The Wanderers bridesmaids again, Brisbane champions again. In what was a fairly ordinary 2013-2014 A-League season, the grand final was a very memorable occasion once again.
The Roar are a fantastic side. They have proved that you can be successful playing entertaining, aesthetically-pleasing football. The Wanderers are also a great team. They demonstrated fantastic resolve and heart to take the game to Brisbane from the opening whistle and almost pull off daylight robbery.
Tony Popovic’s side should take heart from reaching two grand finals in a row, not to mention winning the league last year. That is an amazing achievement. They also have the Asian Champions League next round to look forward to, the only A-League club with that honour. The westie boys are not done yet.
More A-League grand final coverage:
– Full match report and video highlights
– Comment: Mike Tuckerman
– Football is here to stay in Australia
– Brisbane puts on a great A-League final
– Mulvey: Roar now A-League benchmark
– The Roar‘s live blog
But Sunday’s honours go to the men in orange. Again. Three grand final victories in four years, that is simply outstanding. The Roar cement their place as the best club in the A-League’s short history.
In a quietist first half, the Wanderers were very good value. They pressed high and stymied Brisbane’s prized passing game. There were some crunching tackles and key Roarers Liam Miller and Dimitri Petratos looked off the pace.
Brisbane got lucky when an unintentional hand ball from Ivan Franjic in the box was waved away. A key moment.
Another key moment came with the injury and then substitution of Wanderers centre back Nikolai Topor-Stanley. Would Western Sydney have conceded if the Hyphenator stayed on the pitch?
Popovic had to reshuffle his midfield and defence, and then Mike Mulvey’s subs started to make a difference. The Roar came into the game more and Steven Lustica and Henrique helped these things along.
The A-League’s number one cartoon villain, Besart Berisha, popped up with an equaliser thanks to a ball provided by the terrific Teutonic class of Broich. Game on.
Momentum swung in the Roar’s favour. Brisbane poured forward looking for the killer goal. At times this left them shakey and vulnerable on the counter and the Wanderers almost equalised a few times.
The game went to extra time and it was see-sawing both ways. The Roar seem to be edging it, then plucky Brazilian Henrique found some space in the box and blasted in the winner.
Western Sydney pushed for a goal back but the Queenslanders had stolen a win in extra time again. The Mariners faithful certainly know how it feels.
High drama seems to go hand in hand with A-League grand finals. It’s also guaranteed when you have Berisha around. The Albanian plays the game at a million miles an hour, has a lethal boot and throws everything into challenges. Berisha plays close to the edge and could be the competition’s most hated player outside of Suncorp.
His tussles with La Rocca and co. made for great viewing. But he is also the most dangerous forward in the league and that’s why Victory shelled out the big bucks to bring him to AAMI Park. He will be missed by the Roar next season.
Brisbane’s come-from-behind win brings a close to the competition. The Wanderers live on in Asia but for the Roar it’s a well-earned break. Whether they can replicate their near-perfect 2013-2014 campaign next season is another question. It will be another challenge for Mike Mulvey.
When Mulvey arrived at Brisbane last season he was met by a ‘Mulvey out’ banner. Now he stands as the head coach of a Premier’s Plate and grand final-winning team. How quickly things can change in football.
Follow John Davidson on Twitter @johnnyddavidson
More A-League grand final coverage:
– Full match report and video highlights
– Comment: Mike Tuckerman
– Football is here to stay in Australia
– Brisbane puts on a great A-League final
– Mulvey: Roar now A-League benchmark
– The Roar‘s live blogMore A-League grand final coverage:
– Full match report and video highlights
– Comment: Mike Tuckerman
– Football is here to stay in Australia
– Brisbane puts on a great A-League final
– Mulvey: Roar now A-League benchmark
– The Roar‘s live blog
clayts
Guest
Good summary I reckon. I will never forget the 'experts' this season all jumping on the 'Roar have no depth' bandwagon in the preseason and early rounds purely because they had done no research on Roar's fringe. Look how that turned out. Still makes me laugh. Hopefully everyone learned a lesson though. Make your own mind up and don't listen to 'experts', more often than not you know more about your own team.
j binnie
Guest
John- Your logic is admirable but don't forget this Roar team can be improved as well and it will be how the close season pans out that will show if they are preparing to take on the challenge facing them,the new frontier,-- Asia.One does not have to be an expert to see where ths Roar team can be improved but the close season will show whether the owners have that knowledge in their make up.An interesting period ahead.jb
AZ_RBB
Guest
Yeah? My memories of last season are WSW and CCM dominating the league with what many described as hoof and chase by WSW and dire Graham Arnold tactics by CCM. People were announcing the demise of Brisbane and Sydney fc couldn't string two passes together. Adelaide stopped playing after the new year. Newcastle weren't anything special but were lauded for a good young squad. This season Brisbane have blown everyone away with their quality. Adelaide have been similarly praised albeit without the results. MVFC have played some incredible high paced attacking football locally and abroad just with a poor defence. WSW have added several more facets to their game and succeeded home and abroad. SFC were again poor but showed some great signs. Heart and Wellington had hit and miss seasons but were at times my favourite teams to watch. Can't defend Newcastle and Perth too much and its harsh to judge CCM after their mass exodus. I enjoyed this season a lot more than the last two.
John Davidson
Roar Guru
Hey, I meant ordinary as in the competition as a whole. The Roar dominated and played some good football, which undoubtedly was great for Roar fans. But compared with last season, the action on the field did not reach the same heights. Adelaide entertained, the Mariners were rebuilding, the Wanderers were up there but a lot of teams - Perth, Newcastle, Heart, Wellington, Sydney FC - were pretty ordinary. Hopefully next season these clubs can improve and we see a better technical standard across the whole A-League.
Towser
Guest
So how can the Roar keep revelling in Suncorp success? Well It's all down to their Indonesian owners and what they do next. According to Mike Cockerill they've been observing and biding their time waiting to loosen the purse strings somewhat. In the following article Mike says that Nirwan Bakrie(The groups sort of football controller) has been doing as such (observing) by sitting in the grandstands by buying a ticket as a normal punter. I can vouch for this having seen him and another well dressed man in immaculate suits eating fish and chips from the Suncorp eatery ,yet you got the impression they were not your average punter. From the article:- But after two years of observing, they are now ready to move in many profound, and positive, ways." So firstly (from another source) I believe the Roar are increasing Mike Mulvey's backup staff. Next from the article is their own training centre and broadcasting all Brisbane Roar games into Indonesia and maybe one home game played in Indonesia. Whilst I've seen some negativity on the home game in Indonesia front from Roar fans ,personally I feel this is short sighted. The Bakries when they took over stated they wished this club to be an Asian powerhouse and felt IMO that the best way to do so was use the softly softly patient approach rather than boots and all. What better way to be big than to use their connections to tap into the 250 million Indonesian population and use a small portion of that to help the Roar achieve their Asian powerhouse dream. ManU etc realised the power of the Asian market ,why not the Roar? Why sell merchandise or beam TV to an Audience of only 5 million(QLD) when you can also tap into 250 million. Seems a no brainer for me for the Bakries,use their Indonesian connection/leverage to help develop the Roar. Interesting times for the club an we await to see the Bakries move. I didn't say next move because apart from buying the club we(Roar fans) aint seen one. http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/win-or-lose-brisbane-roar-are-poised-for-the-lions-share-20140502-zr2q4.html#ixzz30oHnSK7Z
Ian
Guest
it's amazing how the one sign story has grown. i guess its good reading - a bunch of prats in a splinter fan group of 20 hold up a sign - the same ones who did the Ange sign - and its mentioned ad nauseum.
Ian
Guest
yeah even without being a Roar supporter - why was this a fairly ordinary season? first time i've read that
Bondy
Guest
Nice read John. As a New South Welshman I was going for the Drive Bys..
Jay (the other one)
Guest
Were they those idiots from the RCC? They offer nothing to the game.
clayts
Guest
"was a fairly ordinary 2013-2014 A-League season" Not for Roar supporters it wasn't.. Winning the season with a month to spare is no ordinary feat. Yes we won the cup/knockout/money grab thingy too but I don't think what they achieved during the actual season was in the least bit ordinary
VINNIE
Guest
yeah well done roar, i was celebrating with 10 minutes to go thinking you wont score now but roars never die attitude come through again. you finished first and you deserve to win the cup final. Brisbane is a great sporting city and suncorp is awesome to watch football. a question for the chairman of the aleage just look at what WSW fans have contributed to the game, you neglected us for 7 whole seasons just so you could have your Sydney fc, western sydney is the heartland of football in this country, not sydney city.
brisvegas
Guest
Several Mulvey Out banners? No. One. By a group of about 20 fans who wanted to make a name for themselves. Down in the bottom corner of the ground.
Hamish Alcorn
Guest
Wonderful day from start to finish. Big, big kudos to the Wanderers' fans. In the stands they killed us; put us completely to shame. As Ange lifted the A-League bar in terms of play on the field, WSW have lifted the bar for the fans. But this Roar fan is very, very happy.