These are the key talking points from Round 22 in the Isuzu UTE A-League.
The resumption of the competition had plenty of action – from a fiery showdown between Adelaide United and Western Sydney Wanderers to Melbourne Victory’s upset of Wellington Phoenix across the ditch.
There was also late drama involving Melbourne City and their teenage striker, and a huge win for Central Coast Mariners.
With a lot to dissect, here are the key talking points from Round 22 of the Isuzu UTE A-League.
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Caputo’s memorable afternoon at AAMI Park
Melbourne City needed a saviour on Sunday, and an unlikely hero emerged to rescue the stuttering league leaders from the jaws of defeat.
With 10-man City trailing Newcastle Jets 1-0 after Scott Jamieson’s first-half red card, Rado Vidosic turned to Max Caputo in the 90th minute.
The 17-year-old stepped out onto AAMI Park as a replacement for Kosovo international Valon Berisha and within two minutes, he had the reigning premiers back on level terms.
Caputo rose highest to head home Florin Berenguer’s last-gasp equaliser as the teenager became the club’s youngest ever men’s goalscorer.
“He is a fantastic talent. He has been away from training for a long time. He’s been scoring a lot of goals for our NPL team,” City head coach Rado Vidosic told reporters in a post-match press conference.
“We rate him very, very highly. Thank God now he is with us.
“He is not fit to play a great deal of time but he is very handy.”
It was the first A-Leagues goal in the emerging career of a youngster who has had to be patient for opportunities at City, who boast talisman and Golden Boot leader Jamie Maclaren, fellow Socceroos Marco Tilio and Mathew Leckie, and Andrew Nabbout.
Caputo’s only other appearance this term came at Coopers Stadium, where he again replaced Berisha in the 90th minute of a 4-2 loss to Adelaide United on March 3.
But the Young Socceroo is among the contingent of highly rated talents within the Casey Fields training facility.
After starting his junior career at Victorian outfit Essendon Royals before being spotted by City at Caroline Springs George Cross – a club where former Socceroos Kevin Muscat and John Markovski all had their first starts – Caputo became the third-youngest debutant in the history of the Isuzu UTE A-League in 2021.
Aged 15 years and 293 days, he was thrust into a behind-closed-doors Melbourne Derby by former boss Patrick Kisnorbo on June 6, almost two years ago. He is only behind Teeboy Kamara (15 years and 212 days) and Idrus Abdulahi (15 years and 216 days) on the all-time list.
Caputo has continued to make an impact for City’s youth team, earning a spot on The Guardian’s list of 60 best young talents in world football last year – a class of players that included Fenerbache sensation Arda Guler, Bayern Munich duo Paul Wanner and Mathys Tel and El Chadaille Bitshiabu of Paris Saint-Germain.
As City earned promotion from NPL3M VIC to the second tier last season, he scored nine goals in 13 appearances.
Caputo, who was called into the Young Socceroos squad in October 2022 – helping Australia qualify for the 2023 AFC Under-20 Asian Cup via their Kuwait City qualifiers, has also spent time in Italy on trial.
Bruno’s red-hot form continues, helps Victory back into finals hunt
He’s back.
Bruno Fornaroli continued his hot-streak, scoring his fifth goal in six games to help keep Melbourne Victory’s finals hopes alive in their come-from-behind 2-1 win over Wellington Phoenix.
El Tuna was in the right place at the right time to fire home the equaliser just after half-time, adding his seventh in the league this season – the most of any Victory player.
The Uruguay-born Socceroo has flown under the radar as of late, overshadowed by the goalscoring exploits of the likes of Jamie Maclaren, Jason Cummings, Oskar Zawada, Brandon Borrello and even Craig Goodwin.
REACTION: Inside the mind of a goalkeeper after Izzo masterclass inspires a Victory upset
However, after taking a bit of time to find his feet at Victory, Fornaroli has shown signs of the player who, for the best part of eight years, has dominated the Isuzu UTE A-League.
Not many strikers in the league are blessed with the same striking instincts, hold-up ability and eye for goal as Fornaroli.
As shown throughout this run, he has hurt teams in many different ways. Free-kicks, tap-ins, penalties, headers and even, long range strikes. It’s been vintage Bruno Fornaroli.
His strike against the ‘Nix was also his 89th career goal in the league, taking him one behind fourth-placed Archie Thompson and three behind third-placed Shane Smeltz on the all-time Isuzu UTE A-League scoring chart, and given his recent run of form, you would back him in to usurp one, maybe two of the aforementioned in the pecking order.
“I’m coming for them,” he said with a big grin on his face post-game on Sky Sports NZ.
Perhaps more importantly, these goals are keeping Victory right in the hunt for a finals berth, with the gap cut to only four points heading into the final month of the season.
Plus they still have that game in hand against league leaders Melbourne City, although they are down 1-0 when play restarts in that contest from the 21st minute on Wednesday night.
Mooy, Rojas, Goodwin: Reds captain joins elite list with 10th assist of the campaign
There are a myriad of words that can be used to describe Craig Goodwin’s season.
Incredible, elite, creme de la creme: He’s just been that good.
If the eye test hasn’t been enough to get a gauge on just how dominant he has been for Adelaide United then his numbers do all the talking as he joined rarified company on Friday night in the Reds’ 3-2 win over Western Sydney Wanderers.
READ: Goodwin enters rarefied air with incredible A-Leagues achievement
Goodwin became the third player to score 10 goals and have 10 assists in a single season, joining Socceroos teammate Aaron Mooy (2015-16) and former Melbourne Victory and Wellington Phoenix winger Marco Rojas as the only players to do so.
While he may not chase down the whopping 20 assists logged by Mooy for City during that outrageous season – Goodwin may trump the duo for goals scored – sitting only one behind the now Celtic midfielder and two off the New Zealand international heading into the final four games of the season.
- Craig Goodwin: 10 goals, 10 assists (2022-23)*
- Aaron Mooy: 11 goals, 20 assists (2015-16)
- Marco Rojas: 12 goals, 11 assists (2016-17)
* 2022-23 season not complete
From international duty in Europe to starring at AAMI Park days later – Berisha caps off incredible week with Man of the Match showing
Valon Berisha could have been forgiven if he wasn’t ready to take the field on Sunday against Newcastle Jets.
However, after only arriving back in Australia from international duty with Kosovo days ago, Berisha was there in the heartbeat of Melbourne City’s midfield at AAMI Park.
The former Lazio and RB Salzburg midfielder was sensational, earning all three Alex Tobin votes from Channel 10’s pundits for his performance in their 1-1 draw.
Berisha played in both of Kosovo’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against Israel and Andorra last week and was asked about the difficulties of fronting up for the game after travelling from one side of the world to the other.
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“Ah, to be honest, today I woke up I was feeling a little bit better,” he told Network 10.
“The first day when I came back on Friday and Saturday I was quite jetlagged, like the energy just went out of me like during the day but today I felt good and that’s what I told them as well like I feel well so I can play as much as they want.”
In fact, he consulted a teammate of his, who was all too familiar with the challenges associated with returning to a club on the other side of the world after the international break.
“I already talked with (Mathew) Leckie a little bit about it because when he was playing in the Bundesliga in Germany, he did the same and he said the first time is going to be very hard and I felt it.
“I almost pulled my hammy the second day in training with the national team but this time I went a little bit slower when I came back and I felt quite good today and that’s good, but I’m always going to give my all for my team and when I came back, I knew how important this game was.
“What you said about the travel and then coming back here that was quite hard for me especially going there was harder than to come back actually.
“I felt way better when I came back because I tried to sleep in the rhythm of Australia already. So I didn’t sleep after the game the last game we played in in Kosovo just to get the rhythm of how we go about the day here in Melbourne.”
Mariners pair closing in on momentous milestones
There’s a record that has stood in Gosford for the past decade – and judging by Jason Cummings’ scoring form, that record is set to tumble.
Former Mariners’ striker Daniel McBreen bagged 17 goals in the 2012-13 A-League Men season; no Mariner has ever scored more in a single season.
Cummings is currently on 15 and, in his second season in yellow and blue, can cement his reputation as one of the best signings in the club’s recent resurgence by bagging two or more goals in the Mariners remaining four regular season games to either take a share of McBreen’s record, or clinch it for himself.
McBreen was watching on as Paramount+ co-commentator as Cummings scored his 15th of the season in Central Coast’s 4-1 win over Brisbane Roar on Saturday.
“10 years is long enough for that record to stand,” McBreen said. “I think it’s about time it was broken!”
MATCH REPORT: Mariners boss pushing his side to improve despite 4-1 rout of Roar: ‘we could have been more ruthless’
Mariners A-League Men: Single season goals leaderboard
- Daniel McBreen” 17 goals (2012-13)
- JASON CUMMINGS: 15 goals (2022-23)
- Roy O’Donovan: 11 goals (2016-17)
- Matt Simon: 11 goals (2010-11)
- Matt Simon: 11 goals (2008-09)
But Cummings isn’t the only player chasing history at the Mariners this season.
Goalkeeper Danny Vukovic – who celebrated his 300th A-League Men appearance in the Mariners’ 4-1 win on Saturday – went agonisingly close to his 89th clean sheet in the competition.
Vukovic is currently two clean sheets shy of Liam Reddy’s all-time record of 90. He was denied his 89th by a late Jay O’Shea penalty at Industree Group Stadium on Saturday.
“He’s a great bloke and a great leader for us youngsters, he knows when to give it to us and knows when we need friendly reminders,” said Mariners goalscorer Josh Nisbet of Vukovic after the Roar win. “He’s quality like that, and hopefully we can get two clean sheets this season to get him the record.”
Sydney FC: Comeback kings?
It seems as if you can never quite count out Sydney FC this season.
The Sky Blues battled back from a two-goal deficit against Western United to rescue a crucial point in the race for the top six in their 3-3 draw on Saturday night at Allianz Stadium.
Diego Caballo brought Sydney back into the game almost immediately after Western went 3-1 ahead, before Robert Mak’s worldie and second of the game salvaged a point with time expiring.
REACTION: Superb Mak strike rescues Sky Blues a point in six-goal thriller
Steve Corica’s team have made a habit of coming from behind to snatch points this season, sitting atop the standings for most points gained from losing positions with 15.
Among those games include the January Big Blue win at AAMI Park, a 2-1 win against Melbourne City in December and their 3-2 victory over Central Coast Mariners in February.
And with teams in around them closing the gap heading into the final month of the season, each of those points could be seriously valuable.
MOST POINTS GAINED (LOSING POSITIONS)
- Sydney FC (15 points)
- Central Coast Mariners (10 points)
- Western United (9 points)
Second half of two halves from Marcelo
Marcelo’s importance to this Western Sydney Wanderers team can’t be understated.
The Brazilian centre-half has been monumental in the heart of defence since making the move to Wanderland – but when he’s missing the Wanderers certainly feel it and they look set to face another period without his services.
After scoring the Wanderers’ second goal of the game to bring them back into the contest in the second-half of their clash with Adelaide United, Marcelo was sent off for the second time in three games after a scuffle with a host of Reds players.
It all started after Nestory Irankunda shoved Wanderers midfielder Calem Nieuwenhof, who stopped the Adelaide winger from getting in behind on a fast-break.
As players from both sides convened, Marcelo locked his arm around the neck of Irankunda and United centre-back Lachlan Barr rushed to Irankunda’s aid.
The Wanderers captain then repeated the same action on Barr, pulling the Reds defender in close with his arm firmly wrapped around his neck. Marcelo also reached out to make contact with the back of Ben Halloran’s head, before then grabbing United full-back Javi Lopez in a similar vice.
In the end, referee Shaun Evans sent Marcelo to the sheds – his second red card in three games.
Marcelo has already missed two games this season, coming in a 4-4 draw with Adelaide earlier this season, along with their 1-0 loss to Perth Glory – showcasing just how integral the former Lyon defender has been when he’s in the lineup.
Now, with a crucial set of games to come, the Wanderers are set to be without him for at least their clash with Macarthur FC on Saturday and maybe – beyond – depending on the verdict from the Match Review Panel.
And it couldn’t come at a worse time with only four games to go that will determine their position inside the top six.
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