"From the ashes a fire shall be woken
A light from the shadows shall spring
Reforged will be blade that was broken
Crownless again shall be king."
It's time to play Victory. It's time to win.
If there is one team that draws the worst from Adelaide fans it's the evil blue weevils from dark lands of Mordor...um..Melbourne. Numerous times they have sent their brutal and cunning forces to Hindmarsh, leaving a swathe of red blood and muttered curses behind them as they have carried off the spoils. Numerous times the gallant Red Army has travelled to the Docklands of Doome, hoping to destroy the ancient and malevolent ringleader (hi Kev!), only to return savage and savaged.
This week we travel again but the portents are ominous for Victory and the true hearts of the legion of Red are beating with a confidence bred of a record-breaking campaign undefeated in thirteen minor wars.
But this is the big one. Anything might happen.
The Fellowship of the Reds, led by the hobbit-like Lucas Pantelis ("Courage is found in unlikely places."), has been bolstered by the rangy Ranger, Marcos Flores, the good Orc Sergio van Dijk and the elven magic of Matthew Leckie. The mighty powers of the dwarf King, Cassio, are aided by the human strength of our settled backline and the giant heart and reach of the inestimable Hugene.
True, we stand against the greatest evil ever known to football (hi Kev!), the wizardly acumen of Hernandez the Blue and the Gollum clone, Robbie Kruse....but other than that the forces of evil have been a bit underwhelming of late. And of course they're so heavily laden with hubris and so sure of beating us that they might not even be in training for this one.
Even if they have it won't matter. The bad guys are going down this week. At home. It's time.
Of course I harbour some secret fears while writing this. Of course I'm aware that the human bile machine (hi, Kev!) might try to announce his retirement by breaking Flores' legs but I'm fairly confident that even if he did his killing blow would turn into an air-swing - especially if he operates with the speed of thought and limb he's exhibited of late.
Times have moved on and left some behind. For Victory that's a problem. For the Reds it's a blessing. The new coach and new players don't have the history of fear to weigh them down. For them, Victory is just another team to beat. A team eleven points below us - and we have a game in hand. I doubt Rini's losing sleep.
The fans are though. We want to win this one. We want the chance to be as gracious in victory as Victory fans always were.
Of course, it's not that important. It's only a game.
Like hell it is!
++++
And, in the fashion of Kym the Stinger.....
An open letter to Matthew Leckie
Matthew, maaaaaaaate, don't go. Stay, win the league and the final with us first. We come to the ground to see you play. We scream your name. We stole you from Melbourne. You're a bloody RED!!! Don't go. Not yet.
And if you do I'm going to post more links to crappy disco songs like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPHY9F-wHc8&feature=related just to embarrass you. You have been warned.
Seriously, Matt, the B(undesliga) League will wait. Right now you're on your way to becoming a legend.
Remember Nathan & Brucie! Not every path has to be walked today....
"Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though we pass them by today,
Tomorrow we may come this way
And take the hidden paths that run
Towards the Moon or to the Sun."
P.S. I'm not going to mention our wonderful 3-0 warm-up match against Pheonix because work commitments prevented me from being there to see the wonderful goals and rebirth of regirthed Travis Dodd. Another win, an A-League record, a great crowd....ho-hum. How times have changed in the finest city in Australia.
