The finals format always has the potential to throw a spanner in the works and it has done so in Season 5. Despite winning the league outright, Pied Piper were eliminated before the final – replaced by the very team that they beat on the last day to claim the AVPL premiership, The Empire. Their opponents in the final will be AVPL Season 4 runner-up Big Orses who make their second final in a row. Both sides possess quality throughout and campaigners who have seen and done it. The most important battle within the final could potentially be that of experience. This segues nicely into what I perceive to be the keys to the final.
Experience
Both Big Orses and The Empire have big-game players who have played at this level before. In Scaffaro, The Empire have a leader that will leave no stone unturned to make sure his team is ready for this final. Essentially, being the Godfather of Pro Clubs, Scaff’s teams are prepared for any challenge and always perform on the big stage.
On the other side of the divide, Big Orses have plenty of big-time performers including Mizzo, Jay, Davidsia and ChelseaFC_26. On their day, any one of these players can single-handedly swing the momentum back into their teams favour, whether it’s through Davidsia and ChesleaFC_26’s destroyer-mentality in the middle of the park, Mizzo’s vision or Jay’s lethal right boot. All of these players have done it before, and they may just do it again.
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Empire’s defensive stability
The Empire get plenty of flak for their play-style, but one thing that is never in doubt is their ability to keep a solid and rigid defensive structure. In the minds of captains Scaffaro and Gigi_Nesta, defensive solidarity is paramount to a successful AVPL season. This same mentality will be carried into the final against Big Orses. With the likes of Ruud, Jordy, Lesiotis10 and Gazzalinga, The Empire possesses the defensive tact to keep Big Orses scoreless.
A tale of two keepers…err…or not
As the title suggests, only one of these teams actually has a human goalkeeper. And that’s The Empire’s December_19. Having kept 12 clean sheets from 24 games, and allotting 70 saves in the process, it’s clear that he has the potential to be the deciding factor in this fixture. As all clubs players will know, playing against a legitimately solid VP goalkeeper adds a lot more pressure on a team. More often than not, a team will have to adjust their usual approach to goal-scoring to counter goalkeeping heroics. Big Orses will have to do just that if they are to breach the back of The Empire’s net, and considering finals tend to be a cagey affair, it’s quite possible that not having a VP goalkeeper will put Big Orses at a massive disadvantage. On the flipside, Empire strikers The_Reoraa and Indi will be licking their lips at the prospect of hammering the ball towards an AI goalkeeper
Where will the goals come from?
As was showcased in the regular season, Big Orses are a free-scoring side, having amassed the second-highest goals scored with 54. In Mizzo, Jay, Boomjet and Davidsia, Big Orses have the capability to score a hatful. Having just come off of scoring four against AVPL premiers Pied Piper, Big Orses’ attackers will be full of confidence, and confidence in a goal-scorer is never a good thing for the oppositions defence.
The Empire also has players that know where the back of the net is. The_Reoraa, Indi and Scaffaro will work off of each other to increase The Empire’s chances of taking out the AVPL Title. The former two are lethal strikers and the latter a creative-force. If all three work in tandem The Empire will have no problem scoring goals. Look for the team to utilise The_Reoraa’s uncanny ability to leap above defenders and bury the ball in the net.
Whatever the result, The Empire against Big Orses will be an intriguing matchup that you will not want to miss! Good luck to both teams.
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