Brisbane wins A-League championship Brisbane Roar won its third A-League championship by beating Western Sydney Wanderers 2-1 in a gripping grand final at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday. 
Brisbane did it the hard way, coming back from a goal down after 55 minutes to draw level five minutes
from time before sealing it in extra-time with a goal from substitute Henrique. A big crowd of 51,153 gave both teams a rousing reception when they took the field.
Mike Mulvey and Tony Popovic both had a full complement of players after Brisbane's Liam Miller and Dimi Petratos and the Wanderers' Mark Bridge passed late fitness tests.
The away team was first to settle down after a tentative start to the match and Michael Theo
was forced to rush out of the penalty area and head the ball away to thwart Youssouf Hersi.
The Wanderers were enjoying the lion's share of possession while Brisbane was struggling to get its famed passing game going
mainly because chief playmaker Thomas Broich was closely marked.
In the 22nd minute striker Brendon Santalab was fractionally late in meeting an inviting cross from Jerome Polenz and his header fell harmlessly into the grateful arms of Theo.
Brisbane created its first scoring opportunity as late as the 27th minute when Broich made enough space for himself just outside
the penalty area to fire a low shot that whistled past Ante Covic's right post.
The Wanderers had a lucky escape just before halftime when a speculative lob from Ivan Fanrjic deceived Covic and the ball hit the bar but rebounded to safety.
A dour first half ended with the Wanderers marginally on top.
Brisbane seemed to change gear in the second half and Besart Berisha and Franjic both had chances to open the scoring.
The
Wanderers dramatically took the lead on 55 minutes when defender Matthew Spiranovic headed the ball in from a corner for his first A-League goal. The Wanderers suffered a massive blow on 64 minutes when captain Nikolai-Topor Stanley twisted his knee in making a crucial tackle on
Berisha and was replaced by Aaron Mooy, with midfielder Iacopo La Rocca dropping back to centre-half.
Berisha looked like scoring for Brisbane soon after when he was cleanly put through by Broich but the striker's shot was deflected to corner by Spiranovic.
Substitute striker Henrique then saw his snap shot miss the bar as Brisbane tried to up the ante.
As pressure mounted fullback Franjic saw his rising shot turned to corner by Covic.
Brisbane drew level five minutes from time when Berisha - who else? - got on the end of a free kick from Broich to head home.
Wanderers substitute Labinot Haliti had a chance to put his side back in the lead six minutes into extra time but his low shot was saved by Theo.
Suncorp erupted into an explosion of joy two minutes into the second period of extra-time when Henrique pout Brisbane in the lead with a rising shot from six metres out.
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/match/report/328132/Brisbane-Roar-vs-Western-Sydney [ 此帖被羅力亞在2014-05-05 17:29重新編輯 ]
