Finals Week One In The A-League, With Ze Phibber
The first round of the elimination is over and the semi finals have now been set. As I have said before, finals footy is so much different to the league and sadly the Phoenix were not able to produce anything near their best and have since been eliminated. But hey, there are a lot of positives to take from this season so they can walk away with their heads held high. Brisbane should also be proud as they got a lot further then I expected them to after the opening half of the season and put out a valiant performance against a top Adelaide side.
The first game of the week was between the Brisbane Roar and Adelaide United. This was an absolutely cracking match, exactly what the fans would have paid to see. The match finished with Adelaide taking out the match in dramatic fashion 2-1. Goals to Craig Goodwin (Ade), Thomas Broich (Bri) and Awer Mabil (Ade). Wow, first up how about that goal from Craig Goodwin? It was an absolute stormer! Goodwin lined up the free kick which I reckon was close to 30 yards and absolutely hammered the ball into the top left corner! What a ripper. Goodwin knew it was goal bound as soon as he had hit the ball and was already halfway across the pitch celebrating. It's pretty damn hard to score a better goal then that and as a result Craig's pinger of a free kick is the Phibber's Goal of the Week.
The Roar really did give it all they had in this game though And they had many good chances. Thomas Broich pounced on a careless error from Dylan McGowan, who would have been wanting to bury himself after kinda tripping over his feet trying to pass the ball and then seeing Brioch tuck the ball away into the bottom corner, hahaha it was so gumby. Now with only two games being played it's not easy pickings for the knob of the week, but when you almost cost your team a spot in the semis the selection almost picks itself. Dylan, that was a horrible error and as a result you are the Phibbers Knob of the Week. The second half saw so much action and some excellent saves from both keepers, Jaime Young was out of control and single handedly almost took his team into extra time. Credit to Adelaide, however, as they never gave up and all their hard work really payed off when substitute Awer Mabil was able to produce a classy finish 3 mins from time to keep the home crowd happy and send Adelaide into the semis.
The second elimination round was between the Wellington Phoenix and Melbourne City FC, City taking it out 2-0. Goals to Josh Kennedy (Mel) and Glen Moss (Pho, OG). Ahh well this was disappointing to say the least. Disappointing because not only were the Phoenix lacklustre but the goals the conceded were relatively soft. But hey no use in complaining, City came to play and the deserved the win. They just seemed like they wanted it more. Durante summed it up perfectly after the match: "It's so disappointing, who would have thought our home record would've been the thing that let us down this season. We had a good run into the semis in terms of home games and we didn't take advantage". Well ain't that the truth, I talked about the business end of the season and how we needed players to step up and really finish of the season strongly and for the Phoenix that just didn't happen. It is frustrating but I'm still proud of the boys especially as they were top of the table at one stage. Still lots to build on but I'm hopeful that we will go at least one better next season.
So the first elimination round is over and now we have the semis set. First up we have the Melbourne Derby. This will be a ferocious clash. City have already gone one better then they were expected to so they have absolutely nothing to lose. I have been so so terrible at predicting results that I'm going to try and stay away from it. What the hell, I could sense another upset here, City with nothing to lose and the Victory with everything, this could be a classic tale of the underdog defying all odds. The second semi is between Sydney FC and Adelaide United. This will be another close fixture, however I think that Sydney have really hit their straps in the last few weeks and they will be a very hard team to beat. I think in all seriousness it is going to be a Sydney V Melbourne Victory final but hey I have been wrong before (basically every week).