The 20th season of A-League football comes to a close this weekend with AAMI Park hosting its fourth Grand Final. While many New Zealanders were hoping Auckland FC would complete their memorable debut season with a home decider, the consolation of a Melbourne Derby is set to be a solid alternative. After finishing the season in second place, Melbourne City will be the designated home team as they seek a second Championship having won it all in 2021. Meanwhile Melbourne Victory are chasing their fifth Grand Final win in their eighth appearance. The stakes could not be higher and if…

90 minutes away from a maiden A-League Grand Final appearance, Auckland is in prime position to eliminate Melbourne Victory in Saturday’s first match. As expected, the first leg was a tense battle and the Victory certainly felt like they could have scored a goal or two, but won the match outright. However the visitors face a massive uphill battle against a side that has lost just once in 13 home games. Their defensive record is phenomenal, keeping six clean sheets and holding opponents to one goal another four times. Look for another Corica coaching special as Auckland does enough to…

While they may never admit it outwardly, Western United has to be a little bit relieved they will be facing Adelaide in the first Elimination Final instead of Sydney FC. The Sky Blues would have been a much tougher task than the Reds, who have won just one of their last 11 matches and twice in their last 14. To further erode confidence in Adelaide’s chances, since January 19 they have taken just 11 of a possible 42 points, by comparison last placed Perth took 12 of 42 points over that same run. Not to mention golden boot winner Archie…

It’s fair to say that both of these clubs will be happy to farewell A-League season 2024/25 after this fixture. Over the last 12 months, the Nix have gone from contending for trophies to being glad they have avoided the wooden spoon, which will reside in Perth after their last place finish was confirmed in Round 28. There really is not much on the line here and the risk with these dead rubbers is that the players become all to aware of the lack of stakes which points towards a pretty dire contest. Both sides were involved in 1-0 defeats…

It’s last chance saloon for Macarthur who have to win out to have any hope of making the finals. Standing in their way this weekend is a Victory side that could move up to third place (temporarily at least) with a win and needs just the one point to lock up a finals berth. The Bulls have had no troubles scoring in recent weeks with a 5-4 win in Adelaide and a 5-1 win in Brisbane as well as a 3-3 draw at home to Newcastle and a 2-2 draw in Gosford over the last month and a bit. Most…

Thursday night A-League comes to us from the Sunshine State as the Roar once again face the unenviable prospect of a maiden wooden spoon. John Aloisi won’t be in the mood to offer any favours for his former side though, with his current employers still a mathematical chance of winning the premiership and a strong chance of a top two finish. With three games remaining, any positive result here would lock up a finals berth and a win would put the pressure on Melbourne City. The visitors should win this game, it’s just a question of by how much and…