It was all coming together for Wellington Phoenix. In the biggest game in their history, a record 33,297 fans packed into Sky Stadium, and Oskar Zawada had just equalised in the 99th minute to force their A-League Men semi-final against Melbourne Victory into extra-time.
Surely, destiny, the footballing gods, and narrative demanded that they would now go on to win, adding to the incredible journey that has been the side’s 2023-24 campaign. A team literally named “Phoenix” had just risen from the ashes; for goodness sake, the headlines write themselves.
The New Zealand side had never been closer to an A-League grand final than they were at that moment. The wind was at their backs and their opponents were reeling after emptying their bench in a now-futile attempt to avoid a third stoppage-time goal in as many trips to the venue this season.
Reflective of the packed stands, a city and nation had rallied behind the Phoenix for a moment just like this. Giancarlo Italiano’s mother was in the stands, watching her son coach for the first time in Wellington, and most of those watching on either side of the Tasman yearned to see a happy ending. It was just a matter of time before one of the league’s few genuine feel-good stories this season, an unfancied and unheralded side that sacrificed two seasons at home to play and live in Wollongong during the height of Covid-related border controls, would complete the fairytale.
THE PHOENIX RISE FROM THE ASHESSSSS!!!!!
— Sky Sport NZ (@skysportnz) May 18, 2024
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!?!?!?! WE ARE GOING TO EXTRA TIME!!! 💛🖤
COME ON YOU NIX!!!!! Extra Time LIVE NOW on #SkySportNZ 📺 pic.twitter.com/PNGWfJlj5g
Turns out, though, the scriptwriters were taking their cues from the Brothers Grimm, rather than Walt Disney. The brutal lesson from this parable is perhaps to make sure you don’t let Chris Ikonomidis sneak in behind you when you’re defending a late corner.
But 12 minutes into the first period of extra-time, Ikonomidis found himself in the right place at the right time at the back post to bundle Roderick Miranda’s flick-on into the Phoenix net. The air was sucked out of Sky Stadium, the sense of inevitability and destiny gleaned when Zawada cancelled out Adama Traore’s 82nd-minute opener wiped away.
Ikonomidis has spent much of his time in Melbourne out of form and out of favour, derided by Victory fans for his reported healthy wage packet. But now he’s confirmed his side’s place in a first men’s grand final in six years.
Knowing that attempting to fight the narrative that would inevitably become associated with the game was folly, Victory boss Tony Popovic had remarked after the first leg in Melbourne last week that the opportunity to serve as the antagonists on Saturday was a “beautiful” thing for his side. But there was also something hauntingly striking about the scenes when the final whistle rang out. The contrasts wrought from one sudden twist on a football pitch, where the stakes are simultaneously incredible but, in the broader context, not that important at all, were laid bare. It’s football. It can’t deliver soaring highs unless there are also crushing lows.
Despair in yellow, jubilation in navy blue. There is no Easter Bunny, there is no Tooth Fairy, and there will be no Wellington Phoenix in the 2023-24 ALM grand final.
Instead, it is Melbourne Victory that will now face the Central Coast in the decider next week in Gosford. The defending champions ensured their dreams of a remarkable treble of AFC Cup, ALM Premiership, and ALM Championship remained burning when surviving a contentious 0-0 draw with Sydney later on Saturday evening, making their 2-1 advantage from the first leg a telling one.
Without question, the Mariners will be seeking to finish a romantic tale of their own. The league’s most penurious outfit, stripped for parts after last season’s title but who still defiantly found a way to drag themselves to within 90 minutes of a feat no other side in Australian football has accomplished – a footballing Ship of Theseus with middle fingers held in the air. At a time when the league’s fiscal outfit looks bleak, no side better exemplifies the principles of making the most of what you have than the Mariners.
But will they do so as underdogs? At this point, they can’t. To claim they do so almost dismisses everything that they have accomplished across this season and the last, to the point of being disrespectful.
Yes, from a material perspective, Victory remain on another plane of existence to the Mariners. But no side that has just won a continental title, with a sold-out Industree Group Stadium at their backs, and who finished the league season 13 points clear of their opponents can be considered an outsider. On an institutional level, the Mariners are an underdog, but now they’ve become anything but.
And given how Victory revelled in their villainy in eliminating the Phoenix, maybe that’s for the best, anyway.
