Melbourne Victory left it late, while Central Coast relied on defensive grit, but in the end the two most deserving sides marched on after the first week of the A-League finals.
There is just something about the intensity of finals football which adds an extra dimension to the action on the pitch.
No matter which team you support, you’d be hard pressed to find too many A-League fans who didn’t enjoy Victory’s exhilarating 2-1 win over a tenacious Sydney FC at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.
Archie Thompson wound back the clock with a glorious opener, Seb Ryall taunted his former club with yet another goal and Victory all but threw the kitchen sink at a desperate Sydney defence in search of a winner.
They ultimately found one thanks to Gui Finkler’s measured finish in stoppage time.
In doing so, Victory managed to avoid extra-time ahead of their trip to South Korea in midweek to take on Jeonbuk in a decisive AFC Champions League clash.
This week’s final round of ACL group-stage fixtures means the shadowy spectre of scheduling once again looms over the A-League, with Victory enjoying a full 48 hours extra in which to prepare for their A-League semi-final against Brisbane Roar on Sunday.
That’ll no doubt please Kevin Muscat and the hordes of Victory supporters, although Victoria Police are apparently not thrilled with the manner in which the aforementioned Victory fans make their way to the stadium.
Assistant police commissioner Andrew Crisp admitted as much to The Herald Sun yesterday, telling that bastion of objective reporting that there are “better ways to use resources” than by watching on as A-League fans ‘march’ to the ground.
There certainly are better ways to employ resources, and rather than acting as a mouthpiece for police to air persistent complaints about being expected to do their job, perhaps The Herald Sun could make some enquiries as to why Victoria Police find it necessary to waste so much taxpayer money on palpably unnecessary methods of over-policing.
Still, it wouldn’t be a proper A-League atmosphere unless we saw dozens of bored police officers milling about with nothing to do, trotting around pointlessly on horseback and generally getting in everyone’s way.
And there are much more vexing issues to worry about than the umpteenth police complaint about what a tough gig the A-League is – not least this scheduling quandary.
It shouldn’t be forgotten that Western Sydney are also in ACL action on Tuesday night, against a Guizhou Renhe side which will invariably try and kick them off the park.
Nevertheless, it’s hard to see how the Mariners haven’t drawn the short straw, with a Saturday evening clash in Parramatta ensuring the Gosford side won’t even have the chance to schedule a training session ahead of the grand final rematch.
That will surely benefit the Wanderers, although they’ll need to be at their best to break down a resolute Mariners defence.
The defending champions were outstanding in shutting down Adelaide in their 1-0 win on Saturday, as Bernie Ibini lashed home the all-important goal midway through the second half.
Questions will be asked of Adelaide coach Josep Gombau’s tactical decision to drop the bustling Bruce Djite from his starting side and essentially flood the midfield, particularly when it lead to the Reds enjoying much of the possession without ever really troubling Liam Reddy in the Mariners goal.
Gombau has long proclaimed that this season is one of rebuilding for the Reds.
Reaching the finals will no doubt be viewed as a success, though perhaps Adelaide’s more dedicated fans could be forgiven for viewing the elimination-final exit as somewhat of a missed opportunity.
That’s the something the four remaining teams will be desperate to avoid on another blockbuster weekend of football next time out, after Victory and the Mariners deservedly marched on to the semi-finals.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Not just Bale v Robben. But Ronaldo v Ribery as well. Played on the two best sporting arenas in the world! These sorts of fixtures transcend football. They are genuinely some of the biggest sporting clashes on the planet.
Bondy
Guest
What about that Wednesday's clash between Bale and Robben, you can see why they beat them away with a stick crowds wise, it makes me want to swim there to see that . Hopefully Arjen will remain upright for the clash I have my doubts though.
AZ_RBB
Guest
It's almost exhausting haha I still watch a fair amount of NRL and a bit of AFL. Even if I stick to only watching my favourite 1 or 2 teams in world football, I still end up watching and attending 3 or 4 games a week. Plus there's all the big name fixtures as well like you mention. A friend and I were discussing this exact issue the other day. We realised that each football league is the equivalent of following an entire sport. As most sports in the world have just the 1 major competition. EPL + A-League takes up a lot of free time. I've taken an interest in Bundesliga this season as well.
mahonjt
Guest
Exactly......
BES
Guest
realfootball
Guest
Agree. I don't even have time for the EPL any more bar the occasional exceptional game. ACL, ECL, A League. That is a lot of football. I'm loving the ACL this year. Finally the comp is taking off!
Bondy
Guest
I often wonder with Football does it annoy people because the sport genuinely doesn't appeal to them ?. Or of its relentless scheduling where in which its completely valid apart form the odd stupid friendly.The sport stops for nothing or nobody, where about to climax domestically with the HAL the semi finals of the European cup are on tomorrow and what mouth watering clashes they're Real vs Bayern the Asian club championship must be decided also hopefully an Aussie team can win it or at least get to the final and then the commencement of the fifa world cup a months rest and do it all again I'm fatigued thinking about it but I'll plough on. People say I wont commit to other sports " I occasionally do " but I seriously dont have time.
Socrates
Guest
My commits even get posted. Your lucky
Bondy
Guest
I'd agree that other people criticise Tuckerman's pieces so do I occasionally, but I believe you go looking to criticise his articles something in a paragraph somewhere always upsets you,your constant with your criticism do you hope that with constant criticism he'll leave here and stop writing about football it looks that way to me. I do notice that Tuckerman and Rugari are the only proper football journalists here the rest of the sport is covered by shi^^y inaccurate AAP feeds.. Imagine if I was on the AFL Tab and thread constantly criticising a piece from one journalist just finding anything what would you think of me . Congratulations on the crowd today by the way AFL doesn't pose a threat to me. I just wish Vic Pol would calm down .
AR
Guest
Bondy Plenty of people above have commented on the attendances for the finals. And plenty of people comment on (and criticise) Mike for his articles.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
I wonder how VicPol will react if MVFC fans celebrate like this in Federation Square, when we win the ALeague Championship! :-) Benfica fans celebrate winning the Primeira Liga with 2 games to play ... http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r621/FussIUL/Benfica_zps4b9b1d61.png
mahonjt
Guest
The policeman is clearly wrong. His job is to police Victoria by assessing risk and shifting the available resources. This article was one of three so far in the now annual finals series Hun campaign against 'sokkah' in this city. This year however, the absence of flares and idiots made their campaign transparent. Indeed, it was nearly funny it was so obviously pathetic.
Professor Rosseforp
Guest
Two fantastic games. I watched the news on 7 and 9 but didn't notice much coverage at all -- did anyone else see any, and what was it like?
Bondy
Guest
AR What do you do here ,why do you come here. There's largely nothing that you contribute of worth just complain about Mike every article,its true. .
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"But its very odd." It's only "odd" if you were setting lofty & totally unfounded expectations for a crowd of 30-40k. Unlike you, I've been immersed within the MVFC market for the past 9 years. Additionally, my career for the past 20 years has been focused on analysing markets & studying potential fluctuations of consumer sentiment. I had predicted a crowd of 22-25k for Friday's elimination final - based purely on previous consumer data that was available. I now have one real data point to use for future prognostications. So, unless something dramatically changes within the MVFC customer market, the next Elimination Final held at Docklands on Good Friday my predictions will be 19-22k; not 22-25k.
Fadida
Guest
Ah, the Herald Sun. 15 pages of AFL starting from the back cover. As a bonus you often get a small story on the front too. Easter, Mothers Day always have a few warm and fuzzy stories about AFL players and ther mums, just to let us know where allegiances lay. Throw in a few "bonus" AFL interest stories spread throughout the news section. Football needs a few more "hooligan" stories. They always seem to find space on the cover for those :)
AR
Guest
The issue is this... Friday night was the single most important game Victory had played all year - a knockout final against the second biggest club in the country, on a public holiday. And the crowd was smaller than MV v Nix in Round 4. Now is this cause for alarm bells or silly statements about the club folding? Of course not. But its very odd. The fact that Fuss can't even acknowledge that simple fact is, well, just juvenile.
Fadida
Guest
Agree MrCelery. Perth have the same average but x5 the population, but it's the Mariners who are always under the microscope.
Matthew Skellett
Guest
Loorrddy !!! Yes well I'm a former-christian-turned -atheist and I love celebrating with the rest of us pagans at da pub lol
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"The discussion is about police escorts, not police security at grounds – try to keep up." Actually, NO. The discussion was about the use of police resources - there are 15 VicPol officers in that 1 section of the concourse. So, it's not unreasonable to assume there may be 6 other groups of officers similarly deployed around the whole concourse at AAMI Park. So, we are potentially looking at around 100 VicPol officers standing around for 2 hours doing Sweet FA.