The 2024/25 A-League has just five rounds to go before its 13 clubs are cut down to six, with the possibility that five of the six clubs from Melbourne and Sydney will join league-leaders Auckland FC in the finals in May.
The big winners of Round 24 were...
Melbourne Victory. Club captain Roderick Miranda demanded "more accountability" from himself and his teammates during his exclusive interview with Flashscore on Friday after a lean six-week period of results, and when Adelaide United stormed out of the blocks after half-time to take a 3-2 lead, it looked as though the Victory would once again pay a big price for a 15-minute sleep at the wheel.
Alas, it was not to be a repeat of their trip to Adelaide in mid-January and they avenged that defeat with a 5-3 result to take them up to fourth on the table.
Nikos Vergos presented himself as a threatening option off the bench with a match-winning double, whilst Nishan Velupillay scored in a fifth consecutive game for club or country and was challenged by fellow winger and Socceroo Daniel Arzani for the highest Flashscore rating of the match.
All of a sudden, Arthur Diles' men have a very imposing front third.
Perhaps the most encouraging thing from their perspective is that the Western Sydney Wanderers are the only club beneath them who are in any kind of form to challenge them for a top-six position, so whilst they will want to be playing even better football in their last four regular season games, near enough might just be good enough in terms of progressing to the postseason.
The big losers of Round 24 were...
Sydney FC. Their march through the AFC Champions League 2 appears to be taking a bit of a physical toll on their squad, who in three of their last four A-League matches either conceded the last goal of the game or failed to score.
They fell behind Melbourne City on three separate occasions at the weekend and have consequently won just two of their last nine A-League fixtures (D4, L3), and Ufuk Talay disagreed with assessments that his side were unlucky not to get any points against City.
"We started off the game very sluggish ... we allowed them too many easy opportunities within our box. I don't think the desire was there to protect our goal this evening."
Talay's men now have one of the league's worst records when conceding the opening goal, losing seven of nine such matches this A-League campaign (D2), so that'll be high on his priorities heading to the training track this week.
Golden Boot race
No Western United player has ever claimed the A-League Golden Boot, and their key striker Noah Batic still stands at the top of the tree after having a bye at the weekend, whilst his fellow 23-year-old Nicolas Milanovic moved one closer.
Goal of the week
Former Bayern Munich and Juventus midfielder Douglas Costa has been lighting up the AFC CL2 since his return from injury and finally delivered in front of his own fans at Allianz Stadium with some excellent composure and control. The 34-year-old has still got plenty left in him!
