Melbourne Victory hit man Archie Thompson is making no extravagant predictions about what might happen in Saturday night’s Hyundai A-League Grand Final against Sydney FC.
Melbourne Victory hit man Archie Thompson is making no extravagant predictions about what might happen in Saturday night’s Hyundai A-League Grand Final against Sydney FC.
The Victory’s No.1 striker famously predicted he would score a hat-trick in the 2007 decider against Adelaide – only to outdo even that bold prediction by scoring a remarkable five goals in Melbourne’s 6-0 win.
Thompson was also a key member of last year’s championship-winning team although it was Tom Pondeljak who scored the winning goal in the 1-0 win over Adelaide.
A win for Melbourne on Saturday night would see the Victory become the first Hyundai A-League club to win back-to-back titles and the first to win three overall with Thompson again set to play a key role as he returns to the starting line-up – having fully recovered from his fractured foot.
But while Thompson is not setting any personal goals for his latest grand final appearance, he is confident the tradition of every Hyundai A-League grand final to date having been settled in 90 minutes will be maintained.
“I am predicting that it won’t go to extra-time and there will be a goal before full-time,” Thompson said.
Three of the four Hyundai A-League grand finals to date have finished 1-0 while the other was Melbourne’s famous 6-0 win over Adelaide in 2007, all in normal time.
And while Thompson does not believe Saturday’s match will go into added time, he said if it does then he is confident he has enough fitness under his belt to last 120 minutes despite his recent lack of match play after he came off the bench to score the winning goal in the second leg of the major semi-final against Sydney a fortnight ago.
“It is such a big match and such a big occasion that you find that bit extra,” Thompson said.
“I’m sure the adrenalin will be pumping and I will find that extra lung, even if I have to borrow it off someone, but you do find that something extra in these big games.”
Thompson believes the Victory are in for a far tougher fight to win championship No.3 against a Sydney team that has won two of the four meetings between the two clubs this year, after Melbourne beat Adelaide in its two previous grand final wins.
“I know we can beat any team,” Thompson said.
“It is 50/50 but if our boys turns up on Saturday night and play to our best then we are a good chance of winning.”
