Project Gombau has helped Adelaide to its first piece of silverware in eight years with a 1-0 win over Perth Glory in the FFA Cup Final – and purists will be hoping the success doesn’t stop there.
It’s curious to think that there were cries for the Spaniard’s head only a matter of months ago – his philosophy deemed unpractical, his methods seemingly futile.
Though football is a “reap what you sow” sort of game. The fruits might not be there right away to see, but plant the right seeds and give them time to grow, and you’ll get what you want in the end.
A hearty vision and a willing discipline will always produce something of worth – and in Adelaide’s case, last night it produced a trophy.
The tie itself was far from a mantelpiece spectacle, but it was one that the Reds controlled from the sun-soaked first-half right through to last call.
Sergio Cirio was ultimately the difference in the end, the number 9 receiving a scrumptious ball from Marcelo Carrusca before slotting past Danny Vukovic in the 67th minute.
It was the the striker’s sixth goal in the Cup, topping off an energetic performance that saw him awarded the fabulously named inaugural Mark Viduka Medal for man-of-the-match.
Granted, the Glory had found themselves reduced to 10 men some nine minutes before Cirio’s breakthrough – Asian Cup hopeful Josh Risdon receiving his marching orders with a schoolboy second yellow.
But it nonetheless seemed inevitable that Adelaide would draw first blood in front of a surging sold-out crowd of 16,000 at Coopers Stadium.
Perth looked a shadow of the side that sits three points clear at the top of the A-League; their normally steely spine and clinical final-third play reduced to nothingness by the Reds’ dominance with the ball.
Chances were limited in a sometimes sloppy opening hour, and when one did present itself, the finish left much to be desired – Awer Mabil in particular guilty on more than one occasion of spurning genuine promise in front of goal.
Yet Perth struggled to shake out of a stutter, showing scintillas of life in only punctuated intervals.
The A-League’s front-runners have suffered only one defeat so far this year and it’s perhaps telling that it was at the hands of Adelaide back in October.
The only difference between that Round 3 clash and last night’s tie was that this was an Adelaide side now fully comfortable with their sense of self.
There are gaps and deficiencies still, but Josep Gombau’s men are beginning to combine style with substance in a way that will make them very hard to stop.
It’s worth noting that Adelaide swept aside five A-League clubs on their way to lifting the Cup. Of course, the league is a different kettle of fish – last week’s 1-0 home defeat to Brisbane is testament to that – but the Reds’ FFA Cup journey has the hallmarks of the type of intrinsic mentality that wins Championships.
And make no mistake – this trophy, this success, is Gombau’s to savour.
In the face of the fickle Australian footballing fraternity, the Catalonian has been nothing but persistent from the day he arrived in South Australia last year.
He has always maintained that his influence would take time to be realised and so it’s remarkable what he’s managed to achieve in only his second year in charge.
Dressed last night in his casual-Friday best, this is a man who will do what he feels best, no matter the heresay.
Naturally, there’s still plenty of work to be done, but you’d imagine Gombau will be waking up today feeling somewhat vindicated – knowing full well that his philosophy is indeed practical, his methods certainly profitable.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
No Bondy, I don't like that. The competition is knock-out from the 1st match played between 'pub teams' & should remain knock-out until the Cup is won.
Bondy
Guest
Just wondering should this final have been with a second leg tie in Perth and then it's decided on goal aggregate over the two legs,food for thought .
Anthony Ferguson
Guest
It's a real shame Glory reserved their worst performance of the season for the cup final. Never in the game, deserved to lose. Never saw any of the attacking play Kenny promised. In fact the overworked Keogh looked totally isolated up front. Adelaide deserved to win. Well done - although you were playing at home.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Randomly assigned to the competing teams in the final. The fear was that a 4:30pm kick off in Perth would not have worked but the Big Bash starts game at that time many times a year to great success. I don't support the Wembley type idea. No feasible in Australia. No country the size of Australia uses the Wembley system. Now that I'm a bit more familiar with how it all works my personal goal is go catch a few Waratah Cup games in the lead up to the FFA Cup proper.
Canman
Guest
Best to remember that in this country the 2 major football codes are driven by lopsided draws as not every team plays every other team twice let alone home and away. I think this does influence some sports followers to believe that there is nothing unjust or unbalanced in a championship race. Why should the team at the top be seen as the best if they haven't competed against every team a second time. Association football in 95 % of leagues around the world does not operate like that. Association football values the league championship because it is equitable - Rugby League and Australian Rules are not (just listen to the debate by team supporters when their draw is made). Home grounds should be home grounds not localities shared by other teams. Que Wanderers!
Kasey
Guest
I read a suggestion today that said, perhaps rotate the Cup Final between Sydney(SFS) and Melbourne(AAMI Pk) that way both teams have to travel and there's no home ground advantage. I'm not so sure...I mean Melbourne and Sydney already get all of the Soccerooos games, 'they' want the cream of the club games too?
Kasey
Guest
I'd like to see less manipulation of the draw, perhaps from Ro16 it might become a fully open draw. I do like the A-League club playing away in the earlier stages as it's a way of spreading the wealth with the NPL clubs, by way of example...Bentleigh Greens made a motza off the Souvlaki stand. More money in the NPL might see the football infrastructure at that level improve meaning more chance of them being able to host A-League clubs without raising the concerns of the PFA over lighting etc. I really feel as though the future growth in football could be driven by growth in the NPL level.
Kasey
Guest
Well it’s not front page in the ‘tiser(Sydney Siege) nor is it back page (2nd Test match in Brisbane) but there is a big double page spread in the Sport section first story in after the back page. It’s been the lead sports story on a number of commercial radio stations. Everybody at work knows I’m a United nut so they’ve been asking me how I thought the game went last night.
Horto Magiko
Guest
@fussball "it’s possible to win the A-League Championship without scoring a goal during normal play." Haha. I never thought of that.. True! Now that's funny! Ponder that when sending HAL teams into Asia...
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"I would like to see the venue choice for the final to be random rather than doctored." You mean randomly assigned to either of the 2 competing teams? Or, randomly assigned to any major football venue? Doubt we'd get 15k turning up to watch AUFC v PER anywhere other than Adelaide or Perth.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Inaugural A-League premiers, first Aus team in ACL final and now inaugural FFA Cup winners. Good stuff, Adelaide. Wonder what changes we'll see next year. I would like to see the venue choice for the final to be random rather than doctored.
Horto Magiko
Guest
@AR Yes the tide is slowly turning here. In all other association football leagues worldwide the pinnacle is to top the table. I'm not sure about the format of the Super Bowl because I don't follow gridiron and I agree that in Australia we suffer from "one-(particularly big)-day-in-September-itis" but once 2016 rolls around and the FFA Cup is delivering that ACL spot, that little "mini finals series/knockout thingymabob" will pale into insignificance and we Australians can still live out our grand finals fever vicariously through the FFA Cup final. Everyone wins. (That's not to say that league football doesn't deliver those big defining moments by proxy, ala aguero winning the title for city in the dying embers of the final game of the regular season). Still it shouldn't be overlooked that topping the table is the logical and obvious method for determining which team is superior. This is how the great Brian Clough responded, a foremost expert on this topic, when he was asked his thoughts on the order of importance of the league title in comparison with tournament football/cup competitions: "The football league, always has been and always will be. I would gladly go out of the European Cup, the football league cup and the FA Cup...i would gladly go out of them tomorrow if you could guarantee me winning the football league". And when asked why he felt so strongly about this? (Because) "You have to have every single aspect of football management about you to win it. You've got to have endurance, you've got to have talent, you've got to be a little bit daft, you've got to have strength, psychology, you name it, and of course you've got to have very good players. But it's a real endurance battle over 9 or 10 months". Not to mention accounting for all other variables for eg all teams meeting eachother home and away, Injuries, player transfers, weather conditions etc Here's the link to that interview. The mans a genius and hilarious to watch. A real no BS lad :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd8wKQo2M6U
Jaime
Guest
Cirio is not from Argentina, he is from España. There is a big ocean in between these to countries. Or are Australians from New Zeland? Basic primary school knowledge.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
The big football news keeps coming for Adelaide .. The Reds to play The Reds A bumper 2015 off-season continues with strong reports in Sth Australia that Liverpool will play Adelaide United in July 2015 at the Adelaide Oval. Source: http://www.goal.com/en-au/news/4021/a-league/2014/12/17/7155542/adelaide-to-seal-liverpool-visit-reports?ICID=SP_HN_1 Let's hope it happens, so we can never again hear the whinging about "why don't we get big matches in Adelaide" ;-)
AR
Guest
Er cheers...great movie. But I'll stick to *relevant* comments from the likes of Kasey - "I’d dearly love to see us slaughter that Finals monkey we’ve partly developed and win the Championship trophy" - and Dominic Trimboli - "Adelaide lift the FFA Cup – now time for the Championship".
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Steve You make a very valid point about teams getting one extra home game for 4-5 fixtures. Ideally I'd prefer every team playing each opponent twice at home = total of 36 matches. Not only will it solve the fairness issue, but it provides players with the number of matches that is expected in developed football leagues. The only question is whether there are enough spectators like myself who want this. Perhaps, we could investigate splitting each season into 2 (Apertura and Clausura) as happens in some Sth & Central American leagues. I'd need to investigate this further before commenting on the pros & cons.
Bondy
Guest
Mid It's a shame the W League is going from the ABC that market analysis suggest theres a football market on all fronts,womens @ men in Australia and an international market with the likes of the epl @ wcw . I just dont understand how FTA's dont get it . ____________ Fuss Off topic interesting I was catching a bit of the IPL the logistics must have been huge for that to commence I noted players such as Grosso, Nesta ,ADP, Ljungberg , Pires etc although veterans of the game ....
Josh
Guest
WSW should make about 15 mil this year, charity not required.
Bondy
Guest
Midfielder I agree with the poor coverage in particular ABC radio was poor ,I didn't hear anything about it in their sports bulletins, they ABC advised the result after it was over...
Steve
Guest
Hi Fuss, I understand that the Premiership is better than the Championship, because it is harder to be consistent. Do you think though that in the current set-up, the Premiership it is still a fair reflection. I say this because not every team plays each other an equal number of times home and away. Among every possible match-up, one team plays an extra home game each season. It could be argued that were if a team were to finish 1 point behind another team, but two of the three matches between those sides were played at the eventual premiers home ground, that the extra home ground match would have given enough of an advantage for them to capture the premiership. I think that until the premiership is an even home/away distribution, then the Championship will be viewed with just as much prestige (although if a team steam rolls the Premiership then there can be little argument as to who is the best side).