{"id":17498,"date":"2025-05-21T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T19:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/?p=17498"},"modified":"2025-05-21T09:23:34","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T21:23:34","slug":"a-league-semi-finals-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/05\/a-league-semi-finals-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"A-League Tips & Preview | Semi Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Second Legs<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n \n
\n <\/use><\/svg><\/span>\n
\n
Auckland FC<\/div>\n
vs<\/div>\n
Melbourne Victory<\/div>\n
7:00pm Saturday | Go Media Stadium<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/use><\/svg><\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n

90 minutes away from a maiden A-League Grand Final appearance, Auckland is in prime position to eliminate Melbourne Victory in Saturday\u2019s first match.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

However the visitors face a massive uphill battle against a side that has lost just once in 13 home games.<\/p>\n

Their defensive record is phenomenal, keeping six clean sheets and holding opponents to one goal another four times.<\/p>\n

Look for another Corica coaching special as Auckland does enough to get themselves over the line in the match and tie, ensuring they will be back at Go Media Stadium in seven days time.<\/p>\n

BEST<\/strong>: Auckland to Win $2.10 | VALUE<\/strong>: Auckland to Win and Under 2.5 Goals $5.00<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\n Auckland FC v Melbourne Victory<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n\n

First Legs<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n \n
\n <\/use><\/svg><\/span>\n
\n
Western United<\/div>\n
vs<\/div>\n
Melbourne City<\/div>\n
9:35pm Friday | AAMI Park<\/div>\n
Melbourne City Won 3-0<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/use><\/svg><\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n

While you might think we\u2019re heading back to Ironbark Fields to kick off the first weekend of Semi Final action in the A-League, instead United will be hosting City at AAMI Park.<\/p>\n

John Aloisi\u2019s side rode their luck against Adelaide, coming away with a nervy 3-2 victory win with Noah Botic playing a starring role.<\/p>\n

Melbourne City have had a week to rest but it may work to their disadvantage, riding a six match unbeaten run prior to their bye.<\/p>\n

History firmly favours City as well, winning the last four games between the clubs, but it is tough to ignore the potency of Western United in attack.<\/p>\n

It might not be enough to get them to a Grand Final, but Western should be able to set up a lead to defend heading into the second leg.<\/p>\n

BEST<\/strong>: Western United to Win $2.70 | VALUE<\/strong>: Melbourne City to Win and Over 3.5 Goals $5.00<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\n Western United v Melbourne City<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n \n
\n <\/use><\/svg><\/span>\n
\n
Melbourne Victory<\/div>\n
vs<\/div>\n
Auckland FC<\/div>\n
9:35pm Saturday | AAMI Park<\/div>\n
Auckland FC Won 1-0<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/use><\/svg><\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n

Try as they might, the Victory just won\u2019t go away with Daniel Arzarni starring in last week\u2019s tense Elimination Final win in Western Sydney.<\/p>\n

That has earned them a home date with the reigning premiers and we only have to look back 12 months to know this is the time of year where they are at their most dangerous.<\/p>\n

On that occasion they faced an upstart Wellington Phoenix side, drawing the home leg 0-0 before drawing the second leg and winning the tie in extra time at the Caketin.<\/p>\n

That strategy has worked for them and wanting to play in a tight, low scoring contest will give them the best chance of advancing beyond this stage.<\/p>\n

Playing in that sort of game is perfectly fine by Auckland, they have done so superbly all season and will feel very confident of taking the second leg back at Go Media Stadium.<\/p>\n

For both sides this first leg will be about damage limitation and the under looks like the way to go.<\/p>\n

BEST<\/strong>: Under 2.5 Goals $2.10 | VALUE<\/strong>: Draw and Under 2.5 Goals $4.60<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\n Melbourne Victory v Auckland FC<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

90 minutes away from a maiden A-League Grand Final appearance, Auckland is in prime position to eliminate Melbourne Victory in Saturday\u2019s 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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":7577,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,133],"tags":[132],"hub_post_cat":[],"class_list":["post-17498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","category-football-tips","tag-a-league"],"acf":{"md_tip_date":"","md_tip_date_end":null,"md_market_url":"","tip_date":"21\/05\/2025","event_country":"New Zealand"},"yoast_head":"\nA-League Tips & Preview | Semi Finals - TAB NZ Punters Lounge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/05\/a-league-semi-finals-tips\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A-League Tips & Preview | Semi Finals - TAB NZ Punters Lounge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"90 minutes away from a maiden A-League Grand Final appearance, Auckland is in prime position to eliminate Melbourne Victory in Saturday\u2019s 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…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/05\/a-league-semi-finals-tips\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TAB NZ Punters Lounge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-20T19:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-20T21:23:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Auckland_FC_A_League_1200x675-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Caughlin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Caughlin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/05\/a-league-semi-finals-tips\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/05\/a-league-semi-finals-tips\/\",\"name\":\"A-League Tips & Preview | Semi Finals - TAB NZ Punters Lounge\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/05\/a-league-semi-finals-tips\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/05\/a-league-semi-finals-tips\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Auckland_FC_A_League_1200x675-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-20T19:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-20T21:23:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/#\/schema\/person\/5f045313bfb9128991fe1293434f7eef\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/05\/a-league-semi-finals-tips\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/05\/a-league-semi-finals-tips\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/05\/a-league-semi-finals-tips\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Auckland_FC_A_League_1200x675-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Auckland_FC_A_League_1200x675-1.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/05\/a-league-semi-finals-tips\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A-League Tips & Preview | Semi Finals\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/\",\"name\":\"TAB NZ Punters Lounge\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-NZ\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/#\/schema\/person\/5f045313bfb9128991fe1293434f7eef\",\"name\":\"James Caughlin\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/author\/jamescaughlin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A-League Tips & Preview | Semi Finals - TAB NZ Punters Lounge","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/05\/a-league-semi-finals-tips\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A-League Tips & Preview | Semi Finals - TAB NZ Punters Lounge","og_description":"90 minutes away from a maiden A-League Grand Final appearance, Auckland is in prime position to eliminate Melbourne Victory in Saturday\u2019s 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…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/05\/a-league-semi-finals-tips\/","og_site_name":"TAB NZ Punters Lounge","article_published_time":"2025-05-20T19:30:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-05-20T21:23:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Auckland_FC_A_League_1200x675-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"James Caughlin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James Caughlin","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/05\/a-league-semi-finals-tips\/","url":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/05\/a-league-semi-finals-tips\/","name":"A-League Tips & Preview | Semi Finals - TAB NZ Punters Lounge","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/05\/a-league-semi-finals-tips\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/05\/a-league-semi-finals-tips\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Auckland_FC_A_League_1200x675-1.jpg","datePublished":"2025-05-20T19:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-20T21:23:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/#\/schema\/person\/5f045313bfb9128991fe1293434f7eef"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/05\/a-league-semi-finals-tips\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-NZ","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/05\/a-league-semi-finals-tips\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-NZ","@id":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/05\/a-league-semi-finals-tips\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Auckland_FC_A_League_1200x675-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Auckland_FC_A_League_1200x675-1.jpg","width":1200,"height":675},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/2025\/05\/a-league-semi-finals-tips\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A-League Tips & Preview | Semi Finals"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/","name":"TAB NZ Punters Lounge","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-NZ"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/#\/schema\/person\/5f045313bfb9128991fe1293434f7eef","name":"James Caughlin","url":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/author\/jamescaughlin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17498"},{"taxonomy":"hub_post_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tab.co.nz\/punters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hub_post_cat?post=17498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}