Caputo eager to make up for lost time as City hunt top two ALM finish
After being forced to watch on from the sidelines as other young Aussie attackers made their mark, Max Caputo is hungry for goals as his Melbourne City target a strong end to the ALM season.
Be it Noah Botić at Western United, Nicolas Milanovic at Western Sydney Wanderers, Archie Goodwin at Adelaide United, or Adrian Segecic at Sydney FC, young Australian attackers have made their mark throughout the 2024-25 A-League Men season. And after being forced to watch from the sidelines for the campaign’s first four months as he recovered from a broken leg, Melbourne City’s Max Caputo wants in on the action.
Still just 19 years of age, Caputo was set to be given every chance to earn a starting striker role heading into the campaign, his late-season emergence in 2023-24 helping to soften the blow of Jamie Maclaren’s departure for India and give City fans hope of a new talisman quickly emerging. However, a freak broken leg suffered in the preseason – his foot getting caught in the turf during a mundane shooting drill – robbed him of his chance to make a mark, instead watching the first 14 weeks of the season from the sidelines.
After a few weeks with City’s VPL1 side, the youngster finally got his chance to return to the senior side against Adelaide in early February and he hasn’t looked back; starting all seven games since his return and netting his third goal of the campaign in his side’s 3-2 win over Sydney FC last week.
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It’s form that bodes for City’s hopes of a late-season push for silverware but, at the same time, came too late for him to join his young attacking brethren in pushing for a Socceroos’ callup. And with just five games to go in the regular season, the task of chasing down their goalscoring totals is quite slim – Botić leads the A-League Men in goals with eleven goals, followed by Goodwin and Milanovic’s ten and Segecic’s nine. But seeing the play of his contemporary young Australian attackers has stoked the competitive fires in the teenager.
"Not playing or even training early on in the season as they're all scoring goals every weekend – around the same age as well – it's something I aspire to be,” said Caputo.
“Noah Botic, Archie Goodwin. They're only a couple of years older than me. I'm still a bit younger. Hoping to get to their level. Maybe next season I can start, have a good preseason and go into there with hot form.
“As a young striker, you tend to look at other strikers in your age bracket and see what they can do. Being out, it makes you even more hungry to score more goals and be out there.”
Winners of three of their last four games, City will play host to the Central Coast Mariners on Saturday sitting third on the A-League Men table, a point back of second-placed Western United and a point clear of fourth-placed Melbourne Victory, the latter of whom they retain a game in hand over. Importantly, their win over Sydney FC last weekend also means they’re seven points clear of the seventh-placed Sky Blues with just five fixtures remaining in the campaign.
While Auckland’s eight-point lead atop the table would appear an insurmountable one, second place in the league would carry with it Asian Champions League Elite qualification should the Kiwi side lift the Premiers’ Plate, adding a significant incentive to the race for runners-up beyond the existing finals bye. And with four of their last five games at home and a squad that is increasingly finding health, City would appear well-placed to finish the season strongly.
“I think we can finish strongly,” said Vidmar. “We've been pretty consistent all year, I think our home form is on par with our away form [City is taking 1.78 points per game at AAMI Park this season, compared to 1.75 on the road].
“In my opinion, if you're consistent throughout the season and don't have too many peaks and troughs, you always put yourself in a good position.
“We looked hungry and we ran out the game [against Sydney] very, very well.
“Conditioning is definitely not our problem. We had some injuries -- we always try to push the boundaries with our conditioning and our fitness -- and you're always going to probably lose one or two along the way. Apart from the knee injuries, that's all part of it.
“And we've responded very, very well. We're in really, really good shape physically. And have to be physically, mentally, and tactically ready for the next five weeks.”
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Vidmar reported a clean bill of health from his side’s win over Sydney, with injured attacker Mat Leckie targeting a return against the Brisbane Roar and Jimmy Jeggo set to join the main training group next week after a slight setback in his recovery from an Achilles injury.
Making a goalscoring return to the A-League Men against Sydney after missing the entire season to that point with a patella injury, Alessandro Lopane was described as “pulling up really well” and tipped for a greater role against the Mariners.
“They're always a tough opponent,” Vidmar said of the Mariners. “They're well coached. They've got strong players. I know they've had a bit of a mixed season this year, but they're still the current champions and you've still got to treat them with a lot of respect.
“Their last couple of performances have been extremely strong. They'll be here, they'll be bouncy though, and they'll be ready for us. They're tough. You know, they never take a step back. We've got to play -- as I always say to the players-- first, we've got to respect and negate them but we also have to play always at our very best and keep doing the things that we want to do to dictate and control the game.”