It doesn’t get much bigger than this – a Sunday afternoon kick-off between the Central Coast Mariners and the Melbourne Victory for a spot in the Grand Final. Join us for all the action from Bluetongue Stadium just before a 5.00pm AEST kick-off.
The Mariners’ last outing was a disappointing capitulation against Guizhou Renhe in the AFC Champions League, which continues to be a graveyard for all Aussie teams not named Adelaide United.
Conversely, it was the Victory who had to dig deep and come from behind in a game that Perth Glory will still be wondering how they lost, a week later.
After a late penalty miss by Shane Smeltz, the Victory marched down the field and won a spot kick of their own – which was thumped home by Mark Milligan.
It was the mercurial Archie Thompson who finished it off in extra time, ensuring there’d be no grand final replay of 2012.
Not that there now could have been any way, with the Roar being bundled out by the Western Sydney Wanderers.
And indeed, it’s a 4.00pm kick-off at Allianz Stadium with a shiny toilet seat on the line that awaits the winner of this one.
As a Sydney fan, the thought of the Wanderers playing the Victory for the title at our home ground fills me sadness.
But this season isn’t about Sydney – it’s been about their neighbours to the West, the North and their arch-rivals from Victoria, all three being the three best teams all year long.
The Victory are two-time champs, a feeling that Mariners fans have flirted with so many times, only to end up disappointed. I’m sure no fan of Yellow inclination needs me to remind them of their history of playoff disappointment.
But who wins this one? The clubs traded draws in the first two meetings this season, before the Mariners absolutely slaughtered their visitors back in February in Gosford, by a score of 6-2.
I’m sure that paddling is firmly in the minds of the Victory players and coach Ange Postecoglou, but it matters for little here.
Despite all the injuries and setbacks they’ve faced, they’re still just 90 (or 120 perhaps?) minutes away from their fourth grand final appearance.
And with the way Nathan Coe is playing lately coupled with the Central Coast’s horrendous record from the spot, I’m sure the Mariners will be dreading the occasion if it goes to penalties.
Join us live from 5.00pm AEST for all the team news, formations and updates.
[roargal]
Wicked Ninja
Guest
The Mariners still get better crowds than Perth, Adelaide and the Heart, they have a smaller catchment area than all of those clubs, and they've been more successful in the A-League than all of those clubs.
Cameron
Roar Guru
Mr. Peter Wilson, ;) < represents sarcasm. Beardan wrote an article about ADP not too, long ago honestly believing he was a failure.
midfielder
Guest
Missed the match glad we won ..coyy.
Cameron
Roar Guru
Realfootball, Wouldn't that mean you have to use Gosfords population? Not Central Coast. I was using the whole area which is or would support the team and can attend matches.
West
Roar Pro
Go you might Red, Black and Whites. Can't see CCM beating us. What a great thrill it will be to win the Premiership and Championship in our very first year. Just have to get enough tickets tomorrow morning, please David Gallop and don't be too greedy with the prices! :)
Peter Wilson
Roar Guru
Was very surprised when they announced the crowd of 10,700. Looked more like 15,000 to me. The same game at the same ground last year, CCM got 7,575 so its a 42% increase on last season. The A-League continues to grow. Then we had a sold out grand final of 50,557. The capacity of the SFS is 45,500, I expect the grand final will be sold out, less a couple of thousand SFS Members who won't bother to turn up or are dead. :)
Realfootbal
Guest
That is the population of Wellington region, not the city, which really isn't very big - I've spent time there. It's like a slightly larger Hobart. I sourced the 200k figure from the City Council's website.
AZ_RBB
Guest
what the what!! Mariners play by far the most attractive football in the league. i sometimes wish WSW could play like them. this is their 4th grand final. if that sort of success doesn't bring fans nothing will. expecting the split to 32 000 WSW and 8000 CCM on sunday. but i can promise you it'll sound like 100 000 WSW and 20 CCM.
Peter Wilson
Roar Guru
How is ADP a flop? He won the Alex Tobin medal as the A-League's best player, the SFC Golden boot breaking the record, tripled SFC's revenues and almost doubled their average home attendances and helped lift the A-League overall ratings 30% and attendances 20%. If that is a failure, I'd hate to think what you people consider a success. :)
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
That's a bit harsh. Even though we lost, I could appreciate the beauty of CCM's discipline, their organisation & structure. They work beautifully as a unit. In fact, I find a lot of similarity between WSW & CCM and, leaving aside my MVFC bias, I can think of no better match up this season than WSW v CCM. I can't wait.
Cameron
Roar Guru
Wellington being the capital of NZ is home to 395,600 also provided by wiki as of June 2012. I fully agree with you though that there should have been more but as for the reasons why, well I hope that is identified. What don't you like about their play?
Realfootbal
Guest
Wellngton city (2011) - 200,100, according to the city council. Central Coast - 320,000, according to Wikipedia. Last major final Welly hosted, they had 34,000, from memory. Agree they deserve to be there on performances. I just don't like the way they play.
Davo
Guest
absolute joke of a crowd. 10,600 for a Semi final at home. Simply a farce, this team does not deserve to be in the Grand Final and the lousy quality of football backs this up. Maybe the fans might show up if Arnold leaves and the quality of football rises above the tribal junk that they serve up most weeks.
Cameron
Roar Guru
Probably saving for it? Had work tomorrow? Not all supporters are die hard and would drop everything else too attend a game of football. If there are bigger issues then the current owner will find out very quickly how much work he has to do.
Cameron
Roar Guru
I was going to say the same.
Realfootbal
Guest
I really hope you are right. But where were they tonight?
Griffo
Roar Guru
The last Grand Final they played there you could say they provided nearly half of the 36k attendance. I think they will do similar again...
Cameron
Roar Guru
Cheers Johnno and Realfootball. The funeral is Tuesday and its tough times, but its the good times I'll remember. He loved his sport and I know he'd want me to continue the passionate support and support of a sport!
Cameron
Roar Guru
Realfootball, Mariners from what I understand have the smallest community to engage with and their supporter base actually does better than a few other teams. For a semi final I agree. ACL would be hard but not everyone is going to go. What do you do? The mariners deserve to bein the grand final based on their performances, not support.
Realfootbal
Guest
CCM are the least deserving franchise in the A League. Less than 10000 home supporters turn up for semi final. 2800 for the last ACL home game. Arnold is wasting his time at Central Coast. He needs to go somewhere where the supporters appreciate his team. Community engagement my ar*e. This is the best they can do? It drives me insane that they are in the Grand Final with this level of support. No wonder they are going broke. The guy who bought the others out and paid the debts must be looking at the crowd tonight and wondering what the hell he has done with his money.