2008 A-League Pre-season Challenge Cup

The 2008 A-League Pre-season Challenge Cup competition was held in July and August 2008, in the lead up to the start of the Australian A-League football 2008–09 season.

2008 A-League Pre-season Challenge Cup

Tournament details
Country	Australia New Zealand
Dates	19 July – 6 August 2008
Teams	8
Defending champions	Adelaide United
Final positions
Champions	Melbourne Victory (1st title)
Runners-up	Wellington Phoenix
Tournament statistics
Matches played	13
Goals scored	24 (1.85 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Cristiano Sergio van Dijk (2 goals)
← 2007

All eight A-League clubs competed and were drawn into two groups of four teams. The format of the cup was modified from previous editions, reducing the number of matches. A group stage with three regular rounds saw team play each other in their group once, with the winner of each group advancing to the final. The final was played on 6 August, the first mid-week final in the competition history. The shortened format allowed clubs to schedule other matches in the lead up to the start of the A-League, and was completed before the 2008 Summer Olympics in which Australia competed.

Continuing from previous years, most Pre-season Cup matches were played at venues in regional centres to expand the profile of the clubs and the league. Bunbury, Caloundra, Cessnock, Mandurah and Mount Gambier all hosted matches for the first time, while Launceston, Campbelltown, Port Macquarie and Wollongong hosted matches again.^[1]

Group stage

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
Melbourne Victory	3	2	0	1	3	2	+1	6	Advances to final
Adelaide United	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	5
Newcastle Jets	3	0	2	1	1	2	−1	2
Perth Glory	3	0	2	1	1	2	−1	2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

19 July 2008
19:00 UTC+8

Perth Glory	1–1	Newcastle Jets
Trinidad 12'	Report	Spencer 36'

Hyundai Stadium, Mandurah

Attendance: 3,825

Referee: Steven Gregory

20 July 2008
13:00 UTC+10

Melbourne Victory	1–2	Adelaide United
Ney Fabiano 8'	Report	Cristiano 33', 90'

Aurora Stadium, Launceston

Attendance: 4,720

Referee: Ben Williams

---

26 July 2008
15:00 UTC+8

Perth Glory	0–1	Melbourne Victory
	Report	Thwaite 11'

Members Equity Stadium, Perth

Attendance: 3,020

Referee: Craig Zetter

26 July 2008
19:00 UTC+10

Newcastle Jets	0–0	Adelaide United
	Report

Baddeley Park, Cessnock

Attendance: 2,756

Referee: James Lewis

---

2 August 2008
14:30 UTC+10

Newcastle Jets	0–1	Melbourne Victory
	Report	Pondeljak 82'

Port Macquarie Regional Stadium, Port Macquarie

Attendance: 3,133

Referee: Stuart Wolfe

2 August 2008
14:30 UTC+9:30

Adelaide United	0–0	Perth Glory
	Report

Vansittart Park, Mount Gambier

Attendance: 3,000

Referee: Kevin Docherty

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
Wellington Phoenix	3	2	1	0	5	3	+2	7	Advances to final
Central Coast Mariners	3	2	0	1	5	2	+3	6
Sydney FC	3	1	0	2	4	7	−3	3
Queensland Roar	3	0	1	2	3	5	−2	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

19 July 2008
19:00 UTC+8

Sydney FC	2–1	Queensland Roar
Payne 53' Prentice 57'	Report	van Dijk 49' Hyuk-Su Seo  57'

Campbelltown Stadium, Sydney

Attendance: 4,222

Referee: Matthew Breeze

20 July 2008
16:00 UTC+12

Wellington Phoenix	1–0	Central Coast Mariners
Daniel 72'	Report

Westpac Stadium, Wellington

Attendance: 4,853

Referee: Michael Hester

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27 July 2008
15:00 UTC+10

Central Coast Mariners	3–0	Sydney FC
Porter 43' Petrovski 60' Mrdja 68'	Report

Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford

Attendance: 7,107

Referee: Chris Beath

27 July 2008
15:00 UTC+10

Queensland Roar	1–1	Wellington Phoenix
van Dijk 18'	Report	Kwasnik 74'

Stockland Park, Sunshine Coast

Attendance: 3,832

Referee: Regis Queffelec

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2 August 2008
19:00 UTC+10

Sydney FC	2–3	Wellington Phoenix
Brosque 16' Fyfe 39' Prentice  90'	Report	Hearfield 57' Smeltz 62' Gao 82' Durante  90'

WIN Stadium, Wollongong

Attendance: 6,124

Referee: Strebre Delovski

3 August 2008
15:00 UTC+10

Queensland Roar	1–2	Central Coast Mariners
Moore  49' Zullo 51'	Report	Elrich 29' MacAllister 32'

Perry Park, Brisbane

Attendance: 3,241

Referee: Peter Green

Final

6 August 2008
19:30 UTC+12

Wellington Phoenix	0–0	Melbourne Victory
	Report
Penalties
Smeltz Bertos Hearfield Conveny Daniel Ferrante McKain Johnson Dodd	7–8	Vargas Pondeljak López Ward Hernández Ryall Allsopp Kemp Berger

Westpac Stadium, Wellington

Attendance: 9,208

Referee: Peter O'Leary

Top goalscorers

2 Goals:

• Cristiano (Adelaide United)
• Sergio van Dijk (Queensland Roar)

1 Goal:

• Adrian Trinidad (Perth Glory)
• Ahmad Elrich (Central Coast Mariners)
• Dylan MacAllister (Central Coast Mariners)
• Nik Mrdja (Central Coast Mariners)
• Sasho Petrovski (Central Coast Mariners)
• Brad Porter (Central Coast Mariners)
• Tom Pondeljak (Melbourne Victory)
• Michael Thwaite (Melbourne Victory)
• Noel Spencer (Newcastle Jets)
• Michael Zullo (Queensland Roar)
• Alex Brosque (Sydney FC)
• Iain Fyfe (Sydney FC)
• Chris Payne (Sydney FC)
• Mitchell Prentice (Sydney FC)
• Troy Hearfield (Wellington Phoenix FC)
• Adam Kwasnik (Wellington Phoenix FC)
• Ney Fabiano (Melbourne Victory)
• Daniel (Wellington Phoenix FC)
• Gao Leilei (Wellington Phoenix FC)
• Shane Smeltz (Wellington Phoenix FC)