Melbourne Victory have repeated last year’s trick, defeating their Big Blue rivals Sydney FC on the first weekend of the season for the second time running thanks to a commanding 2-0 win at Allianz Stadium.
Victory, who had been $3 outsiders before the game, had turned over their intercity rivals 3-2 last year on opening night and were never in doubt this time around, enjoying the best of the chances before taking two late on.
The star of the show was Zinedine Machach, the newly-arrived number 10 for Victory, who showed exceptional close control and ability to hold off defenders and scored a rampaging goal to clinch the victory late on.
It was perhaps ironic that, at the start of a season in which the league is seeking to sell itself as a place to see the stars of the future today, it was 36-year-old striker Bruno Fornaroli who showed the composure to put Victory ahead, before a back four with a collective age of 130 kept the hosts at bay.
New signing Machach, a relative spring chicken at 27, was the game’s best player and put the tin hat on the result late on.
His goal, a dribble that began 40m out, was more of a battering ram than anything his more celebrated namesake might have produced, but it was impressive nonetheless.
Had his teammates shown better finishing, it might have been settled far earlier. 2-0 was fair, but it was a long time coming and, on another day, Melbourne might have been punished.
As it happened, the hosts struggled to get any attack going at all. Their goalscorers in the Australia Cup Final, Robert Mak and new Brazilian striker Fabio Gomes, were both dragged midway through the second half having offered little, which Joe Lolley, usually close to their best, was well-marshalled.
Sydney had begun the final slowly and were punished early on, before coming on strong in the second half. Tonight, they were not immediately made to pay, but continued their sluggishness throughout.
Victory trailed in possession, but were far more effective in transition, creating two early chances for Arzani and Machach, both of which emanated from Adama Traore’s dynamism on the left.
The hosts did go close from a corner, with Paul Izzo denying Rhyan Grant, but the bulk of the traffic was towards Andrew Redmayne’s goal.
The Socceroos keeper easily saved an Arzani shot, but could only look on as Traore and Machach again combined, freeing Nishan Velupillay in the centre of the goal. Fortunately for the keeper, his shot trickled wide.
Sydney were having real trouble picking up Machach, with the Frenchman slowly imposing himself as the most threatening player as the first half wore on.
Melbourne weren’t immune to attacks, with Gabriel Lacerda forcing a low save from Izzo just before the break, but beyond set pieces, the main Sydney threats had been contained.
Max Burgess, elevated to the starting lineup, was innocuous and the key three of Mak, Lolley and Gomes unable to influence the game.
Tony Popovic called for greater composure in front of goal in the second half, but didn’t get it.
Machach again sprung free, but when Velupillay found midfielder Rai Marchan, his shot was poor and Redmayne easily parried.
Eventually Victory were sure to take one of their chances, but they couldn’t have imagined how simple it would be.
Redmayne inadvisably rolled the ball to Luke Brattan, who then turned back into three pressing Victory players. The ball squirted to Fornaroli and, from inside the D, the Uruguayan made no mistake.
It was comical stuff from two of the most experienced players on Corica’s team and gifted Victory the lead.
Mak and Gomes were withdrawn immediately by Corica, with Patrick Wood and Jaiden Cucharski introduced, but the attacking prospects did not improve.
Sydney were only able to threaten from range: Lolley sent one wide, while Brattan stung Izzo’s palms from a free kick.
Indeed, the closest anyone went to scoring was Fornaroli again, who nodded wide on a counterattack then missed from close range on a rebound.
Eventually the second came. Machach had nothing on when he picked up the ball, but set his course for goal, bundled a few defenders out of the way and slid his shot across Redmayne to secure a deserved 2-0 win.
chris1
Roar Rookie
Whilst not a great night for SFC who were outplayed by MVC, it is still very early days. Gomes was really poor but from what I've seen of him previously, he looks like a quality player and should fit in nicely when they work out how to use him. Having a player as good as Lolley will make it difficult for him if he's a back to goal striker because most of SFC's outlet was wide and then across the box. They will work it out and a front 3 of Mak, Lolley and Gomes will be difficult to contain. Thats a lot of experiences up front.
chris1
Roar Rookie
True - but if you look at Brattan he actually calls for the ball and Redders delivers telling him to go right. But he turns the other way and slips and bingo. Game over.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
That's not what I said.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
Obsession about crowds, incessant negativity, yep it's a NoMates comment.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Tobin is the best passer in the team now and her replacement passed it directly to the Roar player to setup their goal.
coolncold
Roar Rookie
Thank! You have answered correctly what the arrangement should be. That means to arrange Hore to play centre forward and Gomulka to play his regular position in the middle. Why Gomulka played the striker position yesterday? What's wrong with Ross?
Garry
Roar Rookie
"Victory on the night, who always looked like they had goals in them whereas SFC didn’t.' actually I thought the reverse..but Vic. always looked like they had chances in them. They only scored thanks to 2 gifts gifts :silly: :stoked:
Waz
Roar Rookie
Ross needs to fix two things: 1/ Scoring - a 30% shot accuracy rate is too poor, plus we’re going the Ange thing of finding one more pass when a shot is on. 2/ Fix the LB position - Zabala (again) nearly cost us a goal early doors. We can’t keep going like that, surely Trewen is a better option?
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
In think Roar would be pretty happy with the crowd. They'll build from there, but way above previous years.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
Lofthouse, Armiento and Waddingam were all unavailable last night, injury or just returned from Spain. Majok? nah. Mileusnic, an option but he hasn't done well there previously. Hore is better out wide. Markovski, Brownlee and Parsons all came on as subs. Gomulka - seems to me they were so short of experience they had limited choice.
Garry
Roar Rookie
unfortunately crowds not great so far but I dont think the occasional scheduling issue is unavoidable
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
Roar men did well to get a point away. Bulls have some quality players, fast on the changeover and reliant on the long ball to get past our midfield who, I thought anyway, were very good.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
Roar girls defended well in the last 20 minutes. Not smart to schedule both Roar teams matches at the same time, but a good crowd anyway.
Para+Ten ISUZU Subway support Australian Football
Roar Rookie
Congratulations to Popa, his usual game plan worked a treat for them last night. Very tight defense and were quicker on the transition (typical Popa game plan). Rodwell was missing for SFC as the most experienced CB Sydney has. Gomes had no service and thought he could just pick up where he left off from his last outing against the Roar, and he clearly was surprised by the quality of the MV CBs. Lolly and Mac were nullified. Caceres and Brattan had no answer on how to create any meaningful chances for the front third. Just outgunned by Victory on the night, who always looked like they had goals in them whereas SFC didn’t.
Garry
Roar Rookie
fyi – Rangers (the team I support :happy:) beat Monty’s Hibs 4 -0 “Montgomery drafted in veteran defender Paul Hanlon for his 550th appearance and attacker Adam Le Fondre for what shaped up to be his toughest test so far as the Easter Road manager.” – Lewis Miler picked up a yellow
Garry
Roar Rookie
atm i disagree.. they lacked finishing last year and it looked the same last night until Sydney gifted them 2 goals
Waz
Roar Rookie
I was in the new stand at Ballymore with the Men’s game playing on my phone. Not great company for my mates but was very keen to see how both teams went and it kinda worked (but the APL has to sort their scheduling out for next season).
Waz
Roar Rookie
Honestly, Bratts was in the middle of a 3 man press and shouldn’t have got that ball. Careless from Redmayne.
Garry
Roar Rookie
My game summary – Vic made use of the lack of pace in the defence particularly on CP’s side in the first half. The new Brazilian isnt ‘yet’ as good as Rodwell as covering up when this happens. Both he and CP improved in the second half. Mak had flashes as did Burgess, Caceres and Brattan but the latter 3 didnt do enough. Loley was of course his usual reliable self. Gomes was hopeless, seemed to make an effort in the first 70 odd minutes to NOT get near the ball.
Garry
Roar Rookie
yeh bad day for Sydney. I knew the girls had a problem without Tobin but they made it worse by being inaccurate with their passing the first 60 mins. The late subs made a difference and they surged late but inaccurate shooting as well.