The little club that won’t go away has arrived in Japan for Match Day 6 of their 2014 Asian Champions League tilt.
As if on cue, the Central Coast Mariners whinging and whining came wringing out of Friday night’s A-League finals victory over Adelaide.
Mariners manager Phil Moss has teed off at FFA for scheduling their A-League semi-final on Saturday April 26, rather than Sunday, giving the Gosford club a limited recovery period from their bout with Hiroshima tonight.
“A 24-hour turnaround from flying in from an overnight flight to playing a grand final qualifier is not acceptable,” the manager moaned.
Moss looked to garner sympathy from the gathered media and the public as the broken record kicked into overdrive.
Year after year of their annoying existence the Mariners have tried to play the ‘little battler’ card. Moss has proven that, like previous managers Lawrie McKinna and Graham Arnold, he has a knack for building a siege mentality around his playing group.
For all the manager’s bleating about the toughness of the draw, the situation could have been avoided if Central Coast had simply finished in the top two of the A-League. If they had, the Mariners would have been in the privileged position Western Sydney Wanderers find themselves in.
The Wanderers had a week off after the regular season, before going into their ACL clash with Guizhou Renhe fresh as daisies and, as expected, routed the Chinese outfit 5-0.
As for the Mariners’ hopes against Hiroshima? I’d have to give them more than half a hope.
After sitting in the stands for Hiroshima’s visit to Niigata over the weekend and making a miracle turnaround to write this article within days, I saw nothing in the purple team’s arsenal to scare the Central Coast. Hiroshima played their usual ‘cat and mouse’ game hoping to catch Niigata on the break, but too often their transitions were broken down by the home team.
So tonight, the moment of truth arrives for the Mariners. In what will definitely be a cagey affair, both teams are likely to sit back and counter attack.
Yes, there was no Hisato Sato and a home ground advantage for the Mariners last time the two met, but importantly a draw tonight will be enough for the Aussie club to advance to the Champions League Round of 16.
AZ_RBB
Guest
WSW are I think. Popovic is furious we have to play so soon after a tough ACL encounter. Thankfully CCM have kept quiet and professional about it all.
Kurt
Guest
Who's complaining????
LewDub
Roar Rookie
That should read "WSW wouldn't have to travel to Japan after their GF with Brisbane Roar."
RBBAnonymous
Guest
You had a great chance to finish 2nd Pork chop, all you had to do was beat Perth towards the end of the season but you couldnt do it. If I remember correctly you guys were sitting in 2nd spot heading into that game. As for the ACL draw its not like the FFA called the AFC and said "Can you make the draw to disadvantage the Mariners as much as possible". If I remember correctly you guys couldnt win some crucial home matches which would have seen you go through. The late own goal by Hutchinson was a killer for you. If you held on for the draw you guys might have been through. All I am hearing is excuses, WSW is in the same competition and we even lost our first match at home and everyone was criticizing Popovic for rotating his squad. For goodness sake every match we were playing we were making anywhere between 6-9 changes and playing youth players and unseasoned players. It was no where near the same squad week in week out, maybe something Phil Moss and Mike Charlesworth can learn from in future. Lastly the issue about tickets, you have got to be kidding me. You didnt even get 10k to your stadium against Adelaide. If this semi final was at Gosford you would still complain because it would be Wanderers supporters filling your stadium up even though Mariners supporters would get first crack at tickets. Just get on with it and stop complaining, its like a broken record.
Kurt
Guest
So matt you say they haveno legitamate point to raise in it being moved to a Sunday. It suffices all parties sufficiently except foxsports. As for the referee desicions what do you want a square up, if not why bring it up, ingame incidents and out of game politics are 2 different things, unless you expect a result in one is base off the other, In which case u reinforce my point about the conspiring. As for the acl congrats I wanna see you boys go far, I just hope you get as blessed a the mariners next year. the mariners got played back in to form,and now fatigue seems ( and I say seems as once again it will be veiwed this way. If the mariners lose) to be there down fall. Then again Possibly they could have won earlier games but a 5 key man change up and manger and fitness coach transfer mid-season normally will cause problems in a champion team for a month, ( the month of the mariners longest ever losing streak). So if you win congrats, if u lose consolations, but if the wanderer win, don't be suprised by the rebutle from the opponents. And thats my point
Matthew Skellett
Guest
Hey Kurt I'm all for a even and fair contest , but CCM complaining about the scheduling is like getting angry that the sun shines or the rain falls -we thought we were at the pineapple -end of some refereeing decisions in the last GF -and Mariners' response .."stop your whining drive-bys!!" -so its the pot calling the kettle black -CCM knew what they were getting into when they entered the ACL every year they have qualified -if they had won earlier games and won them more convincingly they wouldn't be in the predicament they found themselves in ...and as i said before good luck and may the best team win :-)
LewDub
Roar Rookie
Amateur mistake by me with the game day from last Saturday. Apologies for that, but I've got a really demanding schedule. On a serious note - you're right about the Mariners coming out smelling like roses no matter the result. I actually had my fingers crossed and $5 riding on the draw last night. That result would have meant WSW wouldn't travel to Japan in the lead up to their GF with Brisbane Roar, and again we'd see Wanderers and Mariners going head to head. In the end they were unlucky.
Matty C
Guest
There comes a time when complaining and getting public sympathy turns against you and makes you look insolent in the eyes of the public. Between the last week complaining at every possible opportunity about scheduling, and yesterday with Charlesworth complaining about how many seats they were allocated for the semi, it's getting awfully close to that mark...
Mantis
Roar Guru
'Moss looked to garner sympathy from the gathered media and the public as the broken record kicked into overdrive'. You reckon Farina, Poppa, or any other coach for that matter wouldnt have done the same? Dud article.
striker
Guest
Mid any reason why Mossy took off bosnar last night the game changed after that as CCM were cruising for a draw.
Chop
Roar Guru
For all the manager’s bleating about the toughness of the draw, the situation could have been avoided if Central Coast had simply finished in the top two of the A-League What a ridiculous comment, as if finishing 2nd is easy in any competition. The scheduling is slightly less ridiculous than the your line above....
Midfielder
Guest
Les is your surname Murry by any chance ...
AZ_RBB
Guest
CCM aren't the only club in the world to complain about scheduling. Some of the biggest clubs in Europe constantly complain about having to back up so soon after a game, particularly English clubs whose FA rarely makes concessions for clubs playing in Europe. CCM have every right to complain and I'm sure FFA are taking note and hoping to make the schedule a little more flexible in the future. It's not an easy task for anyone involved. CCM played a surprising number of first teamers last night so it'll be interesting to see how those players fare on Saturday night.
kurt
Guest
it was saturday the game with reds. and why wouldnt you as a wanderers man be a little angry about the situation. its a win-win for the mariners, a loss to the mariners and everyone states that how can any team expect to win with that short aturn-around, plus the conspirosits declare once again the FFA has rigged the game for WSW. the mariners walk away feeling even more isolated and undersiege from the FFA, and in doing so get provided even more ammunition next year. a win, and mossy is a genius, the team have overcome massive odds and are 1 game from the championship, the FFA will be vindicated in there decision atleast to themselves, and the mariners walk away feeling undersiege from the FFA, and in doing so provide even more ammunition next year.
Matthew Skellett
Guest
Well now the Mariners have another reason to whine they lost but everyone tells me that Hiroshima were the better side anyways - but hey more power to 'em for hanging in there -good onya CCM hope you're up for da semi with us everyone's watching good luck :-)