Locking in a home-final with a 2-0 win over Western Sydney last Saturday, Victory will host their Big Blue rivals Sydney FC at AAMI Park in a crunch elimination final this weekend, with their crosstown foes Melbourne City travelling to face Auckland FC earlier in the day.

The lowest-seeded winner from those two games will move on to host premiers the Newcastle Jets in the first game of a two-legged semifinal the following week, while the highest-ranked winner will move on to face Adelaide United – who secured second-place and a week off with a dramatic late win over City last Sunday.

Beyond the do-or-die nature of the fixture, however, and the bragging rights that are always on the line whenever the two bitter foes meet, both Victory’s Nishan Velupillay and Sydney’s Paul Okon Jr will be doing all they can to impress Socceroo staff in their meeting – with the two players firmly in the mix to be part of the 26-player squad Popovic will name on June 1.

Across the Tasman, City skipper Aziz Behich is widely considered to be a likely selection for that squad, but goalkeeper Patrick Beach will be seeking a big end to the campaign to see off the threat from Joe Gauci and Harrison Devenish-Meares for the third goalkeeping role. The likes of Marcus Younis, Clayton Taylor, Nathaniel Atkinson and Max Burgess, meanwhile, will retain hope of staging a late push.

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“It’s huge, I think it’s a massive opportunity,” said Hamill. “Because there’s added pressure, there’s a lot more meaning to these games, in the sense that it’s win or go home this week.

“I’m sure Popa’s watching and analysing character, body language, along with all the other technical and tactical aspects.

“But I think it’s a huge occasion for these lads to push because come the World Cup, it’s even greater: the expectation and what’s required to succeed at the World Cup. So these games are perfect for players to put their case forward.”

Beyond the mental aspects, however, with leagues such as the Championship coming to an end this weekend, the prospect of getting at least an added fortnight of football after this week also brings tangible benefits.

“With the pressure side of it, in finals football, we’re looking to have a great crowd, so [it will be] in front of a huge number of fans,” said Jason Davidson, who played at the 2014 World Cup as well as previously playing under Popovic. “To see how you handle the pressure, I think Popa will definitely be looking at that.

“But you also have to take into consideration, the further you go in finals, the closer you get to a World Cup with match fitness as well. I think that’s another element that I’m sure he’ll be looking at. So the motivation is to make sure that you can get your team as far as possible, but there’s also a great opportunity to stay fit as close as possible.”

Adding further spice to Saturday’s meeting, it will also mark the first time that Victory has faced former-coach Patrick Kisnorbo since his shock exit from the club on the eve of the Christmas Derby in 2024 – departing seven league games into a three-year deal to take up am assistants role with J1 League side Yokohama F Marinos.

That role would become a head coaching one following the ouster of Steve Holland, but he himself would be axed after 55 days and two wins against eight defeats, making him available to take up the Sky Blues’ interim role following Ufuk Talay’s midseason resignation ahead of a move to the Wanderers.

Hamill, though, was of the view that the players wouldn’t take any added motivation from the reunion so much as caution, knowing what kind of teams the former title-winner at City was capable of producing.

“That was a while, quite a while ago. Now he was here once - that happens - you come across old coaches, old teammates, that happens in football,” Hamill said.

“I hope [media and fans] have fun with it. But for us, it’s kind of business as usual, and going about our business as we have done for the past 26 rounds.

“His teams in A-League history have been regularly at the top, championship-winning teams.

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“What we can take is that we know that he’s going to have a team that’s ready to fight with and without the ball.”

Victory’s fans, however, will likely have a less sanguine view of things. And Davidson, though also non-plussed about a Kisnorbo reunion given he wasn’t at the club last season, is hopeful that a packed-out AAMI Park proves a hostile 12th man on Saturday.

“I think our fans have shown that in the past; they’ve been unbelievable, especially on the big occasions,” he said. “I expect them to do the same thing this weekend. Our job is on the pitch, their job’s off the pitch, and hopefully, when you mirror that together, we can get a great result and go to the next round, keep going and be here at the end of May, hopefully with a trophy in hand.”

Able to claim a home final and a place in Asia next season with a win, City was instead left stunned on Sunday evening when Adelaide United’s Luka Jovanovic netted in the 79th and 98th minutes to steal a win for the Reds – a result that sent them down to six and condemned them to hit the road in the first week of the finals to face Auckland, who themselves fell to third with the result after drawing with Sydney FC earlier in the day.

Denied a penalty shout against Callan Elliot and then hit with a sucker-punch by Logan Rogerson just before halftime, the defending champions fell to a 3-0 defeat the last time they visited Aeoteroa back in February, with Jesse Randall and Guillermo May both netting in the second stanza to complete the result. That scoreline mirrored the margin of their first trip to the venue back in the 2024-25 season, when May, Nando Pijnaker, and Max Mata all fired in first-half goals for the eventual premiers.

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Aurelio Vidmar’s side did get their first win over their Kiwi rivals earlier this season when Max Caputo and Medin Memeti sparked a second-half fightback after Lachy Brook’s first-half strike, but their scoreless form across the Tasman nonetheless makes for grim reading for a side seeking back-to-back titles.

Kuen, though, feels that City are capable of bouncing back from their loss to the Reds and overturning their bitter history in the City of Sails.

“All over [against Adelaide], we didn’t perform like how we performed the previous weeks,” he said. “We were not happy with our performance at all, but overall, I think we still could have won this game with our bad performance. [We were] quite unlucky at the end of the game, how it ended. It’s important to look forward to what happens this weekend.

“[Auckland are] similar to the first season, [a] very compact team, very good structure against the ball, good players offensively, very good at counter-attacks, and very good at set pieces. Similar to last year, [they] didn’t change a lot. I think we know what we are facing on the weekend.

“It’s not an easy trip to go there. It’s a long travel and everything. They play well at their home ground. We need to bring our game as we did in the last game, the first half. I think we played really well in the first half. We were unlucky not to score the first goal, and also not to get a penalty there; then maybe the game would have gone a completely different way. But overall, I think we need to look at ourselves and to bring our A game this weekend.”

After crisscrossing Asia over the past season as they juggled Asian Champions League Elite and domestic commitments, however, Kuen was certain the prospect of needing to get their passports out ahead of a crunch elimination final shouldn’t be a factor.

“We’re used to long travel after this season; it’s nothing new for us,” he said. “We’re a good group together, and we have a lot of fun when we travel. That’s the most important part, that we have a good group. I’m looking forward to the travel and also to the game.”

Kuen has quietly become one of the league’s best creative players since landing Down Under, nabbing 16 goal involvements as well as creating the third-most chances in the Australian top-flight in 2025-26 after providing the eighth-most in a debut season hit by injury.

Initially landing in Australia on a two-year deal with an option for a third, the Austrian said that the triggers in his contract had yet to be hit. And while the veteran did take some initial time to adjust to life on the other side of the world away from friends and family, he wouldn’t close the door on extending his stay in Casey – even if his thoughts were centred on the task at hand.

“There’s nothing triggered yet,” Kuen said. “I’m not like saying no [to staying], but everything’s not in my hands; it’s also in the club’s hands. But I think it isn’t important to speak about the future now, because for me, what matters is what the next week brings.”

No matter what happens with his contract, though, he does plan to return home to Austria during the offseason, where he’ll eagerly watch his homeland compete in their first World Cup since 1998 when they run out against Jordan, defending world champions Argentina, and Algeria in Group J.

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City skipper Aziz Behich, who was named the club’s player of the season and the player’s player of the season at City’s end-of-season awards on Tuesday, is widely expected to be at that tournament in a playing capacity, representing the Socceroos. Goalkeeper Patrick Beach, likewise, is considered to be the frontrunner in a race for the third-choice role.

On loan attacker Marcus Younis, meanwhile, is doing all that he can to force his way into contention: scoring his seventh-goal since January in the loss to the Reds and, with Tony Popovic present in the stands, performing a ‘call-me’ sign in celebration.

“He’s a good character, a good boy,” Kuen said of Younis. “I like him on the pitch and off the pitch. He’s a good guy, very explosive on the pitch. Always goes one against one. I like these players who are direct in their playing style.

“He’s done really well since he came to us, helped us a lot with goals and assists. He performed really amazingly in ACLE and also in the A-League. I hope that he can go to the World Cup and wish him good luck for the future.”

Header Image: Melbourne City

Losing just once in their last ten matches, Victory’s 2-2 draw with Newcastle last week, combined with results elsewhere, not only saw the Jets seal a maiden A-League Men premiership but also locked themselves into finals football for the third straight season. Currently sitting sixth, they will enter the final day of the campaign as the only side in the playoff places without home final destiny in their hands, albeit a win over the bottom-placed Wanderers would force both Sydney and Adelaide to take three points in their games against Auckland and Melbourne City to deny them.

Victory’s one defeat across their past ten weeks, however, came a few weeks ago when they slumped to a 1-0 defeat against Wellington, part of a pattern of less-than-ideal performances they’ve dropped this season that also includes a home 1-0 loss to the Wanderers that snapped a four-game winning run, a 1-0 home loss to Central Coast at the start of February and a 1-0 defeat against Brisbane Roar back in round six that made it four defeats in their first six games.

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Win any of those fixtures, and they’re in the box seat for a home final. Win half of them, and they’d be looking at a week off in the first week of the finals and, should the Jets slip up against the Mariners this weekend, a chance to go top.

“That’s mentality,” Diles said of his side’s slip-ups. “That’s something that we’ve always had to keep growing with, and something that, at times, we haven’t dealt with as well as I would have liked.

“But in the end, [Saturday’s game against Western Sydney is] another game for us to grow as a team: mentally, physically and tactically. And that’s the most important thing; that we always turn up to make sure we play the best football that we can. That should correlate with a result at the end of it.

“And if we’ve fallen short with our football, there still should be ways that we can win games, because you don’t always have to be pretty and win. We’ve seen that happen against us a few times, and we need to know that whatever it takes to win a game, we’re ready for it. Whether that’s through beautiful football that we want to play and dominant football, whether that’s through grinding out a match and fighting with the opponent -- you’ve got to do whatever it takes.

“That’s something that, mentally, this group, we’ve got to keep working on. And we’re always addressing it.”

After missing the past two weeks – draws against second-placed Auckland and top-of-the-table Newcastle – with a fractured elbow, Spanish superstar Juan Mata is expected to be available for the trip to face his former side, albeit Diles said that if he plays a role, it will almost certainly come off the bench.

Both Jing Reec and Josh Inserra remain absent, but the coach said that he will otherwise have a full squad to choose from – enthused about building off the back of a run of recent form with just that Nix-shaped blemish on it.

“We’ve had a great couple of months,” he said. “We’ve been in some really good form. We’ve had some very good results, and we’ve built confidence, we’ve built momentum.

“I’m really proud of the young players that we’ve given exposure to this year. And they don’t get enough recognition. The pressure that they’re under at this club, to perform at their level, first and foremost, to win games, because that’s expected, and play in front of a big crowd that they’re exposed to every week -- that shows growth.

“And it’s a testament to them for carrying this team a lot. Because this year, in almost every game, we’ve got anywhere between six and 10, U23s is in our squad. No one talks about that, but we know about that.”

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One of those young players is 21-year-old goalkeeper Jack Warshawsky, who has served as the first-choice goalkeeper since that aforementioned 1-0 loss to the Wanderers back in round 12 and who has been experiencing some of the downs associated with keeping week-in-and-week-out in senior football across the past fortnight – awarded, per FotMob, -0.82 goals prevented against Newcastle and -1.17 prevented against Auckland and conceding from the only two shots on target he faced in the latter fixture.

This has led some vocal contingents of the Victory fanbase to call for the return of Jack Duncan between the sticks – the veteran initially moving out of the lineup due to concussion, only for Diles to stick with Warshawsky after he returned – but the Victory boss was quick to shut down any talk of a change between the posts on Thursday.

“For me, [Warshawsky] hasn’t put a foot wrong,” said Diles. “Yes, there are maybe a couple of goals that you can slightly do better with. But that happens. There’s no blame game there. You’ve also got to remember some saves that he has pulled off in the last couple of games. In the game against Auckland, where we have to deal with almost 28 set pieces between long throws, corners, and free kicks, he’s come out catching and punching and doing ever so well.

“Even last week, he made a couple of top saves that kept us in the game. In the end, maybe he can do better with a long-range shot, but it has a lot of dip on that in the last second. That’s part of the game. He kept us in the game for many periods of that. He’s doing really well.”

With 25 games on their season now gone, the Jets are just one week away from claiming their first-ever A-League Men premiership. All they will need to do in the last week of the campaign is defeat their bitter F3 Derby rivals Central Coast at McDonald Jones Stadium, and they will get the chance to claim the Premiers’ Plate.

Their moment could, in fact, come even sooner if the Mariners do them a favour and defeat Auckland FC on Sunday afternoon; Steve Corica’s side now sitting four points adrift of the Novocastrians heading into the weekend. But even if that’s the case — Milligan certainly didn’t want to countenance it post-game — the Jets will be able to lift that first piece of league silverware since 2007-08 for the first time at home.

“We complain about everything; about the scheduling, about what days we’re playing,” Milligan smiled post-game. “But in all honesty, it couldn’t have been written any better for these lads. We’re a very, very different team from what we were in round one, when we played Mariners at their ground [a 3-2 defeat delivered by a 98th-minute Nicholas Duarte goal].

“We’ve taken some fantastic learnings from tonight. And it wasn’t something that I did; it was something that I noticed – the group got together in the middle of the park after the game. And that tells me a lot. It reconfirms to me just how determined this group is.”

No doubt helping to fashion this sense of a crescendo is that it all could have been very different. Staring down the barrel of a 2-1 defeat, a result that would have seen control of their premiership hopes slip from their grasp and into the lap of Auckland, Victory defender Sebastian Esposito needlessly clattered into Lachie Bayliss in the 87th minute and brought the Kiwi international crashing down to the turf, instantly leading Alex King to point to the penalty spot. Up stepped Eli Adams, a former Victory representative, no less, who had scored a 19th-minute effort to put the Novocastrians ahead, to convert and celebrate in front of the North Terrace, his fingers in his ears.

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And as much relief as the Jets might have been feeling at that point, they also would perhaps be feeling unlucky not to be taking all three soon after. Just over five minutes on, with all the game’s momentum at their backs and Esposito falling over himself and coughing the ball up in his own half, second-half substitute Xavier Bertoncello was played clean through on goal by Ben Gibson with a chance to win it, only for the 20-year-old to send his attempt to chip keeper Jack Warshawsky into the crossbar.

“It shows who we are, the character of this team, and what this team represents,” said Milligan. “The fact that we never take our foot off the throttle. These players, they’re driving that. And we’re creating opportunities late in that game from our football.

“That last opportunity that we created, there was some fantastic lead-up play, and then the decision for Gibbo to roll in Xavier, that’s not just them doing as they’re told. That’s them representing who we are and what they are.

“That’s brave for me. Because once it goes to 2-2, I don’t think there are too many teams out there that would then go and try to win the game in extra time. And that wasn’t information coming from me, that was just the DNA of this team now.”

That’s not to say that the Jets had it all their own way on Friday. In fact, based on the volume of chances created, Victory will, fairly, feel bereft not just to take a point from a game that was begging for them to score a third and kill off. To not claim a win that now sees their slim hopes of a top-two finish slip through their fingers, as well as their push for a home elimination final suffer a blow, as a result.

Switching to a back-five for the contest, Josh Rawlins and Franco Lino flanking a trio of Esposito, Roderick Miranda, and Jason Davidson, Victory was able to reliably able to find pockets of space on either flank on which to deliver balls into the Jets’ area: Rawlins picked out by Jordi Valadon on the right and teeing up Nduka to equalise in the 31st minute and then, just three minutes later, Lino getting picked out in space on the left by Davidson and whipping a ball across for the Japanese striker to turn home.

“I didn’t expect it; I didn’t expect to come to AAMI Park and play against the back five,” Milligan said. “When the team sheet came out, we thought it was a possibility, just with the personnel that they had starting.

“That’s something that we try to prepare for, but these players need to get a feel for this and an understanding. It’s happened in the last three games. So we can talk about it all we want, and we can tell them about what we think they can do, or how they should go about it. But until they experience this and learn for themselves -- again, this is part of who we are as a team -- when they start feeling it and making decisions live, out there for themselves, that’s when we start to see real growth in this team.”

Nduka now has five goal involvements in eleven appearances and probably should have had a hat-trick in the 73rd minute when he was picked out from the flank once more, this time by substitute Matthew Grimaldi. This time, however, he was unable to drag his arriving attempt back and inside the near post.

And this was just one of a string of opportunities and looks at goal that Victory created throughout the contest. Jets skipper Kosta Grozos, for instance, was able to get back just in time and clear a Jordi Valadon effort off the line in the 63rd minute, five minutes after James Delianov produced one of the saves of the season to deny a header from Nishan Velupillay – who had a lot of joy finding pockets of space outside the Jets’ penalty area while playing as a ten – after he was picked out by Keegan Jelacic.

“In the end, you’ve got to hold on,” said coach Arthur Diles. “And when I say hold on, you got to see out the match, not hold on in terms of taking a backward step. But you need to do enough to see out a match and try and get another goal. And we didn’t. And in the end, we get bitten in the backside.”

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The point, regardless of the rather anticlimactic way it was sourced, does effectively seal Victory a place in the playoffs – now six points clear of seventh-placed Macarthur with a goal difference of +9, compared to the Bulls’ -9. It also ensures that Diles’ unit has faced off with the league’s top two over the past fortnight and come away without defeat – albeit having shipped equalisers after the 80th minute in both games.

“I think we deserved more out of these two games than we got,” said Diles. “But in the end, the performance is something I’ve got to focus on, and the performance was good [against the Jets] for a lot of that game. So that’s a pleasing sign. That’s something we want to do. We want to play well, as well, not just pick up points. But the points, in the end, should correlate with a good performance. And when you don’t get the three points, when you feel like you probably can, that’s disappointing, it’s hard to take, but we’ll go again.

“Qualifying for finals is actually not an achievement of this club. It’s an expectation. I’d like to sit here and say well done that we made finals, but that’s not enough. To back up against first and second in consecutive weeks and show that we’re just as good. That’s the part that’s pleasing, in a way, and disappointing, in a way, because they’re a little bit too far away from us [on the table]. And we’ve shown that we’re a quality team that should be up there, and we want to be up there.

“There have been moments where we’ve fallen short, and that stopped us from being there. But there’s one more game to go. We want to finish as high as we can. That’s all we can do; work hard this week, get ready for Western Sydney Wanderers. We know we’re a quality side. We know we can match it with the best. But we want to be the best and, at the moment, we’re just a little bit off that.”

Arresting a tailslide that threatened to condemn them to a finals absence for the first time since 2013–14 – when they were still called Melbourne Heart – City has taken 13 from a possible 15 points on offer across their past five games, setting themselves up as the form side in the competition and placing themselves sixth on the table heading into the season’s penultimate round.

Five points clear of seventh-placed Macarthur after the Bulls fell to defeat against Perth Glory last Sunday, it ensures that a win against either the Roar at Lang Park on Saturday evening or at home against Adelaide the following week will be enough to lock in a 12th straight appearance in the postseason.

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Points, however, aren’t handed out based on form. And although the Roar sit second-bottom on the table heading into the weekend – still at risk of falling to last should they lose their last two games and Western Sydney pick up two wins – Vidmar wouldn’t countenance overlooking the challenge the Queenslanders represent.

“For us, it’s about not being complacent; that was the key message this week,” said the coach. “We’ve had a really good run, three wins on the bounce, it’s been excellent. The group’s reasonably healthy and happy, and the mentality is good.

“But we face a very difficult team at Suncorp Stadium; it’s always difficult there. And although they’re positioned lower in the table, they’re one of those teams, like West Sydney, [where their] position on the table doesn’t reflect their performances.

“It’s going to be a fight. It’s going to be a scrap, and we still have work to do. We need one more win to cement ourselves in the six, and if you get two wins, it gives you a better chance of putting yourself higher up on the table. So I still think anything could happen.”

Indeed, while much of the recent focus surrounding City has been on their attempts to even get into the finals at all, their strong recent form has now put them in a position wherein the prospect of hosting an elimination final isn’t an absurd proposition.

Just two points separate the defending champions from third-placed Sydney FC heading into the campaign’s final fortnight and, while next week’s meeting with the Reds is the only time City themselves will get a chance to take points off the teams ahead of them, the Sky Blues and fifth-placed Melbourne Victory will need to face second-placed Auckland and first-placed Newcastle, respectively, before season’s end.

And with Victory, Adelaide, and City possessing the three best home records in the league, the potential benefits from avoiding a road trip in the first week of the finals are obvious.

“We’ve really set a target or goals... Do we want x amount of points from the next games?” Vidmar said. “For us, we’re trying to win every game. As soon as you start setting targets, you reach the target, and then you start setting a new one. We want to get into the six… but once you get in there, it’s like, you don’t pull the handbrake up and say, ‘Okay, well, now we’ve done that.’ I don’t want us to reset ourselves every time.

“Our messaging is always clear that we’re going to every game trying to win it. So that hasn’t changed, and it doesn’t matter which coach is here in the future; it’s going to be the same thing here. You’re going to go out into the pitch with your strongest possible team, trying to perform well and to win.”

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City will take a largely settled squad with them to face the Roar, with the only injury cloud hovering over them following their 2-0 win over Wellington on Sunday a potential hamstring issue for Daniel Arzani, who will be assessed on Friday morning before the final decision on his availability is made.

Ryan Teague, meanwhile, will miss another game with a knee complaint, a malady that required a cortisone injection earlier in the week but which is still giving the midfielder some issues.

After making his first appearance since last Halloween in the win over the Phoenix, converted midfielder Mat Leckie was described as pulling up well by Vidmar, with the intention for the Socceroo to continue to build his minutes against the Roar.

“We’re trying to get as many minutes as possible into Lecks,” the City coach said. “He’s been able to train well again this week, and he’ll come away with us.

“Depending on how the game’s going, we want him to play a lot of minutes, but we’re slowly building him up to what we can see as a starting position. I don’t know when that’s going to be, but if we can get him 20 plus minutes again this week, I think then we’re slowly progressing his game time, which is going to be important.”

Image: Melbourne City

Seeking to bounce back from an abject 1-0 loss to Wellington the previous weekend, Victory flew across the Tasman and took a point of second-placed Auckland last Saturday; returning to Australia rueful not to take all three points after twice conceding from set pieces in the 2-2 draw.

With two rounds remaining on the season, the result leaves the Victorians sitting fifth on the A-League Men table, just a point back of third-placed Sydney FC, who vaulted above them after a Sydney Derby win, but also just a point clear of sixth-placed Melbourne City and not yet safe from seventh-placed Macarthur, who are five points adrift.

A win against either the table-topping Newcastle Jets on Friday evening – Diles described facing the league’s top-two in back-to-back weeks so close to finals as an important acid test for his side last week – or bottom-placed Western Sydney the following week would be enough to secure them a finals spot. Two wins, meanwhile, would likely be enough to lock in a home elimination final.

I’ve said it before, it’s been a unique season this year; a lot of ups and downs for everybody,” said Diles. “In the end, it put us in this position that we’re in, where you’re one point off third, and you know you’re still not mathematically in the finals, either. So it’s something that you always have to be aware of.

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“But [you] just keep working, stick to your process, keep working hard and knowing that you don’t look too far behind, but you want to look ahead, and you want to look up the top and be as close to there as you can at the pointy end of the season.

“And that it’s now on us. Everything’s in our hands. We’re in control of our own situation, and that’s a good position to be.”

While he won’t feature against the Jets at AAMI Park on Friday, Victory do appear set to be bolstered for their trip to Western Sydney and any subsequent finals campaign by the return of Mata, who suffered a fractured elbow that required surgery in the defeat to Wellington.

“He’s been training,” Diles said. “He joined the team this week. So he’s back on a training paddock, which is fantastic.

“From that medical point of view, I’m not 100% certain as to what the plan is [for protecting the elbow during games], but he’s not training with anything. He’s just bandaged up, and there’s no brace. He’s recovered really, really well. He’s running, he’s joining in with the team at training. So he’s probably ahead of where we thought

“A [Western Sydney return is] what we’re hoping for, if anything changes in the next three or four days, that could shift. But at this point, we’ve pencilled that in as his match where he returns, and hopefully, we tick every box and get him there.”

Elsewhere in the Victory attack, Socceroo striker Nishan Velupillay grabbed his second goal since he was called back into the national team for the March international window against Auckland, adding to the assist that he grabbed when he was introduced as a second-half substitute against Curaçao.

After a multitude of injury issues spilled over from the pre-season and kept him out until late November, the attacker feels that he’s overcome both the physical and mental gremlins that came with this period and, ahead of two crucial weeks, is eager to do more.

“I think it’s pretty clear that if we win both our games, we’ll end up in the six and potentially higher,” Velupillay said. “We know what we have to do. And whilst we’re aware [of] below us, we’re not too concerned with anyone else. We’re trying to just focus on our own game.

“It’s one thing to physically get over an injury, but also mentally and emotionally get over it as well. So I think I’m past that now, which is good. I’ve recovered and am trying to contribute more to the team and help in any way possible. It’s always good to score and assist, but I’m looking to do it more often.”

Velupillay’s assist carried on what has become something of a habit for the 24-year-old in green and gold, wherein his call-ups for the national team are met with scepticism, only for him to pop up with some form of key contribution – his international record now standing at four goal involvements in six games.

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Thanks to his injury issues, March’s call-up marked the first time he’d been in camp since 12 months prior – when he scored against Indonesia and China – and beyond the chance to represent Australia, the environment fostered by Tony Popovic is something he feels has carried over to clubland.

“It’s always a privilege to be back there,” he said. “It was a bit wild between last year and this year. I was happy to be there. Two good results as well, which is always positive. Really privileged to be in that position.

“[Carry over is] probably a byproduct of being in that environment. I don’t try to focus on it too much, but being in that high-level environment, you’re always gonna benefit from that. It’s not something I focus on, but if it can give me any added boost, then I’m happy about that.”

Of course, beyond pursuing a playoff berth, Velupillay is also one of those players who would be considered as ‘on the bubble’ for a place in Popovic’s final squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

It’s the first time he’s experienced the cut and thrust, the nervousness and potential heartbreak, of the build-up to the world’s biggest sporting event, but, for now at least, he’s not feeling overwhelmed by the process.

“There’s a pressure there that you just have to accept,” Velupillay said. “It’s gonna be there. The higher you play, the more people expect of you. If that comes with the job, then I’m fine with that. This is why we play football, and I’m happy to be in this position. But [I’m] more excited for the challenge than worried about it.”

Playing their third game in the span of eight days, goals from Aziz Behich and Marcus Younis helped move City to a solid 2-0 win that all but ended Wellington Phoenix’s A-League Men playoff hopes at AAMI Park.

Coming just days after they dealt a near-fatal blow to Central Coast’s playoff aspirations and sent Western Sydney further tumbling towards a wooden spoon, Sunday’s result made it three straight wins for Vidmar’s side, contributing to four wins across a five-game unbeaten run in league play.

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The three points strengthening their hold on sixth-place – City will end the evening four points clear of seventh-placed Macarthur if the Bulls lose to Perth Glory in the later kickoff – Sunday’s win also made it three straight in which they scored multiple goals, representing a stark contrast to the inability to kill teams off that has haunted their campaign this season.

“We’ve had some challenges this year; the team was never as stable as it is now,” said Vidmar. “We’re always making one or two changes, but in the past, we’ve made many.

“With the [January] introduction of Teaguey [Ryan Teague], Delly [Harrison Delbridge], Daniel [Arzani], and Marcus [Younis], it takes a little bit of time to get that flow.

“Cohesion is everything, and to get cohesion, you need time on the park and time together. We’ve been having that over the last six or so weeks, in the last couple of months, definitely. So, it’s pleasing.”

With Teague expected to return to training this week and push to feature in some capacity for City’s trip to face Brisbane next Saturday, the defending champions are finding fitness, as well as form, as the season winds down.

The win over the Phoenix featured Socceroo goalkeeper Patrick Beach back between the sticks after missing the past two games through an injury picked up on international duty, while Mat Leckie returned to the pitch for the first time since Halloween after undergoing hip surgery in December.

Introduced as an 83rd minute substitute, the 35-year-old was deployed in a deep-lying midfield role upon his entrance – the same role he played at the start of the season and as best afield in last year’s grand final – and now has two more weeks of football, plus potential finals, to press his case for inclusion in Tony Popovic’s squad for the World Cup.

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“We’ve been discussing over the last couple of days what’s going to be the best thing for him,” said Vidmar. “It also depended on how the game was panning out. We always thought 15-20 minutes was probably going to be the right amount of time for him.

“We were mindful that we didn’t stretch it out too much for him. I haven’t spoken to him yet, but he looked fine when it was on the pitch.

“We certainly tested him when he was in a transition moment, where he had to sprint back 30-35 meters - if anything was going to happen, it was probably going to be that moment!

“I think he’s done a top-up [run] now on the pitch, so, touch wood, everything’s fine.”

And regardless of how Leckie’s efforts to force his way into World Cup contention go, Vidmar is absolutely welcoming of the boost he’ll provide his side’s finals chances.

“He can play anywhere,” said the City coach. “He can play as a nine. He can play as a winger. He can play anywhere in the midfield. Someone of his ability and his status; we’ll always fit him in somewhere. But he’s got to feel comfortable and happy within himself, so that he can continue to get more minutes.

“We’ve probably had, during the course of the season, holes at the six or holes in the eight or ten positions. So he’s probably going to be somewhere in the midfield.”

Header Image: Melbourne City

It was a scrappy goal, the veteran cutting inside onto his right foot and not hitting it with all that much venom and fortunate enough that the deflection it took off Isaac Hughes completely wrongfooted keeper Josh Oluwayemi. And as neat as the build-up for that goal was, an extended period of possession in the final third eventually provided with a catalyst it needed by Nate Atkinson moving into the box with the ball; it was a lack of spectacular flash that was reflective of City’s performance.

The ideas were still there, but the execution wasn’t as smooth or decisive as it needed to be – not helped by the Phoenix presenting a more organised, and physical, defensive front than Central Coast and Western Sydney had in City’s two previous wins. Buoyed by a first win at AAMI Park in nine years the week prior, the Phoenix had a spell in the early stages of the second half without creating too much in the way of clear-cut opportunities, only for their resistance to be snuffed when Andreas Kuen sliced a pass behind their lines for Younis to run onto and, as the defence began their ultimately fruitless appeals for offside, slotted beyond Oluwayemi.

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After starring against the Wanderers, meanwhile, Younis’ one-game suspension picked up in that clash seemed to have broken his momentum to that point, struggling to impose himself on the game in the same way he had the previous Saturday before looking to loosen up after the goal: having a spectacular bicycle kick cleared off the line in the 84th minute. Across from him, after arguably being best afield in the win over the Mariners, Daniel Arzani couldn’t find the same rhythm to his game on this afternoon and cut an increasingly frustrated figure, too.

But with Sunday’s clash representing the third game that Aurelio Vidmar’s side has played in the last eight days, perhaps this was to be suspected. And with those three fixtures producing nine points, it’s doubtful that there will be too much consternation at Casey Fields over this in the days to come. This was a solid performance, one in which they came in against an opponent riding a three-game winning run of their own and playing for their finals lives and held them without a shot.

City will also take the positives of another strong performance from fullback duo Behich, another World Cup coming into increasing focus for the veteran, and Nathaniel Atkinson. The pair were continued standouts even when the side was struggling to do much in the way of anything, carrying significant responsibility to help their side progress up the pitch, and will inevitably play more roles in whatever success their side can source in the weeks ahead. Behich’s three goals now represent the equal second-most he’s ever scored in a single league season, trailing only his 2017/18 campaign with Bursaspor in Turkey, when he scored five.

Kuen continues to quietly serve as one of the league’s more dangerous attacking outlets; his thinning hair, pained running style, and presence in a squad with much larger personalities perhaps obfuscating that his vision, nous, and passing touch are some of the finest in the competition. The Austrian almost added a third in the 87th minute when he snuck in behind and was played in on goal, only for his deft outside the boot effort beyond a charging Oluwayemi to roll teasingly wide.

Lastly, while they didn’t end up playing much role in the final result, Vidmar will also be boosted by the return of Socceroo goalkeeper Patrick Beach, who ultimately didn’t need to make a save, and Socceroo attacker Mat Leckie – who made his return from hip surgery and logged his first minutes since last Halloween when he was introduced as a 83rd-minute substitute.

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So while it wasn’t a classic 2-0 win, it was an important one for City. Their season looking like it was slipping away from them a month ago, but City are now unbeaten in four league games and looking well on their way towards securing a playoff place. After seeing off fellow playoff aspirants Central Coast and Wellington in back-to-back games, Macarthur now loom as the only likely threat to their place in the top six with two games to go.

They now sit on 35 points, four clear of the Bulls ahead of their trip to face Perth Glory later on Sunday evening, five clear of the Phoenix and six ahead of the Mariners. Wins in either of their next two fixtures – away to Brisbane next Saturday and then at home to Adelaide to conclude the season – will render it impossible for the latter two foes to catch them, as it will be for Macarthur if they fall to defeat against the Glory out West.

While Adelaide possesses the league’s longest unbeaten run – now standing at eight games after their draw with table-toppers Newcastle on Saturday evening – no side has won more of their last five games than the defending champions.

After a turbulent, nearly two-year battle with repeated hamstring and other soft tissue injuries, Leckie underwent surgery on his right hip in early December, seeking to restore full movement to the joint and help address the cause of his repeated stints on the sideline at what was thought to be their source.

Now, just over 120 days on, the 35-year-old has progressed to the point in his rehabilitation where he, assuming he gets through City’s final training sessions, will be able to make his long-awaited return to the park for the Phoenix’s visit to AAMI Park on Sunday – victory in which would go a long way into securing the defending champions spot in the top six.

He’d join several reinforcements City are expected to welcome back for the contest, with Socceroo Patrick Beach and veteran defender Samuel Souprayen both looming as likely selections, in-form Olyroo Marcus Younis set to return from suspension, and another Socceroo in Ryan Teague shaping as a 50/50 proposition.

Speaking on Friday, however, Vidmar said that, ultimately, it would be up to Leckie to listen to his body and make the call on whether he was ready to return.

“It’s going to be a late decision,” Vidmar said. “He’ll train again today, train again tomorrow, and then we’ll just see how he is. He’s got to feel confident within himself, within his body, that if he does come into the squad, he can participate at any stage.

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“In a way, we’ve got to leave it to him. He’s the only one who can feel how his body’s feeling. He looks fine on the training track, but at the end, it’s got to be Mat himself who says I’m ready to go.”

Leckie’s addition would come at a crucial time for City, who have gone four games unbeaten to vault back into the playoff places just in time for a visit from a Phoenix side coming off a 1-0 win over Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park – their first win at the venue in nine years.

Sitting on 32 points, a win against Wellington, combined with a Sydney FC defeat in the Sydney Derby, would see Vidmar’s outfit move into fifth on the table and, should Macarthur fail to defeat Perth Glory in Western Australia, more than a game clear of seventh.

Lose, however, and City would fall behind the Phoenix on the table and, should the Bulls triumph out West too, crash down into eighth.

“Obviously, it’s been a long time since he played his last game,” said Vidmar. “Generally, he’s one of those guys who doesn’t need a hell of a lot of training; he’s generally pretty fit anyway. Of course, match rhythm is completely different, but he just always finds a way, finds an extra leg when he needs it, and that’s how he’s been for his entire career. If we can get him back in at any stage, whether this weekend or next week, it’ll absolutely be an added bonus for us.

We’re playing better football now… we’re sort of hitting our straps, if you want to say that, especially over the last couple of weeks, and we’re in a good frame of mind.

“We’ve had slower starts in the last couple of weeks, but we’ve managed to hang in there and then, and then really got on top of teams.

“We’re in good shape, good physical shape. I know this is our fourth game in two weeks. So you know, are we going to be at our freshest? Who knows, but we’ve been through this before. We know how to recover. We know how to back up.

“It’s an important game, as they all are, but it’s against a team that over the last three weeks, with Chris [Greenacre] taking over [as interim], they’re really disciplined, they’re very aggressive. They’re super quick on the counterattack. They’ve taken some nice results over the last couple of weeks.”

City fans, however, won’t be the only ones closely watching if Leckie returns to the pitch.

Injuries have restricted Leckie to just two international appearances since the 2022 FIFA World Cup – where he scored the famous goal to beat Denmark and send Australia through to the knockout stages – with his last appearance in Green and Gold coming under Graham Arnold, in a 5-0 win over Palestine in November of 2024.

Called up by Tony Popovic for crucial World Cup qualifiers against Japan and Saudi Arabia last June, the 79-cap veteran sacrificed his place in the team – and his face – in dragging City over the line in last year’s Grand Final, withdrawing from the Socceroo squad soon after being named the Joe Marston medalist.

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If Leckie has enough runway to prove his form and fitness to play for the national team is up for debate – Vidmar admits that if he hasn’t returned by City’s trip to face Brisbane next week, a line can probably be drawn through him – and if there’s even room to force his way into Popovic’s attacking or midfield mix isn’t clear.

But Vidmar also observed that, even at his age, there are few players in Australia’s talent pool capable of reaching Leckie’s level when he’s at his best.

“At the end of the day, Popa is going to have to make a decision,” Vidmar, a former Socceroo as a player and former assistant and caretaker coach of the side, said. “Is a guy who’s out of rhythm going to be valuable? Someone of Leckie’s status and what he can do -- there’s definitely not one player in the league, when he’s on and when he’s fit, there is no player like him.

“But that’s a discussion and a decision for Popa to make. If he plays the next couple of games, he’s probably going to be considered, I would imagine. But whether he’s done enough to cement a place in a World Cup squad, again, I can’t make that decision for Popa.

“Popa’s going to have to make that decision, with his staff, about what’s in the best interest of the team. If he doesn’t come up in the next week or so, then he’s probably got no chance.

“But we’re hoping, and we’re pretty confident that if not this weekend, next weekend, he’s got to show himself.”

Header Image: Melbourne City

Five points, rather than two, now separate Victory from second-placed Auckland with three games remaining on the campaign, while the eight-point gap between themselves and the Jets means that Milligan’s side can ensure they won’t finish below the Victorians with just one more win. Rather than end the weekend in third, the defeat means that the Victorians have slipped below Adelaide United and into fourth, with just a single point separating them from Sydney FC. Heck, given the evidence put forth against the Kiwis, and given they still need to play the top two before the season is out, perhaps Victory needs to be looking over their shoulder at the Phoenix, who, after making it three wins on the bounce for the first time since January 2023, will end the weekend in seventh.

The end of daylight saving time overnight had given those transitioning from AEDT to AEST an extra hour of sleep heading into Sunday afternoon’s contest, but Victory appeared to be still sleepwalking; lethargically chasing at the shadows of a more purposeful, more energetic Phoenix outfit. Serenaded by boos from the North end at halftime, Victory should have greeted the whistle, they deserved to greet the whistle, in at least a one-goal deficit: the hustling and bustling Corban Piper hitting the woodwork and flashing a volley just wide of the post, while Ifeanyi Eze had an eighth-minute attempt cleared off the line by Sebastian Esposito.

“Not good enough,” Diles said post-game. “Didn’t see that one coming. Definitely not the result we wanted, but definitely not the performance we expected and we worked towards. So that’s something we have to address during the week.

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“There was no indication leading into this match that we’d start like that, or play the match like that. Definitely in the first half, we didn’t start well, and we were stretched at times, defensively. We weren’t good enough with the ball. We had cheap turnovers. It just wasn’t us. It was very hard to find our flow and our rhythm in that first half, and we didn’t. It was probably our worst half of football the year. That’s the most disappointing part, and the fact that we do that at home in such a big match is the part that’s really disappointing.”

That Esposito was even on the park to the clearance to deny Eze, given his subsequent removal with concussion symptoms around 15 minutes later, raises concerns on its own. The young defender had crashed to the turf, hitting his head in the process, moments before that goalline clearance and had appeared shaky ever since. Coming just days after Guillermo May was allowed to stay on the park for Auckland despite appearing to be knocked senseless against Adelaide, just how the A-League is handling concussions – IFAB’s new concussion substitutes were introduced this season, but they’re no good to anyone until they’re actually utilised – has become a sudden and unwelcome storyline heading into its last weeks.

“I haven’t looked into that yet. I’ll address that now, when I go back in. The medical staff did the job that they needed to do. And in the end, that was the decision. At the time, obviously, they thought he wasn’t [unable to continue], and he wasn’t making it known that he was. He would have ticked every box that needed to be ticked from a medical point of view. And in the end, as it went on, he started to feel a little bit worse for wear, and we reassessed him.”

Of the game itself, Victory could hardly string multiple passes together across the opening half, their longest stints in possession mostly delivered by Roderick Miranda standing on the ball. Keegan Jelacic’s 15th-minute attempt dragged wide of the post from atop the box serving as their only noteworthy attempt, Juan Mata was mostly kept quiet and emerged from the second half with his left arm heavily bandaged, while Nikos Vergos, having been largely anonymous, was hooked and replaced with Charles Nduka.

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Even though it ended without a shot, the stanza’s best chance arrived in the 31st minute, when Ramy Najjarine took the ball off Mata and kick-started a rapid move in transition that ultimately saw Eze whip a lethal-looking delivery across the face of goal looking for Piper, only for the ball to prove just beyond the reach of his desperate dive. Capitalising on their host’s turgidness in possession had proven a promising pathway to goal for the Kiwis, with Eze’s eighth-minute attempt kick-started by Piper forcing a turnover and a resulting overload in transition on the left side.

“I was delighted with the way that we played,” Phoenix interim boss Chris Greenacre said. “You have to be brave to come here and play; it’s an intimidating place. The fans are football crazy, and it’s really important that you’re really brave. I thought in the first half, we really put our foot on the ball, and we dominated possession and wanted to play how we wanted to play. That doesn’t happen very often here. So I was delighted with the way we started the game. Melbourne came into it in the second half a little bit more, but I was delighted we created some of the bigger moments within the game. Delighted with the three points, it hasn’t been a happy stomping ground for us.”

A wayward 64th-minute pass from Josh Rawlins induced Jordi Valadon to slide in and bring down Alex Rufer in a dangerous position outside the penalty area, with Paolo Retre bending an effort wide off the subsequent second-phase. Bill Tuiloma somehow worked himself into an open position atop the six-yard box to meet an 83rd-minute corner, only to drag it just wide of the post. Indeed, if the Nix had arrived with anything close to their shooting boots on Sunday, Victory would have been dispatched with relative ease well before Kartum’s winner.

But then, finally, in the last minute of regulation, the Phoenix broke through. They’d hardly been banging down the door for the preceding 44 minutes, Victory able to more reliably get the ball forward, only to run into a brick wall once they tried to navigate their foe’s penalty area. Still, when Eze found an open Kartum to provide the breakthrough, it felt like a deserved winner had been sourced.

Boos once again greeted the whistle at full-time, as Victory’s hopes of coming from the clouds in the premiership race disappeared alongside it and a visit to Auckland, without Esposito and potentially without Mata, who suffered a suspected hyperextended elbow in the first half, on tap. The Phoenix’s finals hopes, though, continued to rise from… well… the ashes.

“We’ve said from the word go that while it’s mathematically possible, we’re going to give everything we can to try and get into that top six,” said Greenacre. “I said to the players before the game, with some of the results that have gone around on Easter weekend, that no one’s going to do us any favours. It’s down to us to dig in and really put on a show. And I think we did that today.

“It’s a positive step [towards his hopes of shedding the interim tag]. I’m probably in the driving seat, I suppose, right now. But it’s about seeing progress on a daily basis, and I’m seeing that on a daily basis with all the players, all the group, even the players that haven’t been involved have been great in keeping the starting players honest. That shows the calibre of the people that we’ve recruited prior to me getting here.

“Am I the person to sit in this chair for the full time? I hope so. But I’ve been in football a long time, and until that happens, I’ve just got to focus on the day job, which I’m trying to do each day. I’m literally going day by day, and that seems to be working at the moment, so I’ll continue to do that.”

Here we had a Western Sydney native, one who joined their youth ranks at age 12 and with whom he made his professional debut at 17, whose father, Ray, was quite literally on the touchline serving as the club’s strength and conditioning coach. This is a lad that should bleed Western Sydney, who should never come close to another club while he’s in the A-League Men. But as he scored and registered two assists on this evening he didn’t do so in red and black but, instead, sky blue: spurring Melbourne City to a 3-0 win that keeps their finals push on track but adds further pain to his former side.

Younis only played 201 A-League Men minutes for the Wanderers before heading overseas, itself a tale of suspect utilisation, but he could have come back to Wanderland in January. After making a permanent move to Brøndby over the offseason, a lack of minutes in Hovedstaden had spurred him to explore a return Down Under and the Wanderers, undoubtedly, would have loved to have him. Instead, though, he signed for City, the same club that he’d made his debut against back in 2023, but whom, especially with the benefit of hindsight, provided him with a better platform.

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He’s now got nine goal involvements across all competitions since returning, with his play of a sufficient quality that, if it’s maintained, you wouldn’t be surprised to see him pushing for involvement in the Socceroos setup by the time next year’s Asian Cup rolls around.

“It was a good performance for Marcus,” City coach Aurelio Vidmar said. “He’s been really good for us since he’s been here. He’s powerful, he’s strong. He can take people on. He’s got a great cross. He’s got a very good shot on him. We’re pleased with the way he’s performing.”

With seven points from their last three games, he’s helped lift City to sit just two points adrift of the top six, and they’ll be able to leapfrog Macarthur for a spot in the playoff places if they win their game-in-hand against Central Coast on Tuesday evening. Saturday was a must-win for them in the finals race and, thanks to their lad from Western Sydney, as well as goals from Andreas Kuen and Albasan Rashani, they got it.

“I didn’t draw up all the first 15 minutes with all the transition moments that were killing us,” said Vidmar. “[But I’m] very pleased, at the end. A nice win. 3-0. Kept a clean sheet. It should give us a lot of confidence. It was always going to be a tough game. They’re very quick in the transition moments. We didn’t really handle that well in the first 15 minutes; they probably should have scored a goal, to be honest.

“Once we scored, we settled and then for the first time in a long time, we got the all-important second goal. Because that’s what’s been hurting us a little bit, not being able to get that second goal to really calm us down. We did that, and then early in the second half, we got the third and put it to bed.”

The Wanderers, conversely, sit twelfth on the table, the same number of losses they’ve now racked up this season, and are three points back of next-worst Perth Glory. They have just three games remaining to salvage something, anything, that they can use to build on next campaign as they welcome yet another new coach, the latest in a string of would-be saviours following the departure of Tony Popovic, in the form of Ufuk Talay.

The first of those games will come against Sydney FC in the latest iteration of the Sydney Derby but, with what was once was one of the league’s proudest fanbases recedes in the face of mediocrity becoming outright ineptitude – the Wanderers women’s team earlier on Saturday secured another wooden spoon – one wonders if the crowd in Parramatta next week could push for the lowest non-COVID turnout in the rivalry’s history.

“It’s well known that we need to have an overhaul,” said van Egmond, who presented a far less apoplectic figure than he was after their loss to Adelaide. “You’re in a position that you’re, you’re last on the table, you need to have a strong Western Sydney Wanderers, in regards to the landscape of Australian football. We’re in a really rich vein of football territory, as far as Sydney is concerned. So the amount of juniors that are playing there, the juniors that we want to be able to develop and bring through into the first grade squad, they’re things that are definitely on the list, and are paramount for the club.”

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Maybe this whole narrative, or at least Saturday’s, isn’t quite as morose if van Egmond can call upon Ryan Fraser, Kosta Barbarouses, Hiroshi Ibusuki, Brandon Borrello, and Jacob Farrell for the trip to Melbourne – all of whom he said post-game were late outs with injuries. All are chances to be back for the Derby bar the on-loan Farrell, who may be done for the season with a groin injury. The narrative is almost certainly different if Jai Rose, Angus Thurgate, or Dylan Scicluna convert their early looks on the goal of James Nieuwenhuizen, who was making his A-League Men debut after Patrick Beach tweaked his quad with the Socceroos. But alas.

They were the highlights of what was a good little early patch for the Wanderers and, given the turmoil that had gripped City in the week following reports of a dressing-down delivered to Daniel Arzani by senior members of the squad, could have kick-started a spiral for the hosts had they struck true.

“That’s the title of the tape, isn’t it?” said van Egmond. “ When you look at the beginning of the game, we started quite sprightly. We’ve had two or three really good chances, and then it goes down the other end, and we probably don’t defend it as well as we should. Both boxes were areas in which we were definitely less than what they were.”

Instead, Vidmar’s side was let off the hook. Then they started to grow into the game, with Arzani, who started, fluffing two good chances of his own to put City ahead. Then Kuen then pirroureted beautifully atop the penalty area after being found by Younis and drove an effort into the bottom corner of the net to put the defending champions ahead.

Two wicked deflections, the first to send an Arzani ball intended for Nathaniel Atkinson into his path and the second coming off Anthony Pantazopolos to completely wrongfoot Lawrence Thomas from his resulting shot, then allowed Younis to make it 2-0. His second assist was then delivered when he drove a cross to a waiting Rashani just after halftime, and, to cap off an eventful evening, he received his marching orders in the 67th minute after picking up a second yellow card.

He’ll now miss City’s must-win game against Central Coast on Tuesday, a game after which the loser will likely have a line drawn through their finals aspirations. Ryan Teague, who limped off at halftime, will also be under a cloud heading into the game, while Beach will miss once again.

After securing a move from Melbourne Victory to Hungarian side Ferencvárosi during the offseason, Arzani, 27, returned to the A-League and City during the January transfer window, seeking to boost his hopes of a Socceroo recall with regular football while helping to boost the champions’ stuttering campaign.

The attacker has since made six starts across nine appearances in league and continental play, scoring a goal and providing an assist in his last two games. A Socceroo recall, however, wasn’t forthcoming for the March window, and City has won just one game he’s started since returning.

Compounding matters, a report from Newscorp this week stated that Arzani’s attitude was causing issues in the dressing room and had been questioned by senior members of the squad – adding an unwelcome dimension to the side’s preparations for a crucial clash with Western Sydney on Saturday that could define their finals hopes.

“That’s a lot of crap,” Vidmar said when asked if Arzani had suffered a falling out with senior players. “That’s just to squash it.

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“When we spoke about that yesterday, we spoke again this morning. Look, there’s always rumour and innuendo. It’s totally false. And I think it’s poor form, if you’re not going to come out and disclose where you heard that information, then the rest of it’s crap.

“I’ve been here two and a half years, and we’ve had different issues through my two and a half years, and not once has something like this ever come up. We’ve had stoushes on the pitch, we’ve had lots of different things happen, but when the team’s not going well, something like that always sparks up. But it’s totally false.

“The players are not happy with it. But we can’t do anything about that. Our focus is just to concentrate and do whatever we need to do to get three points tomorrow. The story’s false, and you know things like that do hurt the playing group, because we’ve only got 10 or 12 senior players here. The rest are under 23 players, so they’re pretty young.

“So that’s a stain on the senior players here at the club. And it’s totally false.”

Currently sitting ninth on the table, City’s league-best run of 11-straight finals appearances is in serious peril heading into the final weeks of the campaign.

Though possessing a game in hand, Vidmar’s side sits five points back of sixth-placed Macarthur heading into the weekend, with just five games remaining to drag themselves into the playoffs.

While they only leave Melbourne once more during their run home – to face Brisbane in the penultimate week of the season — and play one side inside the top six – Adelaide United in the campaign’s final week – they’ll also face a short turnaround following the Wanderers visit on Saturday, with fellow finals aspirants Central Coast set to visit on Tuesday.

Nonetheless, Vidmar said his group’s morale was “excellent” heading into the home stretch.

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“Especially when we go into the park, when our mentality is at a high level, then we’re very hard to play against,” said Vidmar. “Our focus has to be, always, that our mentality, spirit and will are at a very high level.

“Early this morning, we had a meeting, and when they walked into the theatre, they were chirping like birds. So the atmosphere around the group is very positive. That hasn’t been an issue for us. And as long as I’m here, that will never be an issue.

“Because there’s so much to play for and we’re playing a game, and we’re in a profession that very few have the ability to do. And they don’t take it lightly, that it’s a serious job. They get on well with each other. We’ve got such a strong leadership group here.

“I’m really proud to be able to coach this group. I know we’ve had some difficulties this year, but that’s all part of what professional sport is about. Our job is to make sure that we’re all aligned, and we certainly are aligned, and that we go out tomorrow and we show why we are who we are.”

City will have a mostly full contingent to choose from against the Wanderers, with Andreas Kuen bolstering their attacking ranks as he returns from suspension.

Alessandro Lopane and Takeshi Kanamori are unlikely to return from their injuries before the end of the season, but the hope at Casey Fields is that Mat Leckie, who underwent surgery on his hip in December, will be able to return before the end of the season – a boon for both Vidmar and, potentially, Socceroo coach Tony Popovic.

The veteran attacker has trained on a modified program with the main group in recent weeks, and while Vidmar was certain he wouldn’t feature against either the Wanderers or the Mariners, he left the door open for a possible, albeit unlikely, return against Wellington the following Sunday.

Stirred to life by a series of halftime adjustments and second-half substitutions, Jordy Bos’ 85th-minute goal helped the Socceroos snap a three-game losing run against the Indomitable Lions at Stadium Australia last Friday, as well as scoring their first goal since he netted in an eventual 2-1 loss to the United States last October.

Nonetheless, while the collective performance across the 90 minutes indicated that the side remains a work-in-progress heading into the World Cup in June, a strong defensive performance – Maty Ryan was hardly troubled in the Australia goal – and individual performances from the likes of Jacob Italiano, Riley McGree, Ajdin Hrustić, and Awer Mabil all provided building blocks.

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And with debutant Lucas Herrington also putting his best foot forward, 21-year-old Paul Okon-Engstler involved in the goal, and phenom Nestory Irankunda helping to provide the spark, competition for places that may have felt settled as recently as six months ago is raging. Just how the coach wants it.

“It’s a World Cup, and anyone who’s here now feels they’re so close,” said Popovic. “They’re in the final camp before we go to the World Cup to prepare. So you have to believe, as a player, you’re in the mix. Then they have to obviously try and perform to their maximum and really show that they deserve to be on that plane.

“But it’s not a message that we really have to reiterate. I think the message is clear by how we choose the players: every camp, there are new players. Every window, a new player is playing, or there’s a new debut.

“So the players can see for themselves that anything’s possible. And that should give them a lot of confidence and belief that they could be one of those players who go.”

Reflecting in the immediate aftermath of the win over Cameroon, Popovic said that he felt his side settled into the game as it wore on, shedding nerves, finding their spacing, and being more patient with their build-up play in the final third.

Principles of possession have been one of the major focuses of the Socceroos during this international window, with Popovic explaining that, amongst other things, the side has been working on “decision making, playing the moments better, reading the game better, and knowing what the next play should be.”

Limited time together means more progress will come on that front when they have an extended camp in Florida ahead of the World Cup (the March window being played in Australia, rather than Europe or North America, effectively adds an extra day of travel for players), but the coach does want to see progress on Tuesday.

“It’s to continue where we finished in the second half against Cameroon,” said Popovic. “We played well in the second half. I thought overall, the whole game, we defended very well, but with the ball, we looked dangerous, and we showed a lot of patience [in the second half].

“Especially with a goal. We started deep in our half, and over ten passes later, we scored a really nice goal. Can we build on that? I think that’s the important part. And I think it’s also exciting to play a different opponent, a different style, a real football team, they want to play. So they’ll give us different challenges. And, you know, I want to see how we can overcome that.

“It’s all a success for me. In all the games, I’ve learned something positive from each match. We learned a lot on Friday, with the new players coming in, and seeing how the team grew in the second half was really positive.

“Hopefully, we can continue on from where we finished. Obviously, it’s a different opponent, so it’ll be a different type of game, but you know, if we can continue on from that performance on Friday, it’d be a nice way to finish before we go to the States.”

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After not featuring in the win over the Indomitable Lions, Ante Šuto and Nishan Velupillay will be hoping to be given their chance to lead the line against Curaçao, while midfielder Alex Robertson will also look to press his claim for minutes.

As the only two players to play the full 90 minutes against Cameroon, meanwhile, Bos and Herrington will likely have their loads managed by Popovic — they both have games on the weekend — with Aziz Behich likely to feature on the left in some capacity.

Australia, for their part, represents the antepenultimate opponent that Curaçao will face ahead of the World Cup, with games against Scotland and Aruba to come before they commence their first-ever World Cup campaign.

The tiny Caribbean nation, with a population of approximately 180k, will open its tournament against Germany in Houston on June 14, before then facing Ecuador on June 20, and Côte d’Ivoire on June 25.

And while the task ahead of them is a huge one, one only compounded by the sudden resignation of the coach that guided them to the World Cup, Dick Advocaat, due to family reasons, his replacement, Fred Rutten, knows the magic that permeates the Copa Mundial means anything can happen.

“There’s always an ability to do that [shock the world],” he said on Monday. “We have three chances, the first chance is against Germany, the second game and then the third game. So for us, it’s not over in the first game. And generally, if it’s the World Cup or a European Championship, there are always surprises. Why not this year for us?

“As a small island, when you come to a World Cup, you have to be proud. And the pride is still there, but also the happiness. And I try to use the happiness and the pride to do something that nobody expects; that’s my challenge.”

Header Image: Football Australia

Karačić, 29, landed in Australia after picking up a foot complaint in NK Osijek’s 0-0 draw with Slaven Belupo, and while the defender had indicated a desire to play through the pain, the decision was made by staff for him to return to Slavonia to begin his recovery, with his spot in the squad filled by DC United defender Kye Rowles.

But with Rowles serving as a left-sided centre-back or stop-gap left-back option, Karačić’s withdrawal – the third window in a row in which he has been named in a squad only to be forced out due to injury – leaves Italiano as the lone natural right-back in the side – the likes of Jason Geria and Miloš Degenek able to fill in but playing out-of-position to do so.

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“[Karačić] finished the match over there, though on testing this morning, he’s not quite right to play for us. So we’re sending him home, and Kye Rowles will replace him,” said Popovic.

“It’s always disappointing for the player: the World Cup is so close. It was an opportunity for him to show himself. Obviously, he wanted to be a part of it and wanted to push through the pain. But he was restricted, and we’ve got to look after the player.”

Previously having impressed in starts against Canada and the United States after replacing an injured Karačić in the squad, it means the Italiano, himself only recently returned from a calf injury with Grazer AK, is almost certain to start one of the coming FIFA series fixtures in Sydney or Melbourne.

And with Lewis Miller, widely considered a nailed-on starter at right-wing-back after starting every game in qualifying for Popovic, already ruled out of the World Cup due to an Achilles tear, it means that Italiano, should he impress in the coming days, will likely go a long way to securing one of the 26 players on the plane to North America.

It’s the type of lightning-in-a-bottle rise that Popovic has been attempting to encourage amongst the Socceroos’ player pool as the World Cup approaches, emphasising not just being ready to step up when an unexpected opportunity presents itself but, as Italiano did in Montreal and Denver, seizing it with both hands – both in games and during camp – when it comes.

“[Italiano] also got an opportunity [in October], maybe one that he didn’t expect,” said Popovic. “That’s the beauty of giving players an opportunity with the Socceroos and putting them under pressure -- which is not easy for the player. He came through and did a good job for us in the two games against Canada and the United States. Then he got injured again after having just finally recovered, and he’s had a couple of solid games -- scored a hat-trick -- so he’s full of confidence.

“I’d love to find another Jacob Italiano, whether it’s in that position or another position, someone that can come through and surprise everyone and then continue on with some really good form at their club leading into the World Cup.”

Of course, to describe Italiano’s rise as sudden is perhaps not entirely accurate. Perhaps it’s more accurate to, aping Ernest Hemingway, say that it started slowly at first, then all at once.

After breaking into the A-League Men as a teenager with Perth Glory, the defender made the move to Bundesliga outfit Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2019 but never made an appearance with Die Fohlen’s senior side, instead spending years playing with their youth side in the Regionalliga West.

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Though constantly highly-rated by the national team setup and, thus, a constant presence in junior national teams during this period, his ongoing lack of senior football increasingly loomed over him and, like many an Australian before him, speculation mounted that he’d need to return to Australia to kickstart his career.

The former Inglewood United junior, however, had other ideas and, after spurring interest from A-League Men sides after departing Mönchengladbach, he landed in the Austrian Bundesliga with Die Roten, where, injuries aside, he’s been able to establish himself as a senior professional.

“It’s one of those things where I always told myself I would try to stay in Europe and take every opportunity I could for as long as I could,” said Italiano. “It is really difficult. It is quite easy for them to kind of push it to the side, even at [Grazer], in the first season, if like, I’d be playing three or four games really well, and then maybe we’d change the coach, and then I’d be back in the stands watching. [You need] that mental toughness to keep sticking it out. I had an opportunity to go back to the A-League at the end of my [time] in Germany, and I decided against it, and I think it was the right decision.

“I wasn’t really thinking too much about... being forgotten. I knew that I was playing at a good level. I knew that I was on the right track. It was just about being patient. I had a lot of good people around me as well, who were just telling me to just keep doing my thing. I had a few chats with Arnie, so I knew I was in the picture.

“And then, obviously, the boss came in, and I’d worked with him previously at Glory, so I knew my name would be in and around it, and I just had to perform consistently. And my call-up was actually a last-minute call-up. So someone pulled out, and I walked into the change room after our game on the weekend, and there was a message saying you’re free for a call.”

Fresh off a Juan Mata-inspired, thumping Melbourne Derby win the week prior, Victory fashioned 19 shots across the course of the 90 minutes; the majority of their best derived from a period of early control that was highlighted by Keegan Jelacic’s 26th minute opener or a late charge in which they game became stretch and more opportunities in transition were afforded. The Reds, in contrast, and somewhat reflective of their field positioning, did their best work in the middle-portion of the contest, equalising through Yaya Dukuly in the 35th minute and setting up Luka Jovanovic with a series of chances that, on another evening, give his side a one- or even two-goal lead.

“We had a big chance to win the game in the second half,” Adelaide coach Airton Andrioli said. “If Luka scores that goal, then it puts us in a good position.

“But overall, I guess Victory [has] good momentum as well and we take the point. When we look at a performance like today, I think we’re maturing ... if we go back a little bit earlier, maybe we lose a game like this today.”

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The chance Andrioli was referring to arrived in the 61st minute, when a perfectly-placed trivela from Ryan White left defender Roderick Miranda sprawling and allowed Jovanovic to take a touch around the slide of onrushing goalkeeper Jack Warshawsky and advance in on goal. The Young Socceroo effectively had half the net to aim at as he looked up but, with Jason Davidson desperately getting back, perhaps thought too much about it and sent his effort crashing off the post rather than tucking it inside the bottom corner.

The 20-year-old had another, less optimal chance, in the final moments in the opening stanza when Jonny Yull swung a wickedly bending free kick in from the right that found it’s way to him atop the six-yard-box. His first, poked effort forced a wicked reaction save – or luckily-placed block, if you’re being less charitable – from Warshawsky, with the rebound subsequently coming upon him in a flash and ricocheting off his knee and out for a goal kick.

“If we keep on doing the job like this, I think we’re just going to continue to move forward,” said Andrioli.

Jovanovic’s miss did deny White what would have been one of the best assists of the season, something which would have been a fine reward for a performance in which the lanky midfield was entrusted with pulling the strings in the Reds’ midfield and responded in kind.

The lanky 20-year-old, in the midst of his first season as a regular part of Adelaide lineups, has now started eleven straight games for Andrioli and the Brazilian was bullish about the youngster’s development and what he could be in the future.

“If I could [give] an example of a player that’s consistently growing and getting better and showing different things every time [it’s him],” said the coach. “Because we know what Ryan’s known for is a very good, versatile play. He can be a box-to-box midfielder: he works really hard, he’s extremely fit and can run the whole day. But now we start to see the other side of his game, the composure.

“Playing that pass [for Jovanovic], on the bench, he even deceived me, I thought ‘Wow, what a ball.’ It’s great to see. It’s just another example of these kids need to have time to mature, to learn, doing the job on the pitch in games like this. He is consistently growing and he’s a very important player for us.”

But Victory had their chances, too. Mata’s ninth assist of the season to set up Jelacic’s fifth goal of the campaign – the winger putting defender Panagiotis Kikianis to the turf as he advanced into the area before firing home – was taken amidst opportunities to the likes of Jordi Valadon, Denis Genreau, Charles Nduka and Jelacic again – his 31st minute attempt from an angle probably the sort that should be getting scored.

Brought on as part of a series of changes that saw Victory end the game with an entirely different frontline than the one it started with, Nikos Vergos forced a save out of Josh Smits in the 71st minute. Matt Grimaldi then attempted to control the rebound, only for his attempts to turn to get in the way of Nishan Velupillay’s path to the ball and scupper the attack.

Vergos and Grimaldi would create further chances, the latter having an attempt bounce off Kikianis’ arse – or his Kikiarse, if you will – as would Reno Piscopo in the 91st minute, only for, in something of the tale of Victory’s season, the final shot or the final pass to prove just too blunt.

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Nonetheless, the result did mean that Victory are now unbeaten in four and could vault their bitter Sky Blue rivals Sydney FC next week should Ufuk Talay’s side fail to beat Wellington on Sunday.

“If you look at the chances in the match, I think we probably deserve more out of that. We’ve missed maybe two or three really good chance in that second half. Yeah, we take the point, absolutely. But I think we were good to get all three tonight. But it wasn’t to be.

“It’s something that we’re we’re constantly talking about: keep building, keep picking up points. We’re getting closer and closer and closer to the end there. And the most important thing is we stay as close as we can to the top of the table. That’s what we look forward to every week, we look up there and we say, ‘okay, we’re still in this we want to keep going.’ And in the end, tonight’s going to be a vital point. We can be upset that maybe we don’t win the match, but I think it’s going to be a really, really important point for us moving forward.

Aside from Genreau, who limped off ‘feeling’ something in his quad – a malady which has to put him in doubt for his side’s Big Blue meeting in eight days – Diles said his four other attacking subs were more down to game- and body-management rather than any acute stimuli.

“”Juan was sore as well,” Diles said. “He’s carried a knock all week from last week so it was important again that we managed him and did the right thing like we always do about all our players. Their health and wellbeing always comes first.

“And in the end, we’ve got enough players on that pitch with quality at the end of the match to keep going and get a result.

“We’ll see [with Genreau] tomorrow - he’s just felt something in his quad. “So we’ll get him checked out - didn’t want to keep him on longer because you don’t want to put him at further risk.

“It’s always interesting to see how they’d back up off a short turnaround. We had a big match last week which takes a lot out of you and you’re up for another derby which you’ve gotta be physically and mentally ready for.

“It was important that we’d see how the players would react and respond physicaly and there was some tired bodies out there and a couple of the subs were probably forced with minor little injuries and one or two to avoid injury.”

Continuing on a historic campaign for the side, City secured progression to the last 16 of Asia’s showpiece tournament for the first time – and became the first Australian side to do so since Melbourne Victory in 2020 – when they defeated Ulsan HD last week: a 93rd-minute winner from on-loan attacker Marcus Younis securing the historic accomplishment.

Lifting them up to fourth in the Eastern region with just one game remaining in the group/league slate, it means that the reigning A-League Men champions can finish no lower than fifth regardless of results across the region and could, if results fall their way, finish as high as second.

Complicating things for Vidmar, however, is that just three sleeps after the clash with Gangwon, his side will be back at AAMI Park to take on Victory in a derby clash that could have major ramifications for both of their seasons: City set to be outside the league’s top six entering that game, two points behind their crosstown foes. Their journey home to Melbourne has already presented something of an odyssey in and of itself, too: the side taking a one-hour bus ride from Ulsan to Busan, catching a flight to Seoul to Sydney before then making one final jump to Melbourne on Friday.

Gangwon have faced similar, too, travelling Down Under a few days earlier than they normally would and training in the heat at the Home of the Matildas as they sought to acclimatise — coach Chung Kyung-ho noting that the leafy and serene setting of Melbourne, while enjoyable, will stand in contrast to the pressing and intensity they’ll look to bring in a game they’ll need to win to secure progression over rivals Ulsan and John Aloisi-coached Chengdu Roncheng.

But while no players have been added to the injury list since the trip to Ulsan, their progression being assured means there are plenty of loads needing to be managed for City.

“[We manage it] the best we can, to be honest,” Vidmar said on Tuesday. “ The ones who are suffering a little bit more will have a rest tomorrow and try to freshen them up for Saturday. We don’t have every position covered, so that’s an issue, and that’s been an ongoing issue throughout the whole season. We’ll do the best we can. Some are not going to feel 100% tomorrow night. It’s been a bit of a tough journey since the Ulsan game.

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“But, to be honest, we’ve actually thrived in these moments when we’ve had a little rest and have had to back up. We’ve done that in this competition very, very well. So I’m looking for a strong performance again tomorrow night. We’re probably not going to be at our 100% level, but we’ll put out a team that’s going out there to try to perform and try to win, because we still want to try to win this game.”

Indeed, City’s form in Asia has stood somewhat in contrast to their sputtering form in the A-League Men this season, backing up back-to-back defeats to open their campaign by rattling off four wins across their subsequent five matches, two of which came on the road against J1 League side Machida Zelvia and Ulsan.

In the A-League Men, conversely, City has failed to pick up back-to-back wins all season, with their form swinging so wildly that their recent draws with Wellington and Western Sydney represented the first time they had recorded the same result twice in a row all season.

“We’ve been a little bit indifferent, in terms of performing, in the A-League and this competition as well,” acknowledged Vidmar. “But we seem to grow another leg in this competition, and that’s what we’ve done.

“Our aim now is to try to win tomorrow night, get as high as we can in the group and see wherever the round of 16 takes us. But then, when our focus turns to Saturday, the Derby and the remaining games in the A-League, we have to bring this sort of ACL elite mentality because, to be honest, that’s the little piece that’s missing.”

Skipper Aziz Behich, for his part, feels that City’s winning habit in Asia and, especially, their ability to win games late – all four of City’s wins thus far have been delivered by goals scored after the 90th minute – have created something of a virtuous cycle.

“It’s just confidence and just believing that we can do it, when you’ve done it a few times,” said Behich. “It’s a tough competition, you’re coming up against the best teams in Asia, who spend a lot of money.

“But at the end of the day, it’s a football match, you need to have the right mentality, and I think that’s what we’ve had in this competition. Right from the beginning, even in the games we’ve lost, we always make it difficult for the opponent, and it’s going to be no different tomorrow and round 16 as well.”

For Vidmar, last week’s success in Ulsan means that he’s set to return to the knockout stages of the Asian Champions League Elite for the third time, with a third different club, having previously guided Thai side BG Pathum United and hometown club Adelaide United past this point.

The Reds side under his charge famously reached the final of the 2008 iteration of the tournament – going down to Japanese powers Gamba Osaka across two legs in the final – and helped set the stage for Australian sides in Asia, with Western Sydney going on to win the competition in 2014.

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“I just love the competition,” said the coach. “We’ve loved it from the first time we played it in 2008. We’ve had some really great special nights, especially like the year that we got into the final.

“It’s just a different type of game. It’s probably a touch slower, a little bit more tactical, certainly a lot more technical. There’s less transition moments; the A-League gives you a hell of a lot of transition moments. So it’s a little bit more of a controlled tempo, which probably suits us a little bit.”

Behich, for his part, is also experiencing a third campaign in Asia, having previously served as an unused substitute in Victory’s 2010 campaign and then being a part of the Al Nassr side that was eliminated by eventual champions Al Ain in the quarterfinals of the 2024 iteration.

“It’s the opportunity,” the Socceroo defender reflected. “It’s difficult to get there. You’ve got to finish top in our league to have the opportunity to be a part of it. It’s just the opportunity and knowing you might not be there next year.

“That’s something we spoke about at the start of the season as a playing group, that we want to make an impact. We’re not there to make up numbers. We’re there to challenge. We’ve ticked one box, which was to get out of the group stage, but in football, you don’t know how far you can go, so we need to keep the right mentality.”

Welcoming a Roar side mired in a three-game losing skid and with their coach, Michael Valkanis, banished to the stands after a red card this previous week, things looked like they were going to be pretty straightforward for Victory. Juan Mata was dictating terms in the midfield and had put the ball on a plate for N’Duka to maraud in behind the visitors’ lines and open the scoring with a well-taken finish. They would have 62% of the ball across the opening stanza, while touching the ball in their opponent’s penalty area 13 to four and outshooting their foes eight to three. Just one of the Roar’s three efforts was actually within 30 yards of the goal, too, a 39th-minute header that was denied by Jack Warshawsky.

But N’Duka’s goal would be the only one. Yet again, Victory would flirt with putting a game out of sight, only to prove incapable of actually doing so. As the second half commenced, the control of the game that Victory felt like they’d fashioned began to loosen. Up the one end, the Roar began to find a foothold and, even if it wasn’t a good one, used it to fashion some chances. Victory, meanwhile, would fail to send any of their six attempts on target and, even while retaining the majority of possession, look increasingly disjointed and lacking in definitive purpose on the ball.

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Thus, when D’Agostino struck, opting not to celebrate against his former side, it likely took few by surprise. Both because it felt like a natural evolution of Victory’s failure to actually put the game away and because this was just how things have been this season: contests in which they’ve actually proven clinical and ruthless, such as their Big Blue thrashing of Sydney or 3-2 win over Wellington last weekend, serving as more the exception, rather than the norm.

“It feels like a loss, to be honest with you,” coach Arthur Diles reflected post-game. “We’ll definitely take the point, but, yeah, it feels like a loss.

“We started the game ever so well, and were quite dominant, and things were looking great. We were on top but, in the end, we weren’t clinical enough to just put the other one in. That game was waiting there for us to score the second, and they [Roar] were sitting there, they were vulnerable, and we just didn’t have the killer punch today. And in the end, it cost us.

“In the first half, I was very pleased with the football, the dominance, the territory, and the intent, the intensity; the energy was great. But in the end, you’ve got to keep going, we’ve got to be a little bit more dangerous in front of goal. I felt that we didn’t, in the end, we weren’t dangerous enough in the box.

“And that’s not good enough from us. We’ve got to keep going. We’ve got to be a little bit more clinical, more ruthless and put them to bed.”

Missing out on the chance to jump into third on the A-League Men table, the draw meant that Victory instead remained in fifth, now nine points back of the top-of-the-table Newcastle Jets but just five clear of eleventh-placed Central Coast.

In seven days, they’ll meet crosstown foes Melbourne City in the third and final derby of the season. Aurelio Vidmar’s side is one of the few teams in the league that have probably proven even more blunt in front of goal than Diles’ this season, and, with the defending champions set to enter that game off three nights’ rest after a midweek Asian Champions League Elite fixture, the expectation will be that Victory takes the points.

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But the burden of expectation hasn’t been all that kind to Victory so far this season – exemplified by a 1-0 loss to Western Sydney that ended their four-game winning run. And even without Kai Trewin, City can likely be counted on to put forth a defence that will be tough to break down.

“It’s all about working,” said Diles. “You keep working. And that happens on the training paddock. You don’t stop.

“In the end, [one part of converting] is a decision, and the other is the execution. Sometimes it’s the right decision, and just the execution lets us down. Sometimes it’s the reverse. But you’ve got to keep going. You’ve got to keep being in those positions. You’ve got to keep working in training. And it’s just repetition, repetition so that come the games, when you’ve got that confidence and belief, it should happen naturally.

“It’s not something that we’re worried about. It’s definitely frustrating at times, absolutely, but in the end, we always create enough chances to be in a match and potentially win them, and today was no different.”

Leading 2-1 heading into the final 15 minutes at Sky Stadium, Victory ultimately took the chocolates last Friday thanks to a 77th-minute goal from Louis D’Arrigo; the midfielder’s goal giving them a sufficient buffer to absorb Roderick Miranda’s unfortunate 84th-minute own goal.

Helping them bounce back from a disappointing defeat against Central Coast the week prior, the result moved Victory up into fifth position on the A-League Men’s table, two points back of third-placed Sydney and seven behind top-of-the-table Newcastle.

Notably, however, compared to their loss to the Mariners the week prior, Diles’ side didn’t create nearly as many goal-scoring chances: possessing just 43% of the ball, down from 67%, and fashioning 12 shots, down from 26 in Gosford. An expected goals of just 1.61 (xG) against Central Coast did speak to a level of bluntness with their multitude of attempts, admittedly, but it was, nonetheless, greater than the 1.02 xG they attained against the ‘Nix.

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“That’s always important,” said Diles. “As a team, things don’t always fall like you want them to fall. We always look at the performance as being really important; we value our performance and how we want to play. And we know that always gives us the best chance of winning. It doesn’t guarantee you the win -- nothing does.

“We weren’t poor last week by any means. I just think we’ve played better in many games than we did last week. We were still dangerous; in patches, we were playing some really good stuff. It wasn’t a great performance throughout the whole match, but I believe that we were good enough to win the game, and we did enough to win the game.”

“Being able to not be at your best, in terms of your football, and still get a result is really important. That shows mentality, that shows, [you’re] finding other ways to win sometimes. And in the end, we did that, and that’s important for our growth as a team, and it’s important for us to try to push forward.”

Unfortunately for Diles, his plans for this Saturday’s visit from Brisbane have been hit by a few enforced absences.

The coach confirmed on Friday that D’Ariggo, though not needing surgery, will be out for four to six weeks after suffering ligament damage in his foot late in the win over Wellington. Reno Piscopo suffered a tweak in his hamstring in training on Friday morning and won’t feature against the Roar, while defender BJ Hamill will need to make it through 90 minutes of one final practice match in the coming weeks before he’s considered for selection with the senior side. Flanker Franco Lino, meanwhile, who has battled injury and hasn’t featured for the senior team since returning on loan from Viking FK, was described as being close but still needing to show the coaching staff more.

“I’m still waiting to see a little bit more from Franco,” said Diles. “We’ve spoken, he’s aware of that; my expectation is a little bit higher than where he’s been shown at the moment. He’s been out for a long time, so we’ve got to be patient as well, and don’t want to rush him, but I want him to also be at the level that we want, expect and that he needs to be. He’s getting closer and closer, and hopefully, in the next week or so, he’s knocking on the door.”

After making his starting debut against Wellington and, bizarre handball aside, earning praise from Diles, the coach said that Charles N’Duka and Nikos Vergos both were in contention to start against Brisbane.

“It’s match by match,” said the coach. “There’s a number of things we look at when we’re picking the team: we look at the opponent, we look at form, we look at a number of things. Charles has got a fight on his hands with Nikko. I’m sure Nikko wasn’t happy not [starting] last week, but that’s football -- you’ve got to rise above that. You’ve got to be ready when called upon, ready to start or ready to make an impact off the bench. I thought Charles did really well last week; unlucky not to score, but he was a handful for Wellington.

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“Charles did well last week. He’s improving week by week, day by day, and you can start to see some of his qualities. You can see physically, he’s a massive threat. You can see he puts people in compromising positions as defenders. And he’s always in the area, he’s always in the box, and that’s important for us.”

The Roar, for their part, will head to Victoria in something of a wounded state, in the midst of a form slump that has seen them slump out of the playoff places and set to be without coach Michael Valkanis after he received a red card following their loss to Central Coast last week.

Nonetheless, with the Roar placing a fighting spirit at the core of their identity this season and in desperate need of a win, to say nothing of having increasingly fit Socceroo and former Victory striker Nick D’Agostino leading the line, Diles said a challenging game awaited.

“We know it’s going to be a really tough match, a real physical match,” he said. “They’ve shown what type of team they are this year. We’ve played them already once, and been on the end of what that looks like.

“We’ve got to be ready tomorrow. We’re back at home, we’ve got to make sure we take the home form with us. We’ve got to make sure we improve from last week, and we’ve got to make sure we keep the ball rolling.”

Late goals from Medin Memeti and Marcus Younis ensured City salvaged a 2-2 draw from their trip to Wellington last Friday, mitigating (but not eliminating) the alarm bells that were ringing following their 6-2 hammering at the hands of Macarthur the week prior.

The point earned by their comeback ensured they remained in the A-League Men’s top six heading into this Saturday’s clash with Western Sydney, but only barely: only above seventh-placed Brisbane on goal difference and just the two points clear of the tenth-placed Phoenix.

Admittedly, they’re only three points back of the fourth-placed Bulls and still within two games of top-of-the-tree Newcastle, showing the compact nature of the competition has remained in place for 2025-26. But whereas their nearest rivals will all be afforded the luxury of solely focusing on their league commitments in the weeks ahead – Brisbane hosting Central Coast on Saturday afternoon, while Victory travels to Wellington on Friday – they’ll also be tasked with facing off with Korean sides Ulsan and Gangwon FC in the coming weeks.

Currently sitting fourth in the ACLE’s eastern region, a win in either of those two games would almost certainly be enough to ensure their progression to the knockout stages for the first time in their history, as well as become the first A-League side since the COVID-era Melbourne Victory to do so. However, while the long trek to Ulsan will add a logistical challenge, and they’ll face Victory in the season’s final derby three days after hosting Gangwon, their early-season form, in which they lost just a single league game after featuring in Asian competition, suggests this isn’t something to be feared.

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“We’ve never dreaded it, that’s for sure,” said Vidmar. “I think the players like it; we’ve really managed that area really well. We’ve played the A-League, and then we’ve backed up with strong performances in the ACLE. I’m expecting the same. We’re coming to the back end of the season and the back end of the ACLE [group stages], and it’s going to be a really important period for us now.

“We need to start winning some games in the A-League, and then also wanting and being desperate enough to be the first [City] team to qualify for the next round. That’s really important for us. We’ve had a chat this morning, our focus is solely on what’s going to happen tomorrow against the Wanderers. And then once we get to Ulsan, we can focus on what we need to do for that game.

“But it’s an exciting period. Everyone wants to do well. We’ve got a lot of healthy competition now with the new boys coming in. We’ve always been in a good frame of mind. It’s about now trying to get our good training performances into some winning performances on the pitch.”

The defending champions are set to be boosted for their busy schedule by the return of Nathaniel Atkinson from suspension; however are set to be without Japanese attacker Takeshi Kanamori for at least a couple of months after he sustained an MCL injury.

Returning to City after spending multiple seasons with Incheon United in the Korean first and second tiers, Harrison Delbridge is also in line to make his re-debut in the coming fixtures — Vidmar declaring his general fitness good, but his match fitness still getting up to speed given his three-month layoff after the Korean league’s end.

Regardless of his contributions off the pitch, however, the centreback’s knowledge gleaned from multiple years on the peninsula is already being put to good use.

“He’s already spoken to us about how terrible the trip to Ulsan is,” grinned Vidmar. “A difficult place to get to.

“When it comes to Ulsan, they’ve got a new coach [Kim Hyun-seok, who scored more than 100 goals for Ulsan in his playing days] and they’ve changed quite a bit. So we’re battling a little bit of an unknown when we play them next week.”

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Further up the field, after arriving on loan from Ferencvárosi, albeit having logged very few actual minutes with the Hungarian powers and having had a minor clean-up in his knee in December, Arzani was described as being much further along in his fitness than Delbridge and the more likely of the two to play, even if he’s not quite yet ready to start.

“Daniel hasn’t had that big a break as Delly has, so he’s looking much, much better as these last two weeks have gone by,” said Vidmar. “So he’s looking much better, definitely. He’s probably, if anyone’s going to have game time that we feel a little bit more confident in, it’s probably him at this stage.”

The problem for the coach, however, is just where he fits Arzani into the side once he’s ready to start. Vidmar has previously made clear that the World Cup hopeful has been brought in to start, but fellow loanee Marcus Younis has now scored in his first-two appearances since arriving from Brøndby on loan, while winger Medin Memeti has netted in three straight games.

One alternative would potentially be to use the latter as a striker, a position he played in youth sides; however, that would mean relegating Max Caputo, whose best form also coincided with the short-Asian turnarounds, to the bench.

“That’s that part of my job, how it’s all going to work,” said Vidmar. “When you have a player of Daniel’s quality, then you know you’re going to have to find room somewhere. And unfortunately, that’s how it is. Definitely, Daniel is better in the team than out of the team.”

On the long-term injured front, Vidmar said that Socceroo attacker Mat Leckie and Kosovar midfielder Elbasan Rashani were both tracking well in their recoveries and loomed as likely inclusions in group training once the side returned from Korea.

Falling to a 3-1 defeat against Canberra United – a since-expunged first-half red card for Kiwi international Claudia Bunge dealing a hammer blow to their aspirations – Victory fell to their seventh loss of the season last weekend, equalling the number of defeats from their ill-fated 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. And while the growth of the competition into a full home-and-away format places an important caveat into any attempts at cross-season analysis, as well as gives Victory hope of turning things around in the present, the elephant in the room remains that the latter campaign represented the last occasion that Jeff Hopkins’ side failed to play finals football.

Indeed, long a contender for premierships or battling for places in what was then a top four, it’s been a while since we’ve seen Melbourne’s navy blue contingent this far down the table this deep into a campaign, with the loss to Canberra consigning them to seventh place. Admittedly, the compact nature of the league this season means that this relatively lowly ladder position still only sees them sit six points back of top-of-the-table Melbourne City – with a game against their cross-town foes to come next Sunday – but it also means they’re only two points clear of eleventh-placed Western Sydney.

And on a more immediate (and more pressing) basis, Victory hasn’t won a game since mid-December, when they defeated this weekend’s foes Newcastle 3-1 in the Hunter. They’ve picked up just two points from a possible 18 since then, with wasteful finishing frequently coming back to haunt them in games where they otherwise did plenty of things right.

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But near misses and five bucks will (barely, these days) get you a cup of coffee. And as they prepare to head up the highway to ‘host’ the Jets in Shepparton on Saturday, there’s acknowledgement at AAMI Park that this lean run of form cannot be allowed to continue if they’re to salvage their season.

“At the start of the year, we were always looking ahead,” remarked skipper Kayla Morrison. “And we’ve kind of got to a part in the season when it’s one day at a time, one training at a time, and one game at a time. It’s definitely a big game [against the Jets] and a must-win for us at this point.”

And while Morrison, competitive as she is, treating this game as a must-win probably wouldn’t surprise many regular observers, her coach said that hers was an attitude being reflected by the rest of the playing group.

“I don’t need to tell them; I think everyone, everyone here understands the predicament we’re in and what we need to do to get out of it,” said Hopkins. “I may have mentioned it once or twice, but I think we’ve got a pretty experienced group that understands things haven’t been as good as they should have been.

“We’re going out to put things right this weekend. We probably need to make one or two changes to the team to freshen it up, brighten it up.

“But I don’t need to impress anything on the players there. They understand the position we’re in, and they’re prepared and ready to work their way through and out of this.”

While Victory’s misfires up top this season have been well documented to now – no team missing more big chances than they and their seventh place in reality standing in contrast to their top-place on the expected goals (xG) table – Hopkins was of the view that his side could stand for a level of rejuvenation across the park.

Injured attacker Nicki Flannery the only player he was willing to rule out for Saturday, which could see a first start of the season for the likes of Ella O’Grady and Sienna Techera, as well as the return of Grace Maher and Laura Pickett.

“Right the way through; in all three lines, I think we could see a few changes,” said the coach. “For me, it’s around confidence.

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“I’d never question the work rate of any of these players. I think you could see it on the weekend. Even when we went down to ten players, we didn’t give up. We worked really hard for us, us for each other. I think it was more around maybe a little bit of naivety and tactical awareness. We weren’t so good, we got ourselves into the game, we scored a great goal, we kept trying to go forward, even with a player less after Bunge had been sent off.

“There’s maybe one or two players that are just lacking a little bit of confidence, and we maybe need to take them out of the side just for, just for a week, and just to freshen them up and get them back in again next week.”

One player that will likely return to the XI is attacker Rhianna Pollicina, who broke her wrist against Adelaide on January 17 but only ended up missing the one game before returning off the bench against Canberra last week.

“She’s ready to start,” Hopkins said of Pollicina. “She’s amazing. Last week, she put herself out there – I think it’s gotta be some sort of a record coming back that quickly – just to put herself up to go onto the bench. She was really keen to play a part last week, which is what we need at this stage.

“The character and the determination, the work rate of the players, there’s no doubt. And there’s no doubt that what we’ve got to be this week is probably a little bit more composed, a little bit more clinical in the key areas, which is our 18-yard box and the opposition’s.”

And while the mood in the Victory camp may have shifted, acknowledging that the ice beneath their skates is getting pretty thin, there’s no panic just yet.

“I’m definitely super competitive,” said Morrison. “And I know that, at times, I lead very harshly. But it does still feel, in a weird way, optimistic, because it’s hard not to be optimistic when you look around, and you see the girls that you’re with.

“And I do truly believe, if we can get one win, then we’ll be fine. Everything feels better when you’re winning. I still am optimistic, and it does feel like the girls still believe.”