We’re into the final legs of the semi-finals as Auckland, Melbourne Victory, Melbourne City and Western United battle it out on a mega Saturday fixture see who’ll play in the grand final.
Auckland host Victory at 4pm AEST while City and Western meet later at 7.45pm.
Victory up for almighty Auckland task
“Why not us?”
That’s the attitude Melbourne Victory will take into the huge task of overturning a 1-0 deficit away to Auckland FC to reach the A-League grand final.
Logan Rogerson’s goal in the 64th minute on Saturday night gave the premiers a lead heading into Saturday’s second leg at Go Media Stadium in New Zealand.
Steve Corica’s newcomers want a fairy-tale championship-premiership double, but Victory are ready to play villain.
“Yeah, well, someone’s got to end it, isn’t it?” midfielder Ryan Teague said.
“Wanderers were unbeaten (in 12). We put that to an end.
“So hopefully now we can go into next weekend. Obviously, Auckland have had a good season, they’re a good team, but someone’s going to end it – so why not us?”
Auckland have the best home record in the league, winning eight of 13 games and losing just one, in front of crowds averaging 18,000 and peaking at 27,000.
They will be buoyed by adding an additional 2700 seats to Go Media Stadium for the home leg.
“It’s what you play for, isn’t it?” Teague said of the parochial crowd.
“There’s nothing better than playing in front of 20,000-plus people.
“It’s finals football – you want to play, and you want the pressure.
“I love playing in games like this. And now we have to come back from 1-0 down, but we’ve got the belief inside the club that we can.”
Auckland’s Neyder Moreno had a shot to make it 2-0 ricochet off both posts to safety at the death.
“It’s great because it keeps the tie in the balance here,” Victory coach Arthur Diles said.
“And there’s a lot to play for. It’s only 1-0 and it’s only half-time, so we go there next week for the second half.”
Diles wants his charges to be cleaner and more decisive in the front third, but at the back there are personnel issues.
Brendan Hamill suffered a potentially serious right knee injury while Roderick Miranda withdrew from Saturday’s match with a hip issue.
“Look, it’s unfortunate, but it’s football, isn’t it?” Teague said.
“Two centre-backs out, but we’ve got a lot of good players in the squad that can fill in for these positions.
“Obviously, it hurts, missing the two of them at the moment. But that’s why we have a squad full of players.”
Mitch Langerak (foot) remains in doubt for the away leg when Corica expects Victory to embrace the hostile environment.
“I think they’ll thrive there as well,” he said.
Auckland defended brilliantly on Saturday and Corica is demanding “more of the same”.
“We want to make sure that we we give our fans what they deserve,” he said.
“And that’s to be in a final and a home final as well.”
Aloisi adamant Western Utd can pull off mighty comeback
Western United can haul themselves off the canvas and pull off a mighty comeback against Melbourne City to reach the A-League Men grand final, says coach John Aloisi.
And he is adamant star striker Noah Botic will be fit again to lead that charge.
United trail 3-0 after last Friday night’s first leg at AAMI Park, with everything to play for – a grand final berth against Auckland FC or Melbourne Victory – in next Saturday’s away fixture at the same venue.
“I’m sure that they will be upset like I am, but we’ve got seven, eight days now to make sure that we get them believing again and try and make a hell of a game next week to turn it around,” Aloisi said.
“They’ve done it in the past, we’ve been down in games in the past, and we’ve been able to come from behind. So that’s clear that we can do that.”
Western have scored four goals or more six times this season, and at least three goals 12 times.
“The motivation will be that we believe at our best we can beat anyone,” Aloisi said.
“We can’t look at we have to score three goals, four goals. We have to look at how do we perform to win the football game?
“A lot of the time this year when we’ve performed like that – for instance, away to Auckland – we ended up scoring four goals.
“So we’ve done it, we can do it, we know that, and now it’s preparing right to be able to do it.”
Botic played just 19 minutes off the bench after he and United were reluctant to risk a quad injury he suffered against Adelaide United.
“I think that another eight days, he’ll be fine to start next game,” Aloisi said.
“We know that he’s been playing well and scoring goals and confident, so we expect him to be the same next week
“If we get those chances, I’m sure that Noah will score.”
City are ready for everything United will throw at them.
“They’re gonna come at us for sure, 3-0 up,” winger Marco Tilio said.
“But we’ll take it on as every other game, and the same way we did tonight, and just be cautious in terms of they’re gonna have to come out with everything.”
Coach Aurelio Vidmar is determined not to let his side invite pressure.
“Finals football’s completely different. Everyone’s more on edge,” he said.
“We had Zane (Schreiber), Ale (Lopane), Maxy (Caputo) playing their first finals and it’s a different vibe. It’s a different feel.
“You can invite your own pressure because it is a final, it is a semi-final, and you can overthink it sometimes, but they’ve done so well through the course of the year.”
City expect to regain Nathaniel Atkinson for Saturday’s game.
With AAP
