South Melbourne and Melbourne Victory face off in Australia Cup final

Another chance for Victory - and again, it’s Santos, firing from a narrow angle to force a good save out of Lopez. He’s looking very lively, the Brazilian.

South Melbourne 0-0 Melbourne Victory, 31 minutes

Wow. After collecting a ball chested down for him by Xavier Stella, Santos has just hit the left post for Melbourne Victory in the 25th minute! Really close to the opening goal for the A-League side - South Melbourne goalkeeper Javier Lopez got a glove to that, and if he didn’t, I reckon it would be 1-0 to Victory right now.

They’re really beginning to grow into the game now - and that’s a problem for South Melbourne, who really needed to capitalise on their early momentum, because the fitness divide here will potentially become apparent late in the game.

South Melbourne 0-0 Melbourne Victory, 27 minutes

Yep, they’re well on top now, South Melbourne - which is not super surprising. Imagine the adrenaline they’re feeling in this atmosphere, with all this build-up? The challenge for them will be keeping this energy consistent, and not fading late, which is when Victory’s (presumably) superior fitness should kick in.

Japanese winger Yuki Uchida has been busy down the left, and a few minutes ago flashed a tantalising ball across the face of goal that was just missing a teammate.

South Melbourne 0-0 Melbourne Victory, 15 minutes

You can cut the tension with a knife here. This just feels different to any Australia Cup final I’ve seen and the vast majority of A-League games. The stakes are real, the pressure is high, and South Melbourne are having a real crack. They’ve come to play, not to defer to their full-time professional opponents. Great contest so far, without many clear-cut chances.

South Melbourne 0-0 Melbourne Victory, 11 minutes

No mucking around from referee Alireza Faghani as he shows a yellow card to South Melbourne’s Jacob Eliopoulos for cleaning up Melbourne Victory’s Santos. From the resultant free kick, about five-ish metres from outside the box, Keegan Jelacic shoots and sends it straight at goalkeeper Javier Lopez.

Faghani’s last game, by the way? Mexico vs England at the World Cup, at the Azteca Stadium. Good preparation for this.

South Melbourne 0-0 Melbourne Victory, 5 minutes

We are off and racing, folks. South Melbourne in their royal blue home strip, Melbourne Victory in all white - and Hellas are pressing hard from minute one.

Strap yourselves in.

Melbourne Victory’s pre-match anthem, Stand by Me, just played … and it was loud, but there were also very loud boos coming from the south end of AAMI Park. So we’ve got interaction between the two supporter groups at a level you just don’t see in the A-League outside of derbies, and even then, rarely in the Melbourne derby.

The teams are out, we’re about to hear the national anthem - then it’s go time.

The atmosphere here is just incredible. Such a special night. Both sets of fans are loud and proud but it’s the South Melbourne supporters at the south end who are setting the standard right now - you can see how much this means to them.

As I type this, they’re holding up a bunch of banners featuring the images of club greats such as Ange Postecoglou, Ferenc Puskas, Paul Trimboli … wonderful stuff. Also a musician was playing the bouzouki (the Greek instrument, similar to a guitar) while this was happening.

Not far away from kick-off.

... the former coach of both of tonight’s combatants was even asked about it in his post-match press conference after Al-Nassr beat Diriyah 3-0.

If you’re not an Australian soccer sicko like me (and many others), you might be wondering why this game has been built up to be such a big deal.

We’ve got two pieces for you to read, explaining exactly why that’s the case. This isn’t just about the past meeting the present - it’s also about the future of the sport and the purpose of the A-League.

The day after South Melbourne clinched their spot in the final, a good three weeks ago, I wrote this story, which looks at how the Australia Cup (formerly FFA Cup) revived dormant conversations about promotion and relegation, a mooted national second division and the role of clubs outside of the top tier - and then why South vs Victory in particular is loaded with so much meaning.

And then yesterday (or in today’s papers), we’ve produced a closer look at South Melbourne’s recent transformation, and how realistic the prospects are of them getting an A-League licence, and when.