First of all, I hope that you and your friends and family have all remained safe this weekend. My deepest sympathies go out to anyone who has lost a loved one in the bush fires. It didn’t feel quite right to start this blog post without pausing to acknowledge what’s currently happening in our fine state. May God be with all those men and women fighting fires.
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Melbourne all but booked its second home Grand Final with a 2-0 win over Adelaide United on Saturday night. After Queensland pulled off a similar upset the night before, beating the Mariners 2-0 in Gosford, this coming weekend’s round is simply a matter of Melbourne and Queensland holding off what will undoubtedly be the desperate efforts of their respective opponents.
Melbourne came out with the right attitude, attacking vivaciously and getting a deserved opener after 13 minutes. The goal, from the boot of Carlos Hernández, was an indication of the kind of form Melbourne was in. For one, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen Carlos run that fast; and 9 times out of 10, shots like that are fired well over the bar. Not this time. This was Melbourne’s night.
I was surprised to see Aurelio Vidmar wait so long before bringing on Cristiano. Certainly, to start with Paul Agostino, a striker who hasn’t scored in his last seven appearances, was a brave/odd/foolish move – and it didn’t pay off. From what I’ve seen of Adelaide this year, they look far more dangerous with Cristiano on – if only because the Brazilian is such a superb cheater and able to conjure penalties like an evil David Copperfield.
Both keepers had excellent games. Galekovic may have been beaten twice, but he pulled off one of the most impressive saves I’ve seen all year, stopping a sure-fire goal from Hernández with a lunge and one-handed save. Theo also made an important save in the first half, blocking a sneaky shot from Kristian Sarkies with his legs.
I was supremely impressed with Melbourne’s performance. We defended well, attacked even better, and looked far more dangerous than Adelaide. Carlos Hernández, Danny Allsopp, Sebastian Ryall, Rodrigo Vargas, Archie Thompson – all had excellent games, while there were very few weak links among the rest of the eleven.
YouTube videos don’t appear to be working on MVFC Blog at the moment, so for your viewing pleasure I will direct you here.
3 comments ↓
Damn shame we didn’t score a third
However I think a good performance overall. As much as I would like to, I don’t want to sing and dance just yet, I will be far more relaxed when we score the first goal at the Dome on Saturday…..
Don’t worry Cliff, you’ve got it in the bag, sadly!
I know, I know, a third would have been lovely:) I guess having at least a little bit of suspense for this Saturday’s game is good – will probably help ticket sales!
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