All of the ingredients are there for Melbourne Victory to take out a third Hyundai A-League title.
The Victory will have a true home final experience against Sydney FC at the smaller AAMI Park on Sunday.
The tighter confines mean a partisan Victory crowd will be right on top of the action and it should make for a more intimidating atmosphere for the visiting team and even the referees when the line ball decisions are there to be made.
There has been few distractions for the Victory in the lead up.
The press surrounding Archie Thompson’s contract and his future at the club would barely cause a ripple in the inner sanctum of a team preparing to do battle in a grand final.
The Victory strolled into the big dance with their chest beat out after a 3-0 win over local rivals Melbourne City in the semi final at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.
They found good rhythm in attack and kept a clean sheet at the back, even if City were not without their chances to score.
The performance of goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas left us with no questions over who would be in goal for Victory on Sunday.
Thomas rose to the occasion in a cut-throat semi final, pulling out a raft of big saves to keep Victory’s buffer intact.
Sydney FC have been just as impressive as the Victory in the second half of the season.
They pummelled Adelaide United 4-1 in the semi final on Saturday night.
Sky Blues coach Graham Arnold made an argument in the post game that his side has been the best in the league in this calendar year and, after the showing against United, it’s hard to criticise.
What is unquestioned is the two best sides will feature in the grand final.
Let’s leave it to 90 minutes on the park – possibly slightly more – to settle Arnold’s argument once and for all.
The Victory will be hard to beat if they play to close to their best.
They were minor premiers for a reason, even if Arnold chooses to neglect that fact.
The Victory had the best goal difference of any side due to a better mix of players assembled in Kevin Muscat’s second season in charge.
They scored more goals than any other club and conceded the fewest.
Their ability to adapt to any game situation was evident against City in the semi final.
With the flick of a button, they will bare down on a defence and not let up, but they are smarter this season, knowing when to back off and defend when opposition teams are threatening.
This has much to do with the defensive midfield roles of captain Mark Milligan and Carl Valeri.
They are steadying influences over this Victory side and can dictate the tempo of a game.
It also helps to have a rock at the back in Matthieu Delpierre.
The one-time French under-age international centre back has played in some of the biggest leagues in the world and won a German Bundesliga title with Stuttgart, so his experience will be vital.
The attacking weapons at Victory’s disposal will provide nightmares for the Sydney FC defence.
Striker Besart Berisha is a killer at the business end of a campaign.
The Albanian was a major piece in two of Brisbane Roar’s A-League titles.
All Berisha will need is a half chance and he could shoot the Victory to the title.
If you’re Sydney FC, you can’t take your eyes off Victory’s two most damaging players.
Imports Gui Finkler and Fahid Ben Khalfallah have been incredible in attacking midfield roles.
Their energy, precision passing and highlight reel finishing has been a real feature of the side this season.
Finkler also has the ability to pull a rabbit out of a hat from the dead ball.
With two sides at the top of their games, the Big Blue should deliver an exciting finale to the A-League season.
