The 2008 A-League Grand Final took place at Sydney Football Stadium in Sydney, Australia on 24 February 2008. It was the first A-League Grand Final played at a neutral home ground, due to Bluetongue Stadium being deemed by FFA to not have a sufficient capacity to hold the centrepiece of the A-League season. This move created a stir of controversy and was protested by the Central Coast Mariners, who won the right to host the match, but to no avail.
Route to the finals
Match
Summary The first half of the game ended in a draw with neither side scoring a goal, though each had good scoring opportunities. Gary van Egmond made a risky change to his side's starting formation, playing with a back three. In the 64th minute Mark Bridge scored the only goal after Tony Vidmar slipped.
The game ended in controversy after Central Coast earned a corner late into extra time in the second half. As the ball was crossed into Newcastle's penalty area, it appeared to hit Newcastle player James Holland on the right arm, before it was cleared away. Mariners players immediately demanded a penalty, yet referee Mark Shield decided not to award one. The Mariners players, enraged, continued to scream at Shield, pressuring him for a penalty. Mariners keeper Danny Vukovic as a result of this frustration, hit Shields' arm away when the referee was penalizing one of Vukovic's teammates with a yellowcard. Shield then immediately awarded Vukovic with a red card. Vukovic would later be charged with striking a match official by the FFA, and was subsequently banned for 9 months, 3 of those months suspended. Due to this, Vukovic missed a significant portion of the next A-League season as well as the Olympic Games.
Details
GK 20 Danny Vukovic MF 7 John HutchinsonMF 12 Greg Owens DF 13 Tony Vidmar DF 16 Nigel Boogaard DF 18 Alex Wilkinson (c)MF 19 Adam Kwasnik FW 22 Sasho PetrovskiMF 23 Mile Jedinak FW 25 John Aloisi DF 26 Alvin CeccoliSubstitutes:GK 1 Matthew TrottFW 2 Matt Simon MF 6 André Gumprecht MF 10 Tom Pondeljak DF 15 Andrew ClarkManager: Lawrie McKinna GK 1 Ante ČovićDF 2 Adam Griffiths DF 3 Jade North (c)MF 5 Stuart MusialikDF 6 Andrew DuranteMF 8 Matt Thompson FW 9 Joel Griffiths DF 11 Tarek ElrichDF 13 Adam D'ApuzzoFW 19 Mark Bridge MF 28 Song Jin-Hyung Substitutes:GK 20 Ben KennedyMF 10 Denni MF 18 Noel SpencerMF 22 Jason Hoffman MF 25 James Holland Manager: Gary van Egmond
Joe Marston Medal: Andrew Durante (Newcastle Jets)
Assistant referees: Ben Wilson Nathan Gibson Fourth official: Matthew BreezeMatch rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level.
A-League2008 ChampionsNewcastle JetsFirst Title
Statistics Central Coast NewcastleAttempts at goal 13 6Attempts on target 1 3Attempts off target 12 3Attempts – Woodwork 0 0Keeper saves 1 1Ball possession 42% 58%Corners 1 6Fouls committed 18 15Offsides 1 4Yellow cards 3 2Red cards 1 0
See also 2007–08 A-League List of A-League honours
References
External links Full Match highlights on YouTube Official A-League Website