Brisbane Roar launched this year’s Hyundai A-League finals campaign with a bang this afternoon in front of an enthusiastic crowd at Westfield Garden City.
Brisbane Roar launched this year-s Hyundai A-League finals campaign with a bang this afternoon in front of an enthusiastic crowd at Westfield Garden City.
Ahead of this weekend-s first leg of the major semi-final against Central Coast Mariners at Suncorp Stadium, Matt Jurman, Massimo Murdocca, Erik Paartalu and Rocky Visconte and coach Ange Postecoglou were on hand to answer questions from host Melanie McLauglin of Fox Sports, sign autographs and pose for photographs with their fans.
The four players also tried their luck at FIFA12 and FIFA Street on the Sony PlayStation3, taking on their loyal supporters with those victorious in overcoming their Hyundai A-League idols rewarded with their own copy of the game.
With the Roar missing out on a second consecutive premiership after Central Coast secured a top-of-the-table finish with a 2-1 victory over Wellington Phoenix, Postecoglou backed his players to turn their disappointment into motivation for Saturday night-s encounter.
“We set ourselves a goal to finish first and we didn-t get there,” he said.
“Hopefully that gives us more incentive to make sure we do well in the finals series.”
The Suncorp Stadium crowd on the weekend is sure to be in for a treat after Postecoglou made it clear he would not back down from his characteristic football approach in the Mariners match-up, a rivalry which is fast becoming one of the Hyundai A-League-s fiercest.
“We-re all about trying to be pretty pro-active in our approach and play attacking football and try and score goals,” he said.
“We-ll always go into a game of football trying to win it rather than not lose it.
“That-s worked really well for us and to be honest, I think in finals series it-s probably the way to go providing you can back yourself in that philosophy and we certainly can.”
Tickets for Saturday-s first leg of the Hyundai A-League major semi-final against Central Coast Mariners at Suncorp Stadium are on sale now, click here
Major Semi Final (1st Leg)
Saturday 31 March 2012
Brisbane Roar v Central Coast Mariners
Kick-off: 4.30pm (local time)
Venue: Suncorp Stadium
