Sydney FC 0 Wellington Phoenix 2
The much-vaunted return to Allianz Stadium went sour for Sydney FC as a stupid sending-off and a deflected goal changed the complexion of a game that looked to be there for the taking against a patient Wellington Phoenix. Despite the numerical advantage, the home team put up a valiant fight, but were picked off in the second half and then had to find a way through a black and yellow wall for the remainder of the contest and never really looked like getting back into contention. This was another return with a whimper to this mighty stadium; thanks to results elsewhere it’s only our pride that is damaged, but for the visiting fans on their tour of duty, this was something special.
We had a book launch at 3pm out in West Ryde for our friend Kerrie, and slid away early to catch the train to Central, joining the masses at the light rail for the short journey up the hill and through the tunnel to Moore Park. This felt comfortable, like pulling off your wet shoes after getting caught in the rain – great to be back, but lacking the excitement and anticipation of an opening-day fixture. Bumped into former CEO Mark Aubrey en route, attending the game as a fan with his family, and we remarked on the healthy number of fans and the length of the queue buying tickets – walk-ups as they are known in the trade. Perhaps we would get a decent crowd, although arriving a little later than usual, this was perhaps normal at this time.
The Wellington fans at the far end had the whole end to themselves, the yellow contrasted against the wall of blue seats, and they were clearly there for a good time, some of them just back from the women’s game in Canberra the day before, and most staying on for the Newcastle game on Friday. The players emerged to We Are Sydney from the Cove, we were in our position in Cove Heights, and all was good in the world. The rain that had battered the city for the last two days had abated, and the surface looked passable, some unusual patterns on the grass, but it looked smooth.
There were no changes from last week, no Joe Lolley still, no Al-Hassan Toure, so it was Paddy Wood up top and the lively Tiago Quintal out wide. If we started today like we did against Macarthur last week, we would be in the box seat. The teams swapped ends suggesting a toin coss victory for the Phoenix. Sydney FC kept possession for the whole of the first minute; whilst it was controlled, it certainly lacked intent and there appeared to be no rush to give the ball away. Ben Garuccio tried in vain to keep a ball in on the left as Sydney broke quickly, two squares of grass disappearing under his slide like pixels disappearing from a faulty scoreboard. The visitors had the first real effort on goal, Carlo Armiento smashing one in from distance up the far end, Harrison Devenish-Meares doing well to push it around the post. Sydey woke up after that, Wood doing the running, but it was Quintal who flashed in a shot, cutting in from the right, Rhyan Grant unable to get a touch to what looked like a shot, but would have been a great cross.
Alex Grant wasn’t afraid to play a long ball, and one of his was into the path of Ben Garuccio on the burst, and the rookie Phoenix keeper raced out to smother, taking a knee to the chest and the ball in the face for his troubles, a brave bit of goalkeeping to preserve the scoreline. Sydney should have opened the scoring when Quintal sent Rhyno a little wide on the right, but connected with an exquisite return ball in the area, the keeper getting a hand to the low shot and his defence completing the clearance. It was right in front of us and a great reaction save.
Players were slipping all over the place, Rhyno losing his footing as he cut inside and then doing brilliantly to use his momentum to slide in for a challenge to win the ball back. The referee was starting to annoy the home fans. He played an advantage for the Phoenix, who then gave the ball away cheaply, and brought play back for the foul a full five seconds after it had happened – this isn’t rugby union! Piero Quispe was pushed off the ball as he raced through the middle which brought no action from the referee, and straight away the ball went up the other end where Phoenix won a free-kick outside the area for much less of an offence. The ire of the crowd continued when Armiento, who is more than capable from long range but doesn’t tend to pick his moments too well, took aim and his shot was deflected past the stranded HDM for a spawny goal. Bloody hell, it was going to be one of those days, eh?
Sydney were undeterred and we fully expected that to be a blip on an otherwise successful day, however Rhys Youlley decided to lunge in on a Phoenix player who was skipping past him on the break and sent him flying. It was in front of the benches and there was a kerfuffle. Ufuk Talay was shown a yellow card in the furore that followed, and we hadn’t noticed that the referee had gone to VAR, or was in discussion with the fourth official, and he returned soon after to show Youlley a red card for the studs-up tackle. Way to go Rhys – that was the red card that you could have got last weekend. The remaining five or so minutes was played with extra spice as Sydney resisted making changes, and they got to half time without further damage, the referee leaving the field to boos from the home fans, playing the part of pantomime villain to perfection.
Half time gave us the opportunity to walk around to the visitors end to catch up with Phoenix and Kiwi fans who we had shared many beers with in New Zealand for Socceroos fixtures. There was a good feeling in the away end, this could be the moment when they get to savour a victory at this venue for the first time in over ten years. Great to see such a turnout too.
The second half saw Marcel Tisserand sacrificed again llike last week, Alex Popovic coming on as a direct swap, and Quintal was replaced by Corey Hollman, who had been warming up before half time. That gave a more solid look to the midfield at the expense of a bit of creative flair, and Sydney went looking for an unlikely equaliser. Garuccio stole a cross-field pass and advanced, firing in a shot that deflected away for a corner. We were right behind the shot and it looked on target. Alex Grant was enjoying some freedom to get forward and almost produced a Courtney-Perkins special, his fierce shot going wide when it looked like it was going straight in. Could we get this game back?
Just as our hopes were rising, with Akol Akon on for Wood to provide the X-factor, Wellington took advantage of the numerical advantage from a free kick as Alex Rufer picked up the loose ball at the far post and had time to lift in a cross, where two players were unmarked and Isaac Hughes planted a header into the net for 2-0. He raced to the corner flag, kung-fu kicking the flag off its pole. Calls for a yellow card were ignored as the goalscorer carefully placed the flag back on it’s stick as he walked back to halfway. The game was over as a contest now, with still 30 minutes to go.
Not that we knew how much time was left, the scoreboard failing to do its job and we had to wait another ten minutes or so to get the score and the time back up. Wellington shut up shop, making a raft of subs to pack the defence. Sydney made a good fist of it, Hollman smashing in a ferocious shot that hit the defender in the face with the keeper beaten, and Victor Campuzano hit one in that the goalkeeper saved down low. The bright spot of today was Akol Akon – we’ve seen him before and he’s been quite reserved, but today he was given licence to thrill, and gave us a clever backheel inside to set up a break on the wing, danced around his player on the left when he had no support and showed us some exquisite close control to play triangles with his teammates to try and prise open the solid defence. Quispe too was full of running the whole game, and we were still hopeful as the clock ticked into stoppage time.
It wasn’t to be though, and the final whistle condemned Sydney to home defeat again on their return to Allianz Stadium. The Phoenix faithful, who had been shirtless since the 80th minute, enjoyed their celebrations with the players, while the post-game love at te home end was limited to Popovic, HDM and captain Rhyno as the disappointed home fans headed off into the night.
Tonight was all about Wellington though, and there was a good crowd of yellow and black at Watsons in the Entertainment Quarter. This was a happy bunch of Kiwis, the shots were flowing and the party looked to be continuing into the night.
We were out of there before 10pm, back to Central, racing up the steps of platform 18 to make our train, and back home by 10:45pm with no intention of catching any Premier League action on a school night. This had been a fun day, but the manner of defeat was disappointing, the lack of urgency to actually take the lead backfired and the game was out of reach with 30 minutes still to play. Still, the Cove reminded us of next weekend’s fixture. F*ck you Melbourne Victory, olé, olé! And over 13,000 at the game? I don’t think so – that must have been the number of tickets sold or given away. There were not that many people in the stadium.
Alas, a trip to Melbourne this year is too far – way too many football trips coming up. To everyone who is making the pilgrimage, enjoy your time down south, and Forza Sydney FC!