Sydney FC 0 Melbourne Victory 2
Sydney FC crumbled to a horrible defeat at home to their arch rivals Melbourne Victory on Wednesday night, beaten by the their opponents, a whistle-shy referee and a fierce breeze that the home team simply couldn’t master. It was a return to the dark ages of Corica-ball and the non-threatening attack of the Talay era, with the ball going sideways and backwards for the Sky Blues when the conditions demanded something more direct. An early goal against the wind by Keegan Jelacic set the scene, and when Jordan Courtney-Perkins diverted home for an unfortunate own goal midway through the second half, there was no way back. Still, Sydney didn’t exactly mount a stirring response, and the game petered out with the visitors comfortably holding out their weak opponents for a famous away semi-final victory.
Wednesday evening through Sydney’s traffic is a challenge – Michelle was on the train from the city, whereas the journey from the North West suburbs of Sydney was a slow burn through rush hour, arriving 45 minutes before kick-off and foregoing the usual quick bite at the Kogarah Club. A bright but windy day had cooled down remarkably, and fans were arriving wrapped up and in thick jackets, the odd supporter caught out in shorts and t-shirt. Last year’s kits in the leftover miniature size was the only merch available in the tiny store, we grabbed our pies for dinner, the most exotic thing on the menu, and settled in at the back of the Cove to enjoy the spectacle.
The coming together of the Cove family is always a lovely thing to see. It’s like a Christmas scene, as young and old come together after a break, hugging and clasping hands, smiles all round. It is a time to rejoice and sing carols, the words and the tunes engraved in the mind and finally unearthed from the depths of memory. And with a common enemy tonight, the feeling of being united under the low roof of the lower section of the main stand was strong.
Indeed, when the players walked out for the line-up and handshakes, it was not “We Are Sydney” that greeted the two teams; it was “F*ck you, Melbourne Victory, olé” and it was as loud as could be. “Sing it with more hate” came from a comedian at the back. The scene was set, the small clump of black-clad Victory fans up the far end of the same stand applauding their team, as far away as was possible in this one-stand-fits-all set-up tonight. The players lined up facing away from the crowd, completely ignoring the paying public in favour of the crowd at home – utter bollocks. The wind was certainly swirling; we’ve seen it here a few times, this time not accompanied by the driving rain, but still evoking memories of that Kayo game in the ACL2 qualifiers from a few years back at the same venue.
Sydney’s start could not have been worse. Joe Lacey’s role as the pivot in midfield, the player who receives, lays off and creates the space, went totally wrong with his first touch. Surrounded by three players, he meekly gave away possession and the ball was played in to Jelacic who strode into the box and picked his spot below the hand of Gus Hoefsloot for 1-0. It was an unbelievably poor start, and the defence was looking so shaky, trying to play confidently from the back but looking nothing like a team that could pull it off. To be fair, Victory got it spot on, up in the Sydney faces to make it uncomfortable and with the wind making the ball do odd things, the home team looked unconvincing.
Jack Duncan in the Victory goal seemed to be time wasting already, but he should have been punished for a ridiculous challenge on Takahiro Sekine that saw the Japanese magician flattened as he went for a header. It was Jake Hollman who floated in the cross, the first of the night that had not been overhit, and Sekine got his head to the ball only to be taken out by Duncan. The referee, some overseas import flown in to solve the industrial action taken by the Aussie officials, must have been briefed about Australian football, that perhaps there is a bit of rough and tumble at times, but he missed this one completely. His outstretched arm could have been signalling a penalty, we all expected it as we saw it perfectly from our angle, but no, after sending the stricken player to the sideline after treatment, it was play on.
Sekine was clearly bothered by this, and rattled into his man on the touchline in front of the Victory bench, a challenge that could have resulted in a card, but his mind was clear moments later when he gave us the moment of the half, tapping the ball one side of his man and scurrying around the other to maintain possession, the crowd lapping up the skill on show. Hollman picked up a stupid yellow for felling his man who was powering towards the box, before a similar moment at the other end resulted in not even a free kick as Sydney broke clear. This was becoming a difficult game for the referee. New signing Sunday Oriola got his head to a Ben Garuccio inswinger and seemed to hit the post, the resulting melee dampened by an offside flag, but it was a good chance, and when Rhyan Grant threw himself at a header in what looked like an offside position, he could only send the ball agonisingly past the post. This was a great finish to the half, as Sydney finally worked out all too late that they had a massive advantage with the wind. Boos rang out for the referee at the half as the crowd scattered to find a bit of warmth.
The second half started with Akol Akon performing a salmon dance trying to con the referee on the near touchline, but Sydney never had control. Victory continued to break, but were themselves finding the wind too strong as long passes went into touch. When Victory broke up the right, they seemed to have passed up a good opportunity to test Hoefsloot, Charles Nduka instead squaring the ball, but Courtney-Perkins inadvertently diverted the ball into the net for a freak own goal, the Melbourne players racing across to to celebrate and waste more time, knowing that they had half an hour to kill to secure a place in the cup final.
Question marks will be raised about the swapping of Corey for Jake Hollman after the latter ended his evening kicking out at a player for no reason. Tiago Quintal received a boot to the face that resulted in blood spilling out around his mouth. In truth, he had been well shackled by the Victory defence, the extra moment needed to control the unpredictable ball taking away his explosive speed, and Sekine was anonymous in the second half with the ball consistently following the wind to the near touchline. The options from the bench were never going to be game changers, and the ball continued to bounce all over the place as the stiff breeze played havoc. It was disconcerting to see Patrick Kisnorbo standing forlorn on the sideline while his opposite number showed animation, and from here onwards, the semi-circle of pointless passing filled the game as the ball went from side to side with absolutely no penetration into where it mattered. Both teams had half chances as the game wore on, Sydney having a header from a corner by Alex Popovic clear the bar, Sekine smashing a shot over from a tight angle, and Victory having a couple of long-range efforts that were well blocked and one that would have been goal of the century had the player connected properly with the opportunistic half volley from thirty yards.
The whistle blew on a night of frustration. For all the joy that being had in the Cove, the football on show had been a disappointment. Even captain Rhyan Grant was wayward with his passes tonight, and a central duo of Joe Lacey and Jake Hollman looked porous and unadventurous – even the appearance of Rhys Youlley did nothing to change it, and Premier League star James Overy came on unnoticed for a disappointing cameo at right back. Only Mathias Macallister gave the team any sort of lift, Al Hassan Toure simply not having that aura about him, especially on a horrible swirly night like tonight. Takahiro Sekine looks the goods though, Garuccio too. It was Garuccio who brought some of the players over to salute the Cove, receiving applause from those who remained.
Being back at Kogarah was a reminder of how good we have it at Allianz Stadium, being back in the Cove brought back all the good feels that Sydney FC brings, but if this is a taste of things to come in the new season, that Friday night in mid October is going to be a tough watch. Sydney FC bow out of the Australia Cup at Kogarah once again, and for a club that wants to win all competitions it participates in, tonight was simply not good enough. In fact, tonight seemed to have a lot of new faces in the crowd; and we had a lot of those new faces leaving well before the end of the game, such was the quality of the football.
Thanks for reading; see you in a few weeks as A-League football finally returns to bring us the entertainment and thrills that we’ve not seen since May. Forza Sydney FC!