It did not all go to plan for Indiana Dos Santos and Sydney FC in the A-League Women's semi-finals last weekend, but the Shellharbour junior is still gunning to make her dream come true with a grand final appearance.
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Dos Santos started as the Sky Blues went down 1-0 to Western United in the major semi-final, meaning Sydney will have to take on league heavyweights Melbourne Victory this week for a spot in the decider.
It has been a whirlwind six months for both Dos Santos sisters Jynaya and Indiana in the 2022/23 season but most notably for the latter.
In this season alone the youngest Dos Santos has made her A-Leagues debut - both off the bench and then starting - and became Sydney FC's youngest ever goalscorer at 15 years and 170 days old.
Despite all the accolades, she told the Mercury that she was far from done.
"It's a dream come true [to play in a grand final]," she said.
"I think it would be very special because to play in an A-League grand final is amazing. I'm a bit nervous [for this weekend] but I'm just excited to go out there and hopefully win the game and be one step closer to lifting the trophy."
Sydney had plenty of shots and possession against league newcomers United last weekend but could not capitalise. This week coming up against Victory - who have beaten the Sky Blues in the past two grand finals - Dos Santos said the team would be more clinical in front of goal and if they can manage this the side would be heading to their sixth straight decider.
"We're just going to play our own game and take more shots," Dos Santos added.
"We're going to be more relaxed and take our opportunities. We dominated the whole game [against Western] and they are definitely a good team as well but we are definitely a better team and we showed that, but we just didn't finish our chances."
Sydney will be looking to not make it a three-peat of grand final losses should they progress past Victory on Saturday. Kick-off for the clash is 3pm. The grand final venue is already locked in at Parramatta Stadium on Sunday April 30.
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Jordan Warren
Illawarra Mercury sports journalist. Feel free to get in touch jordan.warren@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
Illawarra Mercury sports journalist. Feel free to get in touch jordan.warren@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
