed a five-match touchline ban and therefore had to watch the Grand Final from the stands. After declaring that his suspension would have no impact on his players whatsover, and that he could "coach the team from a coffee shop" his team went on to lose the game by an A-League record 6-0. Kosmina yet again landed himself in hot water for his comments relating to the standard of refereeing in the Grand Final, and saying that the result was predetermined. The furore surrounding Kosmina's behaviour continued well after the Grand Final and he eventually resigned from his position as head coach of Adelaide the following Thursday, February 22, 2007.