The wait is almost over! City football is set to return to AAMI Park this Friday night when we host Western United in a Grand Final re-match.
After back-to-back Premierships and three consecutive Grand Final appearances, City will again be eyeing another silverware winning season.
A huge milestone for our skipper
Just five players are part of the A-Leagues 300 appearance club, an esteemed group that City Captain Scott Jamieson is set to join on Friday night.
It’s another to a string of milestones achieved in recent years, with our inspirational leader already the most appeared player in City history and also having captained the most games.
Since joining City in 2017, Jamieson has led the team to two Premierships, a Championship and also an AFC Champions League appearance – all of which for the first time in club history in terms of our Men’s squad.
While we can’t imagine he’s spending much time thinking about it due to the team-first character he is, it’s a huge milestone we’re all looking forward to celebrating on Friday.
Be there at AAMI Park on Friday night to celebrate our Captain’s big milestone! Click here to get your tickets.
New faces ready to make their mark
There’s been plenty of excitement around our new signings this season and it’s almost finally time to see them in action at AAMI Park.
New foreigners Valon Berisha, Thomas Lam and Richard van der Venne are the ones that will likely dominate the headlines, but after starting all but one pre-season fixture, promising 21-year-old full-back Callum Talbot looks set to be heavily involved this season too.
Despite being the first pre-season arrival of our new foreign trio, a couple of small niggles at unfortunate times meant van der Venne didn’t get a chance to play until City’s final pre-season fixture.
Berisha and Lam both saw plenty of action in the final friendlies and all four new signings look ready to go for their City debuts on Friday night.
A heavyweight bout to open the season
After a disappointing end to our 2021/22 campaign, there’s no better way to open the season than with another crack at Western United in what will be a meeting of last season’s Premiers and Champions.
From the third Victorian sides inception into the league, City enjoyed a great run of form against its new rivals. Spearheaded by seven goals from Jamie Maclaren, City won all of its first five fixtures against Western – but since then – hasn’t tasted victory.
With another infamously long pre-season now complete, expect City to come out firing and ready to get its 2022/23 campaign off to a winning start.
Who makes the starting XI cut?
Come 6:45pm on Friday night, all eyes will be on who Head Coach Patrick Kisnorbo names in his first starting line-up.
With increased depth comes some tough decisions for the boss, particularly in midfield and the final third.
After a strong pre-season, Aiden O’Neill would appear set to return, but who joins him in midfield will be a hot topic of debate in the lead-up to the fixture. The likes of Berisha, van der Venne, Berenguer and Tilio are all well in the mix, but who gets the final nod remains to be seen.
