This image shows a moment from a Melbourne City Football Club match. Following a defeat at home against city rivals Melbourne Victory, Melbourne City are about to face the Western Conference on the road in back-to-back city derbies.
Despite a narrow 1-0 win over Newcastle Sprayers in the first round of the league two weeks ago, the team struggled against a victorious Melbourne, conceding three goals in the first 25 minutes and eventually losing at home. However, I think head coach Vidmar was able to learn from the loss as the team showed a positive stance in the second half to turn around the second 45 minutes of the game 1-0. Nabbott became Melbourne City's only goal scorer and he will be the key man for his team in this campaign. In addition, I think No.10 Jonathon Gohan Koh and flanker Marko De Leo will be the source of creativity for the team. Melbourne City will need to avoid the mistakes they made at Melbourne Victory, especially against the Western Conference's strong offense this season. As mentioned earlier, Western Conference striker Yosifumi Ibusuki could be an important addition to the team. Last week, he scored his first goal of the league season in a 1-1 home draw against Western Sydney Wanderers. Meanwhile, Noah Baudy, a rising Australian star, is also highly anticipated. He scored 4 goals in 6 league matches after successfully making the squad last season. Unfortunately, he left the game early due to injury. But now that he has returned from injury and featured in the first two games, we need to keep an eye on him in this tournament as his goal threat cannot be underestimated. Although the Western Conference has shown a lot of strength in their first two battles, I'm confident Melbourne City can finally come away with a narrow victory.
