After a convincing 4-2 victory over Brisbane Roar in Darwin, Perth Glory are set to host the Australia Cup Round of 32’s marquee matchup at the Sam Kerr Football Centre. But as the great Bobby Bland would say, ain’t no love in the hearts of Melbourne City, who’ll travel west with something to prove in an attempt to get their own ambitions back on track. So before we ring the bell, let’s size up these two contenders and see what they’ll need to do in order to advance.
After not winning a single match outside of friendlies since February, the Glory sought a new dawn just after a glorious Darwin sunset against Brisbane Roar. Perth stumbled out of the gate and fell behind early, but rather than buckling early, the Glory held their resolve, and returnees Brandon O’Neill and Josh Risdon welcomed themselves back home with a beautiful pair of passes that set David Williams up for a point-blank equaliser.
The turning point came early in the second half, when Brisbane defender Corey Brown got a hand on Perth’s shot off a setpiece. It didn’t look malicious on Brown’s part, but it still earned him a red card and Perth a penalty, which winger Abdelelah Faisal dutifully sent off the post and in for his first goal with an A-League side.
The 18-year-old Macarthur academy product wasn’t done, though, and when a Brisbane corner a couple minutes later went woefully wrong, he joined the Glory’s furious end-to-end counter and seized a through ball from fellow rookie Khoa Ngo, then smashed it into the top corner, completing Faisal’s first professional brace.
David Williams of Perth Glory. (Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)
After that, Williams decided he wanted in on the fun again and served up a wicked leftward cross into the box, which ex-Wanderers benchwarmer Nathanael Blair rushed and slid to meet, giving Blair his own first goal for an A-League side in the process. Brisbane would get another goal in stoppage time, but it was too little too late, and after five long years, the Glory finally returned to the Australia Cup’s national rounds.
While Brisbane going down to ten men surely affected things, making the defence absolutely porous in the second half, there are plenty of positives to take from this, both in terms of new coach David Zdrilic’s first victory and in the array of young new attackers who made the most of their opportunities.
After three straight premierships and four straight trips to the grand finals, last year was a disappointment by City’s lofty standards. They squeezed into the postseason in sixth spot, just two points ahead of Western Sydney Wanderers, to set up the first postseason Melbourne derby in nine years. Despite scoring the first goal and holding a man advantage for most of the game, City just couldn’t shut the door on Melbourne Victory, who found an equaliser in the final minutes, kept it even in extra time, and won the penalty shootout, ending the Hearts’ year in heartbreak.
Even the AFC Champions League offered little respite, as a 1-0 loss to Thai treble holders Buriram United denied City the single point they would’ve needed to have a chance at reaching the Round of 16 as a wild card.
That said, City’s Australia Cup campaign last year was a strong improvement, as they made it to the semi-finals for the first time since 2019. Only eventual winners Sydney FC could finally stop the Hearts cold, and even that was by just a single goal. If City can match or surpass that run, it’ll send a massive warning to the rest of the A-League that their window of contention is far from closed.
However, they’ll have to do it without some major weapons on both sides of the ball. Franchise icon Jamie Maclaren moved on to storied Indian side Mohun Bagan, last year’s top scorer Tolgay Arslan is off to join Sanfrecce Hiroshima in Japan, and club mainstay Curtis Good left for Buriram United.
This means Marco Tilio, back again on extended loan after a small contribution to Celtic’s 54th league title, may have to step up and apply what he learned in Glasgow as the offence’s leading man.
Meanwhile, on the defensive side, Aziz Behich, back from a lucrative loan to Al Nassr, returns as City’s new captain, and he’ll lead such pickups as Kai Trewin, snagged from Brisbane Roar after earning A-League All-Star honours, and Germán Ferreyra, an Argentinian who’s spent the past four seasons in Russia.
Marco Tilio. (Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images)
Without a doubt, MCFC come in with the greater burden of expectations. Out of their last eight bouts with Perth, City have won five and drawn a sixth, and the last time these teams met in April, the Hearts handed out an 8-0 humiliation, setting a new record for the A-League’s largest margin of victory. If they can’t pick up the win here, losing multiple stars won’t be a sufficient excuse.
The Glory, on the other hand, will walk onto a pitch named after their greatest player of all time, regardless of gender, with the crowd on their side and significant momentum at their backs. The fact that they managed to win by two goals without even needing Adam Taggart to take the pitch says a lot about their potential on the attack. That said, this match will ask major questions of Perth’s defence, which allowed 73 goals across all competitions last year. If that back line can stop being a turnstile against heavyweights like City, it’ll go a long way towards proving Perth is the real thing.
Either way, this will be a statement win for whoever can claim it—and, as Saturday night’s only cup matchup, it should have fans’ attention from coast to coast.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Missing eight first-choice players due to injury, City dominated Western United in the 2-0 win.
Andreas Kuen became the latest addition to the club's injured cohort meaning City is missing eight first-choice players with injury.
Just when the A-League Men needed a bit of a feel-good factor heading into the festive season, it goes ahead and turns on a…
It should come as no surprise that Melbourne Victory will host the annual pre-Christmas derby next Saturday given the fact Melbourne City fans have…
Aurelio Vidmar senses he won't have Kai Trewin forever. But while the talented defender is still in Melbourne City's clutches, he's determined to make…
Western Sydney coach Alen Stajcic waxed lyrical about Nicolas Milanovic's unlimited potential after his fifth goal of the season helped lift the Wanderers to…
