Melbourne Victory will host the Central Coast Mariners in the FFA Cup final at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
This should be a thrilling end to a thrilling FFA Cup tournament.
Victory are gunning for a second title, while Central Coast are in an FFA Cup final for the first time.
Melbourne Victory earned their spot after a hard-hitting 4-1 win over Wellington Phoenix last Saturday, all four goals coming in the last 25 minutes of the game.
Central Coast earned their historic place after a 1-0 defeat of Sydney FC, with a decisive penalty from Marco Urena.
Melbourne Victory’s form over the A-League Men and FFA Cup competitions of late has been nothing short of an incredible turnaround.
Following a dead-last place in the 2020-21 A-League Men season, Victory currently sit top of the table and are one win away from a second FFA Cup title.
A win in Saturday night’s final would be the just reward for Tony Popovic, who has put a tremendous effort into turning the Victory’s fortunes around, with excellent recruiting and a working game plan.
(Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
These are the players that could make a difference for the two sides based on their semi-final performance.
Melbourne Victory
Nick D’Agostino scored two goals in the last ten minutes of the game, which not only gave the Victory the lead, but also put the result beyond doubt.
Ben Folami took a total of four shots. He was constantly in attack and he scored the goal that sealed the match in the 84th minute with a brilliant strike.
Despite not getting on the score sheet, Robbie Kruse was all over the ground and set up the go-ahead goal for D’Agostino.
Central Coast
Marco Urena took a total of nine shots and scored the decisive penalty to win the semi-final. He also completed 22 passes and was all over the ground.
Oliver Bozanic completed 58 passes. He will look to continue this form in the final.
Daniel Hall was the leading ball getter, with 88 passes completed, and he won three out of four duels.
With the home crowd behind them, it is Melbourne Victory’s final to lose.
They start as the strong favourites to bring home their second FFA Cup title and first piece of any kind of silverware since 2018.
Prediction: Melbourne Victory 2, Central Coast 0.
Coastyboi
Guest
Agree 100%.
Hudddo
Roar Rookie
Fùck the FFA, they can stick there cup up their Arśe. Legitacamy of a FFA Victory, came squarely with the great officials...
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
FFA Cup about to start, being shown on Ten right now. A bit disappointing that there doesn't appear to be a live call of the game. I would have thought it's a pretty important match.
GetIn
Roar Rookie
Victory couldn't play the semi final in Wellington anyway could they..(you can't count that) Victory have played one extra match and had a tougher run than CCM...Things even out through the tournament but people only see what they want to see and find things to whinge about..
GetIn
Roar Rookie
What's last place got to do with it? Any regional and NPL clubs that finished last from the previous season are still eligible to enter..It's a 'CUP' which entitles every Australian Club to have a crack at it regardless of league position, the only difference being MV and Perth had to playoff to enter the R32 (as an incentive to AL clubs to stay off the bottom of the table (bc of not having relegation)...No different in England with the FA Cup, every club has an opportunity to win it (totally separate competition to the league)..
Cms
Guest
Agreed. They should just award the FFA cup and league title to Sydney FFA every year
Hudddo
Roar Rookie
Really that's your counter, that you got the wooden spoon, and and lost out in a ball draw... That last draw was Rediculous, the idea of a televised draw using envelopes...I'm not saying it was rigged, but how does it look transparent.
NoMates
Roar Rookie
Feel bad for CCM, with FFA the Ref and VAR all on Victory's side cum game day. For the sake of football in Australia CCM must win, if not it will be just another foot dug in the grave of Australian football.
footballfan123
Guest
People complaining about the FFA being unfair to CCM forget that Victory has had to defeat 3 a-league sides to get to the final whilst CCM have only had to play 1. I agree that Cummings should have been allowed to play but it makes no sense to suggest that the FFA are heavily in favour of the Victory.
Hudddo
Roar Rookie
You forgot the point CCM have not played one game at home all campaign, victory will now have 3 on the trot!! The draw was an embarrassment, and the complete opposite of the word transparent. I'm so filthy about this, it's disgusting how manipulated the cup has become
M20
Guest
Why even play the match? Just hand it to Victory since that's what FA want
Midfielder
Roar Guru
FA Show their true colours. FA refuse to allow new Mariners Cummings to play as he was signed after our semi. The semi was different to the MV semi due to FA requests on game time we played early. MV at there request played 11 days latter. MV singed a player after we signed Cummings who can play as he was signed before their semi. Cummings could not get into Australia due to Cov rules before the semi. So we can't play our best striker and all hidden behind rules.
Midfielder
Roar Guru
Plus the Cummings refusal
Tigertown
Guest
I agree, Andy. Many NPL clubs got shafted quite badly, this includes smaller, regional teams as well.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
the bigger issue is that victory shouldn't even be there, if it wasnt for the FA pandering to them over that match with adelaide city. yes covid caused mayhem in melbourne, but to make an NPL side wait over 3 months to play this match while they were out of season (while the victory was in season) is absolutely ludacris - victory should've forfeited that game its completely against the fabric of what the FFA cup is about
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
Like 99% of cup competitions in the football world, any team can enter the FFA cup, regardless of their ladder position in their non-cup competition the previous season. Teams in the highest divisions are almost always kept out of the preliminary cup rounds. Melbourne playing the Devonport 3rds in an earlier round, or being excluded entirely, would've served no purpose.
Tigertown
Guest
How a last-placed team “qualifies” is beyond me. Melbourne’s admission should not be rewarded, sorry. Explain that to the other regional teams & NPL clubs.