Not much separates A-League rivals Western Sydney and Central Coast, so Wanderers coach Tony Popovic feels another Shinji Ono moment of “magic” could be the difference in Sunday’s decider.
The Wanderers meet the Mariners in the Allianz Stadium grand final hoping to cap their remarkable inaugural season with a championship while the Mariners, playing in their fourth grand final in eight seasons, will also be vying for a maiden title.
In the three times the sides have clashed, they’ve posted a win each and a draw.
Both teams are supremely fit, incredibly consistent, very well organised and are built around their impenetrable defensive structure.
But it’s in attack where Popovic feels the championship will be decided.
Japanese star Ono showcased his sublime skill in the Wanderers 2-0 semi-final win over Brisbane.
The 33-year-old is nicknamed Tsensai, meaning genius, and he showed exactly why with his audacious left-foot chip from outside the box which no-one, including Roar ‘keeper Michael Theo, saw coming.
The goal, considered one of the best of the season, sealed the win after Croatian striker Dino Kresinger opened the scoring with a cheeky back-heel into the net.
“You saw the goal Ono scored on Friday, he does that in training all the time,” Wanderers skipper Michael Beauchamp said on Tuesday.
“So I’m sure there’s still more to come from him.”
The Mariners on the other hand have the ageless Daniel McBreen, the golden boot winner.
McBreen’s 20-foot screamer was enough to secure the Mariners a 1-0 win over Melbourne Victory.
“Usually big games are determined by small details,” Popovic said.
“We seen so far in both of the semi-finals three very good goals have been scored to win games.
“So you’d probably expect that something like that will be the difference.
“We certainly want it to be someone from our team that produces that magic on the day.”
Beauchamp says the Mariners will be looking to add a bit more speed to the encounter.
“We’ve got similar styles of play, if anything I think we’ll make it a bit of a higher tempo game for them and hopefully cause them some problems,” he said.
“It could come down to a few things but it will be who wants it the most and who’s willing to put everything on the line.”
Western Sydney will enter Sunday’s grand final having played only one match in over three weeks, but Beauchamp is certain that won’t be a problem.
The Wanderers are still sweating on a few injury concerns with Jerome Polenz aggravating his quad injury during Friday’s match while fellow defender Adam D’Apuzzo (foot) and key midfielder Aaron Mooy (knee) were sidelined.
Crafty winger Youssouf Hersi is suspended for the grand final after earning a red card in the semi.
Youngster Kwabena Appiah-Kubi, who has played in the position in Hersi’s absence before, appears a likely replacement.
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