Melbourne derby to spark A-League finals as Victory juggle schedule

A Melbourne derby should spark the A-League finals but Victory coach Kevin Muscat is not thinking that far ahead.

Kevin Muscat watches from the tactical area as his Melbourne Victory side take on Guangzhou Evergrande in the Asian Champions League earlier this week. Picture: AAP

It’s the mouth-watering finals match-up the A-League needs, but it is the furthest thing from the mind of Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat as he grapples with juggling the workload and easing the pressure on his players ahead of a demanding schedule.

Aside from one cursory comment, Muscat admitted yesterday that he wants nothing to do with the hype that has already started a week out from Victory’s likely home elimination final in a derby match against Melbourne City.

In a season that has struggled to spark, with diminishing crowds and poor television ratings, the national competition will at least get some traction at the business end of the season as two of the league’s heavyweights go toe to toe for the fourth time this season.

But of more importance for Muscat at this stage is the fitness, mental status and welfare of his players as they try to cope with the prospect of playing three games in the space of 12 days.

The Victorians travel to Sydney to play Western Sydney Wanderers in the final game of the regular season at ANZ Stadium tonight and will be backing up just five days after they held star-studded Guangzhou Evergrande to a 1-1 draw in their Asian Champions League group match at AAMI Park.

In Victory’s favour is that Muscat rested a number of keys players, including Keisuke Honda, Kosta Barbarouses and Ola Toivonen from that game and the trio plus several others will make a return against a Wanderers side with only pride to play for.

It will be a terrific chance for the defending A-League champions to build some momentum going into the game against City next Friday night.

“It will be exciting, but I have given it no thought whatsoever,” Muscat said yesterday.

“I don’t really care about it now because my focus is tomorrow night.

“We have had a tough schedule and it doesn’t get any easier.

“We will give Western Sydney all the respect they deserve then move on after the game.”

While Victory went into the ACL campaign full of hope, they are now out of the competition, eliminated from the next stage even though they still have one more group match against Daegu in Korea five days after the Melbourne derby.

That is now a blessing for them as Muscat will be able to again rest his key players for the game in Korea, though it would be inconsequential anyway if Victory lose to City and are knocked out of the A-League title race.

Similarly, Sydney FC coach Steve Corica has to deal with a schedule that has his side playing three games in the space of 15 days as they also combine an A-League and ACL campaign.

Unlike Victory, however, the Sky Blues are still in contention to go through to the knockout stage of the ACL, so that makes life a little more complicated for Corica.

He has to juggle keeping his players fresh for both competitions while trying to maintain momentum. Sydney are unbeaten in their past four games in the local competition, while they have drawn their past two against Shanghai SIPG.

Marquee attacker Siem de Jong and midfielder Anthony Caceres will both be absent from the game against the Jets in Newcastle today after picking up slight injuries in Tuesday night’s 2-2 draw with Shanghai, while captain Alex Brosque and defender Michael Zullo are also sidelined.

Corica may well rest several more players for a game that has no bearing on the season, though he is mindful of the need to preserve the confidence of a side that continues to push itself to the limit.

“The players are very fit and they are full of confidence. They want to play every game,” Corica said.

“We are in a good position.

“After the Jets we have 10 days to our next game (against Ulsan in Korea).”

The problem for Sydney is that they will have to travel back from Korea and will then have just four days to prepare for their A-League semi-final.