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Seventeen years after a club from western Sydney went to Brisbane and lost a grand final, there’s an opportunity for the region’s latest representative to reverse the damage.
Sydney United, which has so far served as a technical breeding ground for the Western Sydney Wanderers, lost the 1997 grand final 2-0 to the Brisbane Strikers in front of 40,000-plus screaming Queenslanders at Lang Park.
The irony shouldn’t be lost on anyone if Tony Popovic and Ante Milicic are able to take the Wanderers one step further than that side.
That was a Sydney United team that played a swashbuckling brand of football throughout the season, opening it with a 10-game undefeated run.
United won the then “minor premiership” by nine points. Majestic playmaker Krešimir Marušić pulled the strings on his way to the player of the year award, and David Zdrilic and Milicic banged in the goals ahead of him.
Led by Branko Čulina and featuring much craft to go with a bit of steel, it was quite the let-down they weren’t able to finish off a great season with a title.
Indeed, for a club that produced so many Socceroos, it was an anomaly they were never able to obtain a national crown.
While Popovic had moved on to Sanfrecce Hiroshima a few months before the ’97 decider, he was widely recognised as an integral part of the club’s success that season and throughout the 90s.
As one of the youngest club captains in Australian national league history, and someone who moved through the club’s famed youth ranks, Popovic was highly respected.
It must have hurt him no end to see his side lose that finale, and it’s quite likely he and his brother-in-law Milicic will cast a thought or two back to that season in the build-up to Sunday.
Fast forward to the current A-League season and it’s been the Roar that have run away with the regular season honours. The team has been led by mercurial Thomas Broich, a player who could comfortably live with the likes of Marušić and former Melbourne Knights import Josip Biskić as among the best to play in Australia.
Under Mike Mulvey, as deserving a winner of the coach of the year award, the Roar have been able to evolve from the style and team that Ange Postecoglou led to successive titles.
While Postecoglou’s team used patience as a cornerstone, Mulvey mixes this patience with an ability to transition forward quickly and exploit any space.
As they have done all season, Mulvey’s men will use the vast expanses of Suncorp Stadium and keep trying to stretch the Wanderers. They will switch the play quickly and open up space in the middle or on the other side.
The challenge for Popovic and Milicic will be to control the Roar and not get too stretched. If they are able to remain compact, they’ll look to react quickly.
Having Youssouf Hersi on board is a massive fillip for the Wanderers. He was sorely missed in last season’s decider.
While Broich has been at a creative high standard throughout the season, Hersi has been the player of the past month or two.
Not only does he set the defensive tempo with his effervescent pressing and work rate, but he remains a constant menace in possession, always looking forward to create and go past opponents.
Hersi’s involvement is non-stop and his battle with veteran Shane Stefanutto could be the stuff of grand final legend.
As much as the Wanderers will miss the great Shinji Ono next season, Hersi is the one who’ll be hardest to replace if he moves on.
And he isn’t the only Wanderers import lifting with the season on the line.
Like any good manager, Popovic has the Wanderers peaking at just the right time of the season. Iacopo La Rocca has been great all season, but in recent weeks Ono, Jerome Polenz and Mateo Poljak have all lifted.
Even the likes of Adam D’Apuzzo and Brendan Santalab are producing their season’s best at the right time.
Also aligning for the Wanderers could be the state of the Suncorp pitch.
For much of the season the Roar have been able to dish up their eye-catching football on a pristine playing surface.
But as the end of the A-League season has coincided with the start of the rugby league and union seasons, and the start of autumn, many of the pitch conditions across the competition are showing signs of over-use.
The deteriorating state of A-League pitches over the past month or so was always likely to be a figment of pushing the season back a few weeks in order to get closer to the World Cup.
What any unevenness in the Suncorp surface might do is level things up a touch.
The Wanderers will want to keep things tight, and slow down the Roar’s ball movement.
Any uncertainty in Broich’s touch as a result of the surface and the Wanderers will pounce, shifting the ball quickly to Ono and Hersi.
How ironic if this were the case.
Go back to May 1997 and it was Sydney United who were put off by the bumpy state of a playing pitch at Lang Park that was in the middle of a rugby league season.
Frank Farina’s more physical Strikers thrived in the conditions, keeping things tight at the back through the dominant Alan Hunter, and reacting swiftly through the power of a midfield featuring Kasey Wehrman and Sean Cranney.
Backed by the boisterous crowd, they blocked United, making life difficult for Marušić, and reacted swiftly through the finishing of Rod Brown and Farina.
As we look forward to Sunday’s grand final and a convoy of Wanderers fans making the trip north, it will be fascinating to see if their team can do the reverse.
With Milicic off to join the Socceroos, Ono returning to Japan, others likely to move on, and the memory of last season’s grand final loss fresh, there’s already enough motivation for the Wanderers.
Yet, if they do pull it off, you can forgive Popovic and Milicic for casting a thought back to ’97 and summoning a small smile.
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