Sydney FC 2 Bangkok United 2
A goal in additional time, confirmed by VAR, was the dagger in Ufuk Talay’s heart tonight. Succumbing to a ridiculous penalty thanks to the enigmatic Harrison Devenish-Meares, the second half was off to a bad start, but things got better once the flair players were introduced and another Douglas Costa-inspired comeback saw Adrian Segecic score twice and Devenish-Meares make amends with some inspired goalkeeping. There was however one last twist, Sydney picked apart leaving a player unmarked to finish at the near post, and after a lengthy check in the bunker, the Bangkok fans at the far end could begin their celebrations. Despite a fun night for the fans, this was a great opportunity wasted for the team, and we fully expect Sydney FC to pay the price in Thailand next week.
Wednesday night football, and the 7pm kick offs always mean an early start to the journey. This time we were playing at Allianz, the social media storm from the club suggesting that this was a big game, but we had our doubts based upon who we knew was actually going. I was in the city and at Michelle’s work by 5.45pm, and by the time we’d driven the streets of Moore Park looking for the elusive non-1P parking spot, we had 20 minutes to get from the Entertainment Quarter to the stadium, enough time to get there comfortably for kick off. Three groups of people crossed paths at the precinct formerly (and still) known as Fox Studios, the cowboy boots of the Tyler Childers fans heading to the Hordern Pavillion (never heard of them), the drum and bass aficionados heading to the rave in the padel courts next door, and of course the Sydney FC fans. Each group was looking at each other as if to say “what the f*ck are they going to?”; after all this was a Wednesday night.
Even though the sky was blue, we copped rain en route, finally able to find shelter alongside the club shop before entering. There was very little in the way of a crowd when we entered through our usual Gate 3, and looking down from Cove Heights, our super capo eventually made the call for everyone to bunch up in the Cove (there’s a chant in there somewhere) and start making noise.
The AFC rules made for a strange atmosphere. There were seats in the Cove, not safe standing. There was no advertising and no sponsorship on the shirts. There were different people looking after each bay. There was security telling people that they couldn’t bring in their water bottles. It felt like an away game but at home, maybe like Western United must have felt every time they hosted at AAMI Park. Rumours were of a 10,000 crowd, but there was not a hint of that yet, empty seats all around and only moments from kick off.
The Cove were roaring by kick off, making lots of noise despite midweek ACL2 numbers, and this strong Sydney FC side looked to make their presence felt. Patryk Klimala blazed wide from a good position, Joe Lolley fired one just over the bar, and Sydney looked in control. At the other end, in front of us, Devenish-Meares plucked one out of the sky to build his confidence. The surface was extra-slippery, lots of Bangkok players losing their footing at the wrong time, and Anthony Caceres brought up sods of turf at the far end when he turned his man. The Bangkok keeper looked as though he had borrowed a Matildas shirt to wear tonight, the exact same hue of egg-yolk used in his goalkeeping jersey, but he was well protected by his burly central defenders and by some quite thunderous tackling.
Anas Ouahim was taken out as he went to shoot up at the far end; it looked a penalty, but the whistle-free referee waved play on to everyone’s surprise. Sydney huffed and puffed but couldn’t make a breakthrough, the usual good approach play, but very little in the way of creating chances. The Cove was in full voice, the call and response magnificent, even from both sides of the deserted stadium, the crowds at this sort of game always happy to join in the fun. And this was fun. Devenish-Meares cleared up some danger but then Sydney gave the ball away immediately, the crowd urging their goalkeeper to get back in his goal as Bangkok tried to find the shooting opportunity on the open goal. The Sydney keeper also gave a fist-pump when Bangkok missed a great chance, the mini-celebration no way a reflection on the poor passage of defending that had led to the chance.
Such was the low crowd and the noise from the Cove, the chants were crystal clear. Now I know that it’s ‘Stand and defend our city, stand as one’ instead of the ‘Stand and defend us, as we sing as one’ that I had been singing for the past however many years. At least that’s what I think it is! We sat and watched a security guard confiscate a Coca-Cola can from someone in Cove Heights, and this was after we’d seen people forced to put their water into a cup and throw out their branded water bottles. Quite unnerving really, knowing that we were being watched by hawks from above.
The heavens truly opened at the break, the subs warming up in heavy rain.
Sydney FC came out in the second half with renewed purpose, but they were looking a little shaky when they lost the ball. Which they did on one occasion too many, and with only a couple of minutes gone since half time, Devenish-Meares, only sporting the Devenish part of his surname tonight, dithered like he did at Central Coast when a ball over the top sent Bangkok away. He was late on the scene, taking out his player for a stone-wall penalty. Somehow he escaped a red, the yellow card deemed enough punishment given the penalty award, and he did well to get a hand to the spot kick. We were a goal down now, a goal conceded at a familiar phase of the game, and we were looking shaky in this two-legged tie.
Sydney FC did their usual subs, Costa and Segecic brought on along with Joel King, and it paid dividends almost immediately. Costa played Segecic in on the burst, and he got lucky with a ricochet off a defender, somehow squeezing his shot inside the post for a delicate equaliser in front of the Cove. Ouahim then got flattened by another meaty challenge from the fearless Thai midfield, no free kick given when it looked like a proper assault. Segecic played a lovely ball across the area for Jordan Courtney-Perkins in space, but his shot was wildly over. The referee was run into, but still managed to play on, the makeshift central defensive pairing of Kyle Shaw and Rhyan Grant somehow got themselves out of trouble after fannying around with the ball at the back – captain Grant relieved to finally see the ball booted into touch after selling his partner short twice.
A Mexican wave was attempted on the eastern side. Thankfully it was over before it started – are you not amused? Enjoy the f*cking game, you muppets, it’s better than your shit-house Mexican wave. Leo Sena hit the deck after getting studs down his shin; it was all too theatrical for the referee who again waved play on as the Brazilian hopped off the field in disgust. Of course, he was fine, but seemed to have a cut on his leg as a result, and was very angry about it. Suddenly, Sydney FC were in the lead. The rain was absolutely thrashing down. Segecic received the ball with his back to goal on the edge of the area, turned, and smashed the ball home with unerring precision. What a goal! What a player. The ‘na na na na, Sydney’ chant, which had been going for a minute already, continued with gusto for another four minutes, etting louder and louder. Sydney continued knocking on the door, but Bangkok showed plenty of skill and flair to match their crunching tackles, knocking the ball around like Brazil, playing Sydney at their own game.
There was a good chunk of stoppage time to come, Devenish-Meares made a great save to deny a Bangkok breakaway goal, but then the unthinkable – Sydney left the door open in midfield, the quick passing of the United team found a player free in acres of space on the right and he drilled the ball inside the goalkeeper’s near post for a stunning equaliser. The flag went up – we had no way of knowing, as it was up the other end. And we’d had no replays all night on the big screen. Incredibly, we got a ‘decision pending’ style message on the scoreboard. Up until that point, with Ouahim’s non-penalty award in the first half and some crunching tackling from the United team, we had simpy assumed that VAR was not in play. How wrong we were, and after an eternity, the goal stood and the fans at the far end of the stadium erupted once again. What a disaster. Ufuk had a face of thunder.
The game ended with bizarre moments. Now that we knew VAR was in play, a Segecic rocket seemed to be handled, albeit accidentally, by the United defence, the ball deflected for a corner. We’d seen those given plenty of times, both for and against us, and Costa kicked the ball towards the penalty spot when he found that it was being checked. When it came back negative, he slowly made his way back to take the corner, the only player in the stadium who was taking his time. There was no Grant header and Caceres finish, so we had to be content with a draw, the whistle ending a very entertaining game.
The players were required to be in the centre circle for a ‘fair play’ handshake with their opponents, a nice touch. They then came over to the Cove to show their appreciation. The mood wasn’t quite as buoyant as Saturday’s draw, but everyone in the home end had enjoyed the game and had given their all in support of the players.
The rain had stopped as we got outside and retraced our steps to Moore Park, and we were back home in the northern suburbs by about 10:15pm, not too late for a school night, the only positive of the 7pm kick off.
This game had been exciting. Bangkok had a lot of good players – they also had a couple of not-so-good players, but the way they passed their way out of trouble towards the end of the game, we could see there was a lot of class about them. We may well rue that last-minute equaliser when these teams meet next Wednesday in Bangkok in totally different circumstances, but let’s worry about that next week. No more games for a few weeks now, both men’s and women’s on the road. We’ll be back soon though. If you don’t normally go to the games and you like what you read here, get your ticket bought for the next match and see what you don’t see in the three-minute highlights. You will not regret it!