Central Coast Mariners fell to a 4-0 defeat to Japanese giants Yokohama F. Marinos on Matchday Six of the AFC Champions League Elite Group Stage.
The visitors got off to a flying start and were 3-0 up before the break, before a stunning second half free-kick rounded off the scoring.
Line-Up
Mark Jackson named an unchanged team one week on from our late defeat in Kobe.
Starting XI: Peraic-Cullen (GK), Kaltak (C), McCalmont, Kuol, Doka, Feijao, Mauragis, Roux, Steele, Paull, Edmondson.
Substitutions:
43′ ON: Brandtman OFF: Edmondson
46′ ON: Theoharous, Eames
60′ ON: Ngor OFF: McCalmont
73′ ON: Kuzevski OFF: Kuol
Unused subs: Pavlesic (GK), Warshawsky (GK), N. Smith, Herrington, Wilson, R. Smith, Scicluna.
An unchanged Starting XI to take on @prompt_fmarinos 🔒#CCMFC #ACLE #RideTheWave🌊 pic.twitter.com/vF60toOLuh
— Central Coast Mariners (@CCMariners) December 3, 2024
First Half
The first goal for the visitors came after six minutes, Kenta Inoue’s curling shot going in off the post.
Inoue’s pace was causing the Mariners problems, he got in behind again on nine minutes but Dylan Peraic-Cullen got down well to make a good save at his near post.
The Mariners pressed to level the game, Vitor Feijao had a shot blocked whilst Lucas Mauragis threatened down the left but couldn’t find the final pass.
Two goals in quick-succession on the half hour mark took the game away from the Mariners, with Inoue finding himself in the right place at the right time to tap home before Anderson Lopes made it 30 for the season with a deflected effort on 35 minutes.
Second half
Substitute Jun Amano completed the scoring for Yokohama on 69 minutes, curling a stunning free-kick over the wall and into the corner of the net.
The Mariners battled until the end with substitutes Christian Theoharous and Sabit Ngor trying to provide some attacking spark, but the Mariners failed to trouble the Yokohama keeper.
With the result, the Mariners’ are now unable to progress past the Group Phase of the competition, whilst Yokahama go top of the group for now, leapfrogging their J-League rivals Vissel Kobe and Gwangju, although the Korean side could return top with a win over Shanghai Port.
⏭ Next up:
The Mariners take a break from Champions League action until February when we finish our Group Phase fixtures with a home match against Johor Darul Ta’zim and a trip to Japan to take on Kawasaki Frontale.
A busy December A-League schedule continues on Sunday as we are back at Our Paradise to face Sydney FC, as Douglas Costa and co. make the short trip north to Gosford for a hallmark A-League clash.
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