Villainous Victory look to spoil Auckland's party
Leading 1-0 as they prepare to host the second-leg of their ALM semifinal, Saturday shapes as something of a party for Auckland. But Melbourne Victory loves a chance to ruin those.
Saturday shapes as a day of celebration in Auckland. There’ll be a sellout crowd at Mt Smart Stadium, roaring on as the newly crowned A-League Men premiers look to qualify for a grand final, holding onto a 1-0 lead from the first leg. It’s going to be a party. And Melbourne Victory relish a chance to spoil it. Because that’s what they do.
Because Victory, who seemingly serve as a major rival to more than half the league, has become something of a specialist in crushing dreams, ruining narratives, and blowing up best-laid plans in recent years. It was only a fortnight ago, after all, that they marched into Wanderland, against a Western Sydney side unbeaten in 12 and fostering hope of a new dawn, and ended their season.
Last season they fell arse backwards into finals only to surge to a Paul Izzo-inspired penalty shootout win over Melbourne City in the elimination final. Wellington’s surge up the table that season had been the take of the town, until Victory went to New Zealand a fortnight later and ended their season in extra time of the second leg of their semifinal – then coach Tony Popovic described the chance to be the villain in Phoenix’s fairytale as “beautiful”.
Central Coast would get one over on them in the subsequent grand final, but that was only after Popovic’s side took advantage of Jason Cummings being ruled ineligible and downed them in an Australia Cup final in the years prior.
In 2018, Terry Antonis had no right to get through, only to turn from villain to hero in navy blue and, in doing so, ruined Graham Arnold’s chance at one final trophy with Sydney FC. And then, of course, there was that whole ‘Heist in the Hunter’ business that followed in the subsequent grand final against Newcastle.
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In other words, even discounting that they’re being coached by a Sky Blue legend in Steve Corica, there’s no better side from a mythology perspective for Auckland to defeat in a semifinal than Victory. But no side in the A-League Men feeds on disdain quite like Victory, either. “Why not us,” midfielder Ryan Teague said in the aftermath of the first-leg defeat. “Someone has to.”
“Steve's done a remarkable job there and they are there for a reason, and it's our job to try and knock them off their perch," said Diles.
"It's backs to the wall for us, guaranteed, but there's a big party waiting there to be spoiled and we've got to do everything we can to spoil that party.
"I don't think many people gave us a chance a few weeks ago against Western Sydney, they were the in-form team of the competition at the time, scored the most goals playing at home, a lot of fans behind them.
"This is no different for us. And absolutely, why not? We'll be ready for that come Saturday."
Adding fuel to the fire of this weekend’s clash were comments made by Victory attacker Daniel Arzani in the wake of the first-leg, where he told Network Ten that Auckland were “one-dimensional in the way they play” and that Logan Rogerson’s winner off a cross from Francis de Vries was from “a nothing ball from the sideline.”
Corica told media earlier this week that he would be sure to make his players aware of the comments heading into the game, stating that “At the end of the day, that’s his comments. A little bit disrespectful, but we again focus on the game.”
Eager to avoid providing his opposite number with further bulletin board material, Diles took a more diplomatic approach on Thursday.
“Heat of the moment after a match, it sometimes makes things difficult when you're getting interviewed after a match,” he said. “Emotions are hot, you've lost the game, and sometimes maybe players or coaches might say things in that moment that maybe they didn't mean or maybe came across the wrong way.
“I can't answer that for Daniel. Daniel said what he said. I definitely don't agree with those comments, that's for sure, and I made that clear before the game and post. They're a very good team, and we have to be at our best to beat them.”
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If Victory is to engineer an upset, they’ll have to do so without the services of Brendan Hamill, who tore his ACL on Saturday and, though vowing to come back with a “bulletproof” knee, now faces an extended period on the sideline. Mitch Langerak, meanwhile, has suffered what Diles called a “setback” in his recovery from a foot injury and remains unavailable, albeit Jack Duncan’s red-hot form somewhat mitigates this.
After being a late out for the first leg with a hip complaint, skipper Roderick Miranda will need to prove his fitness but shapes as a likely addition to the squad, giving a big thumbs up as he left AAMI Park on Thursday afternoon. Kasey Bos will also have to prove his fitness after requiring eight stitches to his heel last week, but he also looks likely to feature.
Should Miranda prove unable to play, Josh Rawlins will likely start next to Lachlan Jackson in the heart of defence.
“We've got Josh Rawlins that can play there,” said Diles. “Josh Inserra can play there. We've got young Luka Didulica who can play there. So we've got other options that can step in there.
“If and when we have to cross that bridge, we'll cross it. And at the moment, we've got a plan A, plan B, and Plan C, and we'll tackle whatever we're faced with head-on and be ready for whatever comes our way.”