Rest of Asia Australia

Melbourne Victory Wins Second FFA Cup, Clinch Final ACL Ticket

A-League Men giants Melbourne Victory clinched themselves the final ticket to the 2022 AFC Champions League after they had won their second FFA Cup title on Saturday. The Big V ran out 2-1 winners over Central Coast Mariners, thus earning head coach Tony Popovic his first title with the Victorian titans.

Victory endured a torrid 2020/21 season, finishing bottom of the A-League table which forced them to participate in a four-team playoff for two spots in the 2021 FFA Cup along with Perth Glory, Western United, and Newcastle Jets. With former Western Sydney Wanderers boss Popovic taking over the reins from Steve Kean, Victory edged out Glory on penalties in November, thus qualifying them into the competition proper.

The Mariners of Central Coast, on the other hand, qualify automatically to the FFA Cup as 3rd placed finishers in the 2020/21 A-League season.

Victory overcame the likes of Adelaide City, Gold Coast Knights, and Adelaide United by the tightest of margins before thrashing Wellington Phoenix 4-1 to qualify to the final, while the Mariners knocked out Blacktown City, Wollongong Wolves, APIA Leichhardt, and 2020/21 A-League Men runners-up Sydney FC to book themselves a place in the cup’s showpiece match.

A draw conducted prior to the final gave Victory the home advantage for the final, and Saturday’s match was played at the AAMI Park in downtown Melbourne.

After a goalless first half, the match came to life in the second half, after a spectacular free-kick from Jason Davidson gave Victory the lead, erupting the AAMI Park into cheers.

And Victory’s traditional “Seven Nation Army” celebratory chant once again echoed throughout the stadium after Chris Ikonomidis sealed the win five minutes into injury time, smashing home a powerful volley after a Joshua Brilliante free-kick that went beyond the reaches of Mariners’ goalkeeper Mark Birighitti.

Mariners’ captain Oliver Bozanic pulled one back for his team deep into injury time, but in the end, it was too little too late as Victory became the first team since Adelaide United to win multiple iterations of the FFA Cup.

“It hasn’t all fully sunk in yet, but it helps when you have this type of support and the crowd was just amazing and helped us tonight and I’m lucky to have a wonderful group of players who performed on the big stage tonight,” said Popovic in his post-match interview, “I thought we played well, for a final we played well, controlled and dominated and we needed two special goals to win so it was befitting of a Final, two wonderful goals and some great performances so I’m delighted for everyone at the club.”

Initially, Victory were set to take on Myanmar champions Shan United in the first round of the ACL qualifiers, however, due to their withdrawal, the Big V were given a bye straight into the play-off round, where they will visit Japan’s Vissel Kobe on March 15th.

Sydney, on the other hand, will have to get past Filipino giants Kaya FC-Iloilo in the qualifiers’ first round on March 8th, with the winners of that tie taking on China’s Changchun Yatai in the play-off.