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WHO will prevail when Melbourne Victory hosts Sydney FC in A-League elimination final?
Foxsports.com.au brings you everything you need to know about Friday night's A-League elimination final between long-time rivals Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC.
WHAT, WHEN, WHERE
Melbourne Victory v Sydney FC, Friday, 7.30pm EST, Etihad Stadium, Fox Sports 1HD.
FORM GUIDE:
Victory (W,D,D,L,W), Sydney FC (W,W,D,L,D)
MATCH ODDS:
Victory $1.90, draw $3.45, Sydney FC $3.70 (TAB - as of 16/04/2014)
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THE NEXT STEP:
The winner goes into a grand final qualifier next week, against who is yet to be determined. The lowest ranked winner from the two elimination finals plays Brisbane Roar, with the higher ranked winner to face Western Sydney Wanderers. It's a bit complicated, but it goes like this…
If Sydney FC (5) and Central Coast (3) win, Sydney FC faces Brisbane (1).
If Sydney FC (5) and Adelaide (6) win, Sydney FC faces Wanderers (2).
If Melbourne Victory (4) and Central Coast (3) win, Victory faces Brisbane (1).
If Melbourne Victory (4) and Adelaide (6) win, Victory faces Wanderers (2).
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TALE OF THE TAPE:
What a rollercoaster season it's been for all the teams, but particular these two. Just two months ago Sydney FC was apparently in crisis, fans walking out of its match against Adelaide and calling for coach Frank Farina's head. Now the Sky Blues are two matches from a grand final appearance. Football's a funny old game.
It's been a bumpy ride for Victory too. Ange Postecoglou left the club for greener pastures as Socceroos coach just three weeks into the season, and it's taken some time for Kevin Muscat to adjust to the hot seat. But the side has responded to his methods, and has finished the season strongly both domestically and in Asia.
VICTORY 4-2-2-2
Coach: Kevin Muscat
Likely XI: Coe, Geria, Contreras, Ansell, Traore. Milligan, Broxham, Finkler, Troisi, Barbarouses, Thompson
SYDNEY: 4-4-2
Coach: Frank Farina
Likely XI: Janjetovic, Jurman, Petkovic, Ognenovski, Ryall, Dimitrijevic, Abbas, Antonis, Del Piero, Garcia, Chianese.
LAST TIME THEY MET
It finished 1-1 after a frenetic 90 minutes at AAMI Park just three weeks ago. The Sky Blues led through Joel Chianese before James Troisi ensured the points would be shared. The result meant that Kevin Muscat's men are yet to inflict defeat on Sydney FC in three meetings this season. The other two haven't been bad either. Sydney FC won the first 3-2 — despite playing most of the match with 10 men — and hammered Victory 5-0 on Australia Day in the other.
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STATS AMAZING
You can expect goals in this one. It's been a whopping 18 matches since Victory last kept a clean sheet in the A-League, while the Sky Blues have scored in each of their last nine fixtures.
With two championships each, Victory and Sydney FC are level with Brisbane Roar as the league's most successful ever teams. Victory is the only team in the A-League not to lose this season after scoring first - winning eight times and drawing once.
KEY MATCH-UPS
It will be intriguing to see how Sydney FC's defence copes with the threat of Kosta Barbarouses, Archie Thompson, Gui Finkler and James Troisi. TheVictory quartet have been irresistible in attack of late — putting four goals past Wellington and two against Guangzhou midweek - but Sydney FC has rediscovered its defensive steel since the addition of Socceroo Sasa Ognenovski. His partnership with Nikola Petkovic at the back has seen the Sky Blues become a lot harder to break down.
There was plenty of spice between opposing skippers Mark Milligan and Alessandro Del Piero in the AAMI Park meeting in March. The Italian maestro loves to drop deep to dictate the play, so it will be up to the Victory skipper to nullify his threat in the midfield.
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WHAT THEY SAID:
Victory skipper Mark Milligan on the rivalry: "If you can't get up for a final, let alone a Big Blue on Friday night, then you're probably in the wrong industry. I think all the boys will be fine".
Victory coach Kevin Muscat on the momentum gained from a midweek ACL win: "I couldn't be happier with the position we're in at the moment. We've got three full days before Sydney, and if you walked through that change room you'd see a group of players who are jumping out of their skin to be in that team for Friday night".
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Sydney FC coach Frank Farina on what to expect from Sydney's opponent: "I'm expecting them to come out all guns blazing in the first 15-20 minutes so we've not only got to survive that, but hopefully put pressure on ourselves. If we can score first it's an advantage".
Italian legend Alessandro Del Piero on his Sky Blues future beyond this season: "We have already chatted with the owners, with (chairman) Scott (Barlow) and the club. We are ready for talks at the end of the season and we will do the best thing for everyone, but I don't think about that at the moment."
THE VERDICT FROM MARK RUDAN
It was a fantastic win by Victory during the week in which all players lived up to the expectation. What a result that was for Kevin Muscat, but the Sky Blues will be primed for this.
I think they (Sydney) do have a mental edge over Victory. They're yet to lose against Melbourne and of course they had a fantastic 5-0 result on Australia Day.
I reckon they've got the wood over Melbourne Victory and I reckon a lot of their players will be confident heading into this match.
Del Piero is the key to Sydney FC winning. He's the man that pulls the strings and threads those balls in. If he's on fire there's every reason they can win that. It's Mark Milligan's job to nullify that. That match-up will determine what happens and which was the result goes.
Victory has plenty of attacking threats in Barbarouses, Troisi and Archie Thompson so I think there will be goals in this one. It will be an absolute crackerjack and one not to miss.
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