The Australian soccer revolution that is the A-League is still two months away, but the pressure is already starting to show after Perth coach Steve McMahon and Adelaide's John Kosmina launched extraordinary attacks on their own clubs.
Sydney FC came from a goal down to beat Perth 2-1 and Central Coast thrashed Adelaide 4-0 in the Club World Championship (CWC) semi-final qualifiers.
Sydney and the Mariners progress to Sunday's final, with the winner off to the Oceania CWC tournament in Tahiti where victory will ensure a $A1.29 million payday.
The losers are subjected to another two months of training before the A-League pre-season starts in July.
The season proper commences August 26.
McMahon arrived in Perth with a firebrand reputation and if Wednesday night's press conference is anything to go by, that reputation is more than warranted.
Glory's clash with Sydney was its first significant outing this year and represented a major step-up from the state league opposition it had been facing.
Conversely Sydney FC had already enjoyed a trip to Dubai and last week's 3-0 win over Queensland.
But all that meant little to McMahon, who accused his players of being scared, lacking intensity and guilty of "schoolboy" errors.
"I was mega, mega disappointed in that performance," he said. "We disappointed in so many areas. We were frightened to death I think."
Perth took the lead in the 47th minute after an Ufuk Talay own-goal, but scores were level just over a minute later when David Carney beat keeper Milan Jovanic.
Saso Petrovski completed the comeback in the 76th minute.
"I can accept getting beat, but there's a way to get beat," McMahon vented.
"There's a certain code of football and a certain way to play and get beat. That wasn't the way. We didn't have much in our belly tonight."
McMahon also took his frustrations out on some journalists.
After a suggestion midfielder Hiroyuki Ishida had played reasonably well, McMahon shot back: "You were watching a different game to me then."
One reporter was critical of McMahon's substitutions, waiting until the 85th minute to make any changes.
"It's not about substitutions, you're way off the mark, I don't know where you're going with that," was McMahon's curt response.
He also lambasted his "so-called bigger names", but at least didn't single anyone out publicly.
