Auckland FC have made history, winning the A-League championship in just their second season in the competition.
The club defeated Sydney FC 1-0 in the grand final on Saturday night at a packed Go Media Stadium, with nearly 28,000 fans watching live. It was the first A-League grand final ever held outside of Australia.
The match was tight. Both teams were cautious early on, and the score was 0-0 at halftime. Then, just after the hour mark, midfielder Cam Howieson broke the deadlock. A deflection off a Sydney defender helped the ball find its way to Howieson, and he made no mistake.
It was his first goal for the club, scored on the biggest night in Auckland FC’s short history.
Howieson has been playing football in Auckland for close to a decade and was one of the club’s very first signings. After spending several years out of professional football, he was recruited by Auckland FC at age 30. “It means the world to me,” he told Sky Sport. “To come back into the professional game and win the grand final, I’m just so thankful I got the opportunity to play here in Auckland.”
English forward Sam Cosgrove, who found himself out of contract in England just nine months ago, said the win was almost impossible to believe.
“Never in a million years would I have thought I’d find myself doing this on the other side of the world,” he said.
The atmosphere outside the ground was electric before kickoff, with fans streaming from Penrose Station singing and chanting. A group of more than 200 supporters marched to the stadium with drums and flags over an hour before the game began. Auckland FC now hold both the premiership plate and the grand final title, making it a remarkable double in their debut year as title contenders.
