Phoenix coach eyes 'fairytale' Sydney FC grand final
Allowing himself to dream, Wellington Phoenix coach Giancarlo Italiano says a match-up with Sydney FC and mentor Ufuk Talay would be his “fairytale” A-League Men grand final.
However, the first-season senior coach says the semi-final challenge against Melbourne Victory that has fallen to his side will be formidable.
Not least because of Wellington’s woeful record at AAMI Park.
In 36 visits to the Melbourne ground, the Phoenix have picked up just three wins.
Their 37th trip will come on Sunday in the first leg of a home-and-away duel with Tony Popovic’s side that will decide whether Wellington reach their first grand final.
“Going to AAMI Park is going to be a real test because we never win there,” Italiano told AAP.
“Haven’t won there in such a long time that it’s almost like a mindset thing, it’s almost like a hoodoo, right?
“But you have to break those hoodoos in order to be a champion team.
“That’s one thing I always tell our players – you need to look forward to the challenges.”
Wellington haven’t won at AAMI Park for more than seven years, a bleak 20-game run that includes two finals and a 16-day spell in 2022 when they lost to all three Melbourne-based clubs there.
Wellington’s last goalscorer in an AAMI Park win was Shane Smeltz – now 42.
Shane Smeltz (right) celebrates scoring in Wellington’s 3-0 win at AAMI Park in April 2017. (Julian Smith/AAP PHOTOS)
“Victory will be a tough game,” Italiano said, speaking before Popovic’s side emerged from their elimination final via a penalty shootout triumph over Melbourne City.
“They are formidable.”
Wellington have had the last week off, during which time the Central Coast Mariners played their catch-up game against Adelaide United and sealed the premiership with a 2-0 win.
That result consigned Wellington to second place.
Despite holding out little hope of claiming the Premiers’ Plate, Phoenix gathered together to watch the Mariners-Adelaide clash on the off-chance it ended the club’s trophy drought.
“The boys understood once we lost at Mariners a while back that our destiny wasn’t in our own hands,” Italiano said.
Defeat at Central Coast in April took the Premiers’ Plate’s destiny out of Wellington’s hands. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP PHOTOS)
On Friday, they had an intra-club match to maintain conditioning, with star forward Oskar Zawada playing 45 minutes as he charts a course to full fitness.
Italiano, Talay’s assistant coach for four years before succeeding him in Wellington last year, has emerged as an exciting prospect in his first season in charge.
As he waited to learn his elimination final opponents, Italiano suggested a match-up with his former boss on the last day of the season would be his dream.
“There’s a part of me that, if we believe in fairytales, would love to play Sydney FC in a grand final,” he said.
“That would be great. It would be in Wellington and it’d be crowning.
“I’d love to win, but there’s a part of me that wouldn’t be upset either if he won – he deserves it as well.”