South Melbourne make history with Australia Cup win that could change the future too | Joey Lynch

It was remarkable. It was incredible. It featured the type of grandstand finish one dare not suggest as a possibility beforehand, lest you be dismissed for self-indulgence. And when South Melbourne emerged as champions of the Australia Cup after a heart-stopping penalty shootout, what was left was pure magic distilled into one of the great nights in the history of Australian domestic football.

The reverberations of what unfolded at AAMI Park on Saturday night have the potential to linger for decades. Never before has a team from outside the A-League won the Australia Cup – until now. And not only has a team from outside the closed-shop top flight of Australian football now finally broken through this glass ceiling, but it’s Hellas that has done it.

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Standard bearers of the NSL, the home of Ange Postecoglou, Ferenc Puskás, John Margaritis, Paul Trimboli and more, South was discarded and deigned to be forgotten alongside the rest of “Old Soccer”. And they’ve never forgotten it. Yet while their ambitions and grievances never faded as they were left behind, for many years simply surviving was the sum of their resistance.

But 22 years on from their banishment, they’re still here; they’ve refused to go away. And against a potent symbol as one can find of the “New Football” era in Melbourne Victory, they’ve made history. They’ve made history, again.

They did it in a manner that, even without the overarching narratives, would have seen the game remembered. With fewer than five minutes of extra time remaining, trailing 1-0 after Denis Genreau’s remarkable 95th-minute goal put Victory ahead, substitute Jordi Swibel burst down the right and whipped a ball in. Bul Juach turned it back centrally, and it fell to another substitute in Max Mikkola, who bundled it goalward and, despite Jason Davidson’s best efforts, found the net. Just like the two decades prior, they’d survived.

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Hysteria and bewilderment gripped the stadium in equal measure. Forlorn resignation among the South fans gave way to the rapturous realisation that penalties were afoot, while the Victory supporters saw their celebrations of a third Cup and the chance to gloat against their uppity, semi-professional rivals turn to ash in their mouths.

As much as 2-0 or 3-0 would have flattered Victory, they had the chances to win it. Amid their periods in control, Santos had inexplicably sent what should have been a 78th-minute, wide-open winner straight at South goalkeeper Javier Lopez, and they hit the post twice – first when Lopez turned a Santos shot on to the woodwork in the 25th minute and then deep into extra time when substitute Michael Ghossaini headed into it.

And then somehow, the shootout figured out a way to make it more melodramatic … and heartbreaking. Four perfect penalties were converted by Marco Jankovic, Swibel, James Lackay, and Andrew Mesourouni, while Guillermo May, Michael Ghossaini, and Genreau converted for Victory.

But it was the two from the A-League giants with the closest ties to South, a former favourite son who has literally bled for their shirt in Harrison Sawyer and Jason Davidson, the son of South hall-of-famer Alan, whose failed attempts delivered the cup to Hellas. Sawyer, twice, was denied by Mark Viduka medallist Lopez – given a mulligan on his first attempt after the Spaniard came off his line, only to be foiled again. Davidson, with the game on the line, skied his attempt.

Related: Ange and the Boss: the Australian title and ties that bind Postecoglou and Puskás

It capped off a remarkable night, one that will live long in the memory. Its special atmosphere was evident hours before a ball had even been kicked, of the sort that hasn’t been seen in Australian domestic football in years. It crackled with a sense of anticipation, as decades of narratives, animosity, emotions, and dreams converged on Swan St.

By the time kick-off arrived, almost every seat in the venue was full – the 29,911 fans that packed into AAMI Park on this balmy evening representing the largest ever crowd for a venue that has hosted A-League grand finals, Lions tours, Asian Cup clashes, and Women’s World Cup fixtures. The air was thick with it; something special was afoot.

For all the talk about peak A-League or peak Australian football when something goes comedically wrong, it felt like this was a glimpse of a non-ironic zenith of the domestic game. You need not have read a single thing about the narratives that underlined this fixture to know that this game meant something to everyone in attendance; you could simply feel it in the air. The only blemish was an outbreak of boos at the start of the welcome to country ceremony pre-game, sparking scrambles from terrace leaders trying to hush them.

What this means moving forward is anybody’s guess. But it should provide the impetus for Australian football to grow. South Melbourne has made no secret of their desire to take up a place in the A-League, and how exactly can the powers that be look at this night, and what they’ve achieved over the last 12 months, and tell them they’re not worthy?

So many imaginations were captured leading into Saturday, and then the game delivered a spectacle that captured even more. We saw what was possible if the Australian game found a way to allow the sum of its parts to come together; 777 clubs started this year’s Cup, and this was the outcome that was delivered.

History was made at AAMI Park on Saturday evening. But maybe the future was too.