Opinion
The A-League has three games to go and barely anything is sorted.
Even Melbourne City are not 100 percent guaranteed to become premiers, albeit a win in Gosford will secure their third premiers plate in a row.
In an interesting fixture schedule, each of the top four all play each other in the final round, with City hosting the Wanderers, and the Mariners travelling to the City of Churches to face the Reds, but that isn’t even the interesting part, as these games are simply rehearsals for finals after Wellingtons latest loss.
The interest is the mere four points that separates sixth place to 12th place, and a set of fixtures that sees a bumper final round where the bottom eight sides all face off against each other.
By this time Wellington should be safe in 5th position as if they win their home fixture against the Brisbane Roar they should obtain the three points thats needed to know that regardless of their match against the Wanderers, a win in the final game against MacArthur will put them on 37 points.
Ufuk Tulay has built yet another solid team, with star striker Oskar Zawada going on an incredible post World Cup run where he has scored in 12 of the sides 16 games, even out-scoring Melbourne City hotshot Jamie Maclaren in the January to March period.
Ufuk Talay (Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
This leaves the battle for 6th all to play for, as Sydney FC sit only four points ahead of Victory in last place. It is very unlikely that results go the way of Melbournes biggest club, but if the Vuck were to start with an away win at Mark Rudans WSW, then they could ignite an all mighty run to sixth.
To grab all three points in Wanderland would give them the belief that they could win their final two home games against Brisbane and Macarthur to finish on 34 points which could be enough for sixth position if other results go their way.
But if they don’t win in Western Sydney next Saturday then they can all but forget about finals football this year.
Sitting just above them is the group of four clubs on 26 points, all four sides behind Sydney and Perth – Macarthur, Brisbane Roar, The Jets and the reigning Champions Western United.
Starting with Macarthur who have two tricky trips to the Hunter and to Melbourne respectively, before finishing with a home game against Wellington.
It’s unlikely that they will get anything from these games as their away form has been dreadful since the loss of Dwight Yorke, only picking up a solitary point on the road since their former Trinidadian manager masterminded a 3-0 victory over Sydney on Christmas Eve.
This just leaves a home game against Wellington, a team they’ve already beaten at home this season , which assuming they win and lose their away games would put them on 29 points, not enough for finals, and so Mile Sterjovski has a huge job on his hands as he would need to turn Macathurs away form around to give them any chance of finals this year.
The team who appear to have the lowest chance of anything is Western United, an away game at high flying Adelaide, a trip to Perth and even their home game is likely to be in their opponents home stadium, being against Premiers-elect City and so quite frankly John Aloisi’s side will be lucky to pick up a single point and look favourites to finish bottom of the ladder at this stage.
The Jets are a much more interesting prospect as if they can secure the home win against Macarthur then this puts them into a promising position going into an F3 Derby at home to the high flying Mariners.
The Mariners are undoubtedly a much better side than them, but they have already beaten their most hated rivals this season, and haven’t yet hosted them , so if the Squadron can get behind their team, anything can happen in a Derby.
If they can get between four to six points from these two games, then their final game against Sydney FC could be crucial and a chance to knock the Sky Blues out of the top six as they end the season with their first ever trip to the the newly built Allianz Stadium, whilst seven points from their final three games would put them on 34 points.
The Brisbane Roar face tricky assignments in New Zealand against the Nix, and a trip to Melbourne to face the Victory, with the hosting of Sydney FC sandwiched in between.
To stand a chance of finals, they would need two wins and a draw to get to 34 points and this looks a tall order given their squad.
I expect Brisbane to lose the two away games, and possibly pick up a point at home to Sydney, but if they could defy the odds and win all three games, they could be the story of the season and sneak into finals.
Jay O’Shea has scored in 5 games in a row, and they may need their Irish talisman to make it eight if they are still dreaming of football in May.
Just above them sit a curious team in Perth Glory, a comfortable two point gap over the three teams on 26 and three points ahead of bottom side Victory.
So realistically if they win their game this weekend against Sydney at the Allianz, they move into pole position.
However following their trip to The Harbour City, their next game is the hosting of Craig Goodwins Adelaide United, possibly the most in-form side in the competition at the current moment, unbeaten since the 7th January, with 7 wins and 5 draws.
It is hard to see the Reds not coming away with something from the game, even if the Glory are returning to HBF Park. This would mean that they would be going into their final game against Western United needing a win, and hope that they either beat Sydney or Adelaide to reach 34 points.
This just leaves Sydney FC, and if you are still reading this article, you are probably thinking, surely the five-times champions Sydney FC are in the box seat? While it’s true that their fate is in their own hands, they do not have three easy games.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Yes, Sydney FC sit in pole position, but they literally face the three sides directly below them in the table. Their first game against Perth is huge because if they win that, it puts them on 32 points and means they would only need a win from their final two games to secure sixth spot and finish on 35.
However lose it, and Perth would leapfrog them and put them in real jeopardy as a trip to the Suncorp Stadium would not be a nice place to travel to needing a win to even stand a chance of displacing Perth.
There is a scenario where Victory win their final three, finish on 34 points and hold the best goal difference in the bottom eight. Western United lose all their games, finish on 26 points, Macarthur also lose al three and finish alongside them with goal difference deciding which team gets the spoon.
Brisbane gain a point from Sydney but lost the other two and are placed 10th with 27 points. The Jets meanwhile gain a point at home to the Mariners, beat Macarthur and gain a point at The Allianz this finishing on 31 points and are placed 9th.
Perth beat Sydney, but lose to Adelaide and gain the three points in their last match against Western, this would put them on 34 points alongside the Victory.
Sydney meanwhile lose to Perth, draw with Brisbane and draw with Newcastle, this would put them on 34 points. With goal difference deciding which of Perth, Sydney and Victory progress.
This would be an incredible end to the season but it all hinges on Victory going to the ComBank stadium and beating Mark Rudan’s side. But if this happens and Sydney FC do not beat Perth, then it will make that final weekend of action very interesting indeed.
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