A-League grand final pits close rivals

A-League grand finalists Sydney FC and the defending champion Melbourne Victory have seen enough of each other lately to know they don't really care much for each other.

Sydney finished in first place in the standings after the regular season - by one point over the Victory. Melbourne is going for its third A-League title in five seasons, while Sydney won the title in the 2005-06 inaugural season.

The teams faced each other in the major semifinal over two legs two weeks ago, when Melbourne advanced direct to the grand final after a 4-3 aggregate win.

That forced Sydney to play Wellington in the preliminary final, where referee Strebre Delovski failed to notice that a second goal by Sydney's Chris Payne went in off the striker's hand. That gave Sydney a 2-1 lead on the way to a 4-2 win.

Delovski has drawn the grand final assignment at Melbourne's Etihad Stadium, where 3,000 tickets remained unsold on Friday in the 50,000-seat, roofed stadium.

Melbourne will give midfielder Tom Pondeljak, who scored the winner in last year's grand final, until match day to prove his fitness from a hamstring injury, while veteran striker Archie Thompson returns.

Sydney's former Coventry City and Portsmouth striker John Aloisi is out with a leg injury.

Next year, the A-League will add a second Melbourne team - the Hearts - while Sydney will get a second team in its western suburbs in 2011-12.

Melbourne coach Ernie Merrick said those additions will probably dilute the Melbourne-Sydney rivalry, making this grand final unique.

"This is definitely a bit special - it's probably the last opportunity for one team in Melbourne, one team in Sydney, to go head-to-head in a true rivalry," Merrick said.

Likely teams:

Melbourne: Mitch Langerak, Surat Sukha, Kevin Muscat (captain), Rodrigo Vargas, Adrian Leijer, Leigh Broxham, Grant Brebner, Tom Pondeljak, Carlos Hernandez, Robbie Kruse, Archie Thompson.

Sydney FC: Clint Bolton, Sebastian Ryall, Simon Colosimo, Stephan Keller, Byun Sung-Hwan, Terry McFlynn (captain), Stuart Musialik, Karol Kisel, Mark Bridge, Alex Brosque, Chris Payne.

- AAP