South Melbourne 0-0 Melbourne Victory (LIVE)
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26': A rare foray forward for the Victory almost resulted in the opening goal, with Keegan Jelacic striking the left post from the edge of the box. Just seconds later, Uchida burnt off his defender on the counter attack and whipped a ball across goal that was just a tad too deep for Bul Juach to meet. Juach was in an excellent position to score but the pass lacked precision.
23': At the midway point of the first half, the momentum has almost been entirely with South Melbourne, who are right up for this contest.
16': It's all South Melbourne everywhere but the scoreboard in the first 15 minutes. They took the second corner of the match but it went beyond the pack of players in the box. Uchida has been the biggest handful so far for the Victory defence.
14': It was South Melbourne with the first dangerous opportunity of the match as a lively Yuki Uchida almost found Bul Juach with a low, centering bullet pass from inside the box! 0-0 after it missed the target.
6': Souths left back Jordan Lampard whips in the first corner of the match and it wasn't the easiest for the Victory defence to clear.
4': South Melbourne defender Jacob Eliopoulos is the first man of the match booked for a very late challenge near midfield. Far from ideal for a centre back to need to be cautious for what could be another 116 minutes plus change.
7:45pm AEDT: The teams head out onto the pitch, led by captains Marko Jankovic and Jason Davidson, to line up for the national anthem and the presentation of the trophy.
7:30pm AEDT: Football Australia listed a 7:35pm kick-off for this match, but the football doesn't actually begin until closer to 7:50pm, with some pre-game entertainment still to come.
7:15pm AEDT: The atmosphere at AAMI Park is nothing short of electric as the players head out for their warm-ups, with both ends in full voice. South Melbourne's end in particular - at the Yarra River end of the ground - is particularly noisy.
I stepped out to the concourse for a quick breath of fresh air and, despite there barely being an empty green seat in the stadium, was greeted by huge lines still streaming through the gates.
6:55pm AEDT: You can catch up on each team's path to the final with our popular Australia Cup guide.
Melbourne Victory had to make three trips to Sydney and one to Hobart, whilst Souths did things the hard way, falling 1-0 behind in three of their matches and squandering a 2-0 lead to Fremantle City in the other. They could surely be described as "character-building wins".
6:45pm AEDT: Here are the starting lineups for both teams. Most notably, South Melbourne have benched new signing Paulo Retre after he started in three of Hellas' four wins on the way here.
Melbourne Victory have also benched two of their big new recruits - former Macarthur striker Harry Sawyer and Auckland FC premiership and championship winner Guillermo May.
6:30pm AEDT: The footballing rivalry that never was for 22 years... finally is!
Active supporters from both clubs are already in loud voice 60 minutes before kick-off as a sold-out AAMI Park in Melbourne begins to fill up for the final of the 13th edition of the Australia Cup.
South Melbourne are attempting to become the first NPL club to lift the trophy after Sydney United 58 (2022) and Heidelberg United (2025) both fell at the final hurdle.
Aaron Murphy has been with Flashscore since 2018 and, as the founding editor of the Australian newsdesk, has reported on-site at several major events in Melbourne including the Australian Open, State of Origin, A-League, NBL and international cricket. You can read his pieces here and contact him on X or LinkedIn.
