THE biggest match of the season to date sees Adelaide United host Melbourne City in their first ever play-off clash for a spot in the A-League grand final.
The Reds made a miraculous turnaround this season to go from winless in eight matches and in last spot to top of the league after the final round.
And while Adelaide secured a club record 13 clean sheets during their 14-match undefeated streak, their only two home losses this season came at the hands of their semi final opponents.
But City haven’t been in hot form on the road. This season the Melbourne team has won just four of 13 away matches. Though after their convincing 2-0 elimination final win over Perth Glory last weekend, they will be confident of taking out the Premiers’ Plate winners at Hindmarsh Stadium.
Key to beating City will be shutting down their two biggest threats - Bruno Fornaroli and Aaron Mooy. The Reds did that successfully in their 2-0 win over Melbourne two weeks ago by limiting the space between the lines and consistently breaking up the play. And that last encounter was a fiery affair. The sides engaged in a half-time fight that has seen Harry Novillo suspended for the semi final.
Over the three meetings this season it’s been a spiteful contest. 110 fouls were committed at an average of 37 per game, yielding an average 5.3 yellow cards per match over the fixture’s history - the equal fifth most of any A-League match-up.
But when it comes to putting the ball in the net, Adelaide has made a habit of scored early goals against City. The Reds have scored six times in the opening 15 minutes of matches against City, while their opponents have saved their goals for the second half. Nineteen of their 26 goals this season (73.1%) have come in the second period, including 13 in the final half-hour.
And with the Melbourne team setting a new A-League record for the most goals ever scored in an A-League season (65) last week, Adelaide will need to be strong in defence before posing a threat going forward.
ADELAIDE UNITED v MELBOURNE CITY
Semi Final One
Friday 22 April at Hindmarsh Stadium from 7:45pm AEST
LIVE on Fox Sports 505
Adelaide United squad: 1.Eugene GALEKOVIC (gk) (c), 2.Michael MARRONE, 3.Iacopo LA ROCCA, 4.Dylan McGOWAN, 6.Stefan MAUK, 7.PABLO SANCHEZ, 8.ISAIAS, 9.Sergio CIRIO, 10.Marcelo CARRUSCA, 11.Bruce DJITE, 12.Mark OCHIENG, 14.George MELLS, 16.Craig GOODWIN, 17.Mate DUGANDZIC, 20.John HALL (gk), 21.Tarek ELRICH, 23.Jordan ELSEY, 24.Bruce KAMAU
**two to be omitted**
Ins: 12.Mark OCHIENG (promoted), 21.Tarek ELRICH (returns from injury)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 19.Eli BABALJ (knee – season)
Melbourne City FC squad: 1.Thomas SORENSEN (gk), 2.Alex WILKINSON, 3.Aaron HUGHES, 4.Connor CHAPMAN, 8.Aaron MOOY, 14.James BROWN, 18.Paulo RETRE, 19.Ben GARUCCIO, 20.Dean BOUZANIS (gk), 22.Jack CLISBY, 23.Bruno FORNAROLI, 24.Patrick KISNORBO, 25.Jacob MELLING, 26.Marc MARINO, 27.Nick FITZGERALD, 28.Steve KUZMANOVSKI, 29.Anthony CACERES, 33.Osama MALIK
**two to be omitted**
Ins: 14.James BROWN (promoted), 28.Steve KUZMANOVSKI (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 5.Ivan FRANJIC (hamstring), 7.Corey GAMEIRO (knee – season), 9.Harry NOVILLO (suspended), 11.Michael ZULLO (foot – season), 17.Wade DEKKER (ankle – season)
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Melbourne City have won three of their last five matches against Adelaide United including two matches in South Australia.
This will be the 19th meeting between these teams, with Adelaide claiming eight wins compared to City’s five.
Adelaide will be looking to win consecutive games against City for just the second time – the only other coming in the first two meetings between the sides back in 2010-11.
There have been 18 goals scored in the last five matches between these teams with the cumulative score line reading 9-all.
WHY ADELAIDE WILL WIN
Adelaide have been almost flawless at home - not counting slip-ups against City.
The Reds have won seven and drawn one of their last nine matches on home soil and have conceded only seven goals in the process.
They’ve also won 51.8% of matches so far this season, the second most of any team behind Perth Glory (51.2%) and 2% more than Melbourne City (49.8%).
And most importantly, they figured out how to beat Melbourne two weeks ago - close the space and limit the chances for their dangerous attacking players. With a solid defence spearheaded by inspirational captain Eugene Galekovic in goals and Dylan McGowan at centre-half, they have the setup to shut City out.
WHY CITY WILL WIN
While Melbourne City has won only three of 10 games at Hindmarsh Stadium, two of those wins came this season.
Adelaide have won only three of 17 play-off matches in the A-League, the second lowest winning percentage in the play-offs (18%) of any team in the history of the competition (Perth 16%).
City roared back to life in their elimination final against Perth last week, and Bruno Fornaroli was the hero once again with his 24th and 25th goals of the season. Aaron Mooy also saw a return to top form and was influential in the vicotyr. The Australian midfielder has scored one goals and two assists in three games against Adelaide this season and will look to add to his record 21 assists for the campaign in the seim final.
KEY BATTLE: DJITE v FORNAROLI
Bruce Djite has been in red hot scoring form of late and after failing to strike in his first 12 games this season - he has now scored nine goals in his past 12 games.
After hitting four goals in his past three games (including one in Adelaide’s 2-0 win over City in the final round), Djite can become just the second Adelaide player to score in four consecutive games. Would there be a better time for the Reds to break another record this season?
But the Adelaide striker has more than stiff competition in the Golden Boot leader, Fornaroli. The Uruguayan became the 10th player to score multiple goals in a finals match last week and his bicycle kick and free-kick goals was the seventh time he’s hit a brace - extending his A-League record.
His ability to hold the ball up and then turn defenders at the drop of a hat will be vitally important to City’s success in the match, and Guillermo Amor showed two weeks ago that they know exactly how to stop that.