Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
When Dario Vidosic walks out at Wembley Stadium for the Women’s FA Cup final at the head of his Brighton & Hove Albion team it will be a proud but bittersweet moment for the 39-year-old Australian.
Instead of looking to the bench he will be looking to the heavens as he thinks of his father and mentor Rado, who passed away in January aged 64.
Rado had been working alongside Dario on England’s south coast as the club’s head of women and girls coaching, and would have been a sounding board as Dario plotted a path to victory against Mary Fowler’s Manchester City, the newly-crowned Women’s Super League champions.
“There’s lots of moments where it just hits you,” Dario told AAP. “He was someone that I spoke to a lot when we were here working together and living together and enjoying that, but also throughout.
“When we were in different places, we’d always talk and watch the games. It’s not just missing a mentor and someone that’s meant a lot to me, but also missing someone I could ask for general advice, and just have a chat with, and just miss my dad.”
Rado was a significant figure in Australian soccer the last 20 years, coaching with Brisbane Roar, Sydney FC, Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City (men and women).
“His influence has been massive,” said Dario. “On the men’s game and the women’s game, the younger ones that he developed through the academies – he’s done almost everything in Australia.
“I am who I am thanks to my father, the footballer, the coach. I just wanted to follow in his footsteps. I hope I can continue to make him proud.”
Vidosic junior is certainly doing that. After a playing career taking in seven countries and 23 Australia caps he followed Rado into coaching at Melbourne City Women before joining Brighton in July 2024. In the WSL he has steered them to fifth and seventh, and now their first cup final.
Vidosic will achieve a personal dream on Saturday (midnight AEST) leading Brighton out at Wembley, which he’s never visited. Aside from former England striker Fran Kirby most of his players are in the same boat so he’ll be telling them “we have to play the game like we’re at our training ground”. But he adds they can use the “excitement” as “positive energy”.
City are hot favourites but Albion won at then-European champions Arsenal in the quarter-final and have beaten City this season so need not feel overawed.
Even so City’s forward line is daunting with Fowler, Jamaican Khadija Shaw, who’s just signed a A$2m-a-year contract, Dutch ace Vivienne Miedema and Brazilian Kerolin.
Of Fowler Vidosic said: “She’s one that I really enjoy watching. She’s a big player for Australia. She’s technically very good, has an eye for goal, eye for an assist.”
Brighton have their own Aussie, Charlize Rule, who has fought back from a bad hip injury to be a key figure in defence.
“She’s done really, really, well,” said Vidosic. “There was talk about her going out on loan to play, but in the pre-season she was really impressive. Credit to her after a tough two years of injury. She will be a very important player for us in the final.”
With a new A$16m training complex, and a dedicated 10,000-seat, $160m stadium planned, Brighton Women are an exciting club to be at for a young coach. A first trophy will underline and accelerate their progress. For Dario it’ll also provide joy at the end of a difficult period.
“It’ll be a fantastic day,” he said. “one that Dad would have loved to have been a part of, but he’ll be with us in spirit, watching over the game. Hopefully we can make him proud again.”
