AAP Soccer

Shattered Victory forced to pick up pieces quickly

By Anna Harrington

Oct 11, 2026

Victory players after losing cup final — Melbourne Victory's shattered players reflect on their heartbreaking cup final shoot-out defeat. -AAP Image

Devastated Melbourne Victory will attempt to put their heartbreaking Australia Cup final loss behind them by playing two more games in the space of a week.

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Victory suffered a devastating loss to South Melbourne 1-1 (4-3 on penalties) on Saturday, becoming the first A-League Men team to lose the final to an NPL club.

But new coach Giovanni Savarese will have to pick them up and prepare for a home Asian Champions League 2 (ACL2) clash with FC Seoul on Wednesday.

"We have to pass the page right away," coach Giovanni Savarese said.

"And it's in the difficult moments that you see the true value of your club, your players, the family that we are, we have become, and this is going to be a learning lesson.

"So far, we went through this cup, winning every single game, and if you look back, we only allowed two goals in all the matches. That last goal didn't need to go in. We should (have made) sure that we should win this game.

"But now we have to pass the page and be ready for Wednesday and be ready for Saturday because games come right away and we want to compete in everything. We want to win everything.

"It didn't happen today, but we'll continue to to be strong-minded.

"We have good players. The players are ready, and reflection is important to do it tonight, and tomorrow we'll be ready for for Wednesday."

Striker Harrison Sawyer, a former South Melbourne captain, had his spot-kick saved while skipper Jason Davidson, son of South great Alan Davidson, blasted his penalty over the bar.

Savarese was determined for his charges not to dwell on what might have been after Victory led 1-0 in extra time and had their eyes on the first of four potential trophies this season.

"We cannot be thinking about what we had, what what we could have had if we would have won it, if we had lifted (the trophy)," he said.

"We've gotta pass the page. We need to be realistic. We cannot be melancholic right now to try to say, 'oh, if we won'.

"No. This is what happened tonight, and we need to be ready for what is coming now forward.

"Because otherwise, we're not going to be prepared and ready for for a big match that we have Wednesday."

Midfielder Louis D'Arrigo (hamstring) missed the final and Savarese felt he was unlikely to play FC Seoul, but could potentially get up for the trip to Wellington.