Melbourne Victory’s return to AAMI Park earned rave reviews from fans on social media, but the problem for the Victorians was that it was Western Sydney who won the game.
Almost 26 years ago to the day, Sydney United travelled down to Lakeside and pulled off a 3-1 over a highly fancied South Melbourne in Round 2 of the old National Soccer League.
Tony Popovic started that game for the visitors – and almost scored with Sydney United’s first attack – while Mark Rudan came off the bench for Branko Culina’s side.
These days Popovic is one of the most highly regarded coaches in the A-League Men, while Rudan now goes by the first name ‘Marko’.
But it was the latter who masterminded a classic smash-and-grab raid at AAMI Park on Saturday night – and reminded a few of the Twitterati that football games are won on the pitch, not via elaborate tifos in the stands.
There’s no doubt that a Melbourne Victory side performing well produces desirable metrics for the A-League Men.
But logging on to Twitter on Saturday night was a reminder that people from Melbourne enjoy nothing more than talking about how much they love Melbourne.
The Victory fans were out in force, telling everyone that their fans are loudest, their walk-out song the most spine-tingling and their atmospheres simply the best at AAMI Park.
Unfortunately for them, Rudan was too busy orchestrating a backs-to-the-wall 1-0 win over Victory to notice, courtesy of the scrappiest goal from Tomislav Mrcela you’re ever likely to see.
Rudes is never going to win a popularity contest, but he remains one of the A-League Men’s most quietly effective coaches.
And more importantly, like his counterpart Popovic, he brings a level of personal intensity to the touchline the Wanderers arguably need.
And the A-Leagues need it too, because if there’s one club that can genuinely challenge Victory in terms of a passionate fan base, it’s Western Sydney.
But what this weekend, once again, reminded us of is that the easiest way to keep fans coming through the gates is simply by winning matches.
We focus far too much on attendance in the A-Leagues.
Mind you, that’s not good news for Brisbane Roar, who were as uninspired on the pitch as the fans were off it in Friday night’s diabolical 2-0 defeat to Melbourne City.
Credit to the visitors, who did little more than was required in what was the most routine of victories on the road.
Jamie Maclaren gave The Den a bit of stick after confidently slotting home a second-half penalty to make it 2-0 to the visitors, while a few fans had a crack at Paddy Kisnorbo on social media for not giving Marco Tilio more game time.
“I’m the coach of Melbourne City, I’m not the national team coach,” was Kisnorbo’s perfectly reasonable response when asked about only bringing Tilio on deep into stoppage time, after the visitors had been reduced to 10 men following Taras Gomulka’s red card.
Even with a man advantage the Roar rarely threatened in attack, and it’s going to be a long season for marquee signing Charlie Austin if they can’t find a way to provide him any service.
How the Roar could do with a player like Daniel Arzani, after the Socceroos hopeful turned on the magic in Macarthur’s 2-0 win over Adelaide United on Sunday afternoon.
The Reds were a touch unfortunate to have a handful of goals ruled out for various offences, but the Bulls were good value for their win in a game in which Arzani made all the difference.
Jason Cummings likewise enhanced his chances for World Cup selection with an expertly-taken goal in Central Coast Mariners’ entertaining 2-2 draw away at Wellington Phoenix, while Sydney FC’s 3-1 win over Western United was the ultimate Jekyll and Hyde performance.
But it’s Rudan who’ll be laughing at the end of an eventful round of action.
When all the focus was on the noise from the stands, the Wanderers coach simply set up his team to get the job done on the pitch.
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