Western United’s 4-3 win over Melbourne Victory was the exclamation point on an increasingly plausible meme – that the A-League is the world’s most entertaining competition right now.
When Victor Sanchez rifled home his second goal deep into stoppage time at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night he not only sent coach Mark Rudan tearing off towards a mass pile-on of players and staff, he also lit the touchpaper on a rivalry that only has room to grow.
How much will that defeat have stung Melbourne Victory? They were barely hanging on until Western United defender Tomi Uskok was dismissed for a second yellow card not long after the hour mark.
Full credit to Victory and in particular the impressive Dalibor Markovic for setting up Rudy Gestede’s improbable equaliser. The towering Benin international could have been forgiven for dropping his head after Filip Kurto’s outrageous earlier save.
But if the A-League has been a bit short on narratives in the past, the unlikeliest player on the pitch set about rectifying that with a winner that drove a dagger through Victory hearts.
Victor Sanchez doesn’t say much, but he certainly knows how to play football.
The 240-game former Espanyol veteran scored Western United’s first with a superbly taken goal, side-stepping a diving Leigh Broxham before rifling into the bottom corner.
It was an expert finish from a player who does everything with a minimum of fuss, but Sanchez saved his best for last by smashing home the winner for good measure.
The goal was a bit of a calamity for Victory goalkeeper Max Crocombe, who came but failed to deal with Tomoki Imai’s cross, allowing Sanchez to nip in and bag the winner.
How much pressure is Crocombe under? Is he the right goalkeeper for a club of Victory’s stature?
Even allowing for Sanchez’s double, it was still the player the rest of the A-League loves to hate who dragged Western United back into the game.
There’s a case to be made that Besart Berisha is the greatest striker the A-League has ever seen, and the competition’s all-time top scorer reminded his former club of that with a quickfire brace.
(Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Berisha’s two headers were slightly atypical goals for the combustible striker, but he essentially scored them through sheer force of will.
That’s something the A-League could use a bit more of over the coming weeks.
Western United’s win wasn’t the only eye-opening result on another crazy weekend of football, with Perth Glory downing Brisbane Roar 3-1 in the west and Adelaide United shaking off their travel woes with a 3-2 win over Western Sydney Wanderers in Parramatta.
But as we’ve seen with the sort of stewarding Victorian fans have recently had to put up with – where there seems to be one COVID-related rule for A-League fans and a different rule for other members of the public – football still suffers from the kind of prejudice that causes mainstream Australians to dismiss it as irrelevant.
And while A-League clubs shouldn’t bother trying to convert casual sports fans with no interest in the game, one thing they will need to start thinking about again soon – particularly once COVID-19 vaccines start rolling out – is selling a few more tickets to games.
Brisbane Roar have a decent chance to sell out Moreton Daily Stadium when they take on Sydney FC next Saturday, even if coming off a loss – just like the Sky Blues – makes things a bit more difficult.
And when Western United finally run out at their new stadium in Tarneit, hopefully life will be somewhat back to normal following this infernal pandemic.
Because as wonderful as it has been to watch the A-League come roaring back to life, it will all be irrelevant without some sort of base to build on for the future.
Western United are building one. Here’s hoping they’re not the only ones.
chris
Guest
LH Terry didn't know there was a trial match with Roar against the club side from England as the Courier Mail didn't tell him.
stu
Guest
Hmmmm......if an item is not up for sale....no-one will buy it. Don't forget the a-league does not understand what marketing is!!
At work
Roar Rookie
Andy have you looked at a map of Qld lately, do you realise how big it is :laughing: Driving to Brisbane from these regional QLD cities: Cairns = 19hrs Townsville = 15hrs Rockhampton = 7hrs Bundaberg = 4.5hrs Qld is in no way comparable to any other state in Australia with their major population centres dotted all up the coast.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Hi JB, yes we are creating, in Ninko, Baumjohan & Caceres, we have 3 of the most creative players in the A-League, we are creating chances, however we have Barbaroosas (can be hot & cold & very cold this year), Bobo (his best days a long time ago), Buhagair (all speed & not much else), how many of these types of players does Australia keeps producing & Patrick Wood (very very raw). We cannot score goals, if we still had La Fondre, we'd be up there.
jbinnie
Guest
Punter - True story. At the weekend while watching Sydney struggle to get the ball in the net, I actually remarked to my wife, "Sydney should get an emergency call out to Brosque to report in ASAP." I cannot start to imagine how frustrating it is to watch shot after shot go soaring high over the bar when all that is required is a well placed placement just out of the keeper's reach. Keep the faith. Cheers jb.
Punter
Roar Rookie
The SFC of 2016-17 & 2017-2018 was pretty special with players like Ninko, Bobo, Mierzejewski, Grant, Wilkinson, Brosque, O'Neill, Brillante, they were very good players & team. Let's not forget Danny Vukovic, who probably gave the best season performance by a GK in 2016/17. Players like Ninko, only Broich matches him & Miezejewski, only one season but what a season.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Excellent point. Suddenly we find a home game on a Saturday followed by Tuesday night. My partner is working night shift - no opportunity to change at such short notice. I usually work until about 7-00 pm and have certain responsibilities that preclude me from taking off early for something considered to be fairly frivolous! There are so many stories like those. Planning for this season has gone out the window. Normally we would book some away trips as well but I wouldn’t dare with the way borders open and close during the pandemic. Travel agents and airlines already have too much of my money not refunded from 2020!
j binnie
Guest
Micko - West Adelaide made no secret of their Greek heritage. Cheers jb.
AndyAdelaide
Roar Rookie
Greek
AndyAdelaide
Roar Rookie
Excuses excuses excuses. Doesn't matter if you live 20 mins or 2 hours away. Buy a membership if you cant make it, give it t your family or friends to use if you can't be there one week
Midfielder
Roar Guru
JB The ball is at the feet of the A-League clubs they actually brought on the civil war with FFA.... Between 3 to 4 years of toxic negativity cannot be over turned in a few weeks... The clubs wanted control and now they have it .... Do they have the smarts to turn it around... they always believed they had three and a half to four years but when the pandemic hit the the 60 million dollar Fox deal fell to a 28 million dollar one year deal.... I have heard some good things are coming but we have been hearing that for a while.... tis time to put some meat on the bones... Time will tell JB lets hope the have the skills and the smarts to connect the A-League to its fans...
AndyAdelaide
Roar Rookie
Kick that knowledge Rodger, we are the blueprint for the a league! Especially in these covid times
AndyAdelaide
Roar Rookie
that's one ground that I will never visit, couldn't pay me enough to be around those vuvuzela sounds, I mean cowbells
Grem
Roar Rookie
Can't wait to see you at Campbelltown Stadium when Adelaide play The Bulls again.
Graeme Phillips
Guest
And considering how hard it has been to plan attendance at games given the flexible draw we've had to have. We are fanatical followers and we don't always know who is playing who and when. This is the first week I've been able to plan to attend games for the next few weeks. I was just hoping for survival this season and a rebuild from next year. Things are looking better than that. How resilient is Australian football!
Rodger King
Roar Rookie
@ JB - Adelaide do it all the time. We sometimes get 2 emails a day [A League and W League] with updated fixture info, player info, youtube fun things. With AUFC's push to use local youth talent, something suggested by their members during an end of season survey, also the connection with the local Federation and member clubs, maybe, just maybe, their blue-print may become the standard for all clubs.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Fair call. Even despite all their success, has there been a SFC or MV side that was a standout like the "Roarcelona" under Ange, or the Mariners under Graham Arnold?
NoMates
Roar Rookie
The problem is the big clubs play horrible unattractive football like SFC/ Melb Victory and Roar, However the smaller and newer clubs have been making up for it playing more attractive style of play that is good on your eyes via TV or live.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Perth has a union side: the Force, but presumably expat kiwis, saffas & PI's are heavily propping up their crowds, since neither rugby code has much general public interest here.
Micko
Roar Rookie
I'm not saying that many: limit it to 18, absolute max. :thumbup: