Latest news with #all-Melbourne
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Soccer-Early Cohen strike earns Melbourne City A-League title in derby clash
* Yonatan Cohen's 10th minute goal wins title for City * City claim the A-League championship for the second time * Club previously won the title in 2021 MELBOURNE, - Melbourne City lifted the A-League Championship for the second time in the club's history on Saturday as a 1-0 Grand Final win over crosstown rivals Melbourne Victory secured the title for Aurelio Vidmar's side. Yonatan Cohen's 10th minute strike ensured the City Football Group-owned outfit shaded a tense all-Melbourne clash - the first derby meeting in the decider in the league's 20th season - to add the title to their only previous win in 2021. "The derby is always like this, it was always going to be physical out there," said City defender Nathaniel Atkinson. "We knew if we matched them with the fight, we could let our football do the talking, and once we got that goal we knew, with our defence, that we could keep a clean sheet." City weathered Victory's early pressure in front of almost 30,000 fans at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium to take the lead, Cohen reacting quickest to beat Jack Duncan from close range after Max Caputo's effort had come back off the crossbar. Mathew Leckie threw himself at full stretch to block a goal-bound strike from Victory's Zinedine Machach 10 minutes later to maintain the lead, and the Australia international was denied at the other end when his header was gathered on the line by Duncan. Victory, also runners-up in last year's decider, pushed to pull level before the interval, with City goalkeeper Patrick Beach diving to his right to save another Machach attempt while Roderick Miranda headed Daniel Arzani's freekick wide. Duncan had to be at his sharpest to keep out Cohen's curling effort from distance a little over a minute after the restart and, as the half approached the midway point, Caputo snatched at his attempt when he had the time and space to double the lead. Cohen should have put the result beyond doubt with 14 minutes remaining when, unmarked, the Israel international headed harmlessly across the face of the Victory goal. That miss was to prove academic as City kept their neighbours at bay to win the championship, having finished second behind Auckland FC in the regular season standings earlier this month. "It's really tough being in this position for two years in a row, but hopefully next year we can go again," said Victory captain Miranda. "They had one chance in the first half and scored and in the second half they defended really well. But this is football."
Straits Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Melbourne duo gear up for derby clash in A-League championship decider
Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory do 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. 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 Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Star
5 days ago
- Sport
- The Star
Soccer-Melbourne duo gear up for derby clash in A-League championship decider
(Reuters) - Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory do 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. 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." (Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Peter Rutherford)
Hindustan Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Soccer-Melbourne duo gear up for derby clash in A-League championship decider
- Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory do 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. 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."
The Star
25-05-2025
- Sport
- The Star
Soccer-Coach Corica rails at officials as Auckland miss out on Grand Final
(Reuters) -Auckland FC coach Steve Corica criticised officials after missing out on a place in the A-League Grand Final as Saturday's 2-0 loss against Melbourne Victory denied the New Zealanders a season-ending clash against Melbourne City next week. Goals from Zinedine Machach and Bruno Fornaroli saw Victory overturn a 1-0 first leg deficit to allow Arthur Diles' side to set up an all-Melbourne final while Corica fumed over a disallowed effort from Logan Rogerson with 21 minutes remaining. "I don't want an apology, I want the right decision to be made," said Corica, who led A-League debutantes Auckland to the Premiership title. "My opinion is they got it wrong and that could have cost us getting back into the game, for one, and getting into a final. "You're talking about big decisions so you would hope they would get it right but I don't think so." Auckland were trailing 2-0 on the night and 2-1 on aggregate when Rogerson headed in from close range after Guillermo May had crossed from the byeline, momentarily believing he had pulled his side level overall. But officials ruled the ball had gone out of play before swinging back in prior to Rogerson making contact to leave the New Zealand international with his head in his hands and the 30,000 crowd booing the officials in anger. "The atmosphere was amazing here again, they've been sensational here all year, the supporters, and we appreciate that," said Corica. "I'm probably more disappointed for them. "I think they've been the best crowd all season, they've turned up every week in really good numbers and it's disappointing that they don't get to host a Grand Final next week because of poor refereeing decisions." Victory coach Diles claimed not to have seen the incident and was instead preparing himself for a meeting with crosstown rivals Melbourne City in the Grand Final. "It's a great moment for us as a football club, something we've worked really hard for and you get a reward tonight off the back of that," he said. "It was beautiful to play in front of 30,000 fans tonight. It was even nicer to spoil the party." (Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
