Victory ready to embrace the hate in Phoenix semifinal showdown

Saturday’s semifinal second leg looms as the biggest game in Wellington Phoenix history. Jason Geria, though, thinks Melbourne Victory is ready to turn this fairytale from Disney to Brothers Grimm.

Saturday’s semifinal second leg looms as the biggest game in Wellington Phoenix history. Just 90 minutes standing between the Kiwi side of capping off their best-ever season with a first-ever grand final berth, with what appears set to be a record crowd at their backs. But if there’s any side to walk into this environment and turn the fairytale from Disney to Brothers Grimm, Jason Geria believes it's his Melbourne Victory unit. 

Able to repulse Victory with relative ease in the opening leg of their semifinal at AAMI Park last Saturday, the Nix will be in a strong position when the second leg resumes at Sky Stadium, the aggregate score locked at 0-0 and what looms as the most hostile, partisan crowd in their history set to pack the stands. 

Based on projections, the nearly 15-year-old record crowd for a Phoenix game of 32,792, set in a final against the Newcastle Jets in 2010, appears in mortal strife – the club’s chief executive David Dome tweeting on Thursday morning that tickets to fill the 34,500-seat venue for Saturday’s clash had been exhausted, with only spots in the corporate Phoenix Lounge and the away bay still available. 

It promises a loud, hostile atmosphere. One befitting the season that the Phoenix are having. But if there’s any club in the A-League Men that are used to getting a less-than-friendly welcome when they hit the road, it’s Victory. 

One of the league’s traditional bullyboys and possessing a large, vocal fanbase, Victory has cultivated a general air of hostility across their existence, playing a rivalry game seemingly every other week. As a result, they’ve gotten quite good at being the bad guy, as well as dealing with the reception that entails. 

"Normally when we go to away environments, especially the bigger rivalries you know, in Adelaide and Sydney and Melbourne City when it's here, we're already the villains, so to speak,” said Geria. “A lot of the league already has a level of disdain for us. 

“I really do hope it's a big crowd and they do have a lot of fans because I think that's something that we'll feed into. I think it's something that will be good for us and something we're already used to in a way.”

As a defender, there’s reason beyond just big-game experience to give Geria some reason to be optimistic. 

Across four competitive meetings this season, not only are the Phoenix yet to put the ball in Victory’s net in open play, they’ve actually done so less than their Victory themselves: Damien Da Silva scoring an own goal in their round four encounter, Alex Rufer converting a 95th-minute penalty to equalise in their round 13 contest, and Roderick Miranda coughing up another own goal in the 95th minute of their round 24 clash. 

On Sunday, the Phoenix was limited to just six shots throughout the 90 minutes with none on target, ensuring that they would end 2023-24 with no attempts on the actual goal of Paul Izzo in 180 minutes of football at AAMI Park. 

Of course, Victory hasn’t exactly been free-scoring going in the other direction, either, with their two goals against the Phoenix this season delivered from the decided non-attacking sources of Ryan Teague and Connor Chapman. And Wellington on the road and Wellington at home are two different beats. 

But as someone whose primary responsibility is keeping the opposition out, Geria sees it as giving his side a boost, regardless. 

“Two own goals and a penalty, it's hard to sort of look back at that and swallow the way we can concede our goals against them,” he said. “That’s football, it happens. 

“But it's something we take a lot of confidence from. And all year really; Roderick, Damian, and Paul, they've been mainstays, the foundation that we've built our defence on.

“These last two games especially, they were brilliant. 

“Against Melbourne City, Paul had an outstanding game but everyone showed up. This last game, defensively we were really solid. We really limited Wellington to few chances, if any, I don't think Paul had too much to do. It speaks a lot about the players that they are.”

Of course, keeping Phoenix out is all well and good but, at some point, Victory will need to put the ball past Alex Paulsen if they’re to advance to a grand final – preferably before a penalty shootout. And that’s proven easier said than done this season. 

While they may have had 20 shots last week, few of those efforts constituted an effort representing any kind of quality, with their average attempt registering an average of less than 0.04 expected goals (xG) on their way to a cumulative total of 0.78. 

Indeed, while Victory has been able to create 78 shots across their four meetings with Wellington this season, this has been for a total of just 5.8xg – 2.59 of which came in their round 13 draw. 

The Phoenix, in contrast, has had just 27 shots, amassing a total of 3.26 xG. But they’ve also been on the right side of one of the four games this season that has produced a winner. 

“They defend in a very tight, low block,” said Geria. “They have a lot of bodies in the box, it's hard to break down. That's something that we need to figure out. 

“It's something they've done well all year, they've defended well and they have their mind set on defending well and hitting you on the counter; we'll let you guys get a bit frustrated, get ill-disciplined and we'll strike when you're out of structure and a bit all over the place. 

“It's something we're aware of as well. I think the important thing against Wellington is keeping your discipline. It's staying focused and not getting too frustrated because it's going to take time to sort of break them down. 

“They are very well structured and they're hell-bent on getting a lot of bodies in the box and limiting opportunities to have clear opportunities on goal.”