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Andrew Prentice continued his late season charge across the elimination final weekend with two correct selections and now looks a potential second place finisher on the tipping ladder.
Few saw the Wanderers’ demise and Sydney FC now advance to the final four with momentum on their side. Melbourne City will travel to Allianz for the first match in a two-legged encounter and Adelaide United, after their impressive win over the Phoenix at home, will host the refreshed Central Coast Mariners on Saturday night in the second of the semi’s.
Good luck with your tips for the third to last weekend of A-League play and be sure to enter them in the sheet below to have a say in the victorious roar of the crowd. Here is the way the panel sees all the semi-final action unfolding.
Sydney FC will be buoyed by the return of The Cove after a fractious build-up to their elimination final win over Western Sydney Wanderers. That second half of football was arguably the best the Sky Blues have played all season under Steve Corica, and they’ll go into this game with plenty of momentum.
That’s something Melbourne City can only dream of after having last weekend off. They haven’t really been tested under Rado Vidosic so far, but this is a decidedly tricky first leg to the tie.
Talk about a tough game to tip! Adelaide United showed their class in that 2-0 win over Wellington Phoenix last weekend, even if the Kiwi side had chances to get back into the game.
The likes of Craig Goodwin and boom substitute Nestory Irankunda make the Reds a tough side to beat at home, but the Mariners just smashed them at Coopers Stadium to nab second spot on the table. Can the Mariners replicate the high press that brought them that 4-0 win? I suspect this one might ultimately finish all square.
Stuart Thomas
City, Adelaide
Melbourne City will enter the first of the two-legged semi-finals as favourite, yet face a Sydney FC team that has continued to improve the longer the season has run. Surely the men in sky blue beat the other men in Sky Blue? No doubt the kits will not be the same on Friday night, and neither will the football.
City will run rampant against a team to which they are far superior; a 3-0 score line making the return clash a walk in the park for the premiers.
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Travelling to Adelaide for the opening leg of the semi-final is the rough end of the stick for the Mariners, with form and a powerful home ground advantage certain to make things difficult for the visitors.
It will be a simple case of the manic Mariner press against the explosiveness of the Reds’ attack and which reigns supreme, in what looms as one of the matches of the season. Something tells me this semi-final is likely to be decided in the second match, with the Reds holding a one-goal lead heading into it.
Blayne Treadgold
TBC
Andrew Prentice
Sydney, Central Coast
A Friday night game at the SFS has been a rarity this season. The Sky Blues seem to have finally settled into their bright, shiny new stadium and have the best form of any of the remaining four sides in the championship chase.
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Melbourne City romped to the Premiers Plate, but were rubbery-legged defensively, preferring to outscore rather than restrict their opponents. I mean, bring that on…Sydney came from behind last week to beat their local rivals at Wanderland.
If they annex the last third the same way they did the dressing room when Milos Ninkovic wanted to shake some hands, they will give themselves a real chance in this one.
Melbourne City’s Mathew Leckie. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
The fitness of Joe Lolley will be pivotal to a home win. I’m not sure Steve Corica will think a one-goal win will be enough to take into the second leg, and that might be an invitation that the likes of Mathew Leckie, Jamie McLaren and Marco Tilio will find hard to resist.
However, Sydney FC and Corica’s finals record is exemplary, with only Friday’s opponents blemishing the ledger, in the 2021 Grand Final. It might just be Sydney’s evening, if not the tie, under the Friday Night Lights.
Saturday night at Hindmarsh is a bit like the Mariners returning to the scene of the crime, that being a thumping 4-1 win two weeks ago. While the A League is as predictably stable results-wise as a Donald Trump speech, it seems a stretch to think that the fortunes of the two sides who finished second and third would swing so wildly.
Adelaide did enough against a fading and tired Wellington Phoenix last week. Central Coast present a different proposition and will have benefitted from the rest last weekend, moreso perhaps than Melbourne City who have squad cover in all areas.
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The Reds’ hopes lie with talisman Craig Goodwin. (Photo by Sarah Reed/Getty Images)
To the shock of no-one, Craig Goodwin will be the key to Adelaide’s fortunes on Saturday. In career-best form, the Mariners will need to find a way to stop his forward movement, as they did a fortnight ago. It should be a lot closer than last time, but there is something special brewing on the coast with Monty and Serge steering the ship.
Texi Smith
City, Adelaide
Sydney FC’s season has peaked at the right time, and that seemed so unlikely only a few weeks ago when a top six finish looked unachievable. After somehow bossing the Wanderers last week in Parramatta, the reward is a home first leg against premiers Melbourne City.
The two-legged nature of this tie can sometimes make the first leg very cagey, but this one is going to be a blockbuster. Steve Corica’s former charges won’t dare enter the changing rooms after this one, and what an opportunity for Callum Talbot and Marco Tilio to remind their former boss what he missed out on.
The purring leopard that is City’s attack will be magnificent tonight. Any doubts about having the week off will be forgotten as they click into all-out-attack mode from the opening whistle. The attempts to out-pass City will prove fruitless for Sydney FC, Tilio crossing for Jamie Maclaren to score inside five minutes.
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A second before the break from Andrew Nabbout will have City flying, and Melbourne will be knocking on the door repeatedly in the second half. A magnificent back-heel from Max Burgess will then give Robert Mak a tap-in to reduce the arrears, and the Sky Blues will be happy to finish the game on offensive despite the result.
Andrew Nabbout is a key man for the Premiers. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
It’s all teed up for the return leg after a narrow win for the visitors; anything can happen!
The way Adelaide United cruised past Wellington Phoenix last weekend with the most professional of performances suggests that their heavy home defeat by Central Coast Mariners to miss out on second place is completely behind them.
This is a perfect time to put things right, and they will be ready to slice the Mariners apart. Hiroshi Ibusuki will be recalled to the team to give some height up front, and he will be the focal point for the Adelaide attack throughout a torrid first half for Danny Vukovic.
Try as they might, Adelaide will be unable to beat the Mariners’ guardian, and it will be the visitors who have the best chances, Jason Cummings slamming the ball off a post and Beni N’kololo firing over when well placed.
The second half will be terrific entertainment as the Mariners remain committed in defence and brisk on the break, but the defence will finally be breached when Craig Goodwin is felled in the area and dusts himself off to slot home from the penalty spot for the only goal of the game. What a second leg in prospect.
