Two of the league’s most promising sides go head-to-head this evening as Melbourne City host the Perth Glory at AAMI Park. Join The Roar from 7:50pm (AEDT) for live scores and commentary.
Melbourne City have arrived. Not only have they arrived but they have kicked the door down, taking maximum points from their opening two fixtures, showcasing brilliance on the big stage and sending an ominous warning to the league.
The stage was set last week for City in the derby in front of a massive crowd of 43,000 people at Etihad Stadium. It was hyped up as one of the biggest derbies yet and certainly delivered, with Tim Cahill scoring a screamer during his A-League debut as his side romped home with an impressive 4-1 victory.
Melbourne City’s performance last week was sensational in suffocating the Victory with their immense pressure and capitalising on defensive errors.
After many years of teasing the league and supporters, City have come to play and have already been tipped as one of the favourites to take home the title.
It is now back to reality for City who play their first home game of the season against a Perth Glory side that rectified their second-half capitulation against the Mariners with a convincing 2-0 victory over the Phoenix in the ‘distance derby’.
Perth have taken the bull by the horns so far this season having had 31 attempts on goal in the opening two matches. Melbourne City are not far behind, averaging 14 shots in the first two matches.
Diego Castro has also picked up where he left off last season having already scored twice, while his partner Andy Keogh is yet to get off the mark.
The stage is set for what should be quite an attacking game with both sides having two of the most dangerous line-ups in the League.
Melbourne City’s attack, consisting of Bruno Fornaroli, Fernando Brandan and Bruce Kamau, were in full force last week with Luke Brattan and Tim Cahill also being very threatening as well.
However marquee Nicolas Colazo could be set to miss the clash, having not trained during the week after receiving a knock.
The Glory, too, have quite an arsenal of attacking options with Castro, Keogh and Nebojša Marinkovic continuing to loom as threats in the attacking half in the early stages of the season with Adam Taggart slotting next to them up top.
Taggart will again be on the sidelines as his team travel to Melbourne this week. He missed last week’s win against the Phoenix with a calf injury, however is tipped to return next week.
Melbourne City welcome back Thomas Sorensen from suspension with Paul Retre also making his return. Ruon Tongyik has also been included in the side. The 19-year-old could be set to make his A-League debut after being transferred to City from Adelaide in July.
The Glory, meanwhile, make two inclusions with Reece Oxborrow and Jamal Reiners coming into the side.
History favours the home side in this fixture with the Glory not having beaten City in Melbourne since January 2012. The last time these two sides met was in last year’s quarter-final where an Aaron Mooy-led City outfit prevailed for a 2-0 victory with star talisman Bruno Fournaroli scoring a brace.
It may still be early days in the season but Bruce Kamau already looks as though he is ready to take his game to the next level.
The 21-year-old scored three goals for Adelaide last season and was more than impressive on his debut for his new side last week. Kamau was instrumental with his two assists and left the crowd in awe showcasing brilliant passages of skill and precision on the ball.
Prediction
This fixture is without a doubt the perfect way to kick off another blockbuster round of A-League. Given the current form of both these sides, this should be a spectacle not to be missed, with both City and Glory determined to make yet another bold statement.
2-2 draw
So will Melbourne City continue their impressive form or will they brought back to reality by an equally impressive Perth Glory? Join The Roar from 7:50pm (AEDT) to find out.
tully101
Roar Guru
i think 8k was a good turn out, one thing i noticed was the lack of kids at the ground, normallyyoung families are everywhere, but tonight, there was a severe lack. This was a good sign actually, because there were alot of new attendants coming to their first games, crowd will be much better when the weather is
tully101
Roar Guru
see i was at that game, and the ends on the group were alot more heavily occupied then the centre, i would say 80% of the crowd were at the ends. Then ends of the ground hold roughly 12-15k, whereas the middle only holds around 5k, but that 5k of seating is all that is shown on tv. but i can understand how this makes the crowd seem poor
Alicesprings
Guest
Agree theres no doubt that theres been a few Suns, GWS and Titan games in which some creative counting has occurred...just like its pretty obvious there were not 8k there last night. No idea why sporting bodies in Australia can't announce accurate attendances..I guess its all about saving face.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
"What’s wrong with M CIty and their fans?" The rusted on fans turned up, as we do, but the newer breed need time adjust to not winning anything :)
Mister Football
Roar Guru
As they say in the classics, soccer is a funny game.
Bob Brown
Roar Guru
Yes attendance was very disappointing. We seem to stay indoors when its cold and wet. Will be a low attendance round this weekend with cold wet weather on the east coast and wellington. What's wrong with M CIty and their fans? On the other hand very good performance by Perth and their management team. They will be in the finals again fighting for the GTS. Keogh is the best striker in the A-League atm.
Nemesis
Guest
Excellent football match. For pure tension, drama on the pitch and in the technical areas, it was more enjoyable than the two European international club matches I watched this week. Wellington vs Sydney and Adelaide vs Victory should be just as riveting.
Nemesis
Guest
"29,000 might be the official capacity, but it is very rarely reached, so 8k is closer to one-third of the true capacity." What? Did you actually write this sober? This is the most nonsensical piece of statistical analysis I've ever read. It's just so far from common sense, it's ridiculous.
tully101
Roar Guru
they always take a while... and i was at the game on the broadcast side, it was roughly equal on the other side, and the majority of the patrons sit at the goal ends.
tully101
Roar Guru
GWS and the gold coast figures are definitely inflate., watching games at spotless and Metricon the attandance says that the grounds are <50% capacity, but it looks like roughly 1 in every 4 seats are full....
Mister Football
Roar Guru
29,000 might be the official capacity, but it is very rarely reached, even when sold out., so 8k is closer to one-third of the true capacity. I think we can accept that most members would be on the broadcast side, that's pretty normal everywhere. I have no problem with the attendnace figure put forward, and view it positively as a sure sign the Cahill is bringing in the fans in large numbers.
Alicesprings
Guest
Well everyone must have been sitting on the broadcast side of the pitch??..I didn't see any wide shots of that side of the ground but no way was it 1/4 full going by the other three sides of the ground. They also took an awfully long time to announce the crowd aswell...another sign it was off the dial.
j binnie
Guest
alice springs I've never been to AAMI park but know that the capacity is around 29,000 which makes last night's crowd of 8000 about a quarter of that figure. Was the ground a quarter full?. That would be a better measurement model than comparing it with another crowd. Cheers jb.
punter
Guest
You want to talk about fudged numbers, Giants average 12K a game, yet for GF qualifier, only 6K was sold in West Sydney.
Cameron
Roar Guru
I don't dispute the 8k figure and see no reason why in AFL mad land, why figures would be fudged.
tully101
Roar Guru
The last game that got 8k at aami park was Rebels vs stormers, have to say, tonights crowd and the rebels game look very similar...
alicesprings
Guest
Apparently 8076 If anyone believes that figure they have issues. Storm games that get 8k looks twice as full...funny that.
Truth bomb
Guest
Apparently a touch over 4,000 there tonight If each paid $1,000 entry, that would cover timmys salary!
Midfielder
Guest
Great game ... enjoyed it a lot.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Really really great game of football. Had a few good games in a row on Friday nights. Good stuff.