Sydney FC 0 Western Sydney Wanderers 1
What shaped up to be a fantastic night of football ended in bitter disappointment for a bumper A-League crowd at Allianz Stadium on Saturday. A solitary goal was enough to send the three points along Victoria Road and signalled a false dawn of the new era at our majestic home under Ufuk Talay. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom. How good was the tifo?
An afternoon in Five Dock drinking fresh brews from the barrels at Joel’s 40th birthday meant we were going to be arriving with a less than fresh mind, and as it turned out we were dropped at the Crown Hotel a few minutes after the rest of the Cove fans had headed off to the meeting point for the march to the stadium. This was our first game of the season following the jollies to watch the national teams, and the march had a new starting point, on the stadium side of the bridge. The Cove were in good form, there was a decent turnout and the mood suggested a quiet air of confidence for a very tricky fixture against our fiercest rivals.
Getting to the stadium early, as the march tends to, allowed a quick look around the stadium to see what’s changed – the store was doing a roaring trade, there were a good number of fans filtering in, although the away end looked quite sparse as the Wanderers players went through their warm-ups. Of course that would all change as kick-off approached and the away end filled out – there was even an edge of the eastern side taken up by Wanderers fans too, so we were definitely in for a good atmosphere.
Finding our seats, there were Cove members up in Cove Heights in front of the big screen, holding a tifo, getting ready to pass it down the front – surely it wouldn’t be that big to cover the top and bottom sections of the home end. On cue, albeit slightly out of synch, the tifo was passed down. We had no idea what it was, it looked a bit like an aboriginal artwork with earthy colours surrounding some sky blue, and it remained in place for ages as we held and pushed the material with our outstretched hands. The players had come out, We Are Sydney was in full roar, and we had no idea what was going on over the top of the tifo – kinda magical really, like being in a tent in a storm. Eventually, against expectations of it being passed all the way down, the tifo was collected upwards, and didn’t quite manage to make it all the way up, the weight and volume of the record-breaking artwork truly a logistical challenge. Social media showed us what we had been holding, and it was incredible. The A-League had stepped it up a notch, and Sydney FC had set the standard. West west and alone.
The smoke was by now billowing through the air, the We Are Sydney chant continued unabated, and the action was underway on the field. The Wanderers fans were bouncing, and they looked to have taken the lead early on when a long ball was taken quickly from a free-kick, nodded across goal and headed home. Happily, VAR was on hand to spoil the party in the visitors’ enclosure, and the proverbial bee’s dick of a VAR decision had gone our way to enhance the Sydney consipracy theories. It certainly didn’t look offside on the replay.
The action was frenetic at times, but it did still have the smell of a Steve Corica set up. The only difference was the odd long ball onto the head of Fabio up front, who managed to win a few, but frustratingly there was no plan for the flick-on and the Wanderers swept up easily. Sydney were shooting towards the Cove, a sure-fire sign that West Sydney had won the toss, and we got a sighter from Jaiden Kucharski as he fired in a shot that whistled past the post. Joe Lolley looked as composed as ever, honestly the way he takes a high ball out of the air is effortless, although he was less clinical than we would like. The stadium was bouncing at both ends, this was what we’d been craving from the A-League. The Wanderers had the best chances, the Sydney defence deciding to afford Marcelo the freedom of the penalty area from set-pieces, Redders somehow saving at the far end after the ball had struck the bar. Goalless at half-time was just about right, but had made a mockery of my 5-0 prediction.
Half-time wasn’t the usual circling of the stadium – it was way too busy – but the crowds for the toilets and food were concentrated at the ends, while those at the sides of the stadium were just right. We were back in our seats way before the teams appeared for the second half and we anxiously awaited the action.
The second 45 minutes will be remembered for two things. Firstly Laurence Thomas slipped as he kicked out from the back, the ball landing at Kucharski’s feet with an open goal in front of him. For some reason he took it first time, screwing the ball back towards Thomas who was scrambling back across goal, and the ball was deflected away. All it needed was a moment of control and a side-foot into the empty net. What a chance, and it looked even worse on the replay. As frustration grew, and Marcelo continued to rise unchallenged in the box, albeit to no avail, the substitutions started. We’d already seen Rhyan Grant appear at half time, and the much-maligned Jordan Courtney-Perkins came on to replace Joel King, who had been in the wars.
Cue the goal, and it was a combination of patient passing and dreadful defending. The Wanderers drew Sydney FC out and an unexpected flick-on caught two defenders way too high, Wanderers had two-on-one, and Zac Sapsford stepped inside to slam the ball home in front of the Cove, giving Andrew Redmayne no chance.
The remainder of the game was stop-start. Luke Bratten was putting his body on the line, an impromptu drinks break allowing both teams a moment to breathe. Western Sydney Wanderers called upon Game Management 1.01 as the clock ticked down and there was nothing Sydney FC could do about it. Even when Paddy Wood nipped in to steal the ball from Thomas’ grasp, the ball wouldn’t sit for him and the resulting shot from Brattan ended up in the Wanderers fans, much to their delight.
The final whistle brought delirium at the far end and the players quite rightly milked it with their jubilant fans, but the scene in front of Bay 23 was anything but joyful. The players came across, even hurdling the advertising hoardings to be with the fans. But being on the wrong end of a derby defeat, it wasn’t clear what they were meant to do. Hardly the right time to join hands and cheer with the supporters. The Cove just weren’t having it. It was an awkward stand-off, the players not knowing what to do, apart from a couple who had split off from the group and were signing autographs. A good number of fans let the players know what they thought; it was like the naughty boys had been called up on stage at assembly and were being made to listen red-faced to a rap sheet of their misdemeanours.
Meanwhile the party continued at the other end. The Cove emptied, and there was very little cheer, just a stone-cold acceptance that the good times definitely had not returned and that the Talay magic might take some time to take effect.
Enduring a light rail ride with bouncing Wanderers fans was not high on our list – luckily Renee had parked in Sydney Boys’ high school car park and we made a speedy exit without having to face the gloating red and black fans on the way out west from Central.
What a night. What a day in fact; scenes just like the Big Blue opening fixture last year when all the hype and optimism went to shit in our own back yard. We’re yet to experience Allianz as a fortress, and it is certainly going to be tough to entice some of those casual fans back for next Saturday against Perth Glory. For those Sydney fans who were there tonight though, despite the result, this was certainly an A-League spectacle, and the entertainment was first class. See you all next Saturday when we start to put things right.