“I think it's a good thing for us,” he said when quizzed about the effect of playing LA Galaxy four days before the clash at Bluetongue.

"We're unbeaten after six games and we'd like to keep it that way.Some of our bigger name players had a rest on Tuesday and had a good experience watching the game and they would've been dying to play."

Both Steve Corica and Michael Bridges were spectators on Tuesday night.

“So now they are going to take that motivation into the weekend, I think," added Santalab.

And to add spice, the A-League leaders Central Coast were beaten by Sydney in John Kosmina's first match as FC coach six weeks ago.

To prepare for the match, the Mariners will be training with NRL stars from Parramatta Eels today, Friday.

Saturday's match is tipped to attract the biggest crowd of the season for the Mariners.