Ten years is not all that long; about the time it takes to go from nappies to pimples. When you’re starting to grey around the chops and creak around the knees that’s an eternity of adventure, learning, love and longing (or does that come later?) reduced to the blink of an eye. In this way, the rivalry between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory is still in its infancy and barely worth mentioning.
But the two teams who will face off for the A-League championship on Sunday afternoon in Melbourne have squeezed in 35 meetings and a lot of living in the 10 years since both came into being. And it hasn’t hurt at all that upon their youthful shoulders was slung the age-old conflict between the respective cities they are said to represent. You know, the stuff about Sydney having the world’s most beautiful harbour, while Melbourne makes do with a brown creek; about Melbourne having European sensibilities and bookish miens, while Sydney possesses all the class of a buck’s night in Bali. That it’s all hot air hasn’t hurt sell the rivalry between the two teams, and it’s a rivalry both teams, and their fans, have been happy to buy into.
Certainly Sydney “Bling FC” and Melbourne “There’s Only One Team in Melbourne (Apart from City)“ Victory have done their bit over the years to repay the hopes placed on them by the FFA as cornerstones of a new beginning in Australian football. Sydney have attracted big names like Alessandro del Piero, Juninho and Dwight Yorke, while Melbourne have lured big crowds and impressive membership numbers. More significantly, on the field, they’ve shared some classic and often bitter encounters, and both have had their share of success; Sydney winning one premiership and two championships (the last in 2010), while Melbourne have won three premierships (including this year’s) and two championships, the last in 2009.
Other teams, notably Brisbane Roar and the Central Coast Mariners, have shown, through silverware, the only currency that counts, that the A-League is a frontier that stretches beyond the country’s two biggest cities. But in this, the A-League’s 10th anniversary season, the head office suits will be delighted that the competition’s two biggest clubs have emerged from a relatively barren period to compete for the biggest prize. If only they hadn’t left the grand final stadium booking to the work experience kid, but you can’t have everything.
If Sunday’s Big Blue or even, cough, Hume Highway Derby (I’ll sell that to you, FFA, I know how much you love a derby), will have at its backdrop the Sydney vs Melbourne construct it promises to be richer still for featuring the year’s two best-performed teams. Perth Glory had their claims until their oversized purple trench coat came apart at the seams and we realised they were giants only because they were standing on stilts, while both Wellington and Adelaide had their opportunities before, at the last, succumbing to the heat. Melbourne and Sydney, however, resisted; Melbourne making the most of the talent in their squad by coming home strongly, Sydney going to the trouble of reinventing themselves midseason.
In this Graham Arnold deserves considerable credit. Before the January transfer window Sydney had fallen into disrepair, their good start to the season (they were undefeated in the opening eight rounds) undone by long-term injuries to Sasa Ognenovski, Corey Gameiro, Ali Abbas and Nicky Carle. Those personnel woes coincided with six winless games (three losses, three draws) and suddenly Sydney were out of whack, doubting themselves and looking like slipping away as the Sky Blues have made a habit of doing in recent years, much to the frustration of their fans.
But as the Asian Cup put the A-League on ice Arnold stuck his head out the transfer window without banging his head on the sash. Able replacements such as Mickael Tavares and Jacques Faty were duly found, and that they came into the squad with no clunking of gears is remarkable. Indeed, with Austrian striker Marc Janko hitting a rich vein of form, and the midfield finding a second wind, Sydney found their groove again. From 24 January, when Sydney beat the Mariners 5-1, to last weekend’s 4-1 semi-final win over Adelaide, Sydney have won a remarkable 11 of 14 games. While standing on the sidelines rubbing his chin, windmilling his arms and, on occasion, looking like a man who’s trying to remember whether he parked his car on level two or three, Arnold has got Sydney playing with width and the confidence that they can win by scoring more goals than the opposition, as opposed to conceding fewer.
At Victory, meanwhile, Kevin Muscat — who hisses and spits on the sideline like hot oil on a frypan — has already made a significant achievement, not that Muscat strikes you as a man whose appetite is ever sated. In just his second season as coach he’s steered the A-League’s biggest club to its first premiership since Ernie Merrick’s tenure in 2009-10. That’s something even Ange Postecoglou couldn’t do. Better yet, his team play a style more akin to fencing than brawling, which is to say they are not built in his image.
Like Sydney, Victory play with an eye for goal and in that they’ve benefited from the ruthlessness of Besart Berisha. Not one to live on past glories, Berisha — a perfect foil for the deeper lying languor of Gui Finkler — has thrived in his new home. And as he’s thrived so too have Victory’s other frontline players such as Kosta Barbarouses, Archie Thompson and Fahid Ben Khalfallah. Behind this enviable strike force Victory have looked organised and methodical, something underlined by their conceding just 31 goals, the fewest this season.
For all the two teams’ success in the A-League in its first half decade, this will be just their second grand final as opponents. The last one, in 2010 at Etihad Stadium, finished 1-1 before Sydney triumphed 4-2 in a penalty shootout. Five of Sunday’s combatants endure from that game (Thompson, Leigh Broxham, Seb Ryall, Alex Brosque and Ivan Necevski) while a sixth now coaches the Victory. That Muscat played in that game and missed Victory’s opening penalty is a memory Sydney supporters seek out when life’s cold winds whip around them. For Muscat, a win on Sunday wouldn’t make amends, but it would still be one hell of a consolation.
This season Melbourne and Sydney have played four times (including a 1-1 pre-season friendly in Hobart) for four draws, the past two of which were both 3-3 barnburners. With both teams committing players forward it was end to end football, the kind that explains to outsiders what it is about football that the world loves so much. If the two teams bring a similar verve and mindset to Sunday’s grand final at AAMI Park, we’re set for a classic too close to call.
