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Melbourne Victory stage wild 3-3 draw with Ulsan

Besart Berisha of the Melbourne Victory. (AAP Image/George Salpigtidis)
Expert
13th February, 2018
41

It was a match for which there had been little marketing, played – as a result – in front of a smattering of spectators, opening a continental campaign that holds little promise of any meaningful progression, let alone triumph.

It’s hardly a match you’d expect could act as the saving squall, carrying a team out of the deathly doldrums.

Still, you have to work with what you’ve got, and a daunting home tie against Korean power Ulsan Hyundai is what the Melbourne Victory had last night.

On a three-match losing streak, including losses to two of the four teams ahead of them on the table, this fixture had been looming over Melbourne for some time.

The Victory hoped for a run-up to this tie that built up confidence; instead they suffered through a run that demoralised and disappointed. 

James Troisi was returned to the starting XI, and Kevin Muscat’s team began the match brightly, with no sign of the reckless brand of hysterical, lurching pressing that had undone them so against Sydney.

Jason Geria was prudently surging, Carl Valeri shuffling responsibly across the midfield line. Nearly 70 per cent of the possession in the opening 15 minutes belonged to the Victory, but it was possession largely starved of potent incision. Ulsan are a well-drilled, patient team, and played as such, seemingly content to allow Melbourne the ball in non-threatening areas. 

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The home side’s centre backs led with the knee in a couple of aerial skirmishes; the serrated physical aggression usually associated with Muscat’s side was roused a little here, with Ulsan’s striker Yohei Toyoda tenderised considerably.

Valeri’s foul on a dashing midfielder continued the theme; Mislav Orsic’s strike from the free kick, however, was a sudden departure.

A spanked shot from an audacious distance, that flew through a rippling crowd of players, beat Lawrence Thomas, fizzing just inside the post.

Ulsan were in front, 1-0.

But not for long, one minute and 12 seconds, to be precise.

From the kick-off, Melbourne worked the ball forward, winning a throw deep in opposition territory. From that, the ball was shuffled to Troisi in the middle, and he attempted a sharp reverse through-ball, which found a defender – but his clearance was weak, straight to Besart Berisha, whose shot was parried.

Besart Berisha Melbourne Victory A-League Grand Final 2017 tall

Besart Berisha. (AAP Image/David Moir)

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Leroy George was there to tap home the rebound, an instant riposte.

George was Vince Vega, his team were Mia Wallace, and that equaliser was the syringe of adrenaline driven through the sternum. Melbourne were suddenly sitting bolt upright, heaving great, wide-eyed lungfuls of air – not, in fact, hopelessly dead.

Similarly, the match sprung into life, with the ball skipping from foot to foot, slick and stylish over the turf. Berisha and Kosta Barbarouses nearly carved a pleasing route into the box, but the ball was scrambled away.

Hwang Il-Su scampered into the box, but screwed his shot wide. Then Ulsan won a corner, and Orsic stood over it, already a known threat from a dead ball. The Croatian’s cross swooped toward the near post, but none of the men in dark blue met the ball before Richard Windbichler, Ulsan’s Austrian centre back, whose forehead powered the ball past Thomas.

It was a lazy moment of loose marking, and Victory were behind again. 

But this lead, incredibly, lasted only a little longer than the last. A superb, tight one-two between Berisha and George saw the winger punch the ball into the striker, who held off his marker, laid off a perfectly weighted pass, which was met by George on the run in the box.

He finished with sneering accuracy, and again things were level, 2-2.

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This match, having begun tautly, had ripped open, goals and chances flapping wildly from end to end. 30 minutes had barely passed, and Melbourne had already scored as many goals against Ulsan as they had against their three previous opponents. 

Troisi, relieved of the sluggishness that has plagued so much of his season, was a roaming, forward-thinking spike, constantly looking for direct passes, playing them sharply and bursting through for a return pass. This is when the streaky Socceroo is at his best, when he’s fuelled by confidence and ambition, running with intent, causing urgent problems.

Kevin Muscat

Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat. (AAP Image/Darren Pateman)

The second half began with Barbarouses being shown a yellow for cutting down Park Joo-Ho. Evidently, Muscat had urged the importance of maintaining the intensity his team had shown in the first stanza, warts and all. Would it be the Victory who took the lead?

No, it wouldn’t, and Orsic made sure of that with a superlative shot from distance, a curling effort that Thomas could only caress with the tips of his fingers before it found the top corner.

Orsic, who grabbed a superb double against Brisbane last season in this competition, appears to have some acrid personal vendetta against the A-League. Whether or not Thomas might have done better was a debate worth staging, but the quality of the shot muffled the argument.

Could Melbourne equalise quickly again? Somehow, yes.

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A free kick won out on the right was sent careering by George into the Ulsan box, three minutes after the visitors’ third goal. Rhys Williams met it utterly unmarked in the centre of the penalty area, and all that was needed to gift the game its third Melbourne equaliser was an elementary header. Williams obliged.

Was this some garish Hollywood producer’s impression of how football should be? With Helenio Herrera spinning like a top in his grave, what could possibly come next, aside from goals, goals, and more goals?

Ulsan hit the post, flirting with another lead. The hour mark had not yet been reached, and it was 3-3.

Ten minutes passed, with no more goals, a veritable drought compared to the giddy haemorrhaging we’d had earlier. The intensity of the contest was still red-hot, with 25 fouls shared between the teams.

Chances were exchanged, both sparked by venomous crosses from the left wings. Berisha was removed with 20 minutes remaining, the architect of two of his team’s goals. Kenny Athiu was brought on to impart his own brand of leggy athleticism, and he struck a wayward volley from distance within seconds of arriving, getting straight into the swing of things. 

Victory nearly took the lead, failing to cap off a wonderful passing sequence – spanning the full width of the pitch – in which almost every Melbourne attacker was involved, though primarily Troisi, Athiu and George.

Athiu was making a firm impression, striding away from tacklers, levering markers away from the ball, although his errant first touch was scuppering almost as many chances as he was creating.

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Valeri was conducting this beautifully in the middle, finding his attacking teammates, delivering the ball to them. Ulsan substitute Junior was sent clear through, but his first touch was awful too, with Thomas grateful for it.

The match was pregnant with a seventh goal, but which team would bear it?

But, like a clown show that ends with a particularly harrowing rendition of the suicide and funeral of Willy Loman, this caper indeed finished 3-3.

Never mind a squall, this was a typhoon of agony and ecstasy that filled the Victory sails and sent it flying forwards.

Berisha and Troisi looked as good here as they have the entire season. George was irrepressible. Williams ambitious without being reckless. They’d have taken a draw, but considering the nature of it, Melbourne might be disappointed they didn’t come out of this ding-dong battle on top.

Yes, it was a sideshow, yes, there was no defence allowed, but it was a sensational start to what might end up being a compelling Champions League journey.

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