The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Great finish, now bring on the A-League finals

13th April, 2014
Advertisement
Despite no offering him a playing contract, Sydney FC should hand Alessandro Del Piero the vacant head coach role. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)
Expert
13th April, 2014
196
2249 Reads

Can a stoppage-time winner ever be a bad thing? Surely Sydney FC would have been better off drawing against Perth Glory and travelling to Gosford in the first week of the finals?

The Sky Blues churned out a 2-1 win over visitors Perth in a largely forgettable encounter at Allianz Stadium yesterday, with Richard Garcia slamming home the winner deep into stoppage time.

Had he not done so, Frank Farina’s men would have had almost a week off to recover before making the short trip up the F3 to face the Mariners in Gosford – with a few thousand supporters in tow.

Instead, Sydney FC will now travel south on Good Friday to take on a Melbourne Victory side still licking their wounds after a 5-0 mauling from their most bitter rivals on Australia Day. It looks like an ambush in waiting, particularly after the Victory smashed Wellington Phoenix 4-1 in a highly impressive performance in New Zealand on Saturday.

Following a weekend of absorbing football, it looks like the Sky Blues could be the team making up the numbers after the Victory, Western Sydney and the Mariners all impressed.

You can’t say Newcastle Jets didn’t do their utmost to try and qualify for the finals, after the Novocastrians downed Adelaide United 2-0 at home on Friday night.

It wasn’t enough to climb into the top six, but at least striker Adam Taggart managed to claim the Golden Boot, despite failing to get on the scoresheet for nine consecutive games midway through the season.

The Melbourne side claimed the first significant win of the round, thumping the hapless Phoenix in an eye-catching display of attacking football.

Advertisement

It might be said that Ernie Merrick’s strugglers weren’t the most steadfast of opponents, but suddenly Sydney FC could be excused for quaking in their boots at the prospect of facing the Victory – even if they took seven points off their arch rivals during the regular season.

That said, it’s not like the Mariners weren’t in form on Saturday night themselves, after the Gosford outfit turned in a stunning display to down Brisbane Roar 2-0 on a patchy Suncorp Stadium surface. Nick Fitzgerald’s opener was a well-worked effort, while an Anthony Caceres piledriver put the exclamation mark on a masterclass of counter-attacking football.

Now the Mariners welcome fellow attacking impresarios Adelaide United to a do-or-die Gosford showdown, with the Reds suddenly having to shake off some faltering end-of-season form.

Of the other teams in form, the Western Sydney Wanderers were perhaps the luckiest to escape the final round with a positive result, after coming from 2-1 down to beat Melbourne Heart 3-2 in former Socceroos star Harry Kewell’s final game.

The Wanderers even put behind them a Shinji Ono penalty miss to guarantee themselves a home semi-final and ensure a bumper ANZAC Day crowd.

In fact, you could forgive Football Federation Australia chief David Gallop for twisting the knife into his erstwhile employers at the NRL and their Melbourne-based rivals the AFL, with both competitions attracting poor crowds over the opening rounds of their respective seasons.

The latter failed to book Etihad Stadium on Good Friday, leaving multi-code fans free to attend the showdown between Victory and Sydney FC in their droves.

Advertisement

Only the Mariners might struggle to attract a decent finals attendance, with a 4:30pm Easter Saturday kick-off against an interstate opponent perhaps not the draw Mariners officials were hoping for.

That will be the least of coach Phil Moss’ concerns after his team failed to secure a coveted top-two finish on goal difference alone, in the same week former Mariners coach Graham Arnold left his post at Vegalta Sendai.

It goes to show just how unpredictable the A-League can be, and there are six teams remaining who hope to put that unpredictability to good use.

Round 27 certainly was absorbing, but the business end of the season starts here.

close