Jokes aside it’s hard to see how Adelaide United can get past the Queensland Roar despite having home ground advantage in the preliminary final.
The title of this article may sound harsh but the Reds are in the doldrums after their 4-0 hammering in Melbourne and the Roar are the only team who can stand up to the Victory.
The Victory juggernaut continued unabated with an attacking performance that was reminiscent of the 6-0 destruction of Adelaide in the second season Grand Final. Adelaide must hate the sight of the Telstra Dome!
The decision to play Carlos Hernandez who only arrived in the country on the morning of the game from his World Cup qualifying duties for Costa Rica was inspiring, scoring one goal and playing an integral part in the rest.
Combined with the ever threatening, and for mine the greatest player in the A-Leagues brief history, Archie Thompson and in form Danny Allsopp, the Victory tore Adelaide’s highly regarded defense to shreds.
The current performance of the team is now reaching the same level of domination the team enjoyed in “Version 2” of the league.
The performance of the Victory was also a fitting tribute for the people of Victoria, a state bleeding from the devastation of the bush fires that have ravaged its countryside.
Bushfire victims as well as firefighters and emergency services workers were given tickets to the match and we can take some solace in the fact they were treated to such a fantastic display from their home side.
Adelaide now has a week to lick their wounds and face the unenviable task of facing an equally dangerous attacking force in the Queensland Roar who easily sent Central Coast out of the competition with a comfortable home victory.
Worrying for Adelaide supporters was the admission from coach Aurelio Vidmar that there were underlining issues in the dressing room.
We know Adelaide has had a full schedule with its Asian Champions League heroics, World Club Cup commitments and subsequent A-League catch up matches and surely fatigue is playing a part in this collapse, but it is remarkable how their form has disappeared from view. The team that created Australian football history only a few months ago looks like a shadow of its former self.
The title of finals chokers that has been growing louder in Adelaide is starting to stick.
The squad is unsettled, Cassio’s needless sending off typifying the frustration of the team and Vidmar clearly has been unable to settle on a starting eleven and will have to once again rotate his squad to find the best balance, especially in light of Cassio’s absence.
However, he only has a week to do so and it is difficult to see how a defence that leaked like a running tap Saturday night will be able to stop the likes of Sergio Van Dijk, Michael Zullo and Mitch Nichols along with the rest of the Queensland squad who, at present, pose just as much of an attacking threat as Melbourne.
The pair met in mid January when the Roar visited Adelaide in a midweek catch up match. Only Adelaide’s stubborn defence kept the score line at 0-0 but that was a different defence from the one that failed to show up to play at the Telstra Dome.
It pains me to say so as a proud South Australian, but, unless Adelaide can perform a complete 180, Queensland must surely do the competition the favour of overcoming the Reds at Hindmarsh Stadium and give the fans a mouth watering Grand Final match up of the two in form and most entertaining attacking teams.
Central Coast Mariners are premiers of A-League Men for the first time in 12 years after defeating Adelaide in the season finale.
Central Coast sit second behind Wellington, and a victory over Adelaide will see them finish the regular season on top of the ladder.
Joe Lolley was outstanding for the Sky Blues, scoring a brace as Sydney FC equaled their biggest ever victory.
Here is the way the Roar expert panel sees all the action unfolding across the final weekend of play prior to the semi-finals.
It was not too long ago that it was no guarantee that the best youth talents from South Australia would make their A-League debuts…
Even though St.Pauli ultimately lost a high-scoring affair, Jackson Irvine was a standout, as well as scoring a late goal.
