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2008–09 Melbourne Victory FC season

The 2008-09 Hyundai A-League season was Melbourne Victory's fourth season. They finished top of the table at the end of the regular season and defeated Adelaide United in the Grand Final to take their second A-League title.

Season summary

The 2008–09 season brought the start of the A-League Youth League and the introduction of the W-League with Melbourne fielding teams in both competitions. Melbourne actively recruited, bringing in Socceroo Michael Thwaite on a one-year loan,[1] Costa Rican World Cup player José Luis López,[2] as well as Ney Fabiano from Asian Champions League rivals Chonburi FC.[3]

Melbourne's season got off to an optimal start, winning the Pre-Season Challenge Cup. A 0–0 draw resulted in a penalty shoot-out, with Victory winning 8–7 on penalties against Wellington Phoenix.[4]

After winning the pre-season cup, the Victory were held to a 0–0 draw away against Sydney FC.[5] They reinforced their premiership favouritism by coasting to 4–2 and 5–0 victories against Wellington Phoenix and the Newcastle Jets respectively.[6][7] Despite this, they succumbed 0–2 to an undermanned Sydney side at the Telstra Dome in front of 31,564 fans.[8]

On 6 December 2008, Melbourne Victory became the first A-League club to amass total crowd figures of 1,000,000 after their away match against Perth Glory.

On 24 January 2009, Melbourne Victory won its final game of the season against Wellington Phoenix.[9] The 2–0 win in front of 28,905 fans placed Victory ahead of Adelaide United on goals scored for the premiership title, a margin United failed to achieve in its 1–0 win over the Central Coast Mariners.

The Victory kicked off their finals campaign on 7 February 2009 in the major semi-final first leg against bitter rival Adelaide United at Hindmarsh Stadium, a game which was won courtesy of goals from Carlos Hernández and Danny Allsopp.[10] In the second leg Melbourne defeated Adelaide United 4–0 with goals from Archie Thompson, Hernandez, Allsopp and Tom Pondeljak, granting Melbourne passage to the Grand Final on a 6–0 aggregate.[11]

Adelaide then defeated Queensland Roar to set up a rematch with Melbourne in the Grand Final,[12] which the Victory won 1–0 with Tom Pondeljak scoring in the 59th minute to regain the A-League Championship and becoming the first A-League team to win their second championship,[13] a feat since achieved by Sydney FC and Brisbane Roar.

Players

First team squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Transfers

In

* Steve Mautone is the current Melbourne Victory Goalkeeping coach and was named as the third choice goalkeeper for the AFC Champions League

Out

Matches

2008 Pre-Season Cup fixtures

Source: [citation needed]

2008-09 Hyundai A-League fixtures

2008-09 finals series

Statistics

Goals

  A goal was scored from a penalty kick
  Two goals were scored from penalty kicks

A-League

Ladder

Source: ultimatealeague.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions

Finals series

2008–09 Awards

W-League

2008–09 Westfield W-League fixtures

References

  1. ^ "Thwaite Signs For Victory". FourFourTwo Australia. Haymarket Group. 19 June 2008. Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
  2. ^ "Pupy Lopez Signs For Victory (At Last)". FourFourTwo Australia. Haymarket Group. 14 July 2008. Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
  3. ^ Desira, Peter (24 May 2008). "Ney Fabiano signs two-year deal with Melbourne Victory". Herald Sun. Herald and Weekly Times. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
  4. ^ "Victory claim Pre-Season Cup". A-League Official Website. 6 August 2008. Archived from the original on 18 May 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
  5. ^ "Sydney and Melbourne share honours". A-League Official Website. 16 August 2008. Archived from the original on 6 July 2007. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
  6. ^ "Clinical Victory blasts past Phoenix". A-League Official Website. 24 August 2008. Archived from the original on 5 March 2011. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
  7. ^ "Victory run riot". A-League Official Website. 29 August 2008. Archived from the original on 6 July 2007. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
  8. ^ "Sydney's double bonus". A-League Official Website. 25 October 2008. Archived from the original on 6 July 2007. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
  9. ^ "Victory get jump in premiers' race". A-League Official Website. 23 January 2009. Retrieved 28 June 2011.[permanent dead link]
  10. ^ Goraya, Raman (7 February 2009). "Victory head home with hefty advantage". ABC News.
  11. ^ Maasdorp, James (14 February 2009). "Victory maul Adelaide en route to home final". ABC News. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
  12. ^ "Adelaide earns shot at redemption". ABC News. 21 February 2009. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
  13. ^ "Victory prevail in epic". A-League Official Website. 28 February 2009. Archived from the original on 3 March 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
  14. ^ FIFA.com Fabiano leaves Chonburi for Victory Accessed 31 May 2008
  15. ^ a-league.com.au Patafta moves north to join Newcastle Archived 18 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 31 May 2008
  16. ^ Match rescheduled due to Adelaide's participation in FIFA Club World Cup

External links