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The Hyundai A-League moves into its finals stage this weekend with Brisbane Roar firm favourites to claim the Championship.
The A-League Finals, up there with the most ridiculous concepts in world football, gets underway on Friday night. Before looking at the individual match ups, I’ll try make some sense of the system in place.
The top six teams at the end of the regular season who will now make up the post season are:
- Brisbane Roar
- Central Coast Mariners
- Adelaide United
- Gold Coast United
- Melbourne Victory
- Wellington Phoenix
The top two sides, Brisbane and Central Coast, do battle in a two legged affair with the winner guaranteed a home game in the Grand Final which takes place on Saturday, 12 March 2011.
The other four sides go into a semi final of sorts (3rd v 6th, 4th v 5th) with the two winners facing each other. But wait, there’s more! Whoever emerges victorious from that game then moves on to a preliminary final against the loser of the two legged affair between the Roar and the Mariners for a spot in the Grand Final. This effectively means that either Brisbane or Central Coast will be given a second chance to play in the showpiece final.
Confused? Don’t worry, it’ll all make sense if you read it a few times!
Friday, 18 February 2011
Adelaide United (3) v Wellington Phoenix (6)
For a while Adelaide United looked like being the only side capable of challenging Brisbane for the minor premiership, however some indifferent results saw them finish in third spot on the ladder. The return from injury of youngster Mathew Leckie has been a welcome boost, and United boast the league’s top goalscorer Sergio van Dijk who has netted 16 times. Their creative influence, Marcos Flores, will be looking to add to his eight goals and eight assists from the regular season.
Wellington claimed the last spot in the finals thanks in large part to the recent heroics of Danny Vukovic. The goalkeeper, who will play with Perth Glory next season, put in a number of stunning displays and even popped up at the other end of the pitch to score a penalty against the North Queensland Fury at the weekend. Wellington’s other key man will be Tim Brown who has been in superb form all year, contributing six goals and four assists from the middle of the park. Paul Ifill returns from an ankle injury to boost the squad heading to South Australia.
Prediction: Adelaide United 2 – 0 Wellington Phoenix
Saturday, 19 February 2011
Central Coast Mariners (2) v Brisbane Roar (1) (First Leg)
Brisbane’s Michael Theoklitos, Luke DeVere, Ivan Franjic, Matt Smith, Matt McKay, Thomas Broich and Kosta Barbarouses were all named in the Professional Footballers Assocation Team of the Year this week with Jean Carlos Solorzano on the bench, while Ange Postecoglou picked up the Coach of the Year award. The Roar lost just once during the regular season, going down 3-0 to Melbourne Victory in Round 5, and also set a record for most consecutive games without a defeat (24). Mitch Nichols is the big injury doubt for the game having rolled an ankle against Gold Coast United last weekend.
Central Coast meanwhile have been developing some promising youngsters in the shape of goalkeeper Matt Ryan and playmaker Mustafa Amini (who has featured on our own One 2 Watch series). Argentine Patricio Perez has finally started showing his capabilities after an injury interrupted start to his A-League career, while a strike force of Matt Simon and Daniel MacBreen, with Adam Kwasnik in reserve, is always dangerous.
Prediction: Central Coast Mariners 1 – 2 Brisbane Roar
Sunday, 20 February 2011
Gold Coast United (4) v Melbourne Victory (5)
Gold Coast United boss Miron Bleiberg recently bemoaned Melbourne Victory’s physical style after their recent league clash, and there will be a certain amount of spice in the air going into this game as a result. New Zealand international Shane Smeltz has been in good form since retrurning from a spell overseas with seven goals in nine games for the year, though the side will be missing skipper Jason Culina who picked up a season ending knee injury while on international duty with Australia at the recent Asian Cup.
Victory midfielder Grant Brebner faces a race to be fit for the game with a calf injury, and Kevin Muscat is suspended for the year following his horrific challenge on Adrian Zahra during January’s Melbourne Derby. They can however call on the likes of Carlos Hernandez, Danny Allsopp and Socceroos Asian Cup star Robbie Kruse to provide plenty of fire power up front.
Prediction: Gold Coast United 2- 3 Melbourne Victory (AET)
Why the 1st v 2nd is a two-legged affair is beyond me. Make it knock-out, they’ve still a chance to restore themselves in the GF.
As with last year, it means that 1st and 2nd could end up playing eachother three times in a row! Crowds get bored, especially if the last game of the season, and the first game of the next season is against the same team.. (FFA’s wonderful scheduling last year for Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC)
Spot on Matt.
I know they want to include as many teams in the finals as possible but having over half the league in there is ridiculous. Just have two semi finals and a final with four seeded teams (if there has to be finals at all).
Personally I’d do away with the whole thing and let the league winner be the league winner, but that wouldn’t sit too well with the money making ethos.
To be honest I’m ok with the finals series being the top 6. The argument that it gives lower teams something to play for sits well with me. It’s fine for foreign teams with established fanbases competing at the bottom for no prize, but the A-League is still building their fanbase, who are looking for any reason not to attend. Overseas teams are also fighting to avoid relegation, which is nonexistent in the A-Leauge. =)