From beginning to end, Round 6 showcased the very best of the Isuzu UTE A-League.
It began with a bang at Coopers Stadium, with a relentless Adelaide United riling up a packed home crowd in a dominant 3-0 win over rivals Melbourne Victory.
Saturday night shared the Original Rivalry’s showpiece status as Western Sydney Wanderers travelled to Allianz Stadium for the first Sydney Derby at the new venue, and won. More than 34,000 fans were in the house to watch their 1-0 win over Sydney FC unfold.
They’re two of the most spiteful fixtures in the competition – and were scheduled in Round 6 to help the league reach a mini-crescendo prior to a near-four-week break for the FIFA Men’s World Cup.
In and around the main event action on Friday and Saturday night came three pulsating affairs with see-sawing momentum. Two of those three games were decided by last-gasp winners.
Four of five games on the Round 6 agenda featured A-League Men stars bound for Qatar with the Socceroos; none shone quite like Craig Goodwin and Garang Kuol, however, whose respective virtuoso displays lifted the roof on what’s expected of our local stars when they represent Australia at the World Cup.
On Sunday evening, the A-Leagues’ seven Socceroos embarked on flights to Qatar. At the same time, fans around the competition were left to reflect on the weekend that was.
These are the three factors that saw the Isuzu UTE A-League produce some of its finest entertainment in Round 6:
1) The fans
More than 13,000 fans flocked to Coopers Stadium on Friday night to watch the Reds dismantle Victory. It was the biggest crowd at an Adelaide home match since 2016.
The Victory faithful came out in force for the Original Rivalry, too – but were drowned out by the hosts as each of Adelaide’s three goals got the redeveloped stadium rocking.
‘I’M RARING TO GO’: GOODWIN MAKES WORLD CUP PLEDGE AFTER VICTORY DOMINATION
This was the sound generated by Adelaide’s third of the night, scored by Ben Warland and assisted by Goodwin as Coopers Stadium reached a crescendo.
On Saturday, it was Sydney’s turn to put on a show. A total of 34,232 fans of both the Sky Blues and Wanderers amassed at Allianz Stadium to create an atmosphere to savour.
“This is like the Derby nights of old” marvelled Paramount+ commentator Simon Hill at kick-off; The Cove raised its Tifo pointed at hero-turned-villain Milos Ninkovic, signalling this was no ordinary evening at the shiny new stadium.
By the end of the evening, the Wanderers pulled off an Allianz heist, with a bullet strike from Kusini Yengi sending the Red and Black Bloc into the stratosphere.
Wanderers boss Marko Rudan marvelled at the occasion in the afterglow of his side’s victory.
“Derbies are the best,” Rudan said. “Derbies are the best. It’s as simple as that.
“You look around the world, everyone’s sitting here as a football lover, we all grew up on that whether it be on ABC or SBS or whatever, but we understood what derbies meant around the world. Whether it’s South America or Europe, we live for it.
It’s important we teach that to the next generation, and the next generation, and the next… I understand we haven’t got a footballing culture as such, but games like tonight epitomises what can be done if we understand and put the game first.
READ: ONE MOMENT OF NINKOVIC TIPS THE ARM WRESTLE IN FAVOUR OF WESTERN SYDNEY
2) The unpredictability
Off the back of Saturday night’s theatrical derby, a Sunday doubleheader kept the drama rolling – and there were three numbers and one symbol that defined an afternoon from which you simply could not look away:
90+5
Both Western United and Macarthur FC snatched three points from Wellington Phoenix and Central Coast Mariners respectively with last-gasp goals scored in the fifth minute of extra time in respective five-goal thrillers.
Both Sunday fixtures ended 3-2; the first of which took place at Sky Stadium, where Western trailed 2-0 at the hour mark before drawing level at 2-2 heading into stoppage time. Alessandro Diamanti converted this free-kick at the death to earn the champions their first win of the campaign.
REPORT: DIAMANTI STUNNER AT THE DEATH COMPLETES DRAMATIC WESTERN COMEBACK OVER ‘NIX
At Central Coast Stadium, Jed Drew repeated the feat. The Macarthur teenager, in his first A-League Men start, ran himself ragged throughout a game in which his side led 2-0, but rescinded the advantage to a fast-finishing Mariners.
At 2-2 the hosts looked destined to storm home and clinch all three points, before Drew – the most unlikely of heroes – led a rapid Bulls counter attack to slot the winning goal past World Cup-bound Mariners keeper Danny Vukovic to put an exclamation point on the weekend’s action.
This all followed a Saturday afternoon special between Newcastle Jets and Melbourne City which truly had it all; a first half defined by two defensive errors down either end was followed by a second 45 of immense quality where two keepers – Newcastle’s Michael Weier and City’s Tom Glover – produced save, after save, after save.
The game ended 2-1 in favour of City, but could have gone a multitude of different ways if not for the ridiculous glove-work down either end in the second half.
All the pre-round anticipation honed in on Friday and Saturday night’s rivalry fixtures, but the highlights of the weekend came from across the board.
3) The future
Nothing resonates with fans around the A-League Men quite like a young player making their mark amongst the experienced heads.
At times, Round 6 served as a playground for some of the league’s brightest emerging stars to put on statement displays:
Ethan Alagich
On Friday night it was Ethan Alagich – son of Reds legend Richard Alagich – who at 18 years of age was thrust into the Reds starting XI for one of the biggest games on the club’s calendar.
He sat at the pointy end of a midfield three, with Isaias and Juande offering defensive cover, and got to work putting his fingerprints all over an attacking masterclass from Adelaide.
Alagich’s starting debut in the Original Rivalry was “incredible,” he told Paramount+. “It’s a dream come true… I’ve dreamt of this day for so long now, so to make my starting debut, it’s unbelievable. And in front of this crowd as well, it’s crazy.”
Alagich made his first appearance in the A-League Men in Round 1 this season, becoming the seventh player to follow in their father’s footsteps to debut in the league.
On Friday night that number rose to eight, with Joshua Mori – son of Australian national league all-time top goalscorer Damian Mori – coming off the Adelaide bench in stoppage time to make his A-League Men debut.
As it stands, the list of father-son players reads as so:
- Alagich – Richie (father) and Ethan
- Cristiano (father) and Raphael Borges Rodrigues
- Coyne – Chris (father) and Aidan
- Mori – Damian (father) and Josh
- Cassio (father) and son Bernardo Oliveira
- Popovic – Tony (father) and sons Gabriel and Kristian
- Young – Stuart (father) and son Jacob
Stats collated by historian Andrew Howe
Calem Nieuwenhof
On Saturday night, Calem Nieuwenhof bossed the midfield for Western Sydney. The 21-year-old made five starts in three seasons for Sydney FC, before switching allegiances in the off-season. He’s made six consecutive starts for Western Sydney since, the latest of which coming in a best afield display in the Wanderers’ derby triumph in front of a hostile Sky Blues crowd.
“I’m absolutely loving it,” he told Paramount+. “The (Red and Black Boc) has come out in force today and got around us. They’ve been so good throughout the whole season and for them to show up today and be our 12th man, they really helped us get over the line. That was awesome today.”
READ: ‘SUPERB’: HOW RISING WANDERERS STAR ‘SLIPPED UNDER THE RADAR’ TO HAUNT HIS FORMER SIDE
Garang Kuol
There’s no doubt about it after Round 6: Super-sub Garang Kuol is ready to make an impact at the World Cup. The Socceroos forward was destructive for the Mariners on Sunday afternoon, helping his side come from two goals down – while reduced to 10 men – to draw level with Macarthur at 2-2. Kuol scored both goals, the second of which arguably his finest in professional football to date.
READ: ‘WATCH OUT WORLD, GARANG IS COMING!’ SOCCEROO PUTS ON MASTERCLASS IN NARROW BULLS LOSS
Now he’s en route to Qatar, leaving Socceroos boss Graham Arnold one final example of his ability to spin a game on its head from the bench.
Australia play France in the early hours of Wednesday, November 23 to kick off their World Cup campaign.
