MVFC Blog

The Melbourne Victory takes on Sydney FC tonight in what will be an intriguing and important match between the A-League’s two Grand Final winners.

Meanwhile, the current season’s top runners, the Newcastle Jets and the Central Coast Mariners, will battle it out on Sunday in Newcastle. Whatever the result there, a win in Sydney will push the Victory into a strong top 3 spot - potentially within game of taking first place.

But Sydney are tied with Melbourne on points, so they have as much to play for.

I made it clear before the season started that I did not fancy Sydney’s chances this year. My reasoning boiled down to the simple fact that Branko Culina’s team would struggle for goals. Sure enough, the first 4 weeks of the season indicated that I had tipped correctly, as Sydney dropped to the bottom of the table with 2 draws and 2 losses. But the past two weeks has seen a revival of sorts, Sydney pulling off consecutive 1-0 victories over Queensland and Newcastle.

Melbourne also seems to have been empowered by its last two matches (which, strangely enough, were also with Queensland and Newcastle). This season has been patchy: it took us 6 weeks to register a win, and even then it was only after a solid 60 minutes of hit-and-miss football that the team really started to get some semblance of rhythm. After 4 goals from the past two matches, Melbourne fans have a cause to be optimistic.

After a bad spell with injuries, both teams will be enjoying close to full-strength squads. Culina has Tony Popovic at his disposal; and Brazilian star Juninho has been back from injury since round 5. Meanwhile, Ernie Merrick will be pleased to have Kevin Muscat and Danny Allsopp back in full strength, after both were doubtful for last week’s encounter with Queensland. Daniel Piorkowski’s injury has turned out less serious than feared, so he can be expected in the line-up. Matthew Kemp has also been recalled to the squad, begging what seems to be the weekly question: How will Merrick organise the midfield? With Muscat, Brebner, Keenan, Kemp, Hernandez, Broxham and Caceres at his disposal, coach Merrick has a range of options at his fingertips.

This is a tough game to predict. Frankly, while I didn’t rate Sydney much at the start of the season, they have come off two solid wins and look like they might just upset my pre-season predictions. But Melbourne also approaches this game on a high. If the Victory can manage to play with the sort of intensity and fervour that characterised the final 25 minutes of play at Telstra Dome last Friday night, I’m tipping they’ll be able to topple Sydney - and by a decent margin.

My prediction: Sydney FC 1, Melbourne Victory 3

Your prediction?