The first week of the A-League finals are upon us but not the match-ups most were expecting. Two surprising 5-0 results in the final round of the home and away season ensured that the FFA’s hoped for Melbourne derby elimination final didn’t eventuate.
Melbourne City’s 5-0 demolition of Central Coast Mariners and Wellington Phoenix’s 5-0 away loss to Perth Glory meant City overtook Phoenix into fifth spot setting up an away elimination final to fourth placed Adelaide United on Sunday, whilst Phoenix travels to Melbourne to take on Victory in the first elimination final on Friday.
An interesting sidelight of this week’s elimination finals matches is that they could be the last game in charge of their clubs for coaches Mark Rudan ( Phoenix), Marco Kurz (Adelaide United) and Warren Joyce (Melbourne City) depending on the outcome of the games.
Melbourne Victory v Wellington Phoenix, 7.50 pm Friday, 3 May, AAMI Park
Victory takes the better form into this Friday evening’s first elimination final, winning their last start against the Wanderers 1-0, whereas the Phoenix will have to bounce back from a 5-0 defeat away to Premiers Perth Glory.
Most neutrals would have Victory as favourites heading into this match. The home ground factor is one reason with Victory having never lost one of its previous 11 home finals in full regulation time. Furthermore, Victory’s squad is filled with players who have proven big game experience, including Keisuke Honda, Ola Toivonen, Kosta Barbarouses and Carl Valeri. Under coach Kevin Muscat, they’ve been in this situation before having won last season’s finals series from a similar starting position in the elimination finals.
Even so, Phoenix fans can take some hope from their team’s performances against Victory this season. Their thee encounters have finished in three scoring draws, with Phoenix forcing Victory to come from behind to salvage a point in each of those encounters. Phoenix forwards Roy Krishna and David Williams have proven to be a thorn in Victory’s side this season scoring multiple times against the reigning champions. The outcome of the match could well depend on how Victory’s defence of Thomas Deng, James Donachie, George Niedemeier and Leigh Broxham can contain the Phoenix sharpshooters.
Victory is expected to be without playmaker James Troisi who is yet to recover from a hamstring injury.
Adelaide United v Melbourne City, 7 pm Sunday, 5 May, Coopers Stadium
The one and only time Adelaide United previously played Melbourne City in an A-League final was in 2015-16 season. On that occasion, they met at Coopers Stadium and the Reds triumphed 4-1 in a semi-final before going on to win the Grand Final against Western Sydney Wanderers.
Reds fans will be hoping that history repeats itself this Sunday when the two teams meet again at Coopers stadium in the second elimination final.
Both the Reds and visiting Melbourne City have struggled in the goal scoring department this season. City coach Warren Joyce’s well publicised dispute with star striker Bruno Fornaroli deprived the team of its major attacking threat. Fortunately for City, they now appear to have Jamie MacLaren, Shay Harrison and Riley McGree available to give them a number of attacking options. Adelaide United has also struggled for a focal point up front this season, relying heavily on the goals of winger Craig Goodwin. In last week’s match, they welcomed back from long term injury, striker Baba Diawara who scored off the bench. He may not be fully match fit yet. But in Adelaide’s favour going into this match, is the home ground advantage, and the momentum of good recent form which sees them undefeated in their last five games. Apart from their last match when they conceded three goals in a 5-3 win against the Roar, their defence has been particularly strong in recent matches and will be further strengthened by the return of their young player of the year, full back Ryan Strain.
Still it won’t be easy for the Reds against a Melbourne City team which is expected to bring a strong line-up to Coopers Stadium. City coach Warren Joyce rested a host of players in last week’s 5-0 win over the Mariners, including keeper Eugene Galekovic, marquee import Ritchie De Laet, striker Jamie MacLaren and Florin Berengeur. They’ll all be available for selection on Sunday.
As Marco Kurz readily admits, his team isn’t the sort of team that can score goals easily to win matches. Instead it is a team which relies on hard work to produce results. If they can score the first goal and work hard to defend their lead, they may just be able to book themselves a semi-final spot at Melbourne City’s expense.
