A-League of their own
In a week that’s seen Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur complete continental football miracles, the A-League semi-finals certainly weren’t too far behind – at least in theatre.
As Friday offered fans a frantic finals classic, Sunday's instalment saw the defending champions reduced to rubble like never before and, at the end of it all, the nation's two best teams still stand.
It now sets up a mouth-watering grand final next Sunday, with Sydney FC aiming to deny Premiers Perth Glory their maiden A-League championship.
In a league that strays from world football's first-past-the-post model, seeing the top two teams contest the final fixture is a fitting - and fair - end to the season.
Steve Corica has taken Sydney one step further than Graham Arnold's two-time Premiers managed last time out, while Tony Popovic has come and conquered the league at the first time of asking with Perth.
Who takes the spoils from this point on remains anyone's guess and though the Sky Blues will boast superiority based on previous meetings this season, the Glory know Sunday's clash is their best chance to finally bring the 'toilet seat' to town.
Fourth time lucky?
Tony Popovic upheld his perfect semi-final record on Friday night as Perth Glory came back from the brink of defeat in a dramatic penalty shootout victory over Adelaide United.
Having won his three previous A-League semi-finals with the Western Sydney Wanderers, Liam Reddy ensured Popovic’s first with the Glory would be his best yet, making four penalty-saves to deny the Reds an incredible comeback.
With the Glory twice having late leads cancelled out by Marco Kurz’s resilient side, Joel Chianese’s winning spot-kick sparked a party atmosphere at HBF Park as the Premiers booked a grand final berth for the first time since 2012.
But for all Popovic’s semi-final feats, one thing remains elusive: grand final gold.
The 45-year-old has lost all three attempts in the past but believes his current crop now have the right mentality to finally get the job done next Sunday.
“Big games are determined by a fine line,” Popovic said after full-time.
“The skillset is one thing. But there’s a lot of things you can’t measure, you can’t get a stat for, which this squad has in abundance.
“These players showed something that maybe previously they didn’t believe they had – the resilience, the belief, the character, all things that really stood out tonight.”
One year in the making
History and memory are often intertwined in football circles and they were exactly the motivation behind Sydney FC’s resounding Big Blue beat-down on Sunday night.
One year on from Terry Antonis’ extra-time winner at Allianz Stadium, 12,141 fans witnessed revenge personified in Kogarah, as the Sky Blues put six past Melbourne Victory.
Steve Corica’s crop were far too good on the night, with Alex Brosque, Adam Le Fondre, Milos Ninkovic and Siem de Jong all involved one way or another to send the home side back to the grand final.
Seven of Sydney’s starting eleven remained from last season’s semi-final heartbreak, and Corica admitted it was intentionally used as last-minute motivation.
“I did mention it in the changing room before we went out,” Corica said.
“I’ve kept it quiet all week, but there’s a lot of boys that were there last year and it obviously hurt us to lose the way we did.
“They wanted to put it right and they did that tonight.”
In fact, Sydney did more than that, and now, they have a chance to make good on last season’s mishaps and claim a joint-record fourth A-League championship.
A-League history made
For just the second time in 14 years, Australian football’s showpiece event will step away from the Eastern seaboard.
Perth Glory’s thrilling penalty shootout victory over Adelaide United set up an A-League first on Friday night, sending the grand final west with record-breaking ramifications.
Sixteen years have separated the Glory’s last attempt at hosting such a fixture, dating back to their 2-0 NSL victory over the Olympic Sharks in front of 38,111 supporters at Subiaco Oval.
With Optus Stadium since rendering the aforementioned redundant, they once again have the chance to set the record straight and return the Glory days to the A-League era.
Over 55,000 fans witnessed Melbourne Victory’s 6-0 thrashing of Adelaide United at Etihad Stadium in 2007 and that figure could well be broken inside Perth’s brand new 60,000-seater venue.
‘We’re hurting’
Melbourne Victory will be left licking their wounds after Sunday’s stunning 6-1 humiliation at the hands of Sydney FC.
Kevin Muscat’s men conceded as early as the third minute at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium and things only got worse as the match wore on.
Such a result – their heaviest in Big Blue history – will live long in the memory of the Victory faithful, not least Muscat himself, who took full responsibility for the defeat.
“I’ll take responsibility for that, and we move on and start planning for next year,” he said.
“We prepared as we thought was best and I’m not going to be looking back on any of that as an excuse.
“We’re hurting. I apologise to our members and fans personally.”
The thrashing will also leave a bad taste in the mouths of both Keisuke Honda and Carl Valeri, who each played their last A-League match for the club.
Honda departs having failed to spearhead Victory's most expensive squad to silverware and though the bulk of such scrutiny will instead swing Muscat's way, the 45-year-old remains prepared to face it.
"Everything will be dissected now and I haven't got a problem with that... we didn't perform," Muscat said.
