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The Central Coast Mariners control their own destiny going into their final group match of the AFC Champions League tonight against Kashiwa Reysol. We’ll have live scores and commentary from 8.30pm AEST.
The Mariners are solidly in second place behind Reysol in Group H, but with a win can guarantee a spot in the round of 16, which begins on the 14th May.
The Mariners have the advantage of home turf, playing in good weather at Bluetongue Stadium against a Japanese outfit that have never seen Australian soil in this competition and who aren’t in stellar form in their domestic competition (currently 11th in the J-League).
Central Coast, by contrast, are on a high after winning the A-League grand final for the first time in their eight-year history.
The Mariners backed it up 48 hours later with a 1-0 win over the Suwon Bluewings in Korea. Another point in their favour is their home record in the ACL – they haven’t lost their last five matches.
This fixture still has the potential to be difficult for the home side – when the Mariners travelled to Kashiwa in March they lost 3-1, with Brazilian Leandro Domingues responsible for two goals.
The Mariners also missed a penalty chance in the game (at the time, not surprising in the least).
Kashiwa (a city on the east coast of Japan, with a population of around 400,000) drew 1-1 with Guizhou Renhe (China) in their last ACL match, to give them an uncatchable lead in Group H.
We’ll have live commentary on The Roar from 8.30pm AEST.
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