WITH only moments to go in the first half, one man up, and having just come back from an early penalty to take a 2-1 lead, Melbourne Victory fans were feeling cocky. A little bit too cocky, in fact.
"What a waste of money!" they began chanting every time Jason Culina touched the ball. "What a waste of money!"
Oh, you shouldn't do that, I thought. Don't make him angry. You won't like him when he's angry. Two minutes of extra time were declared. A shot. A miss. Corner!
Culina grabbed the ball, hurried over to the post, and squinted at the jostling crowd in the penalty box.
"What a waste of money!!! What a waste of money!!! What a - "
Red-faced, totally focussed, teeth gritted tightly, Culina then smacked the ball - bang! - onto Joel Porter's head, right in front of the open goal.
TWO ALL!!!
You see, I told you... But the best was yet to come.
After celebrating the goal with his team-mates, Culina ran over to the half-naked mob of Melbourne fans, proudly kissing the badge on his shirt as he glared at them with defiance. BWWAAAHHAHAHAH!!! Now that's what I'm talking about!
Bravo, Jason Culina, the best player the A-League has ever seen. And not just because of his technical skills, but also because of his courage, belief, leadership and determination. Truly, the complete player.
And, just quietly, a brilliant way for Clive Palmer to spend his money.
++++
The FourFourTwo headline on Friday afternoon was misleading: "United Hype Key To Winning". Within a few hours it had changed: "United: We Must Believe The Hype". Still not quite right.
Hype was never going to be the key to success against Melbourne, and Miron never said that. Hype is vacuous and ultimately meaningless. It sells papers, gets politicians elected, and promotes advertising campaigns. As clever kids know these days, you believe it at your peril.
Intelligent readers need to draw a distinction between the media hype surrounding Gold Coast United and the self-confidence within the players squad. To be honest, I am getting a bit sick of the cognitive dissonance.
What is the key to winning? It's not saying you can do it, it's not even believing you can do it. It's KNOWING you can do it. And then going out and doing it.
With lots of players missing on both sides, the game against Melbourne was always going to be more of a psychological battle than a tactical one. After Melbourne's shaky start to the season and Gold Coast's poor performance against the Mariners last week, a loss would have put either team back on a slippery slope.
This game was always going to be a test of individual self-confidence and team spirit. In that sense, despite the final scoreline, I do think the ten-man Gold Coast team came out on top. And Culina's corner said it all.
Kevin Muscat's relieved grin during the post-match interview was also revealing. "I was lucky," he conceded, still wiping the sweat from his brow. Well, lucky is one way to put it.
If you want to be pedantic, check Culina's opening penalty again, and then tell me that no MV player had a toe in the box. In fact, gossip at the Youth Team game on Sunday (where Gold Coast maintained their undefeated status with a fine 1-1 draw) was that slow motion replays show three Victory players stepping into the box when Muscat missed.
See what I'm saying? If the ball had come back into play off the woodwork or the goalie's gloves, I might feel differently. But that decision by Peter Green was just nonsense.
Ah, well. Never mind. When the final whistle blew, both squads knew which was the better team out there, and it wasn't Melbourne Victory.
Gold Coast United, who played brave, attacking football with only ten men for most of the game, are still top of the table. And we will be deserved favourites when these two teams meet again, hopefully with full strength squads. Bring it on!
