3 minute read
Melbourne Victory have plenty of motivation from their A-League Men grand final capitulation when they face Macarthur FC in the Australia Cup final.
Still burning from the pain of letting the A-League Men championship slip from their grasp, Melbourne Victory are determined to seize the Australia Cup and not let go.
Victory led 1-0 for a large chunk of last season's decider against Central Coast but conceded a last-gasp equaliser then lost 3-1 in extra-time.
But under new coach Patrick Kisnorbo, the powerhouse club have a quick opportunity to make some amends in Sunday's Cup final against Macarthur FC at AAMI Park.
"Even now, I don't think I'm completely past it," defender Jason Geria, who scored Victory's goal in that game, told AAP.
"I still think about it at times. Being that close and in regular time, conceding with literally their first shot on target, and then not being able to do the job in extra-time was pretty hard on the night.
"Still now you just think about moments in the game where could have done this, could have done that. But that happens to everyone.
"There's moments to learn from, to grow from.
"This week is a perfect time to apply lessons from that game and be a bit better in asserting ourselves and finishing games off and hopefully we do that this weekend and win the trophy."
Two years ago, Victory won the Cup to mark the perfect start to now-Socceroos boss Tony Popovic's tenure.
Geria can already see the similarities.
"They're two completely different coaches but they both have the same ethos in wanting to control games, take it to the opponent and are very adamant about setting a winning culture," he said.
"This is a perfect platform for the season, if we can win this, put everyone in good stead for round one against Central Coast.
"But first season for the boss, it'd be really good to get a piece of silverware straight out of the gate."
Socceroos winger Daniel Arzani won the Australia Cup with Macarthur two years ago and is determined to claim his first silverware as a Victory player.
"I'm really excited. We should have won something last season as well but that's behind us now," Arzani told AAP.
"It'd be nice to win something with this group - we definitely deserve something.
"We've got a really talented team. You look at our team on paper, and we should really be a force to compete with this season and pushing to win pretty much everything, and that's the expectation that we put on ourselves.
"It's important to start off winning ways. Getting an early bit of silverware can help us build momentum as well, push it on and take it into the season with us."