Above: Cortnee Vine speaking to the media ahead of Saturday’s semi-final second leg. Image: Sydney FC.
By Genevieve Henry (26/4/24).
Following a successful outing to Gosford, Sydney FC return home to play the second leg of their semi-final tie with the Central Coast Mariners on Saturday. Matildas star and last weekend’s player of the match Cortnee Vine spoke to the media on all things finals.
If the Sky Blues manage to hold on to their 1-0 lead on aggregate, they will play in their 7th Grand Final, an astounding achievement for the club, which Vine credits entirely to Ante Juric. “Ante is one of the best coaches I’ve ever had. I definitely wouldn’t be in any position that I’m in without him. We would never be in these grand final and premiership positions if it wasn’t for him. I don’t think he gets enough credit. He’s my coach of the year every year.”
“We have quite a bit of experience when it comes to finals series, but we’ve also had a lot of experience losing, as well. I think we know how it feels, and we don’t want that feeling. A lot of the senior girls hold on to that going into these final games.”
Finals are a different game than regular season. No longer about the long run and making sure they’re ready to keep going, each player has to give it their all. “It’s not just about consistency now; it’s about grit. It’s about who wants it more. We’ve learnt from past finals series that it’s not pretty football, it’s scrappy football. We do want to end this season on a high.”
When asked about her role in the squad, Vine said, “you could probably chuck me in the ‘leadership role’ with a lot of the other senior girls that have been here for the last four years. Just getting around those younger girls who have never been in this situation before and telling them the nerves are okay– everyone gets nervous, I get nervous for every game– but you’ve gotta turn those nerves into excitement and show them on the field.”
“It’s gonna be a tough game. Central Coast came out in that last game we versed them and showed us again what they’re made of. They’re a very strong team, they’re a very technical team, and they have a coach that’s very tactical. It’s gonna be a very hard game, but I think the girls are feeling a bit more confident now that we’ve beaten them once.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Central Coast came out and changed their formation. We’ll go into more tactical analysis on them in the next few days with Ante and try some different approaches of how they’ll come out and we will adapt to that, but we’ll go out and play our same way we usually play. You’ve gotta be confident in the formation you play and the players you go out with, so not (many) changes for us.”
If the game does go to penalties, it would be quite the story. Central Coast’s Casey Dumont, a penalty beast, versus Vine, Australia’s shootout hero. Vine commented that they hadn’t really talked about it in training. “I’m probably expected to take one, I haven’t taken one since the last one (vs France) I took! I’m sure I’ll put my hand up if it comes to that situation, and I’m sure a lot of leaders will do the same.”
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