Victory to rally, go again after ALW heartbreak
Devastated by a heartbreaking grand final loss, Melbourne Victory will pick themselves up and attempt to keep their star-studded squad together for another crack at silverware.
Jeff Hopkins' charges lost 5-4 to Central Coast on penalties in Sunday's grand final at AAMI Park, after scores were locked at 1-1 after 90 minutes and extra-time.
Victory also fell just two points short of the premiership to Melbourne City, leaving this season empty-handed.
"There's a lot of upset players out there," Hopkins said.
"But I'm sure, knowing the character of this group, it won't be something to dishearten them.
"It will be something that will annoy them and drive them on to do better next year."
Hopkins plans on sticking around for next season and hopes most of his squad will join him, contracted skipper Kayla Morrison and star midfielder Alex Chidiac.
Centre-back Claudia Bunge also has an option for another year.
"We've been working hard to keep as many of these players here as we can," he said.
"And we'll be doing doing the same over the next week or so to lock in as many as we can.
"Each season you refresh a little bit but I don't think there's much refreshing that needs done in this squad."
Victory will hope star striker Emily Gielnik, who scored 12 goals this season, stays on - but she is unsure yet where her future lies.
"No matter what anyone says, I'm just ready to keep on going and where that is, I don't know yet," Gielnik said.
"Everyone knows I have a soft spot for Jeff and I love this club.
"I really wish I could give everyone an answer, but my gut feeling hasn't told me where I need to be next year yet.
"So nothing's off the cards, but I definitely don't have an answer around that yet."
The 33-year-old is determined to return to the Matildas fray.
"I came to Melbourne Victory to hold some more silverware and win and hopefully get myself back in that green and gold," she said.
"And I'll just go back to the drawing board and do it all again."
Victory's players have wrapped their arms around young gun Alana Jancevski, who missed the first penalty of the shootout and was distraught post-match.
"I had a good cuddle with her and I said 'you're going to get in this situation again and all you need to do is take another penalty and you'll forget about this one'," Gielnik said.
"I told her I missed one at the World Cup against Norway, nothing hurts more than missing a penalty."
Hopkins said: "I've got no problem with anyone that misses a penalty.
"She was brave enough to stand up and take it and I know the whole team feel the same way."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
25 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Fringe players set to be given chance by Socceroos coach Tony Popovic ahead of next year's FIFA World Cup
With the Socceroos having sealed FIFA World Cup qualification, national team coach Tony Popovic is likely to give an opportunity to a host of fringe players in friendly games between now and the start of the tournament in June next year. Australia's 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia in Jeddah on Wednesday morning (AEST) secured the Socceroos' World Cup qualification for a sixth successive time. And in better news for the Socceroos, it will be the first time since reaching the 2014 World Cup that they don't have to win sudden-death playoffs to qualify. It means that Popovic will have more time to properly prepare his squad and give him the chance to perhaps increase the depth of his talent pool. The likes of attackers Nestory Irankunda, Nicolas Milanovic, Noah Botic and Adrian Segecic, midfielder Max Balard, centre-back Kai Trewin and left-back Kasey Bos all might be given chances to push for World Cup selection in the four international windows before the tournament. 'We have some plans for September with some (friendly) games,' Popovic said in looking ahead to the next window. 'There's a plan moving forward now that we definitely know that we've gone through and we're not in the playoffs. 'We've got some different plans in October that we've been working on – it's exciting. 'We need to play games to keep improving, getting better, (and be) giving other players an opportunity as well that deserve it. 'We want to be a squad that's much better than what we are now, and that's the expectation we should have.' Next year's World Cup, which will be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada, will expand to 48 teams, with Australia one of six Asian Football Confederation nations – the others being Japan, South Korea, Iran, Uzbekistan and Jordan – that have already qualified for finishing in the top two of the three AFC third-round qualifying groups. Joint hosts USA, Mexico and Canada are guaranteed spots, while New Zealand and Argentina have already also qualified. Qualifying matches across the world will continue until March next year when all 48 nations participating in the June 11-July 19 tournament will be confirmed. Each nation will play three matches in the opening stage of the tournament in the which the 48 qualifiers will be divided into 12 groups of four. The top two teams from each group, plus the eight-best third-placed sides, will advance to the round of 32, which is the start of the knockout phase of the tournament. The 16 host cities are Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Boston, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Miami (USA), Guadalajara, Monterrey and Mexico City (Mexico), and Vancouver and Toronto (Canada).
News.com.au
25 minutes ago
- News.com.au
England stunned by Senegal to put Tuchel under immediate pressure
England slumped to a 3-1 home friendly defeat by Senegal on Tuesday to ramp up the scrutiny on boss Thomas Tuchel one year out from the World Cup. Goals from Ismaila Sarr, Habib Diarra and Cheikh Sabaly inflicted England's first ever defeat against African opposition at Nottingham Forest's City Ground after Harry Kane had given the hosts an early lead. Tuchel was scathing in his criticism of his side's dreary display in beating minnows Andorra just 1-0 in World Cup qualifying on Saturday. The German, who was appointed with the task of ending England's wait since 1966 for a major tournament win, suffered his first defeat in four games in charge. "We need to see the players under these kinds of conditions against one of the top 20 teams in the world to be smarter," said Tuchel. "We don't go next week to the World Cup. We go in one year." Tuchel responded by making 10 changes, with Kane the only player to retain his place. It took just seven minutes for the Bayern Munich striker to maintain his record of scoring in every game since Tuchel took charge. Former Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy should have done better when he could only parry Anthony Gordon's shot into the path of Kane, who tapped in his 73rd international goal. Dean Henderson was given a rare chance to impress in the England goal as Jordan Pickford was relegated to the bench. The Crystal Palace stopper made impressive saves from his club team-mate Sarr and Idrissa Gana Gueye. But he was helpless when Sarr made the most of a lack of concentration from Kyle Walker to meet Nicolas Jackson's cross and fire into the bottom corner. England had never lost to African opposition in 21 previous matches but Senegal had been beaten just once from open play since losing to the Three Lions at the 2022 World Cup. "Not good enough. We had moments, but with and without the ball things aren't clicking, we're not finding the right tempo," said Kane. "We've lost that aggressive nature that we had." Diarra was afforded acres of room to run in behind the England defence and slot between the legs of Henderson to put the visitors in front just after the hour mark. Mendy made amends for his role in the opening goal with fine saves to deny Bukayo Saka and Morgan Gibbs-White a swift equaliser. England thought they had levelled late on when Jude Bellingham smashed home from a corner. But the goal was ruled out for a handball by Levi Colwill before the ball broke to the Real Madrid midfielder. Senegal made the most of that reprieve to seal a famous win in stoppage time when Sabaly rounded off a slick counter-attack. Boos rained down from the disgruntled home support to leave Tuchel with plenty to ponder before England are next in action in September.
The Age
27 minutes ago
- The Age
As it happened: Socceroos qualify for 2026 World Cup with victory over Saudi Arabia
The Socceroos have clinched a sixth successive World Cup appearance, passing their final test in qualifying with flying colours as they secured a stirring and historic 2-1 victory over Saudi Arabia in Jeddah. All they needed to do to mathematically confirm their spot at the 2026 World Cup was avoid a five-goal defeat on Wednesday morning (AEST) - and the hosts never threatened Australia, who safely retained second position in Group C. Indeed, Tony Popovic's men not only recovered from a momentary wobble caused by Abdulrahman Al-Obood's opener, but they struck back just before half-time through Connor Metcalfe's first international goal - and then a textbook Mitch Duke header gave them the lead on the other side of the break. A highly contentious penalty awarded against Jason Geria in the 85th minute threatened to deny the Socceroos victory - but Maty Ryan, marking his 100th cap, saved the spot kick from Saudi captain Salem Al-Dawsari before Marwan Al Sahafi's follow-up attempt was put wide of an empty net. Ryan was then mobbed by all 10 of his teammates - and their celebrations resumed after the full-time whistle, once the job was officially done. It is Australia's first win on Saudi soil since 2011, having last week registered their first win over Japan since 2009 - rounding out what has been arguably their best international window in recent memory. The result keeps Popovic's undefeated record intact through eight matches in charge of the Socceroos, a string of results that would have been beyond anyone's wildest dreams when he replaced Graham Arnold in September - especially since that run included home and away fixtures against Japan and Saudi Arabia, the two nations who finished above Australia in their qualifying group for Qatar 2022, forcing them down the arduous play-off route. Next year's World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico will be the first under an expanded 48-team format, with berths for AFC nations increasing from four to eight, so it was always going to be a little easier for the Socceroos to qualify. But it has not been simple, or straight-forward, with standards rapidly increasing across Asian football, and the slip-ups against Bahrain and Indonesia in Arnold's final games as coach leaving Popovic with a difficult path to navigate. Saudi Arabia's federation made tickets free of charge at the King Abdullah Sports City stadium, hoping to draw a capacity crowd to bolster the Green Falcons' hopes of an unlikely five-goal victory. But locals voted with their feet, with large swathes of the venue empty in a clear sign that most fans in Jeddah thought direct qualification was beyond them due to Australia's +8 goal difference buffer. So it proved. As expected, the Saudis began on the front foot and broke through in the 19th minute when Al-Obood bundled in a cutback from Al-Dawsari, whose slick movement down Australia's right flank could not be curtailed. His ball clipped Ryan's glove before falling for Al-Obood to prod it home from essentially on the goal line. That moment needed to be followed up by more of the same from the Green Falcons, but Australia did not let that happen. In fact, they levelled the scores with three minutes left in the half, with Metcalfe converting a one-on-one chance after being put through by veteran striker Duke, whose hold-up play and subsequent assist showed why Popovic continues to put his faith in him. Then Duke got in on the action himself in the 48th minute, heading home a free kick from Martin Boyle that meant the Saudis had to score six goals to advance. That was never going to happen, even as an initial red card to defender Ali Majrashi was rescinded upon VAR review, briefly giving them hope of clawing their way back into the contest. The penalty against Geria gave them another glimpse - only for Ryan to take it away. As the Saudis now venture into the fourth round of AFC World Cup qualifying - alongside Graham Arnold's Iraq, the UAE, Qatar, Oman and Indonesia, all of whom will be competing for the next two direct berths - the Socceroos have the luxury of 12 months of preparation for the tournament.
