Soccer-Old Australia team mates duel in coaches box for A-League title

By Ian Ransom

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - John Aloisi and Patrick Kisnorbo once shared changing rooms as Australia team mates but on Saturday they will battle from the coaches box at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium during the A-League's Grand Final.

Aloisi will hope to guide plucky expansion side Western United to their first title in only their third season, while Kisnorbo is gunning for back-to-back championships at the helm of favourites Melbourne City.

Both had distinguished playing careers, with Aloisi celebrated in Australia as the man who ended the country's 42-year wait for a second World Cup appearance by netting the decisive penalty in the 2005 playoff against Uruguay.

A former Leicester City favourite, Kisnorbo was a rugged central defender capped 18 times for the Socceroos before injury cut short his international career.

Since playing an Asian Cup together in 2007 under Australia coach Graham Arnold, the pair have taken different footballing trajectories while occasionally floating into each other's orbit.

Aloisi played for City when it was known as Melbourne Heart in 2010/11, then signed Kisnorbo a couple of years later as coach of the team.

"I know him really well," Aloisi told Reuters on Wednesday.

"He’s a top guy, a very good professional as a player and now as a coach.

"He’s got that work ethic as well and you know his teams are going to be well organised.

"We'll be rivals on Saturday but that respect will always be there because of the history that we have together."

UNITED UNDERDOGS

Aloisi's first job as manager of a top-flight team ended abruptly when he was sacked by City in late-2013, and Western United are the third A-League team in his charge following a stint at Brisbane Roar.

Kisnorbo, however, has