Hyundai A-League 2008 Grand Final Preview
All the match information for the Hyundai A-League 2008 Grand Final
Central Coast Mariners v Newcastle Jets Sunday 24 February 2008 Kick-Off 5:00pm AEDT (7:00pm NZDT, 4:30pm ACDT, 4:00pm AEST, 3:00pm AWDT) Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney Referee: Mark Shield Assistant Referees: Nathan Gibson & Ben Wilson Fourth Official: Matthew Breeze
TV: Live & Exclusive Fox Sports 1 (www.foxsports.com.au) - Match broadcast commences 4:00pm AEDT (3:30pm ACDT, 3:00pm AEST, 2:00pm AWDT). Click here to find a Fox Sports venue in your area. www.foxsports.com.au/football/aleague/grandfinal#screening Sky Sport 2 (www.skysport.co.nz) - Match broadcast commences 6:00pm NZDT.
Radio: Coast FM 96.3FM (Central Coast) - www.coastfm.org.au; ABC 1233 Newcastle (1233AM) - www.abc.net.au/newcastle; SBS Radio www.radio.sbs.com.au (Various Frequencies)
Tickets: Ticketek - available via internet or phone and at the venue. Visit www.ticketek.com.au or call 132 849
Central Coast Mariners Squad: 1.Matthew TROTT (gk), 2.Matt SIMON, 3.Paul O-GRADY, 5.Bradley PORTER, 6.Andre GUMPRECHT, 7.John HUTCHINSON, 10.Tom PONDELJAK, 12.Greg OWENS, 13.Tony VIDMAR, 15.Andrew CLARK, 16.Nigel BOOGAARD, 18.Alex WILKINSON (Captain), 19.Adam KWASNIK, 20.Danny VUKOVIC (gk), 22.Sasho PETROVSKI, 23.Mile JEDINAK, 25.John ALOISI, 26.Alvin CECCOLI two to be omitted
In: Paul O-Grady (Promoted), Bradley Porter (Promoted) Out: Nil
Others Unavailable: Dean Heffernan (Broken Leg - Season), Nik Mrdja (Knee - Season), Matthew Osman (Knee - Season)
Newcastle Jets Squad: 1.Ante COVIC (gk), 2.Adam GRIFFITHS, 3.Jade NORTH (Captain), 5.Stuart MUSIALIK, 6.Andrew DURANTE, 8.Matt THOMPSON, 9.Joel GRIFFITHS, 10.Denni, 11.Tarek ELRICH, 12.Paul KOHLER, 13.Adam D-APUZZO, 14.Jobe WHEELHOUSE, 17.Troy HEARFIELD, 18.Noel SPENCER, 19.Mark BRIDGE, 20.Ben KENNEDY, 23.Jason HOFFMAN, 25.James HOLLAND, 28.Song Jin HYUNG three to be omitted
In: Paul Kohler (promoted), Jobe Wheelhouse (promoted), Jason Hoffman (promoted) Out: Nil
Others Unavailable: Steve Eagleton (Injury - Season), Stephen Laybutt (Achilles - Season)
Impending stats, facts and trivia: • Sunday's Hyundai A-League 2008 Grand Final only needs a crowd of 4,814 for the full 2007/08 season aggregate attendance figure to surpass 1,350,000 - an average of 15,000 per game. • A Hyundai A-League 2008 Grand Final crowd of around 41,000 on Sunday would result in a Hyundai A-League 2007/08 season average crowd of around 15,400, which would be almost 10 per cent higher than the 2006/07 season average. The average 2006/07 season crowd was 14,051, which was 21 per cent above the average of the league's first season (2005/06), 11,627. Including finals matches, the highest average crowd ever achieved in the old NSL was 5989, set in the 1998/99 NSL season. • A Hyundai A-League 2008 Grand Final victory appearance for Central Coast Mariners players Alvin Ceccoli, Sasho Petrovski and Tom Pondeljak, would take each of their Australian Grand Final victories to four. This would equal the Australian record of four national league Grand Final wins currently held by David Cervinski and Fausto De Amicis, who each obtained four Grand Final victory appearances in the old NSL. • Newcastle Jet-s Joel Griffiths needs one goal in the Hyundai A-League 2008 Grand Final to take his season goal tally to 15 and thus equal the highest number of goals scored by a player record in a Hyundai A-League season, set by Archie Thompson during the 2006/07 season. • Meanwhile the Newcastle Jets' Mark Bridge will make his 50th appearance in the Hyundai A-League. • A win by the Central Coast Mariners on Sunday will make them the first club to win all three of the Hyundai A-League-s major competitions - Championship, Premiership and Pre-Season Cup.
N.B. Squads subject to change