Brattan, Costa, Clough: The men who hold their A-League teams’ finals fortunes in their hands
Socceroos great Robbie Slater and Marco Monteverde reveal the men who must stand tall in a crucial derby clash, why Zach Clough is so important to Adelaide United’s fortunes, and how the Wanderers can make the most of this week.
Football
Don't miss out on the headlines from Football. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Socceroos great Robbie Slater and Marco Monteverde reveal the men who must stand tall in a crucial derby clash, why Zach Clough is so important to Adelaide United, and how the Wanderers can make the most of this week.
DESPERATION DERBY
There will be much more than the Charity Cup at stake in Saturday night’s derby between Macarthur FC and Sydney FC at Campbelltown, with both sides desperate for a win in what’s shaping as a tight battle for top-six spots.
The business end of the season is creeping up on A-League clubs, and both the Bulls and the Sky Blues need to lift to avoid being left behind in the race to play finals football.
Neither side would be happy with currently out of the top six.
With the talent in Sydney’s squad, the Sky Blues should be among the competition’s top two or three teams.
And while the Bulls have sold a few key players in recent weeks, including talisman Valere Germain, they too should be higher than eighth on the ladder.
Frenchman Germain will be difficult to replace. The Bulls and the A-League lost a great player when he decided to leave earlier this month.
Winger Jed Drew is another player the Bulls have missed since his departure for Austria.
It’s now up to new signings Saif-Eddine Khaoui, Kevin Boli, and Peter Makrillos to fill the void left by Germain, Drew and the other two players to have left Macarthur FC recently – Oliver Jones and Ariath Piol,
Another player who will need to lift is Bulls’ midfield general Luke Brattan, now the team captain following Germain’s exit.
And if there is a game that Brattan is going to lift for, it’s a contest against Sydney, where he spent five seasons before joining Macarthur ahead of the 2024-25 campaign.
Despite being Sydney’s skipper last season, Brattan wasn’t offered a new contract by Sky Blues coach Ufuk Talay.
“Long story without going too much into it, the coach turned around and said he couldn’t offer me a contract,” soon-to-be-35-year-old Brattan told Network 10 this week.
“They want to play young boys. That’s football.
“Once I knew Sydney couldn’t offer me anything, I spoke to (Bulls coach) Mile (Sterjovski). I’d heard some great things about him and the club.
“It was a no-brainer really (to join the Bulls).”
Since the loss of Brattan, the Sky Blues haven’t progressed as much as Talay would have liked.
However, with star wingers Douglas Costa and Joe Lolley ready to pounce in the latter stages of the campaign, it would be silly to write off the title chances of the seventh-placed Sky Blues.
“The boys know where we’re sitting and where we want to get to, and then I think they understand the importance of (Saturday night’s) game,” Talay said.
“For us we have to stay in control of our thoughts, our feelings, and our emotions within the game and try to win and get all three points.”
CLOUGH’S TIME TO SHINE
Zach Clough needs to stand tall if Adelaide United is to stop the in-form Auckland FC in Saturday’s top-of-the-table at Go Media Stadium on Saturday.
With Clough’s form having dipped in the past couple of weeks, so has Adelaide’s.
The Reds have lost back-to-back games, and if they taste defeat again on Saturday, Auckland will take a huge step towards securing the premiership in the club’s first A-League season.
When Adelaide has been on song this season, English playmaker Clough has been instrumental.
Stefan Mauk also needs to dominate the engine room if the Reds are to get the better of the Black Knights.
While the Reds have lost some young talent to the Young Socceroos team performing so well at the AFC Under-20 Asian Cup, and have also been hit by some injuries, they are still good enough to ensure a tough 90 minutes for the Black Knights.
However, they can’t afford to switch off as they did at Coopers Stadium last month when poor marking from a set piece allowed Auckland to score an equaliser deep into stoppage-time.
The time has also come for Reds coach Carl Veart to drop goalkeeper Ethan Cox and reinstate James Delianov – provided the latter’s fitness has improved to the point where he can do more than just warm the bench.
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY
Western Sydney Wanderers cannot waste the golden opportunity that has been presented to them to secure a third successive win when they host struggling Perth Glory on Sunday.
The Wanderers are finally getting on a roll, with last week’s 4-0 demolition of The Central Coast Mariners in Gosford last Saturday.
With momentum building at the right time in the season, the Wanderers don’t want to undo all their recent good work by failing to beat a Glory team that’s in the bottom two.
Similarly, the competition’s three Victorian clubs – Melbourne Victory, Melbourne City and Western United – can’t afford to waste ideal chances to win games this weekend as the battle for top-six places, and positions within the six, heats up.
Victory, City and United play against Brisbane Roar, Wellington Phoenix and Central Coast Mariners respectively.
While they are all away games for the Victorian clubs, that shouldn’t make a difference against three of the competition’s poorer teams this season.
GREAT ACHIEVEMENT
Congratulations to the Young Socceroos for not only being one game away from AFC Under-20 Asian Cup glory, but for also having already done enough to qualify for this year’s FIFA Under-20 World Cup.
At a time when Australian football is desperate to keep up with the progress being made by other AFC nations, the Young Socceroos’ achievement cannot be underestimated.
Let’s hope Trevor Morgan’s team can finish off its good work by winning Saturday night’s final against Saudi Arabia.
More Coverage
Originally published as Brattan, Costa, Clough: The men who hold their A-League teams’ finals fortunes in their hands
Aussie football great slams Matildas failure
Australian football legend Mark Bosnich has laid into Football Australia for what he believes has been a costly blunder.
‘No drop-off’ for Young ‘Roos
The Young Socceroos are one win away from being crowned under-20 champions of Asia.