Melbourne - Rival strikers Besart Berisha and Marc Janko could settle Sunday's heavyweight A-League grand final between Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC which has been given an extra edge by verbal sparring between the coaches.
Albanian Berisha has already won two A-League championships with former club Brisbane Roar, while Austrian Janko is the golden boot winner with 16 goals in his first season with Sydney FC.
Firebrand Berisha has the incredible scoring record of 62 goals in 103 A-League appearances over four seasons, and is known for rising to the occasion in big games.
Janko says winning the A-League championship won't have any bearing on whether he'll remain at Sydney FC beyond this season, with his mind already made up.
"We all want to focus on the last game which is very important, so we agreed to put everything negotiations-wise on hold and we'll continue to speak about that after the last game," the big Austrian said.
Kevin Muscat's Victory are bidding for a third A-League title and are playing in their first grand final in five seasons, while Sydney FC, under former Socceroos coach Graham Arnold, are also chasing their third title.
The season decider is likely to see plenty of attempts on goal with Victory's attack featuring Berisha, French-born Tunisian Fahid Ben Khalfallah, Brazilian playmaker Gui Finkler and New Zealand's Kosta Barbarouses, with all-time A-League leading scorer Archie Thompson on the bench.
Sydney boast 45-capped international Janko along with Socceroo Alex Brosque, Nigerian-born Bernie Ibini and New Zealand international Shane Smeltz, the second-highest all-time A-League scorer.
"They score a lot of goals ... their front four, they're some very quality players," Finkler said of Sydney FC's attack.
"We can beat them, I'm not going to tell you how. Hopefully we're in a good mood on Sunday to be successful and score the goals."
AFP
