How a Kyrgyzstan trip factors into the A-League Men title race
An away trip to Kyrgyzstan could have as much of a say in the A-League Men Premiers Plate race as the two trips to Newcastle that are still on the cards.
With two rounds remaining in the regular season, the race for top spot is down to the Wellington Phoenix and the Central Coast Mariners, who each have 49 points.
The Mariners hold the advantage, prevailing on the first tiebreaker thanks to their extra win. They also have the easier fixtures to come, based on where their opponents and the Phoenix’s lie on the table.
They both have to play the 10th-placed Newcastle Jets in Newcastle – the Phoenix tomorrow, the Mariners the following Saturday – but Wellington then host fifthplaced Macarthur FC that Saturday, while Central Coast first host eighth-placed Adelaide United this Sunday.
An added wrinkle is that the Mariners are still active in the AFC Cup – the Asian Football Confederation’s second-tier continental knockout competition – and have a home-and-away semifinal to navigate this week and next.
Their opponents in that semifinal are FC Abdysh-Ata Kant, the reigning champions of the Kyrgyzstan Premier League, who will host the first leg in Bishkek, which was to kick off at 12am today.
Having already trekked to the central Asian nation’s capital, close to its northern border with Kazakhstan, the Mariners then have to fly home before hosting Adelaide in Gosford at 5pm on Sunday.
During their AFC Cup campaign, the Mariners have had only two overseas away matches followed by A-League Men matches a few days later – and they failed to win on both occasions.
On November 12, they lost 2-1 to the Brisbane Roar at home, four days after winning 2-1 against Bali United in Indonesia, while on December 17, they drew 3-3 away to Melbourne City, four days after winning 3-0 against Stallion Laguna in the Philippines.
But since that defeat to the Roar, the only team the Mariners have lost to in either competition is fourth-placed Sydney FC – 3-1 at home in February and 2-0 in Sydney in March.
The Phoenix need them to slip up at least once more in the final two rounds of the regular season, so will be hoping their travel this week proves to be a factor, especially as they’ve had a quiet week at home themselves.
Wellington hopped on a plane to Newcastle, via Sydney, yesterday afternoon, buoyed by the presence of Polish striker Oskar Zawada, who appears in line to return from injury when they play the Jets.
The Phoenix have already secured a home playoff match for the first time in nine years – the home leg of a home-andaway semifinal, likely to be played on Saturday, May 18 – but a first piece of sil