On Sunday the 24th of April 2016, the greatest contest in A-League history and the most gripping game of football played on Australia’s shores took place.
The Western Sydney Wanderers earned their place in this afternoon’s A-League grand final by winning 5-4 in extra time over Brisbane Roar. To simply mention the score does not do the game justice though. Of the over 20,000 attended what will be the last game of football played at Parramatta Stadium, few must have anticipated exactly how the Wanderers would accomplish the feat of reaching a third grand final in just four years of existence, joining Melbourne Victory, Brisbane Roar, Central Coast Mariners, Sydney FC and Adelaide United in the group of clubs to have made more than one appearance on the A-League’s biggest stage.
The most incredible fact of the game was that Brisbane Roar found themselves 3-0 up, thanks to a Dimitri Petratos penalty, Alberto own goal and Jamie Maclaren’s first of two, yet never once did the Wanderers look outplayed or down and out. The atmosphere at the ground was so electric that it must have given players and fans alike hope of a turnaround. It duly came when Romeo Castelen and fan favourite Brendon Santalab reduced the deficit to 3-2 by the break. The fightback was well and truly on and the second-half delivered even more, as Castelen completed a hat-trick to put the hosts 4-3 ahead. Maclaren recorded a second, the goal that forced 30 of the most tantalising minutes of football ever played in Parramatta. Dario Vidosic scored 12 minutes into extra time, and the rest of the period was spent ensuring what was now the inevitable outcome – Western Sydney would face Adelaide United in the 2016 A-League grand final.
POPULAR ARTICLES
Bruce Djite: Adelaide Oval pitch will be fine
Combined XI – A-League Grand Final
Central Coast Mariners will bring A-League back to Canberra in 2016-17
Adelaide United’s path was rather more facile, and surprisingly so given they were playing the highly-rated Melbourne City in their semi-final and brushed them aside 4-1. Bruce Djite, the A-League’s equivalent of Carl Leaburn, scored twice to make it 11 goals for the season, a remarkable feat given his long goal drought. While City pulled one back through Nick Fitzgerald, Dylan McGowan and Pablo Sanchez restored United’s cushion to make it 4-1. The game meant that Adelaide United would host the grand final for the first time, having last appeared in the showcase fixture in 2009. For Melbourne City, one wonders whether this turned out to be the last game for a number of players in a star-studded lineup.
It has been the most remarkable of seasons, with the Reds failing to win their first eight games and new coach Guillermo Amor heading for the rocks. The next 19 games resulted in just one loss to see Adelaide finish on top of a congested pack including Western Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne City, Perth Glory and Melbourne Victory. Including last weekend, their record going into the grand final from round nine has been 15 wins, four draws and one defeat. Their defensive record has been the best in the competition, with long-serving Eugene Galekovic in goal while McGowan, Michael Marrone, Tarek Elrich, Iacopo La Rocca and Jordan Elsey add supreme depth to the backline. In midfield, however, Stefan Mauk joined with Isaias and Argentine playmaker Marcelo Carrusca to form a trio that provides a basis for some of the best football in the A-League. Attacking options including Sergio Cirio, Bruce Djite, Pablo Sanchez and Craig Goodwin, each chipping in with their share of the responsibilities – the key word here being sharing.
In years gone by, Adelaide United have had a habit of shooting themselves in the foot. Under John Kosmina, Aurelio Vidmar and Rini Coolen, near-successful seasons were followed by implosions and acrimony. The return of John Kosmina in the dugout saw things come together in 2012-13, with the signing, among others, of Carrusca and a fourth place finish in a season where the Wanderers topped the league in their first time around the block. Enter Josep Gombau, under whom the Reds would start 2013-14 slowly and then pick up form, while playing some excellent football along the way. When United seemed to be facing a crisis, Gombau faced it down and came out on top, something Amor has repeated magnificently. Last season they raised it a notch and finished third, falling short against Sydney FC in the semi-final. In other words, there has been incremental improvement and a change in club culture, that has led them to within sight of a first A-League title.
Fans of Western Sydney Wanderers have, in such a short time, engendered high expectations of their club. 2014-15’s travails, in which they only narrowly avoided the wooden spoon and used 38 different players in the process, exhibited the exertions of a season where the team travelled far and wide with no little success on those fronts. Popovic undertook a comprehensive refit of the side, with only three foundation players (Shannon Cole, Mark Bridge and Nikolai Topor-Stanley) remaining at the club. The Spanish trio of Alberto, Dimas and Andreu, along with A-League staples in Scott Jamieson, Jacob Pepper and Scott Neville, as well as Vidosic, Mitch Nichols all supporting goalkeepers Andrew Redmayne and Liam Reddy, formed part of a new-look Wanderers team that has matched the feats of the first two seasons, and may yet go one better.
After a slow start and not winning their first three games, the Wanderers took off by winning the next seven to set themselves up as title contenders. On New Year’s Day, however, Adelaide United came to Parramatta and a 0-0 draw only eventuated because of a refereeing decision, reminiscent of the infamous Clive Thomas, denied the home side a goal. Since then, form has been patchy and questions were being asked about the side’s ability to kill off games they dominated. There was a 4-3 win over Melbourne City and a shock 5-2 home loss to Wellington Phoenix. Despite all this though, form was good enough to secure second place with back-to-back wins to round-off the regular season. While Wanderers have been hampered by the lack of an effective spearhead, Nichols, Santalab and Bridge all weighed in their fair share of goals.
The grand final will pit two clubs against each other who have never won an A-League championship before, but on a deeper level, also two clubs representing major heartlands of football in Australia. Adelaide has always had a significant level of interest in the game, but it’s NSL representatives reflected the state of the competition to the point that Adelaide City chose to pull out in 2003. This left a void that led to the foundation of Adelaide United, which proved an instant success in attracting support and became a foundation member of the A-League, along with Perth Glory. Adelaide is a parochial city and the interstate rivalry with Victoria has been successfully transplanted into the code.
It was only after the failure of two expansion clubs that the FFA decided to act and oversee the formation in 2012 of the club that many say should always have been there. Western Sydney Wanderers seemed destined to capture the hearts and minds of a region that loves football, translating into one of the largest supporter bases in the country with the second highest membership tally after Melbourne Victory. It is clear that this support extends beyond the traditional definition of Western Sydney, encompassing a wide array of geographic and demographic areas and can stake a claim to being the bigger club in the city.
Both clubs have also had to contend or coexist with other sports. In Adelaide, Australian Rules Football is traditionally dominant and there is a significant overlap in fanbase between the city’s two AFL clubs, SANFL clubs and Adelaide United. In Western Sydney, rugby league and football generally coexist – both sports having also to contend with AFL expansionism in the form of GWS.
For whoever wins today – and it is hard to determine when all three games between them this season have been draws – not only will it mean a new name on the A-League trophy, but it will also symbolise a new era for the sport in Australia.
What are your thoughts? Let us know by dropping a comment below via our Facebook comment box. Make sure you follow us on Twitter @Outside90 and like us on Facebook.
