Who in Auckland FC will put their name in lights in tonight's grand final?

Football's showpiece events call for players to embrace the moment and the spotlight.

By Felicity Reid of RNZ

The first A-League grand final to be played in New Zealand between Auckland FC and Sydney FC could feature an unlikely hero or a well-known big game player.

Steve Corica scored the first ever goal in an A-League grand final 20 years ago. His strike just after the hour mark from the top of the box is a moment he remembers fondly.

It was a goal that handed Sydney FC the first of five A-League Championship trophies.

Corica stepped up in the big moment – now he needs his players at Auckland FC to do the same when they face his old club on Saturday night, in pursuit of their first A-League grand final win.

"I still remember it now, the grand final goal that I scored, it was the very first one for the A-League, so I'm very proud of that."

Corica does not mind who becomes the big-game player in this grand final at Mt Smart Stadium – "as long as it's someone with black and blue on".

"Anyone would be great, but obviously the boys that have been scoring, I'd like to see Jesse [Randall], Cosi [Sam Cosgrove], Lachie [Brook], our front three, one of them score and come away with a win."

Auckland FC are light on grand final experience. Corica was involved as a player and coach, defender Dan Hall has won with the Central Coast Mariners twice and midfielder Jake Brimmer has played in a grand final before. Captain Hiroki Sakai has played in even bigger games overseas in World Cups and Uefa Champions League and Europa League, but Sydney FC captain Rhyan Grant has won the A-League four times before.

Grant has also scored two goals in grand finals, and he can not separate the highlights, but he has made sure to remind his teammates this week.

"A few boys want to know a few things, I've had to show a few boys some clips, a lot of them are too young to remember my peak.

"But there's definitely a few boys asking and trying to suss out what the [grand final] week's like. I think my biggest tip is just to embrace it and enjoy it as much as possible because it doesn't always come around every year."

This grand final is extra special for Grant.

"I know what that feeling feels like [to win] and to get the chance to do that again would be unbelievable, especially as captain.

"Obviously the club means a lot to me and everyone knows that. So to get the honour to wear the captain's armband and hopefully be able to lift up the toilet seat would be unbelievable."

For Sakai, who has won several titles in Japan, getting another trophy was not just for his individual accolades. He said it was "very important to win the A-League" for himself.

"But first, for the New Zealand fans and the New Zealand people, it's very important. That's why we have to win on Sunday, we want to make history."

Despite only taking on the head coach role with Sydney FC in March, Patrick Kisnorbo was aware of the club's success in A-League grand finals but thought history would be "irrelevant" when the opening whistle blew on Saturday.

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