Latest news with #ZinedineMachach
RNZ News
4 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
Melbourne duo gear up for derby clash in A-League championship decider
Zinédine Machach of Melbourne Victory celebrates his goal with Bruno Fornaroli. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/ Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory will battle in an historic A-League Grand Final on Saturday in the first local derby to determine Australia's champions in 20 years. The meeting at a sold-out Melbourne Rectangular Stadium pits Victory, one of the competition's best-supported clubs, against a club who lost significant sections of their support base after an unpopular takeover in 2014. "I still can't believe, after 20 years, it's the first derby in a Grand Final," said City coach Aurelio Vidmar. "And you know what the derby is like, they're always intense, so we just have to try to prepare for anything and everything. "We prepared so well this year, we're ready. So whatever happens on the night, we'll be ready." Owned by the City Football Group since the Abu Dhabi-based operation purchased Melbourne Heart in 2014 and gave the club a controversial identity overhaul, City have won a solitary championship despite appearing in four of the last five finals. Victory, by contrast, will be attempting to tie Sydney FC's record haul of five titles and secure their first since 2018, having lost to Central Coast Mariners in last year's decider. Melbourne Victory's Jack Duncan clears under pressure from Auckland FC, 1 January, 2025. Photo: Shane Wenzlick / Victory will go into the game with the majority of the 30,000 crowd behind them and in possession of the better head-to-head record between the teams in recent meetings. They have not lost to City since April 2023 and the teams shared a 2-2 draw in December, although Vidmar's side finished five points clear of their neighbours in the regular season. Victory have doubts hanging over the availability of Nishan Velupillay after the Australia winger, who has scored seven times for his club this season, sustained an ankle injury in the 2-0 semi-final second leg win over Auckland FC last weekend. The involvement of Mitch Langerak is also uncertain after a foot injury kept the former Nagoya Grampus goalkeeper out of both legs of the semi-final but both Adama Traore and Kasey Bos are expected to be available. "For Australian football it's huge, for our club it's massive," Victory coach Arthur Diles said of the all-Melbourne final. "Irrespective that we've been here many times before, you never take that for granted. "Every Grand Final you can play is massive and this week will be no different. I expect on Saturday night that this place will be shaking and we're looking forward to that." - Reuters
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Special gesture that show Victory's 'family' mentality
Brendan Hamill will never forget the moment of kindness that showed Melbourne Victory are a unique force to be reckoned with. Hamill suffered a devastating season-ending ACL tear in the Victory's 1-0 first leg home defeat to Auckland FC. Last Saturday, he watched on from Melbourne as his teammates attempted to turn things around. Dynamo Zinedine Machach scored to level the tie, then ran to the bench before grabbing Hamill's No.5 jersey and lifting it to the cameras. For BJ 💙 — Melbourne Victory (@gomvfc) May 24, 2025 "I had no idea," Hamill told AAP. "I was at my son's little birthday party, I was watching the game. I watched him score. "He kept running over to the bench and he was like 'give me something, give me something' and then they threw the jersey. "I was like, 'oh, what are they doing?' And then right before he held it up in the air, I connected the dots. "It was special, and it brought a tear to my eye. "How do you put into words the feeling that that gave me? It triumphed any trophy or winning feeling. It was to be a part of a team. It was just special. I was there with them." The Victory went on to win the game 2-0, the semi-final tie 2-1 on aggregate to reach Saturday's derby decider against Melbourne City at AAMI Park. This was the moment @gomvfc got themselves back in the Semi-Final! 👀🔥Zinedine Machach unleashed an all-important strike and dedicated his celebration to teammate Brendan Hamill who is out with an ACL injury 💙📺 Watch #AKLvMVC live NOW on Paramount+ or Sky Sport. — Isuzu UTE A-League (@aleaguemen) May 24, 2025 Coach Arthur Diles was on the bench watching Machach's tribute to his injured teammate with pride. "When I see things like that, that means more to me than any result does," he told AAP. "When I see a group that's that united and care so much for each other and are so close, that's really special and something that I'm definitely proud of. "I love being the leader of this group, knowing that they're so together and making sure that through thick and through thin, we stick together like family. "Because I've said to them: that's what family does. Family is there for you through your highs and through your lows. "If we're a genuine family, then situations like this should bring us together, and it did that." Victory players have spoken publicly about winning for injured pair Hamill and Mitch Langerak - who could also be joined on the sidelines by Nishan Velupillay (ankle). "It's little things like that where it just shows you that we're a force to be reckoned with," Hamill said. "Our togetherness is such a strong part in our game and we've shown that over the past couple of weeks. "But you can't put a value on how much that actually helps when you cross that white line and you go play." And Hamill, who was due for his knee reconstruction surgery on Tuesday, will be there and ready to celebrate if the Victory get the job done. "I envision myself on stage with a winner's medal, with some crutches, in a lot of pain, dancing," he said. "I'll be running with my crutches. I'll just take enough painkillers."
Sydney Morning Herald
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
Victory's stunning win in Auckland sets up all-Melbourne A-League grand final
Melbourne Victory dashed Auckland FC's hopes of a fairytale A-League men's grand final appearance, upsetting the expansion franchise 2-0 in the second leg of their semi-final to secure a 2-1 aggregate win and place in next week's decider. Goals from Zinedine Machach and Bruno Fornaroli overturned the AAMI Park deficit in the space of five second-half minutes, silencing a sold-out Mount Smart Stadium and ensuring next week's final will be an all-Melbourne affair. Regardless of whether Arthur Diles' side is joined by Melbourne City or Western United, the former holding a 3-0 lead heading into the second leg of their semi, the clash will be staged at AAMI Park next Saturday night. It marks a second-straight grand final appearance for the Victory after they lost to Central Coast in last year's decider and represents a remarkable turnaround from December, when coach Patrick Kisnorbo's abrupt exit to take up a position in Japan sparked a six-game winless run. Their joy came at the expense of Auckland's hopes of securing a historic premiership and championship double in their debut season. But the Victory face the prospect of being without Nishan Velupillay for next week after the attacker suffered a potentially serious injury at the end of a spiteful first half. Hurting his lower right leg in the incident, the Socceroo emerged to watch the second half on crutches, with serious questions now hovering over his availability for crunch World Cup qualifiers against Japan and Saudi Arabia next month. The visitors rallied without the attacker and took the lead ten minutes into the second stanza when a long-range effort from Machach took a wicked deflection off Nando Pijnaker, wrong-footing keeper Alex Paulsen and finding the net.
The Age
24-05-2025
- Sport
- The Age
Victory's stunning win in Auckland sets up all-Melbourne A-League grand final
Melbourne Victory dashed Auckland FC's hopes of a fairytale A-League men's grand final appearance, upsetting the expansion franchise 2-0 in the second leg of their semi-final to secure a 2-1 aggregate win and place in next week's decider. Goals from Zinedine Machach and Bruno Fornaroli overturned the AAMI Park deficit in the space of five second-half minutes, silencing a sold-out Mount Smart Stadium and ensuring next week's final will be an all-Melbourne affair. Regardless of whether Arthur Diles' side is joined by Melbourne City or Western United, the former holding a 3-0 lead heading into the second leg of their semi, the clash will be staged at AAMI Park next Saturday night. It marks a second-straight grand final appearance for the Victory after they lost to Central Coast in last year's decider and represents a remarkable turnaround from December, when coach Patrick Kisnorbo's abrupt exit to take up a position in Japan sparked a six-game winless run. Their joy came at the expense of Auckland's hopes of securing a historic premiership and championship double in their debut season. But the Victory face the prospect of being without Nishan Velupillay for next week after the attacker suffered a potentially serious injury at the end of a spiteful first half. Hurting his lower right leg in the incident, the Socceroo emerged to watch the second half on crutches, with serious questions now hovering over his availability for crunch World Cup qualifiers against Japan and Saudi Arabia next month. The visitors rallied without the attacker and took the lead ten minutes into the second stanza when a long-range effort from Machach took a wicked deflection off Nando Pijnaker, wrong-footing keeper Alex Paulsen and finding the net.
The Guardian
24-05-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Melbourne Victory break Auckland hearts to snatch spot in A-League Men grand final
Melbourne Victory have denied Auckland a shot at an A-League Men fairytale after turning around a one-goal deficit with a 2-0 win in the second leg of their semi-final on Saturday. Victory enforcers Zinedine Machach and Bruno Fornaroli were the villains as the Black Knights lost for just the second time at Go Media Stadium, this season, and fell behind 2-1 on aggregate to end the premiers' hopes of clinching a historic double in their inaugural season. It took a goalline clearance from Victory defender Josh Rawlins deep into the seven minutes of added time, as well as an earlier contentious call to rule out a Logan Rogerson header that would have levelled the tie, for the visitors to book a place in the decider against the winner of the Melbourne City or Western United semi-final. Machach opened the scoring with a speculative shot from long range that was heading well wide of the far post before a desperate lunge from Black Knights defender Nando Pijnaker directed the ball the opposite way. Auckland shotstopper Alex Paulsen was wrong footed and left stranded as the wicked deflection dribbled into the bottom corner of his goal to level the tie in the 55th minute. With the wind in their sails, Victory pressed to claim the advantage and soon found an aggregate lead through combative frontman Fornaroli. The 37-year-old drew on his vast experience and guile to creep out of an offside position and into vacant space between Black Knights defenders with enough time to swivel and fire into the bottom left of the net in the 60th minute. Auckland thought they had levelled the tie at two-all on aggregate when first-tie goalscorer Logan Rogerson headed home from the edge of the goalline in the 69th minute. But while Guillermo May had pounced on the ball just before it rolled out for a goal kick and his cross sailed over Victory keeper Jack Duncan to Rogerson at the back post, the linesman was quick to raise a flag and replays were not clear enough to show that it had not drifted out while in the air. Duncan almost gave the Black Knights a crucial goal in the 97th minute when fumbling a high ball that allowed Pijnaker a shot from close range. But with Rawlins perfectly placed to keep the ball out of the net, the hosts were left to rue missed opportunities late in the first leg while licking their wounds after a memorable first season. Sign up to Australia Sport Get a daily roundup of the latest sports news, features and comment from our Australian sports desk after newsletter promotion The win was Melbourne's first over Auckland after failing to score in their three earlier clashes and leaves coach Arthur Diles's side within touching distance of breaking a seven-year championship drought despite losing coach Patrick Kisnorbo midway through the season. City loom as Victory's most likely opponents in a Melbourne derby grand final after a 3-0 away win over Western United before the second leg of their semi-final is played at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
