Steve Corica will rocket himself into contention for the greatest A-League coach, of the greatest A-League team, should Sydney FC beat Melbourne City in the upcoming A-League Grand Final.
Most A-League fans will never see anything other than Corica's side usurping Brisbane Roar's famous 36-match unbeaten streak as proof that the Sydney coach can rival Ange Postecoglou's legacy.
But another Championship win would mean more records tumble. Not since Roar's 2011, 2012 Championship back-to-backs has a team successfully defended their own title. That's one tick in Corica's box.
The other is his faultless continuation of Graham Arnold's work at Sydney FC, weathering consistent key departures as if nothing had happened, replacing strikers like for like and seemingly throwing off all up and comers.
Sydney are now staring down a record-breaking fifth A-League championship, one that clearly sets the club well above all others on the A-League all-time rankings.
That they've managed to become so consistent throughout rival A-League giant Melbourne Victory's downward spiral makes Corica's achievement all the more impressive.
Usual coaching cliches aside, Corica clearly now has on eye on his own personal legacy.
“Obviously we need to win on Sunday first but...we’re going to be the most successful club once we do that,” said Corica.
“That’s the aim, that’s what we want to do. In the 15 years we could have five Championships.”
“This club wants to win trophies, that’s our job. We work hard all year to get into a position to do it and, on Sunday, we have an opportunity to go ahead and go back-to-back.
“There’s only one team in the history of the A-League to go back-to-back so that would be a very good achievement from the club.”
Inheriting Arnold's title-winning squad is one thing, but the soft-spoken Corica has also proven himself capable of making tough decisions with big players, as he'll have to do again come Grand Final time with Alex Baumjohann expected to rejoin the starting squad.
“I think it would have been very tough to leave Anthony [Caceres] out. I think he’s been one of our best performers since coming back from the break,” Corica said.
“A little bit had to do with tactics as well and I thought [Caceres] played really, really well, as well as everyone did I think, especially first half.
“That was my thinking behind it. We know the qualities Alex [Baumjohann] has and we knew we were going to need him at some stage.
“We’ll have to rethink now about the Grand Final and see what players are ready and fresh to back up.”
“Big game players, they’ve got the experience. They’ve been there before. A lot of them played in the game last year."
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