Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick has issued a grand final eve plea to skipper Kevin Muscat – play on for one more A-League season.

Muscat may be headed into his last A-League appearance in Saturday night’s grand final against Sydney FC at Etihad Stadium.

The 36-year-old is weighing up whether to go on for another year, or quit after a decorated career during which he spent a decade playing in Britain, as well as representing the Socceroos with distinction through multiple World Cup campaigns.

Convinced Muscat is playing as well as ever, Merrick has pleaded with the combative Victory skipper not to walk away just yet.

“I’ve got Kevin pencilled in for next season and I’ve thrown away the rubber,” Merrick said on Friday.

“I’m hoping he stays on as a player as well as a coach next season.

“Kevin and Archie (Thompson) really are our two marquee players – his (Muscat’s) contribution to our club’s enormous.”

Muscat, who is still committed to playing in this year’s Asian Champions League (ACL) campaign beyond Saturday night’s match, remains unsure whether he will continue into a sixth A-League season.

“I’ve not really given it any thought,” Muscat said.

“First and foremost I’ve got a challenge week in, week out, trying to get my body up for games.

“At this point, I’m fit and healthy. But the last 12 months, I’ve gone into every game thinking it will be my last game.

“There’s still hopefully getting into the last 16 of the Asian Champions League.

“That (the ACL group matches) will take us to May and then I’ll go on holiday then discuss it with Ernie.”

Melbourne are aiming for their third A-League grand final win in five seasons – something which would further cement their status as the competition’s benchmark.

It would also be a perfectly-timed strike for the hearts and minds of Victorians, who will have a choice of A-League club next season when new franchise Melbourne Heart enters the competition.
Merrick admitted the looming dilution of the Melbourne-Sydney rivalry, which also won’t be helped when a Western Sydney team is added in 2011-12, would add to the sense of occasion on Saturday night.

“This is definitely a bit special – it’s probably the last opportunity for one team in Melbourne, one team in Sydney, to go head-to-head in a true rivalry,” Merrick said.

“Next year there’ll be a second Melbourne side. At the moment we represent all Melbourne and Victoria.

“Our customers are our fans, and it’s about doing the right thing by them. It’s all about winning and winning consistently.”

Both Melbourne and Sydney FC will delay confronting their selection dilemmas until the last possible moment.

Victory midfielder Tom Pondeljak, who scored the winner in last season’s grand final, trained with the team on Friday as he attempts to prove his fitness after a hamstring strain.

Merrick said the 34-year-old would be given until just before the match until a final decision was made on whether to start him.

But star striker Thompson looks certain to start the match after recovering well from a broken bone in his foot.

Sydney FC coach Vitezslav Lavicka is wrestling with a selection decision of his own, with Sebastian Ryall likely to be preferred to fit-again Socceroo defender Shannon Cole for the starting right-back’s spot.

Football Federation Australia officials said just 3,000 tickets remained for Saturday night’s match at the 50,000-capacity Etihad Stadium.

The pitch has been relaid for the match after much criticism about its state in recent weeks.

MELBOURNE VICTORY v SYDNEY FC at Etihad Stadium, 7pm AEDT.
Head-to-head: Melbourne Victory 6, Sydney FC 4, Drawn 7
Last meeting: Sydney FC 2 drew with Melbourne Victory 2 at Sydney Football Stadium, major semi-final 2nd leg. Victory advanced 4-3 on aggregate.
Betting: Melbourne Victory $2.30, Draw (after 90 mins) $3.30, Sydney FC $3.90.

Likely teams:
Melbourne Victory: Mitch Langerak, Surat Sukha, Kevin Muscat (capt), Rodrigo Vargas, Adrian Leijer, Leigh Broxham, Grant Brebner, Tom Pondeljak, Carlos Hernandez, Robbie Kruse, Archie Thompson.

Sydney FC: Clint Bolton, Sebastian Ryall, Simon Colosimo, Stephan Keller, Byun Sung-Hwan, Terry McFlynn (capt), Stuart Musialik, Karol Kisel, Mark Bridge, Alex Brosque, Chris Payne.

The A-League has never produced a suspenseful, top quality championship decider. Here is its chance. The two best teams, two contrasting styles of football, two good coaches and one most intriguing encounter. Victory are the benchmark, going for their third title in five seasons. Sydney FC won the season one grand final, and have improved in every aspect as a team and club under coach Vitezslav Lavicka. Melbourne will give midfielder Tom Pondeljak (hamstring) until match day to prove his fitness. He scored the winner in last year’s grand final and has been outstanding this season. The return of Archie Thompson – and the loss of John Aloisi for Sydney FC through injury – is a big turnaround in fortunes and perhaps swings the match the Victory’s way. Sydney FC also have to contend without Steve Corica, who along with Aloisi would have provided vital big-match experience. The Victory have that in spades, and always seem to win the games they need to win.

Key: Referee Strebre Delovski. The past two grand finals have been marred by poor refereeing decisions which changed the course of both games. Throw in Chris Payne’s now-infamous handball in the preliminary final to help Sydney through and there’ll be as many eyes on the man in the middle as on the game. Hopefully Delovski, who is not card-happy and lets games flow, won’t be the focus at the end of the match, as the grand final referees have been in the past two seasons.

Tip: Melbourne Victory

© AAP 2012

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