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| Date | 16 December 2014 | ||||||
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| Venue | Coopers Stadium,Adelaide | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Sergio Cirio | ||||||
| Referee | Chris Beath | ||||||
| Attendance | 16,142 | ||||||
| Weather | Partly cloudy 19 °C (66 °F)[1] | ||||||
2015 → | |||||||
The2014 FFA Cup final was the inaugural final of theFFA Cup (now known as the Australia Cup), the premiersoccerknockout cup competition inAustralia. The match was an all A-League affair, contested betweenAdelaide United andPerth Glory atCoopers Stadium on 16 December 2014.[2] Although future editions of the tournament will involve the Cup final being played late in the Australian summer, this season's final was brought forward in order to avoid a clash with the2015 AFC Asian Cup, which was hosted by Australia.[3] Adelaide United were the inaugural champions, winning 1–0 withSergio Cirio scoring the lone goal of the match shortly afterJoshua Risdon was sent off for a second bookable offence, reducing Perth to 10 men.
The 2014 FFA Cup final is the only FFA Cup/Australia Cup final to date to have been played in December.
On 12 November 2014,Coopers Stadium (home ofAdelaide United), was announced as the venue of the 2014 final byFootball Federation Australia following the completion of the season's cup semi-final matches.[4] The venue was chosen in preference toPerth Glory's home ground ofnib Stadium.[5] Discussing the choice of venue Perth Glory Chief Executive Jason Brewer commented "It wasn't going to be played in Perth for any number of reasons at the FFA's discretions", adding "I think Western Australian and Perth football fans have been fairly hard done by".[6]
The home ground of Adelaide United since 2003, the stadium holds a capacity crowd of 17,000 which makes it the smallest capacity of any full-timeA-League venue. It was first opened in 1960 and it hosted its firstNational Soccer League match on 11 April 1977.[7] The venue has formerly been home to bothAdelaide City andWest Adelaide and in 2000, the ground underwent a full redevelopment at the cost of $27 million in order to host matches of the2000 Olympic football tournament.
Hindmarsh Stadium has also held other events, including theNational Soccer League Grand Finals of1986 and1995, theNSL Cup finals of1986,1989 and1992, the final of the1987 OFC Club Championship and the second leg of the2008 AFC Champions League Final. Additionally, the stadium has hosted various2004 OFC Nations Cup,2006 AFC Women's Asian Cup andFIFA World Cup qualifying matches. During their tenure in theNRL, theAdelaide Rams briefly used Hindmarsh Stadium as their home for their final four matches of the1998 season. The stadium's record attendance of 18,430 was set during the2000 Olympic Games when temporary stands were in place to bring the capacity up to 20,000.[8]
| Adelaide United | Round | Perth Glory | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | Result | Opponent | Result | |
| Wellington Phoenix | 1–0 (H) | Round of 32 | Newcastle Jets | 2–0 (A) |
| Brisbane Roar | 2–0 (H) | Round of 16 | St Albans Saints | 4–1 (A) |
| Sydney FC (a.e.t.) | 3–1 (A) | Quarter-finals | Melbourne Victory | 4–2 (H) |
| Central Coast Mariners | 3–2 (H) | Semi-finals | Bentleigh Greens | 3–0 (A) |
| Note: In all results above, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away). | ||||
Adelaide United andPerth Glory were among 631 teams who entered the inauguralFFA Cup competition, and asA-League clubs, both entered the tournament in the Round of 32.[3]
Adelaide United's first match was at home againstWellington Phoenix. A single goal bySergio Cirio in the 31st minute was enough to see the game end in favor of the home team.[9] United progressed to a Round of 16 home match againstBrisbane Roar, where goals by Cirio andBruce Djite within the first half left the score 2–0.[10] In the quarter-final stage, Adelaide United were drawn away toSydney FC. Goals scored by Cirio and Sydney FC captainAlex Brosque took the match into extra time, where Djite found the net on twice to end the game 1–3.[11] In the semi-finals, United took onCentral Coast Mariners at home. A brace from Cirio either side of a goal fromAwer Mabil saw the match end 3–2, with Adelaide progressing to the first ever FFA Cup Final.[12]
Perth Glory's cup run started with an away tie against fellow A-League sideNewcastle Jets. Goals from Irish importAndy Keogh either side of half time gave Perth Glory a 0–2 win.[13] In the Round of 16, Glory were drawn againstSt Albans Saints ofNational Premier Leagues Victoria, away from home. Goals fromJamie Maclaren and Keogh complimented a double fromNebojša Marinković to give the Glory a 1–4 win.[14] For the quarter-finals, Perth was drawn againstMelbourne Victory at home.Ben Khalfallah gave Melbourne Victory an early lead, though Glory were quick to respond with Keogh leveling the score within the first 15 minutes; although a late penalty by Keogh was not enough for the home side to secure the match, withGui Finkler leveling the scores in the 92nd minute. Goals byDaniel De Silva and Marinković during extra time finished the match 4–2 in favor of the home team.[15] For the semi-finals, Glory faced another National Premier Leagues Victoria side away from home, in the form ofBentleigh Greens. A 0–3 result with goals from Marinković andChris Harold sent Perth Glory into the final.[16]
Although the final was held at a small-sized venue, interest in tickets exceeded expectation, with tickets selling out within three days of going on sale to the public.[17] Ticket prices varied from $30 for general admission to $40 for reserved seating.[18]
Chris Beath was named as the referee of the final, together with George Lakrindis and Anton Shchetinin as the assistant referees, Jonathan Barreiro as the fourth official andKris Griffiths-Jones and Shaun Evans as additional assistant referees.[19] In the 2014 FFA Cup, Beath took charge of the semi-final match between Adelaide United–Central Coast Mariners. He had previously taken charge of a number ofA-League,AFC Cup andAFC Champions League matches,international friendlies, as well as named as one of the referees in the2014 AFC Challenge Cup and2014 AFC U-19 Championship.[20]
Going into the final,Osama Malik was left out of Adelaide United's squad due to injury.Craig Goodwin was also left out due to being contracted toNewcastle Jets for the remainder of the cup season. Perth Glory were also missing three players due to injury:Youssouf Hersi,Diogo Ferreira andMitch Nichols.[21]
Awer Mabil had the first chance of the match. The Adelaide United forward could have opened the scoring inside the opening five minutes but he failed to latch on toSergio Cirio's square pass through the penalty area. As the match progressed, Adelaide playmakerMarcelo Carrusca was next to test Perth Glory keeperDanny Vukovic, stinging the keeper's fingers from long range. Perth's shouts for apenalty on the 25th minutes were waved away by the referee, when Adelaide's keeperEugene Galekovic andRichard Garcia tangled just outside the area but replays showed Galekovic won the ball. The visiting team racked up the fouls with Garcia andJoshua Risdon earning bookings on the 32nd and 42nd minutes respectively before Mabil squandered an opportunity to break the deadlock in first half injury time. After Carrusca won back possession on halfway, he releasedBruce Djite who in turn teed up Mabil who blasted high and wide from eight metres with just the keeper to beat.
Adelaide continued to dominate proceedings in the second half and Mabil wasted another chance just after the break, blazing over the bar once again after some neat build up play from Cirio. The hosts took full advantage when Risdon's tug on Carrusca's shorts saw him earn a second yellow card just before the hour mark and the deadlock was broken not 10 minutes later. Carrusca slipped Cirio through from the edge of the area, and the player rounded Vukovic and slotted his shot from a tight angle. Perth had Vukovic to thank for keeping the score at 1–0 when he tipped over a 30-metre shot fromIsaías with five minutes remaining. Late into the match, Adelaide were content to maintain possession and saw out the final few minutes without any incident, ensuring they held on for the win.[22][23][24]
      Adelaide United |  Perth Glory |
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Man of the Match (Mark Viduka Medal): Assistant referees: | Match rules:[2]
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| Statistics[22] | Adelaide United | Perth Glory |
|---|---|---|
| Goals scored | 1 | 0 |
| Total shots | 14 | 4 |
| Shots on target | 4 | 0 |
| Ball possession | 66% | 34% |
| Corner kicks | 6 | 2 |
| Fouls | 10 | 21 |
| Offsides | 1 | 1 |
| Yellow cards | 1 | 1 |
| Red cards | 0 | 1 |
After scoring the match winning goal,Sergio Cirio was named man of the match, awarded theMark Viduka Medal by the former Australian captain, for his efforts.[25]
Adelaide United captainEugene Galekovic commented on the match, saying "We knew it wasn't going to be a walk in the park today and credit to them (Perth Glory), they fought with 10 men. In the end we probably had the better chances and I think we deserved it today."[26]
The match was broadcast live in Australia byFox Sports. A peak audience of 104,000 viewers watched the final, which was the highest viewership of any cup match broadcast in the tournament that season.[27]
