THE TITLE RACE HEATS UP
Your City boys return from the international break today, gearing up to face Newcastle Jets at AAMI Park.
Marco Tilio and City’s newest Socceroos duo, Aiden O’Neill and Jordan Bos, will return to the fold for City this week as the boys ramp up preparations for our first game in two weeks.
Both O’Neill and Bos are fresh off memorable debuts for the national side, with the former starting the first friendly against Ecuador before we saw all three of our City boys come on as substitutes in the second fixture.
Making his debut on home soil, Bos became the fifth City Academy graduate to represent the Socceroos on the international stage.
The international break came at an opportune time for our City squad as we prepare for the final six games of the regular season and what is set to be an action-packed finals series.
While our position at the top of the table hasn’t wavered, the squad has been hit with a handful of injuries to key players in recent weeks, meaning Head Coach Rado Vidosic has had to call upon other members of the squad to fill the void.
As we head into the final weeks of the season, points are at a premium as clubs jostle for positions in the top 6. For City, having led from the front all season long, we’re in no danger of missing the Finals, but instead, it’s a case of finishing what we started and closing out the final weeks strongly.
Our strong regular season form has seen us record only three losses, however, two of those have come in the past five games.
As we gear up for Finals and push to secure a third consecutive Premiers Plate, our boys will be hoping to find their groove once again and return to the incredible consistency we have seen already this season.
This Sunday’s clash against the Jets is the perfect opportunity for the side to return from the international break with a bang, in what will be the first of three home games in eight days.
Coming off a 1-1 draw with Macarthur last time out, we’ll be eying off all three points at home as we look to lock in that Premiers Plate sooner rather than later.
*Please note, this was written prior to this weekend’s matches. Refer to KEEPUP for the latest ladder.
A-LEAGUE MEN PREVIEW
DANGER PLAYER
TRENT BUHAGIAR
It’s been an up-and-down season for the Jets so far, but one player that’s been consistent throughout is Trent Buhagiar.
The Jets forward has been one of the brightest spots of the season for the Novocastrian side, putting in numerous big performances throughout the 2022/23 campaign. Buhagiar has five goals and four assists to his name, with four of those goal contributions coming in the team’s last three games. Also interesting to note is that of the games that he’s scored in, Newcastle are yet to lose – winning four and drawing one.
Sunday 2 April City Insider
IZUZU UTE A-LEAGUE 2022/23 SUN 19 MARCH / CAMPBELLTOWN STADIUM LAST TIME WE MET
IZUZU UTE A-LEAGUE 2022/23 SUN 12 NOVEMBER / MCDONALD JONES STADIUM
LAST RESULT 1 1
1 2
Tom Glover
Matthew Sutton
Scott Galloway
Scott Jamieson
Nuno Reis
Thomas Lam
Jordon Hall
Curtis Good
Callum Talbot
Kerin Stokes
Jordan Bos
Florin Berenguer
Aiden O’Neill
Valon Berisha
Luke Oresti
Emile Peios
Jamie Maclaren
Andrew Nabbout
Marco Tilio
Raphel Borges Rodrigues
Max Caputo
Patrick Hogan Rado Vidosic
Sunday 2 April
Sunday 2 April City Insider Kick goals with a new home or an investment. *Exclusive to Melbourne City FC members. For full t&c’s visit gojubilee.com.au Land and Townhomes Off * gojubilee.com.au
City Insider
Matthew Jurman (CC)
IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS
Our City Women could have all to play for in their final game of the regular season, set to take on Canberra United at AAMI Park.
With both sides in a battle for a spot in the Finals, Sunday’s game is set to decide City’s season as it looks to lock in a spot in the top four.
This weekend’s final-round clash is shaping up as a big one, with both teams in a tight battle for a spot in the hotly contested top four.
We sit 3rd on the table on 29 points* but with Canberra United and Melbourne Victory hot on our heels on 28 points, this three-way battle is set to go right down to the wire with only two spots left for the three teams to fight for.
A Melbourne Victory win over Wellington Phoenix on Saturday, will mean today’s game suddenly becomes do-or-die for City’s finals hopes. By the time you’re reading this, you’ll of course know the equation.
A Victory loss means we are safe regardless of the result of our match, while a Victory draw would also work well for us, as long we don’t cop a huge defeat to Canberra.
Regardless of what happens on Saturday, Dario Vidosic’s squad will
no doubt be heading into Sunday’s game with the sole intention of securing all three points – the perfect way to lead into a Finals campaign with the Championship up for grabs.
For 70 minutes of our game last against Perth Glory at Macedonia Park, we looked in total control of the contest and were on track to cement a Finals spot.
Then in the blink of an eye, the game completely flipped on its head and we saw the ball sail into the back of our net twice within two minutes.
In that frantic final twenty minutes we saw a whopping six goals scored and suddenly, our City Women were walking off the pitch on the wrong side of the score line after doing so many things well for so much of the contest.
With plenty to play for this weekend, we’ll need to quickly brush off the loss and try and bottle that first 70 minutes into a complete and polished performance today against Canberra.
*Please note, this was written prior to yesterday's Victory/Phoenix matchup. Refer to KEEPUP to see the results of that match!
A-LEAGUE WOMEN PREVIEW
DANGER PLAYER
4 3
Standing in the way between City and a Finals spot today could be one of the most decorated players in A-League Women history. Canberra striker Michelle Heyman will today become the outright all-time leader in appearances in the competition’s history, stepping onto the pitch for the 161st time. She’s scored a remarked 94 goals in that time, including 12 so far this season which sees her currently in the lead by a sole goal in the race for the Golden Boot. It’s a big game for City tonight but will all these factors of added motivation for Canberra, expect to see them right up for the contest too.
Sunday 2 April City Insider
LAST RESULT
LIBERTY A-LEAGUE 2022/23 SUN 26 MAR / MACEDONIA PARK
MICHELLE HEYMAN
TWO NEW ADDITIONS TO OUR ‘CITYROOS’ CONTINGENT
The Melbourne City influence over the Socceroos continued to grow over the recent international window, with not one - but two - City stars making their debuts for the national team.
Fresh off a brace in his final club match before the international break, City midfielder Aiden O’Neill became Socceroo Cap #629 with a stellar starting debut.
The 24-year-old continued his rich run of form in defensive midfield, playing an important role in the Socceroos 3-1 win over Ecuador last Friday.
Following his first match for Australia, O’Neill expressed his delight in representing his country on home soil.
“My family is here from Brisbane, my sister and everything. Tonight was unbelievable and to get a result like that – I thought we were really disciplined and I thought we played really well.
“I think I just really enjoyed myself out there. I’ve said during the league that I’ve just really been enjoying my football and tonight I just really enjoyed that. It felt like I belonged out there.”
O’Neill’s Socceroos teammate, Harry Souttar, praised the City midfielder’s performance following the match - “Aiden O’Neill making his debut, you’re not going to get many better debuts than that,” Souttar said. “The future is really bright for us.”
City young gun Jordan Bos was the other familiar face making his first appearance in the green and gold, although he was made to wait until the second fixture of the window.
Bos became the fifth City Academy graduate to represent the Socceroos, following in the footsteps of Daniel Arzani, Denis Genreau, Connor
Metcalfe and Nathaniel Atkinson.
The 20-year-old made his debut as a 54th-minute substitute, entering the field of play alongside O’Neill.
Following the match, Bos reflected on making his debut for his country.
“It’s always an honour obviously,” Bos told 10 Football. “Hopefully there’s many more to come.” “I think he [Arnie] wanted me to make my debut in front of my family and friends in Melbourne here”.
“They’re [Ecuador] a great squad, they’re physical and fast, it was a great challenge for me and I’ll take a lot from it.”
The Socceroos suffered a 2-1 loss to Ecuador in their second of two fixtures to close out the March International window. Bos, O’Neill and Marco Tilio are now back with their City teammates and ready to go for today’s clash.
City Insider
UNBELIEVABLE, IT’S HARD TO PUT INTO WORDS. - AIDEN O’NIELL
PREMIERS PLATE RACE HEATING UP
Points are at a premium as we come towards the pointy end of the 2022/23 A-League Men’s season, with Melbourne City in hot pursuit of its third straight Premiers Plate.
Our City boys have been leading the charge at the top of the table for practically the entirety of the season, currently sitting on 41 points from 20 games.
With still a game in hand up its sleeve, City has a handy four-buffer from the 2nd-place Adelaide United, with Rado Vidosic’s side having been the benchmark for the rest of the competition all season long, boasting an incredible record of 12 wins, 5 draws and 3 losses.
Behind them in the pack is Adelaide (37 pts) and Western Sydney (34 pts), giving City a nice advantage leading into the backend of the season.
City are in the unique position of six regular season games left to be played at this point of the season compared to the rest of the competitions with five remaining fixtures.
Our suspended match against Melbourne Victory is still set to be resumed at the 22nd minute mark, with City leading 1-0 thanks to Aiden O’Neill’s goal before play was stopped.
If Adelaide were to win every game from here on out, it would mean City would still only need to record 12 from the possible 18 points on offer to secure the Premiers Plate well before the final gameday rolls around.
Of course, that means if Adelaide is to slip, even so slightly, the odds shift dramatically into City’s favour.
Assuming both Adelaide and City win every game for the rest of the season, the earliest City could secure the Premiers Plate would come with still two games to spare in the season.
City’s run home features three games against sides in the bottom half of the table in the Newcastle Jets, Western United and Melbourne Victory.
Arguably its toughest test will be against Central Coast and Western Sydney, but City will be hoping the Premiers Plate is already in its possession by the time it faces the now 3rd placed Wanderers in the final round of the season.
City has shown that it can be a class above the rest of the pack at times this season and with so much on the line, we will no doubt be pushing hard to finish what we started and eye off the Premiers Plate and Championship double.
Sunday 2 April City Insider
