FTS A-League Round 15 Preview – Melbourne City vs. Western Sydney Wanderers
In its infinite wisdom the FFA has scheduled this game less than 24 hours after the Socceroos play their most important game on home soil in recent memory. Of course they weren’t to know the Socceroos would make the final of the Asian Cup, but one would suspect they were hoping for this scenario to play out.
At least the game isn’t played at the same time as the men’s final of the Australian Open, people attending the game have 30 minutes to get home, or over the road to watch the first tennis grand slam of the year. Once again those making the schedule at FFA headquarters prove how just out of touch they are with the fans. Anyway back to the review of the game.
Melbourne City will still be reeling from their disappointing performance away to Central Coast. The inept performance saw the team fail to capitalise on a position where they could’ve been seven points clear of the bottom four teams. The 5-2 win against Newcastle now looks very different given the events of the Hunter Valley club in recent days.
Western Sydney is still without a win (apart from the Asian Champions League) this season and we really don’t know where the club is at currently. A midseason clear out saw crowd favorite Vitor Saba given his marching orders, along with a few others. Wanderers will be without Matthew Spiranovic and Tomi Juric who are likely to be involved in the Asian Cup final. This season hasn’t started for Tony Popovic yet, but I think once he has a full squad together they can challenge for the last finals spot. Time is running out for the Wanderers in 2014/15 so the next month is vital for them to perform well and start getting wins on the board.
Josh Kennedy has been named in the City squad but is highly unlikely to play according to John Van’t Schip. Once again Melbourne City will be without the services of a marquee player due to injury, only this time they were fully aware of the player’s injury before signing him to a marquee contract. The sooner the club is run professionally off the field; the sooner fans will have confidence in City actually achieving something in the A-League. This might even attract higher crowds than Palestine vs. Jordan (10,808) at AAMI Park or the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium.
Head to Head:
Played: 6 Melbourne City: 0 Draws: 1 Western Sydney: 5
Last meeting:
12 April 2014 (AAMI Park) Melbourne City 2 lost to Western Sydney 3
Harry Kewell’s final game as a professional footballer.
Form Guide:
Melbourne City: LWDWW (6th 16pts)
Western Sydney: LDLLL (10th 4pts)
Melbourne City (Probable):
Redmayne, Hoffman, Chapman, Kisnorbo, Garrucio, Paartalu, Mooy, Melling, Duff, Koren, Williams.
Western Sydney (Probable):
Coe, Cole, Hamill, Topor-Stanley, Golec, Haliti, Poljak, Sotirio, Trifiro, Rukavytsa, Santalab
Absentee List:
Melbourne City:
Mate Dugandzic (knee – 2 weeks), James Brown (knee – TBC), Rob Wielaert (ankle – TBC), Tando Velaphi (suspended – 1 week).
Massimo Murdocca, Jonathan Germano and Paulo Retre haven’t been named.
Western Sydney:
Tomi Juric (Socceroos duty – 1 week), Matthew Spiranovic (Socceroos duty – 1 week), Nick Kalmar (Injury replacement contract ended), Gol Gol Mebrahtu (knee – season)
Eyes on:
Aaron Mooy
Many predicted the attacking midfielder to be part of the 23 man Socceroos squad, but instead Mooy finds himself ready to face his former club Western Sydney. Mooy will be keen to prove to Postecoglu why he is widely regarded as one of the best up and coming midfielders in the league and how he controls the City tempo. Mooy has been a great addition to the City lineup finally giving them an outlet at dead ball situations, something Dugandzic was incapable of. Mooy should work well throughout the midfield with Robert Koren who received crucial game time before the Asian Cup break.
Prediction:
If City cannot take their chances Sunday one would start to wonder if they are ever going to beat Western Sydney. With two players on international duty and without a win Sunday is the perfect chance for three valuable points. Thomas Broich and Michael Theo are back for Brisbane and their campaign looks to be back on track, City will be looking over their shoulder for the last remaining finals place.
Melbourne City 2 – Western Sydney 1
FTS Fact:
- Only two current players have scored goals for Heart/City against the Wanderers. David Williams and Jason Hoffman.
- Western Sydney has won all three games played at AAMI Park against Heart/City.
