I had never experienced finals until I came to Australia and since I have fallen in love with them.
This is the first season in my A-League career I am not playing finals and I am devastated. I realise you don’t get these opportunities every year, and you must approach it like it’s your last chance and leave the pitch with no regrets.
I have been called everything, from crazy to selfish. But I don’t care – when I get to finals, I have only one thing on my mind. To win the trophy.
THE way Gianni Stensness tells it, Mariners boss Alen Stajcic has been gardening for the past 12 months.
Digging out what Stensness calls “a few weeds”, and planting some exotic new varieties in the Central Coast soil, the results have produced a dramatic reflowering of the Mariners after years of pain.
From failures to finalists, the swagger is back on the Central Coast. Whatever happens from now this has been an incredible season for a side that had become mired in mediocrity.
The A-League Semi Final hosted by Melbourne City FC will be moved back 48 hours to Sunday 20 June.
Tickets will go on sale next Thursday (17 June) and City members will get the chance to buy tickets from 9am, with a 50% discount for up to two tickets, and the remainder will go on sale to the general public at noon.
After overseeing Central Coast Mariners' third-successive finish on the bottom of the A-League table, Alen Stajcic set out in search of players capable of driving cultural change to thrust into his leadership group for the 2020/21 campaign.