• German sees red over lack of fouls
• Griffin slams decision to stage final in Sydney
• United gatecrashes all-Sydney Cup final
• Reds boss slams officials
• Berisha cops two games for ref shove

Elsey jumped to avoid a two-footed challenge from his good mate, Western Sydney’s former Reds midfielder Jacob Melling during Tuesday night’s FFA Cup 2-1 semi-final win in Sydney.

Melling even escaped a caution while Kurz claimed a red card was the proper punishment.

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Reds have FFA Cup confidence

“For me it’s a good tackle or dual to win the ball and not to break a leg,’’ Kurz said after Reds training at Hindmarsh on Friday.

“I’m a sportsman and if I have no chance to win the ball, OK let’s wait for the right moment.

“From my side my players will play very hard but fair.

“From the last game it was a clear red card against Elsey I don’t need a video assistant referee (VAR).”

Kurz also took aim at VAR during the Reds 2-2 draw with Melbourne Victory at Adelaide Oval last Friday saying he also missed send off offences.

“Maybe he wasn’t watching the screen, he was at the hot dog stand, I don’t know,’’ he said.

“But it’s real, it’s more than a foul.

“I don’t understand a lot of decisions.

“I think I saw a lot of hard tackles and for these tackles you don’t need video assistants, I know it’s more than a foul and it’s up to the main referee.

“The must make harder decisions than in the past.”

Now Kurz hopes Saturday’s clash against Melbourne City at Hindmarsh — the first home game for the Reds this season — will be remembered for the football and not for rough-house tackles.

The feisty start to the A-League season has already cost United a line up of injured players such as Vinni Lia (knee), Ersan Gulum (fractured rib and punctured lung) and Johan Absalonsen (thigh).

But Kurz said the Reds would make the most from the absences with the German having faith in United’s young guns to step into the shoes of the key men against City.

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Victory, Reds fire up

He also said United would consider playing with three stoppers - possibly Elsey, Ben Warland and skipper Isaias again - to effectively form a back-five like it did to quell the Wanderers’ dangerous attackers on Tuesday.

“I wanted Isaias to sprint into the spaces of our back four, to give the team more stability in defence,’’ he said.

“I think the plan was good, (but) it’s up to the opponent (if we use the system at Hindmarsh).

“I will not say play one style, I’ll prepare the team for a game and it’s always different.

“City plays another style.”

With Kurz buoyed by the team spirit of his side Isaias said it would be a special game given City may parade up to eight former United players in the squad at Hindmarsh.

Led by Reds 10-year veteran Eugene Galekovic, Isaias wished his former United captain all the best but claimed despite their friendship they will be “enemies” on the pitch for 90 minutes.

“During the game I don’t have friends,’’ Isaias said.

“I think (Galekovic) is a magnificent person and keeper and he will be excited to come back to Hindmarsh.”
‘Maybe video ref was at the hotdog stand?’ Adelaide United coach Marco Kurz has pleaded with A-League officials to keep the game safe | Townsville Bulletin

Tickets went on sale to Sydney FC and Adelaide members at noon on Monday, with a deliberate pricing policy from FFA to attract as many fans as possible to the final at Allianz Stadium on November 21. That included a 10 per cent discount to members.

But members of the Cove, Sydney’s active fans group, say the price of $22.50 for a ticket increased by almost a third when Ticketek added a $6.60 transaction fee. To compound it, members of The Cove were restricted to one ticket per sale, though other members can buy more tickets.

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Ticketek has a contract with the SCG Trust to be its ticket provider, meaning FFA has to use the agency as part of its agreement to stage the final at Allianz.

Grant Muir, one of The Cove’s leaders, said the level of fee was sabotaging attempts to attract a strong crowd for the FFA Cup final.

“The club and FFA have done the right thing and priced tickets at a level to get people along to the final,” Muir said. “We’re also appreciative of the discount for members, but then Ticketek came along and charged $6.60.

“When I saw the price initially I thought it was considerably less than last year, and that seemed a really smart move, but $22.50 suddenly becomes almost $30. Proportionally it’s completely out of whack, or it defeats the whole point of having cheap tickets.”

FFA opted to play the final at Allianz instead of Cooper’s Stadium in Adelaide, which is less than half the size and cheaper to run. Sydney FC members who normally sit on the western side of the stadium are being displaced to the far side in order to put more fans in the line of sight of TV cameras.

“We made a very conscious decision to reduce prices to attract families and young children to the FFA Cup but we have a contracted position with the ticket provider which is a fixed component of this cost,” said Greg O’Rourke, head of the A-League.

“The variable ticket price component from the FFA has been lowered to make the total ticket prices attractive.”

A Ticketek spokesman said: “Ticketek’s fees cover the end-to-end service delivery, from the time of purchase through to staffing at events, and they are set per transaction, not per ticket.

“On average, there would be 3 to 4 tickets bought per transaction for football matches, which makes the fee a relatively small portion of the overall price.

“However, Ticketek does not set ticket prices or the number of tickets that can be purchased per transaction by certain categories. That is rightly the prerogative of the event promoter.”

FFA Cup: tickets, prices, Ticketek, Sydney FC v Adelaide United | Daily Telegraph