Match details
Melbourne Victory v Central Coast Mariners
AAMI Park, Melbourne
Saturday, February 5, 2022
Kick-off: 8.00pm AEDT
TICKETS
Preview
Melbourne Victory is aiming to win the FFA Cup for a second time ahead of hosting the Central Coast Mariners in the final at AAMI Park on Saturday.
Victory hosts the Mariners seeking to claim the FFA Cup for the first time since 2015.
Tony Popovic’s side booked a spot in the decider with an impressive 4-1 win over the Wellington Phoenix in the Semi Final.
After falling behind in Geelong, Victory scored four times in the final 25 minutes through a Nick D’Agostino brace and strikes from Josh Brillante and Ben Folami.
D’Agostino came off the bench to take his tally for the season to six goals in 10 matches in all competitions.
Robbie Kruse and Chris Ikonomidis set up the forward’s strikes.
Needing a play-off just to get into the FFA Cup proper, Victory has used 31 different players on the way to the final.
Stefan Nigro is the only player to have started all five games, while Kruse, Nishan Velupillay and Francesco Margiotta are the others to have featured in each.
Victory is aiming to win a first piece of silverware in the men’s game since being crowned Isuzu UTE A-League Champion in 2018.
The winner of the FFA Cup will also face Vissel Kobe in the AFC Champions League play-off round in March.
Player in focus
Brillante has only started two of Victory’s five FFA Cup games, yet has been influential in both. The captain has scored in each of those, including a fine equaliser against Wellington.
What they said
“There’s always that sense of a bigger week because there’s a piece of silverware on the line. It’s important for the Club to strive to win these sorts of things and it’s huge for the Club as well, especially after the last couple of years, being so bad, and very quickly it’s turned around and now we’re in a final, so it’s massive and it’s a great opportunity.” – Victory captain Brillante.
Last time
Isuzu UTE A-League 2020/21 Round 19
Melbourne Victory 1-1 Central Coast Mariners
Sunday, May 2, 2021
AAMI Park, Melbourne
Victory and the Mariners last met in May last year.
Matt Simon opened the scoring early on before Callum McManaman’s equaliser shortly after the hour-mark.
Head to head
Round 19, 2020/21: Victory 1-1 Mariners at AAMI Park
Round 14, 2020/21: Mariners 1-1 Victory at Central Coast Stadium
Round 26, 2019/20: Victory 2-3 Mariners at Jubilee Stadium
Round 14, 2019/20: Mariners 3-2 Victory at Central Coast Stadium
Round 25, 2018/19: Victory 2-1 Mariners at AAMI Park
