Ron Manager
formerly Libertine
I'll always be a Shrimper first and foremost and if they ever played Brisbane I'd be wearing blue not orange. However yesterdays Grand Final is the most amazing bit of drama I've ever seen at a football match in my 30 years of going to games.
For anyone who didn't get up at 6am to watch it on Sky here's a summary. Brisbane won the league by a mile, lost one game all season and were unbeaten for 27 matches. However the A-League has a finals/play off system for the champions (much like the Rugby Super League has) so we had to fight through a semi final and then a Grand Final.
In that Grand Final we faced Central Coast who were second in the league overall. 50,000 packed into the magnificent Suncorp Stadium and one of the noisiest atmospheres I've ever heard - a real football stadium, all enclosed and close to the pitch (they call it the 'Cauldron'). Cracking match, end to end for the whole 90 minutes but no goals. Then in the first half of extra time Central Coast score two goals, the whole magnificent season falling apart in front of our eyes. Even with 4 minutes left in the second half of extra time it was still 2-0 and the Central Coast were trying to keep the ball in the corners. Then we broke and the Brazillian substitute Henrique squeezed the ball past the keeper to make it 2-1 - but surely just a consolation. Then with 30 seconds left we get a corner and with literally the last touch of the ball Erik Partalu scores with a header. Honestly, I've never seen anything like it. Pandemonium as 48,000 of the 50,000 present went absolutely ballistic - loudest roar from a crowd I've ever heard.
So to penalties, and Michael Theoklitos the Roar keeper makes two exceptional saves (the second one as good as you'll ever see) and every player for the Roar slots them home perfectly. From being 2-0 down with 4 minutes left and dead and buried Brisbane Roar had completed the most magical comeback and were champions.
I have no voice, a stinking hangover and am a good couple of hundred bucks poorer for drinking beer and champagne in celebration. But bloody hell, what an experience! Who says the Aussie's don't do football?
Next comes the Asian Champions League next season and after that who knows, maybe the World Club Championship?
For anyone who didn't get up at 6am to watch it on Sky here's a summary. Brisbane won the league by a mile, lost one game all season and were unbeaten for 27 matches. However the A-League has a finals/play off system for the champions (much like the Rugby Super League has) so we had to fight through a semi final and then a Grand Final.
In that Grand Final we faced Central Coast who were second in the league overall. 50,000 packed into the magnificent Suncorp Stadium and one of the noisiest atmospheres I've ever heard - a real football stadium, all enclosed and close to the pitch (they call it the 'Cauldron'). Cracking match, end to end for the whole 90 minutes but no goals. Then in the first half of extra time Central Coast score two goals, the whole magnificent season falling apart in front of our eyes. Even with 4 minutes left in the second half of extra time it was still 2-0 and the Central Coast were trying to keep the ball in the corners. Then we broke and the Brazillian substitute Henrique squeezed the ball past the keeper to make it 2-1 - but surely just a consolation. Then with 30 seconds left we get a corner and with literally the last touch of the ball Erik Partalu scores with a header. Honestly, I've never seen anything like it. Pandemonium as 48,000 of the 50,000 present went absolutely ballistic - loudest roar from a crowd I've ever heard.
So to penalties, and Michael Theoklitos the Roar keeper makes two exceptional saves (the second one as good as you'll ever see) and every player for the Roar slots them home perfectly. From being 2-0 down with 4 minutes left and dead and buried Brisbane Roar had completed the most magical comeback and were champions.
I have no voice, a stinking hangover and am a good couple of hundred bucks poorer for drinking beer and champagne in celebration. But bloody hell, what an experience! Who says the Aussie's don't do football?
Next comes the Asian Champions League next season and after that who knows, maybe the World Club Championship?