The 2010 A-League Grand Final took place at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia on 20 March 2010.
It was the final match in the A-League 2009–10 season, and was played between premiers Sydney FC and runners-up Melbourne Victory. Sydney FC won the match 4–2 on penalty shootout after drawing the game 1–1 and became the winners of the 2009–10 Championship in addition to their premiership.
The A-League National Youth League Grand Final was held at Etihad Stadium prior to the main game. After coming 4th in the 2009–10 season, Gold Coast United won the youth title in their inaugural season, coming from a goal down to defeat Perth Glory, 2–1.
Route to the final
Match
Summary An early knee injury forced key striker Archie Thompson, who scored 5 goals in the 2007 A-League Grand Final, off the field in the sixteenth minute. He was replaced by Costa Rican Marvin Angulo.
With both teams struggling to break the deadlock, Melbourne were left stunned when Mark Bridge scored a goal in the 63rd minute after a deflected cross. To add to Melbourne's misfortune, it was scored less than a minute after Rodrigo Vargas' headed goal was correctly disallowed by the assistant referee for offside.
Melbourne were able to find an equaliser through Adrian Leijer after Kevin Muscat delivered a set piece. Leijer's late header resulted in some frantic final minutes, but neither team were able to find the breakthrough goal in normal time. Extra time resulted in few opportunities and the game was decided by penalties for the first time in A-League history.
Details
GK 1 Mitchell LangerakDF 2 Kevin Muscat (c) DF 5 Surat Sukha MF 6 Leigh BroxhamMF 8 Grant BrebnerFW 10 Archie Thompson DF 12 Rodrigo VargasMF 16 Carlos HernándezFW 21 Robbie KruseMF 22 Nick Ward DF 23 Adrian Leijer Substitutes:GK 20 Glen MossMF 11 Marvin Angulo DF 17 Matthew FoschiniDF 19 Evan Berger FW 25 Aziz Behich Manager: Ernie Merrick GK 1 Clint BoltonDF 2 Sebastian Ryall DF 3 Stephan Keller DF 4 Simon Colosimo MF 6 Karol Kisel MF 8 Stuart Musialik FW 14 Alex Brosque MF 15 Terry McFlynn (c)FW 16 Chris Payne FW 19 Mark BridgeDF 22 Byun Sung-HwanSubstitutes:GK 20 Ivan NecevskiDF 5 Hayden Foxe MF 7 Brendan GanDF 12 Shannon Cole FW 31 Joey Gibbs Manager: Vitezslav Lavicka
Joe Marston Medal: Simon Colosimo (Sydney FC)
Assistant referees: Ben Wilson Matthew Cream Fourth official: Matthew BreezeMatch rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level.
Statistics Melbourne SydneyAttempts at goal 14 12Attempts on target 6 6Attempts off target 7 6Attempts - woodwork 1 0Keeper saves 3 4 Ball possession 51% 49%Corners 8 5Fouls committed 13 16Offsides 3 3Yellow cards 2 4Red cards 0 0
See also 2009–10 A-League List of A-League champions
References
External links Official A-League Website