Central Coast Mariners on track for unprecedented treble

The Mariners lost their first six competitive games of the 2023-24 season: an Australia Cup round-of-32 defeat to Sydney FC on penalties, their opening AFC Cup group stage match against Malaysian side Terengganu FC, and then the first four games of the A-League season proper. Since then, they have lost just two of their last 35 games in all competitions, sealing the A-League premiership last week on the final day of the season. In fact, they’ve played in more countries (eight) than they’ve suffered defeats (seven, if we’re not counting that loss on penalties) this term.

The AFC Cup makes it two trophies already. A third beckons, if they can get past Sydney FC in their two-legged A-League semi-final and then win the grand final on May 25. That won’t be easy, since they will land back in Australia midweek, and due to venue availability reasons, will be forced to back up on Friday night at Allianz Stadium. And those two most recent defeats were both suffered against Sydney FC, one at home and one away.

No team has ever won the A-League premiership, championship and an Asian trophy in the same season; indeed, the Mariners were just the third Aussie team to even make an AFC final, after the Wanderers and Adelaide United in 2008.

But if they do it, and become the first Australian team in history to win a continental treble? That would surely put them in the same conversation as Ange Postecoglou’s South Melbourne of the late 1990s, his “Roarcelona” of the early 2010s, and Graham Arnold’s near-invincibles at Sydney FC of 2016-17 as one of the greatest teams in Australian domestic soccer history.

This is a less dominant team than any of those sides, and their style of play is certainly not as eye-catching as some of them – but their intangible qualities stand out. They always seem to find a way. The country’s smallest professional club just keeps on dreaming big.

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“Anything’s possible in the form we’re in,” said Kuol, whose 84th-minute strike through the legs of Al Ahed’s goalkeeper sealed the deal for the Mariners.

“Maybe we’re not playing the best football, but we’re always working for each other, grinding out results. And I reckon we can do it.”

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