- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
So it will all end on Sunday 21st of April, with the top two teams of the A-League competing for the golden toilet seat.
Twin fairytale endings are on the line as well as championship honours. One side is not even a year old and has swept all before it to the big day, while the other have long punched above their weight to get to the final day two out of the past three seasons.
The last time these two met, the Wanderers put one hand on the Premiers Plate with a 1-0 win in a rainy but packed Bluetongue Stadium.
A goal from Labinot Haliti on the 81st minute settled the tense affair in Round 23, with Mark Bridge providing the assist.
The ledger is squared between these two in the head-to-head column this season; with the Wanderers and Mariners claiming one win each, with a draw in the opening round evening things up.
Unfortunately for both sides, random acts of stupidity will cost both some key players in Nick Montgomery and Yousouff Hersi.
It is hard to tell whose loss will be more telling as both offer so much, but Montgomery’s role in Mariners midfield structure cannot be understated. ‘Van‘ Hersi on the right midfield for the Wanderers has proved to be one of the players of the season, being on outlet for goals and energy on the right.
The Wanderers will have more injury worries and absences heading into Sunday. Hersi (suspended), Iacopo La Rocca (suspension) and Adam D’Apuzzo will all definitely be missed and questions over the fitness of Bridge’s ankle (who missed the Tuesday training session), Aaron Mooy (knee) and Jerome Polenz (quadriceps).
These absences will put the load onto the Wanderers’ depth players in Shannon Cole, Kwabena Appiah-Kubi, Rocky Visconte and Yianni Perkatis. To their credit, they’ve filled in well when needed over the past months.
Contrasts to the Yellow Submarine’s relatively clean bill of health could not be starker.
We are bound to see some fantastic tactical battles unfold on grand final day. Whether Mitchell Duke starts is a question for Arnie to grapple with, as well as whether Danny McBreen starts behind him or not.
In past encounters this season, the larger body of McBreen has been put in there to bully the Western Sydney midfielders and that was behind the Mariners’ 2-0 win in Parra earlier this season.
You would have to lean toward Duke on the bench as an impact player, while keeping Mile Sterjovski as the sole striker in a 4-2-3-1.
Which side sticks to their structures will matter. With both midfields so physically strong sitting so compact and pressing, it will be a battle of wills.
Both ‘Poppa’ and ‘Arnie’s’ teams pride on their defensive structures, both have been near unbeatable all season and it has been built on the respective back four of each side.
We might not see goals galore, but you get the feeling neither Arnold or Popovic will mind.
Much has been made about this being the fitting grand final, on the basis that the Wanderers and Mariners finished first and second in the regular season.
You work for everything you get in this finals system as finals are never about who is better over a period of time. It is about who takes their moments and who scores that goal at that critical time.
Who will be that player on Sunday afternoon?
It is near impossible to split these two, but something will give.
My tip: A Danny McBreen brace to decide it, Mariners 2-1 in extra time.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.