By any yardstick this was a “football, bloody hell!” weekend.
Fourteen goals in two games of contrasting brilliance. The first a tactical masterclass, ripe for deconstruction by digital magnet board. The second, total and utter chaos with all the common sense of a Donald Trump husting. Both were glorious in their own way. The latter is destined for legend.
Despite all the twists and turns along the way, the two home sides, the most successful pair during the regular season, progressed to the grand final.
Adelaide United were magisterial in disposing of Melbourne City. The 4-1 scoreline did not flatter them. Western Sydney Wanderers contrived to turn their passage into an epic but as only goal difference separated them and Brisbane Roar on the ladder it was fitting they were so difficult to prise apart in sudden death.
Football Federation Australia could not have planned it better. Four of the country’s five biggest population centres validating its finals system. Its showpiece will now be staged at the country’s most beautiful arena and will witness a first time champion.
Finals models like the A-League’s succeed because of their future focus. Each home and away and playoff round funnels the season closer to its climax, steering our collective eye towards the vanishing point. We become fixated on what’s next.
All competitions have to end somehow, but reliance on a league table alone draws out the conclusion over a much greater period of time. It provides more opportunity to reflect and appraise. It allows for more confident scrutiny as the future is easier to predict. Knockout football, of the kind witnessed this past fortnight, offers something unscripted, urgent and visceral.
That the main event will feature Wanderers looked improbable 23 minutes into their semi final. Somehow they were 3-0 down to a hat-trick of goals that all felt against the run of play. The second typified the opening quarter of the match, ricocheting off Andreu’s backside beyond Andrew Redmayne.
All Wandering eyes were drawn to Tony Popovic. He stood motionless in his all-black business wear like a Scorsese cast member whose character notes included an immunity to the sight of human suffering. His unruffled assurance transmitted to his team and within three minutes the recovery job was underway. Just 33 minutes more and they were deservedly in front.
For the second final in a row John Aloisi’s substitutions changed the game. Tommy Oar’s industry unsettled the Wanderers and prompted Jamie Maclaren’s equaliser. Something was missing on the night from the Roar though, despite their contribution to such a memorable encounter. Thomas Broich in particular was off his game and the sporadic attacks on Redmayne’s goal were uncharacteristically skittish.
By the end of extra time Wanderers had three times the amount of shots on target as Roar. One of those was a near post flick from substitute Dario Vidosic to clinch the most extraordinary of victories.
Adelaide’s performance was as sublime as Western Sydney’s was ridiculous. As he has for most of the season Guillermo Amor got his tactics spot on. The manic forward pressure of the first half suffocated City, denying the visitors any time on the ball. By retaining Craig Goodwin ahead of Tarek Elrich at left-back, Amor operated with almost two left wingers against City’s understrength right flank.
In the second half, when the visitors wrestled a modicum of control, waves of retreating Adelaide attackers formed a sea of red between Eugene Galekovic and City’s back four, one that even Moses may have struggled to part.
When City took three points away from Coopers Stadium in round 23 they could point to Osama Malik’s towering performance at the base of midfield. On Friday his former team simply bypassed him. Ball-carriers drove into City territory at pace, forcing Malik to leave his station. Ball-players shifted possession with a minimum of fuss, denying the stopper the chance to step out and intercept.
Aaron Mooy and Anthony Caceres did not lack for effort elsewhere in City’s midfield but they were always chasing, never leading.
United’s attacks were brisk and incisive. Bruce Djite excelled as the pivot while Marcelo Carrusca, Sergio Cirio and Bruce Kamau worked around him, occupying space in channels with the ubiquity and irritancy of reality cooking shows. With a lesser goalkeeper than Thomas Sorensen the contest could have been over in spirit before the interval. Djite made sure it didn’t survive much longer after it.
Almost as soon as Strebre Delovski blew the final whistle the pull of the future yanked United’s celebrations out of the present. 5,000 grand final tickets sold within an hour, building hope the Adelaide Oval, over three times the capacity of the Reds’ regular venue, may be full enough not to question the decision to overlook home comforts.
