MEDIA RELEASE

Wednesday, 13^th May, 2015

FANS EMBRACE CAMPAIGN TO REVOLUTIONISE HYUNDAI A-LEAGUE GRAND FINAL

In an Australian sporting first, loyal fans of the Hyundai A-League were rewarded this year with the opportunity to vote on elements of the 2015 Hyundai A-League Grand Final experience.

The campaign, which was open for two weeks, allowed fans to vote on the national anthem singer, the walk-out track for each team, a song to be performed by ARIA award winning artists Peking Duk in their pre-game set, and a special food item available for purchase - a souvlaki designed by celebrity chef George Calombaris.

Not Surprisingly Peking Duk’s 2014 smash hit, and number two on the 2015 Triple J Hottest 100, ‘High’, was chosen by fans to be included in the set, when the Australian duo hit the pitch to perform for the 30,000 strong crowd at AAMI Park on Sunday.

X-Factor alumni Kya (formally Christina Parie) will perform the national anthem after edging out fellow Australian pop artists Bonnie Anderson and Owen Campbell for the exciting gig. 

Both the Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC will get pumped to take the pitch for the final time this season with the help of dance track ‘Jungle’ by X Ambassadors, after the track won a landslide 68% of votes over tracks from Hermitude and Grace Potter. 

With elements of the pre-game entertainment selected it was only right that fans could chose a specialty food item.  An exciting partnership with Australian MasterChef co-judge and football tragic George Calombaris means fans will be able to purchase one of George’s famous Jimmy Grants’ lamb souvlakis on Sunday - a far cry from the standard stadium fare of pies and chips.

The lamb souvalaki from Jimmy Grants beat out the chicken souva from Hellenic Repiblic and the Gazi special, softshell crab.

The involvement of the fans does not stop at the entertainment and food; in a first for the sport, Hyundai and the FFA are also giving fans one of the votes

on the panel of experts that select the prestigious Joe Marston Medallist, which celebrates the player of the match in the Hyundai A-League Grand Final.

Fan voting for the Joe Marston medal winner can be done via Twitter live during the match using the hashtags #playersurname e.g. Broich and #HyundaiGFvote. The fans vote will then contribute towards the overall panel to determine the winner.

Football Federation Australia CEO David Gallop said the FFA was delighted with the response from fans and thrilled the FFA was able to continue its mantra of “putting the fans first”, through this exciting Finals Series activation.

“The FFA has some of the most loyal fans in Australia, so it’s exciting that Hyundai, our naming rights partner, was able to give our fans this unique opportunity to help shape their Grand Final experience.  Not surpirsingly the fans have embraced this opportunity wholeheartedly,” Gallop said.

Charlie Kim, Hyundai Motor Company Australia CEO, echoed Gallop’s statements: “Hyundai has been the proud sponsor fo the Hyundai A-League since its inception and we were thrilled to be able to offer fans this unique opportunity, and it was great to see that fans throughout Australia and New Zealand get behind it.

“The participation of the fans demonstrate another example of how passionate the Hyundai A-League’s fans are, and I am sure the crowd on Sunday will do the same again.”

Del Piero Gets The Ball Rolling For A 2-0 Sydney FC Win.

By Mark Humphrey

Sydney F.C. spent consecutive weeks on the road to Melbourne this time taking on Melbourne Heart. After a sluggish start Sydney scored twice, the first coming from a penalty kick off the boot of Del Piero to win 2-0 against a sombre Heart outfit.

Master of the game, Alessandro Del Piero scored Sydney's 1st goal making no mistake with a penalty shot.

The final whistle brought on the chants around the ground of “Aloisi Gone” signifying the sentiment of some of the Melbourne supporters. There were differing opinions of why Melbourne Heart has lost the last 11 games in the A-League but the underlying fact is that the team looks to lack belief.

Unbelievably the happiest some of the supporters looked was when they were jioning in the chant "Aloisi gone"

Long-time Heart supporter Ilias shared his thoughts on the coach. “Aloisi has this all wrong. His target man in attack is a 5’4” player and he continually sets counter attacking football”. Ilias went on to say “his set up is purely a defensive mindset and tonight he substituted an attacking striker with an attacking striker. And on that, his substitutions rarely come before the 60 minute mark”.Disgruntled Heart supporter Ilias ponders the game.

Whether you agree with Ilias or not some of the blame has to rest with the players. John Aloisi cannot be blamed for the indiscriminate tackle on Garcia by Heart captain Robbie Wielaert that gifted Del Piero with a penalty shot on goal. As frivolous as the tackle may have been you don’t give a sucker an even break and Wielaert simply should have gone about the defensive work in a safe manner.Heart captain Robbie Wielaert had a good game outside the penalty tackle

Given that the Heart had started the game so well and attacked the goals on several occasions the penalty shot at the 27 minute mark to Sydney just sucked the life out of the Heart players. I don’t know how the team can continually start in arrears and expect to win in a game that is often won by a scoring margin of one.

Heart indeed started the match in fine form completely out playing the Sydney team with constant attacking football. Sydney’s Chianese had an opportunity to score within the first 2 minutes of the game which was deflected by Heart goalie Redmayne. Heart goal keeper Andrew Redmayne would go on to play a stellar match thwarting many scoring opportunities set up by Sydney.Sydney's #16 Joel Chianese figured all night with Hearts #22 Nick Kalmar starting aggressively.

Up forward Williams and Kalmar were combining well for the Heart providing plenty of attack and scoring opportunities. Kalmar in particular had started the game in fine form and looked dangerous every time he had the ball. His decision making was first class and provided entry for his team mates. Kalmar’s attacking play had live wire forward Michael Mifsud with Heart’s first genuine shot on goal which was kept out by Sydney goalie Ivan Necevski.Sydney FC goalie Ivan Necevski had plenty to do in the first 15 minutes of the match.

Walker followed up with a scoring attempt which was defending by Sydney. Jeremy Walker had a genuine shot at goals during that hectic 15 minute start.

Man of the Match Murdocca was looking dangerous in front of goal and set up Mifsud with some clever ball work and hard running. Mifsud’s shot on goal was high but was definitely a scoring opportunity once again.

Heart looked to be playing all over Sydney in the first 15 minutes of the game having the ball constantly in their forward half.

Sydney had started to bring the attack to Melbourne and was awarded a free kick outside the box when Richard Garcia was crudely tackled.Sydney's Richard Garcia was instrumental in their win. Garcia battles with Heart's Aziz Behich for possession.

Del Piero took the attempt and managed to have the Heart defenders flat footed including Redmayne as they watched a ball that looked high drop and strike the top of the cross bar only to bounce over the net. What an athlete this guy is with a set of skills to match. Standing directly behind the attempt the shot initially looked nothing off the boot only to miss scoring by the thickness of the top bar.Ball magnet Del Piero is no doubt an A-League superstar.

Chianese was starting to get involved for the Sydney siders and combined with Garcia to set up another scoring attempt. After an initial shot on goal which was kept out by Redmayne, Chianese followed up with another shot which was kept out once again by Redmayne. Definitely a golden scoring opportunity for Sydney which was thwarted by Redmayne at the 21 minute mark.

Sydney by now had started to dominate the play and looked to have stepped up a gear. The earlier attacking football by the Heart had seemed to disappear with the run gone from their game. The ill-fated tackle on Chianese 5 minutes later gave Del Piero a simple penalty tap into the back of the net giving Sydney a 1-0 lead after just 27 minutes of play. Once again Heart was looking down the barrel having to come from behind just to get the equalizer.

Sydney marched on with attack after attack. Naumoff was the next to line up with a golden opportunity to score for Sydney. A great save by Redmayne sees a golden opportunity go begging for Sydney. Not to be outdone Nick Carle is presented with a shot on goal just minutes later which is deflected by Redmayne back to Carle. A follow up shot by Carle is high. Great defensive work by Redmayne to keep out the Carle attempts but in reality Carle should have done more with the shots on goal. You would suggest another golden scoring opportunity had gone begging.

With 40 gone in the match, Heart had trouble getting the ball into their forward half. Sydney was completely dominating the game and was out bodying the Heart players constantly getting into position with aggressive body work and running. Heart forwards had gone missing which was a pity after their initial start to the match.

Ali Abbas from the left corner put in a perfectly placed cross which was slightly deflected by the Heart defence right into the path of Chianese. With Redmayne caught out of position after the deflection Chianese made no mistake with an easy put away into the net for Sydney’s 2^nd goal of the match after just 44 minutes.

With the half time whistle sounding Sydney took a 2-0 lead into the break having dominated the 1^st half after the initial 15 minutes of the game. With the first half shots on goal being 12-2 in Sydney’s favour it’s no wonder they looked to dominated the play.

Start of the second half has Heart substitute Iain Ramsay in the mix combining with Williams to get past the Sydney defence for a shot on goal. Necevski kept the ball out but it was a positive start for the Heart with Ramsay providing some run which had been missing from the Heart in the first half.

Ramsay in the play again was tackled just outside the box and awarded a free kick much to the dismay of the Heart supporters who were shouting for a penalty. A beautiful cross by Ramsay was left alone by the Heart forwards and was easily cleared by the Sydney defence. A golden opportunity after limited chances goes begging for the Heart.

Sydney’s Brett Emerton has had a good game and defended well for his team on many occasions setting up attacking forward structures in combination with Chianese and Garcia. With Heart lifting the intensity these players needed to hold strong to defend the Sydney lead and counter attack.

Hearts Dugandzic is brought down for a free kick just outside the scoring zone. The shot amounts to nothing but like his team mates Dugandzic has lifted and provided spark into the match. Ramsay set up Behich with some clever footwork giving Behich an open shot on goal. Behich misses an opportunity to score and he knows it remonstrating with himself after the play has gone. For Melbourne to get back into the match they needed to capitalize on the work done by the forwards to set up scoring opportunities. It’s a long way back from 2-0 but the way the Heart gets on a roll, a ball into the back of the net maybe the spark they require to set the stadium alight.

Dynamic Heart forward Golgol Mebrahtu is subbed in at the 63 minute mark to no doubt provide much needed run and support for Ramsay who has been in everything since coming on.Exciting Melbourne Heart  youngster Golgol Mebrahtu on the drive.

Williams was playing through Mebrahtu to supply lively attacking plays for the Heart forwards. These two players have a good understanding and complement each other which shows on the park. Sydney it seems was aware of Mebrahtu’s explosive play and picked him off every time Melbourne looked to use him.

Heart once again were having a dominate period like they did to start the game. All of a sudden with the inclusion of Ramsay and Mebrahtu Heart looked quick and dangerous setting up plenty of scoring attempts. Mebrahtu was just thwarted by Sydney goalie Necevski in an attempt to score Heart’s first goal while David Williams follow up shot on goal went wide.

With 85 gone in the match Melbourne Heart was finishing off the game in the same fashion as they started which was aggressive with plenty of run. Mebrahtu was set up with yet another shot on goal which travelled wide of the net. Williams, Mifsud and Murdocca all had followed up attempts to score. Mebrahtu was open once again for a shot on goal but couldn’t get past Necevski.Heart supporters had something to get excited about in the second half.

Game was called with Sydney winning 2-0. Sydney had contributors all over the park with their super stars stamping their mark on the game. For Melbourne you have to wonder where the spark will come to turn around this team. They provided outstanding football both at the start of the match and to finish the match. Somewhere in between they went missing. Whether it was the case that Sydney lifted the foot off the pedal towards the end or the fresh legs of the Melbourne Heart substitutes provided the spark, the end result was a fairly comprehensive win by the Sydney siders.

Melbourne Heart goal keeper Andrew Redmayne was a big hit amongst supporters with his game tonight.

Melbourne look to be on the verge of winning a game, they just need to take out the silly mistakes and capitalise on their momentum shifts that appear throughout the game.

Melbourne next take on the Jets @ Newcastle whilst Sydney hosts the Phoenix.

MORE IMAGES OF THE HEART V SYDNEY GAME