MUSCAT TARGETS SYDNEY
SYDNEY FC skipper Alex Brosque is braced for the most fiery, physical football Melbourne Victory can bring to Sunday’s A-League grand final.
And even if their combatants manage to take an early lead, he still expects the Sky Blues to lift their first championship trophy in seven years.
“All our games against Melbourne have been physical so I’m definitely expecting that,” Brosque said.
“It’s a final so there’ll be fight right throughout.
“If, anything it’s good that we can draw on the past three games and whether we score first or concede, we know we can go on with the job and win the game.
“It will be a fight but we’re ready for it, and we’re looking forward to it.”
On the line at Allianz Stadium is the best regular season in the competition’s 12-year history, with an all-time high points tally of 66 from a possible 81, along with a formidable 16 clean sheets and just 12 goals conceded. Yet Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold still refused to be drawn into what could go wrong at the final hurdle.
“What if this happens? What if that happens? What happens if you walk across the road in front of a car? We don’t think like that,” Arnold said. “We turn up every day preparing ourselves to win, and we expect to win tomorrow.”
It won’t be lost on the Victory that in their three homeand-away losses to Sydney this season, Kevin Muscat’s men have scored only two goals.
Add to that, the Sky Blues have only conceded three at Allianz all season and have scored more than two-thirds of their goals in the second half.
With that in mind, Sydney’s 2015 grand final loss to Victory doesn’t even figure for Arnold, now in his third season with the club.
“We only look forward and it’s two totally different teams,” he said.
“Kevin will tell you the same. He’s got different players, I’ve got different players, it’s a totally different occasion and one we don’t look back on at all.”
For Brosque, one of the few who did play in that emphatic 3-0 loss at AAMI Park, the difference is obvious. “It’s at home,” Brosque said. “Since year one Sydney hasn’t hosted a grand final.
“To be able to win a grand final at home is the ultimate thing you can do as an ALeague footballer, so we’ll be looking forward to doing that.”