Mark Bridge

Mark Bridge

Bridge with Western Sydney Wanderers in 2013
Personal information
Full name Mark Robert Bridge
Date of birth (1985-11-07) 7 November 1985
Place of birth Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1]
Playing position Striker / Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Chiangrai United
Number 21
Youth career
Parramatta Eagles
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2003–2004 Parramatta Power 5 (0)
2005–2008 Newcastle Jets 50 (13)
2008–2012 Sydney FC 80 (17)
2009 → Tianjin Teda (loan) 2 (0)
2012–2016 Western Sydney Wanderers 95 (28)
2016– Chiangrai United 14 (7)
National team
2004–2005 Australia U-20 9 (9)
2006–2008 Australia U-23 23 (3)
2008 Australia 2 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11 September 2016.


Mark Bridge (born 7 November 1985 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) is an Australian football (soccer) player who plays as a striker for Thai Premier League club Chiangrai United. Bridge is the Western Sydney Wanderers' highest goal scorer, as well as the scorer of their first ever goal, earning himself the nickname 'King Bridge' among fans. On 18 April 2015 in the 26th-round match against Adelaide United, Bridge became the ninth player to reach 200 A-League games.[2]

Club career

Newcastle Jets

Bridge with Newcastle in 2007

Bridge joined Newcastle from Parramatta Power in 2005 during the inaugural A-League season. Although it took some time for Bridge to find his feet he was the Jets best player during his second season (2006/07) at the club scoring 8 goals during the season.

Although his third season with the Jets only yielded four goals, his last for the Jets was the most decisive, being the only goal in the 2008 A-League Grand Final.[3]

Sydney FC

Bridge in 2008

As his contract had expired at the Jets, Bridge subsequently left the team and was unveiled as a Sydney FC player on 3 March 2008 alongside Simon Colosimo and John Aloisi.[4] He scored his first goal for Sydney in their 5–2 demolition of Perth Glory at the Sydney Football Stadium.

On 11 February 2009, Bridge arrived Kunming, Yunnan province, China, meet with Tianjin TEDA. He signed a four-month loan deal for Chinese Super League club Tianjin Teda during the offseason with Sydney FC.[5] However, Tianjin's failure to qualify from the group stage of the AFC Champions League meant that he had made the last appearance for the club and would return to Sydney FC at the end of May.

He became the first player to score in two A-League Grand finals with his headed goal against Melbourne Victory in the 09-10 edition, which Sydney went on to win on penalties

Bridge scored the third goal in the 3–2 victory of Chinese Super League club Shanghai Shenhua, during the 2011 AFC Champions League keeping Sydney's chances of progressing through to the next round alive.[6]

Bridge was sent from the field after being given a red card in the opening game of the 2011–12 A-League season against Melbourne Victory, following an altercation in which Bridge struck Victory player Rodrigo Vargas in the throat. The match would finish 0–0.[7]

Bridge asked for and received a mutual termination of his Sydney FC contract on 1 June 2012.[8]

Western Sydney Wanderers

On 30 June 2012 it was officially announced he had joined the newly formed Western Sydney Wanderers club.[9]

On 27 October 2012 Bridge scored the first ever A-League goal for the Western Sydney Wanderers, against Brisbane Roar in the Wanderers fourth game of their inaugural season.

Bridge scored the Wanderers' first ever hat-trick in the round 16 6–1 thrashing of Adelaide United in their inaugural season. Bridge was also the Wanderers' top goalscorer for the 2012–13 A-League season with 11 goals. Bridge is also the club's all-time top goalscorer.

Chiangrai United

On 27 May 2016, after 4 seasons with the Western Sydney Wanderers, Bridge left the club to join Thai Premier League club Chiangrai United.[10][11]

International career

Mark Bridge has played for the Australian U-20 Squad where he made 9 appearances and scored 9 goals. He is currently a member of Australia U-23 national team. He was also called up to Australia senior squad for their Asian Cup qualifiers, in a match against Kuwait on 16 August. He was hoping to be included in the Australia senior squad for the Asian Cup games against Qatar, China and Iraq, but was not selected.

Bridge made his senior international debut against Singapore in a friendly match on March 2008.

Bridge was selected for the 2008 Australian Olympic squad.

A-League statistics

As of 6 May 2016
Club Season League Cup Continental Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Newcastle Jets 2005–06 60100070
2006–07 2484000288
2007–08 2052200227
Total 50 13 6 2 0 0 56 15
Sydney FC 2008–09 2143100245
2009–10 239––00239
2010–11 181––51232
2011–12 183––00183
Total 80 17 3 1 5 1 88 19
Western Sydney Wanderers 2012–13 2711––002711
2013–14 265––92357
2014–15 1831052245
2015–16 24920––269
Total 95 28 3 0 14 4 112 32
Career total 225 58 12 3 19 5 266 66

Honours

With Newcastle Jets:

With Sydney FC:

With Western Sydney Wanderers:

Personal Honours:

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/26/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.