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McKinna talks up final opponents
Central Coast Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna says he is happy for his team to be the underdog in tomorrow's A-League grand final against Sydney FC at the Sydney Football Stadium.
The Mariners are unbeaten in their past 12 games but http://www.goldengoosesneakers.com/ have only beaten Sydney once in five meetings.
McKinna says Sydney deserve to be favourites.
"Sydney is the glamour club of the league, they've set the standards and done so very well," he said.
"Dwight Yorke is the marquee player of the league and he's done fantastic, so they're probably the glamour club and the club that everyone wants to beat.
"So in that we're the underdogs, but we've been in three finals and are unbeaten in 12 [games], so whether we're the big underdogs Golden Goose Sale or the small underdogs, I'll keep the underdog tag."
Sydney FC defender Mark Rudan said having to deal with the burden of expectation had only made his team stronger this season.
"We're comfortable with that (favourites tag)," he said.
"You know, we had a good talk about that at the start of the year and we know everyone's out there to beat us or everyone wants to beat us, and if anything that's just made us stronger as a unit and we've become that much closer.
"And that's what happens when everyone's against you - you become that much tighter. So it's worked in a positive fashion for us I think."
Key Mariners pair Tom Pondeljak and Matthew Osman have both been cleared to play following injury concerns.Sydney FC squad:Clint Bolton, Iain Fyfe, Alvin Ceccoli, Mark Rudan, Robbie Middleby, Matthew Bingley, Steve Corica, Sasho Petrovski, David Carney, Andrew Packer, Terry McFlynn, Jacob Timpano, Dwight Yorke (c), Justin Pasfield, Ruben Zadkovich, Tolgay Ozbey.Central Coast squad:Wayne O'Sullivan, Paul O'Grady, Noel Spencer (c), Michael Beauchamp, Andre Gumprecht, Dean Heffernan, Tom Pondeljak, Damien Brown, Stewart Petrie, Andrew Clark, Matthew Osman, Alex Wilkinson, Adam Kwasnik, Danny Vukovic, Jamie McMaster, Matthew Trott.
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