Making Victory history, not Matildas, driving Chidac into ALW decider
Left out of what's likely Tom Sermanni’s last squad as Matildas interim, Alex Chidiac isn't sweating her absence, her focus and intent on Sunday's ALW grand final and a "deserved" title for Victory.
Left out of what will likely be Tom Sermanni’s final squad as Matildas interim coach, Alex Chidiac isn’t sweating her absence from the national setup. Instead, all her attention is focused squarely on this Sunday’s A-League Women grand final, where she’s intent on securing a title she feels that she and her Melbourne Victory teammates “deserve” against the Central Coast Mariners.
Comfortably dispatching a good Adelaide United side 6-2 across the two legs of their semifinal, Victory will compete for their third title in five years this weekend but unlike their two previous deciders, they’ll do so at home –, hosting the Mariners at AAMI Park in front of what the club hopes will be a bumper, standalone crowd.
They’ll do so with significant momentum, a head of steam gleaned not just from their dispatching of the Reds but what is now a 15-game unbeaten run, with the last ten of those fixtures producing wins.
Indeed, helped by this being the second year in which the league has moved to a full home-and-away format, Victory has set numerous records across a season for the ages in 2024-25; logging more wins, more points, and more goals, as well as recording the longest winning streaks and unbeaten runs in club history, across the length of the season.
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For all this success, however, silverware, as yet, eludes them. Last year, the 53 points that Jeff Hopkins’ side accumulated over the course of the regular season would have been enough for Victory to win the premiership by 12 points but this year, they found themselves denied by the 55 points earned by an invincible Melbourne City side. Turn just one of their five draws into a win, Chidiac wryly observed, and this year’s table-toppers would have been wearing navy blue, not light blue.
“It's great to have an amazing record behind you but [in] the history books, they only notice the trophies,” said Chidiac. “So... I think every player deserves to lift that at the end of this season.
“This season, we have kind of been playing quite a few games as if they were a grand final, because we were chasing City for that premiership for so many of them. We left it all out there and we've been able to back that up week after week.
“So I think that that gives us that confidence, that we know if we need to make the game ugly and finals end up that way sometimes. It's going to be a fight but everybody here has that desire. It will be a special occasion but I think we have this feeling within the group that we've been doing something special and we deserve something from it.”
Given their near irresistible form, Victory will, without question, enter Sunday’s clash against the Mariners as favourites, even after Emily Husband’s side upset (with the help of a missed offside call for their goal) a previously invincible City. That, however, is probably how the Gosford-based side likes it.
Not only does it match the mythology that has grown around the club in recent years but, specifically on the A-League Women front, Husband made a point to build her side around talent she felt had been overlooked and undervalued when it re-entered the A-League Women last year and challenged the players to prove their doubters wrong.
“I don't take note of favourites and non-favourites,” said Chidiac. “There's no favourites in a final to me -- it's whoever shows up on the day. Anything can happen. We'll try and use the momentum that we've had this season coming into these games, and our past performances against them, but it's going to be a tough match.”
For all the well-credentialed members of Victory’s squad, however, it’s the Mariners who will boast the only member of the latest Matildas squad on Sunday – Isabel Gomez part of the 23-player squad named by Sermanni for coming friendlies after injury previously robbed her of a chance at an international debut amid her breakout A-League Women season.
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“I went to the [semifinals]... and I thought she was the best player on the field in the first leg of the Melbourne City game,” said Sermanni on Gomez. “She's continued, since she's come back from her injury, to, week in and week out, be a dominant player in midfield.
“She probably offers a combination of things. She's very tenacious, but at the same time has a really good midfield skill set. Her passing is good, and her decision-making is good. And, as you saw at the weekend, she managed to score a goal that, apparently, was just offside.”
Set to return to Victory next season and contracted full-time with the club, Sunday will represent Chidiac’s last opportunity to log competitive minutes before a squad is named – likely by anticipated incoming coach Joe Montemurro – for a four-game series against Slovenia and Panama in West Australia this June and July.
The midfielder, however, isn’t using national team aspirations as added motivation on Sunday.
“I just want to lift that trophy with Victory,” she said. “I keep the two things very separate, [there's] not a lot of communication on their end. I focus on whoever gives me the time and energy; Victory has always done that. That's why I've been able to give my all for this club for the past four seasons.
“It's hard to say [if a new coach would change things]. We have had quite a few coaches come in. Having a coach come in and stay a little bit longer and maybe have their own vision, potentially, that could bring opportunities.
“But at the same time, I'm pretty happy with where I'm at in my career. I get to play in a grand final on Sunday, and that's, you know, what we as players play for at the end of the day.”