Final thoughts
Two semi-finals, two convincing victories. Sydney FC were worthy winners in the end but Adelaide can hold their heads up, if only for the way they battled at the death.
The question now is, are Sydney good enough to beat Victory in Melbourne? If they play the way they did for the first hour of this game, they definitely can. Even when they were under siege towards the end, they defended well against a useful side.
Good as Adelaide are, though, Victory are a different beast, just as capable of matching it with the Sky Blues in the firepower stakes, and with a better defensive record to boot. It takes a brave man to rule out Graham Arnold though. The former Mariners man has been there and done that with fewer resources than he has now. Can he win another grand final in his first season with the Sky Blues? Don’t bet against it.
Thanks for joining me tonight, catch you next time.
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Full-time: Sydney FC 4-1 Adelaide United
90+4 mins: That’s all she wrote. It’s Melbourne Victory v Sydney FC in the grand final.
90+3mins: Jeggo concedes a free-kick, which Sydney will be in no rush to take.
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90+2 mins: Even that hasn’t stopped Adelaide, who are still piling forward. Hats off to the Reds for effort. They just weren’t good enough on the day.
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GOAL! Sydney FC 4-1 Adelaide United
90 mins: Naumoff powers home as Sydney strike on the counter! Great first touch after the pass from Antonis, then just picks out his spot. Galekovic no chance.
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89 mins: Is that it for Adelaide? Cirio heads over from six yards, although it was a tougher chance than it looked. Sydney look like they’ve done it. The Cove certainly think so.
88 mins: Isaias cuts out a lovely ball over the top to Antonis. It’s a brief respite for Sydney.
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87 mins: Every shot Adelaide take seems to hit a defender. Everyone behind the ball for Sydney. Time running out for the visitors.
85mins: Palanca’s free-kick is punched away by the keeper. All the action is in Sydney’s half at the minute.
84 mins: A free-kick on the left of the box for Adelaide. They’re pushing hard for a second.
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83 mins: Sydney have pulled everyone back. Adelaide are throwing everyone forward. Something’s got to give at one end or the other.
81 mins: Adelaide look frantic, they’re desperate to get another. They’ve been camped outside the Sydney area but the Sky Blues almost hit back on the break.
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79 mins: Oooo! Boogaard knocks a header down, it hits the post and bounces to safety. Another goal for Adelaide and it’ll be an interesting final few minutes. Brosque comes off for Smeltz.
77 mins: At least they’re going down fighting. Mabil in the book now too for a bit of frustrated pushing. What’s happening out there?
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75 mins: Brosque and Isaias both in the book for a bit of handbags. Bad reaction to a bad foul from Isaias. Ibini comes off for Grant.
GOAL! Sydney FC 3-1 Adelaide United
74 mins: Goodwin throws Adelaide a lifeline! A great run, a decent shot, Janjetovic gets something on it but not enough and it trickles in.
71 mins: The roles have reversed a little in the last five minutes. Sydney are happy to play the ball around as though they’ve got all the time in the world, while urgent Adelaide are jockeying and hassling them all over the park.
70 mins: Faty with a brilliant sliding block to deny Cirio. Thanks for illustrating my point Jacques!
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68 mins: Faty with a cool header back to the keeper under pressure. How good have Sydney’s Senegalese duo been since Arnold brought them in? The Sky Blues have been a different team since they joined.
66 mins: Palanca comes on for Sanchez. Adelaide refusing to give up although they’ve shown nothing to suggest they’ve got three goals in them.
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63 mins: Arnold still barking orders from the sideline. He almost looks happy - or rather he looks less grumpy than usual.
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62 mins: Goodwin with a wasted free-kick, it curls over everyone in the box and sails out for a goal-kick. Less than half an hour to go.
60 mins: Adelaide throwing men forward now. Lots of space in the middle. Janko comes off for Antonis. Sensible switch; it gives Antonis some game time and rests Janko for “the big one”.
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58 mins: Awesome save from Galekovic. Janko stretches to latch onto a cross and the keeper just manages to get enough on it to stop the ball from trickling into the net.
57 mins: So close! Carrusca finally gets a bit of space around the edge of the area. He takes a touch and curls it just wide. Adelaide can’t afford to waste any more opportunities.
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55 mins: Gombau doesn’t look happy. He’s muttering to someone wearing what looks like a tracksuit with a Leicester City badge on it. Admittedly, my eyes might be deceiving me on that last bit.
52 mins: Any chance of a memorable comeback? Not from where I’m sitting. Sydney are bossing this game, certainly in the physical sense. Adelaide are being outmuscled all over the pitch.
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49 mins: Replays suggest shades of offside for the third goal. In fact it’s not so much “shades of” as “bright neon signs of”. Janko about a yard offside when he took the initial pass.
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48 mins: Adelaide simply have to score in the next few minutes if they want to get back into this game. They’re staring down the barrel.
GOAL! Sydney FC 3-0 Adelaide United
47 mins: That’s it surely! Brosque again, this time it’s a lot more conventional. Janko makes the break, no one picks up Brosque’s run and he stabs it home when the Austrian loses possession.
Second half
46 mins: Peeeeep! And after a slight delay due to smoke, we’re off again. Adelaide face a huge task this half - not helped by the fact that Malik’s not come back out due to injury.
Half-time
That’s gotta hurt for Adelaide. They were still very much in this heading into the break but that late, late goal has really put their backs against the wall. See you again in 15 minutes.
GOAL! Sydney FC 2-0 Adelaide United
45+1 mins: Brosque! Ibini with a cross to the near post and Brosque flicks it in with a back-heel! Superb improvisation from the Sydney man. Galekovic totally wrong-footed. That’s a massive blow for Adelaide right before the break.
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44 mins: Good stop from Janjetovic. Isaias with the strike but the keeper’s equal to it.
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43 mins: Ibini moaning after a tussle on the right just as he was looking to break through. Nothing in it. Would have been harsh on Adelaide.
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41 mins: Sydney concede yet another free-kick. Petkovic with a cynical tug. It’s Adelaide’s turn to feel unhappy. They think he should have been booked.
39 mins: Decent few minutes from Sydney. Tavares to Ibini on the right, but he can’t find Janko with the final cross. The resulting corner is collected easily by Galekovic.
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37 mins: Bit better from Sydney, little more composure. Janko gives away a free-kick but the protests are more muted. Adelaide still probing but there’s nothing in it at the minute.
35 mins: Swanee whistle time as Dimitrijevic slips while taking a free-kick.
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33 mins: Close again! Jeggo with a low header that just skids wide. Good free-kick into the box. Just like Frank Sinatra once crooned, Adelaide are under Sydney’s skin.
32 mins: Faty in the book now for going over the top of Jeggo. Sydney seething, although it looked pretty clear to me. The Sky Blues need to calm it down.
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31 mins: Brosque arguing with the ref after another foul against Sydney. Tensions simmering. The free-kick is poor though.
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30 mins: Ooooooh! Sanchez hits the top of the bar from the set-piece. Janjetovic barely moved - no point, he wouldn’t have reached it. So close.
29 mins: Booking for Ryall. No protests, he just clipped Goodwin’s heels as he went past him. The crowd aren’t happy. Free-kick on the edge of the area. This could be Adelaide’s chance to get back into it.
28 mins: Carrusca brought down again. He’s definitely being targeted.
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27 mins: Sydney concede a needless corner. Not sure what Jurman was trying to do there. His clearance hits Faty and goes out. Faty looks bewildered. Thankfully for the Sky Blues, the corner is poor and doesn’t beat the man at the near post.
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25 mins: Ooo, great throughball from Jeggo but Carrusca can’t get his shot past the keeper. Jeggo having a blinder.
24 mins: Adelaide passing the ball around, trying to regain their composure and build again.
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21 mins: Adelaide on the backfoot now. They were just gaining some momentum before that goal, too. Ibini with another shot but it hits the defender and goes out.
GOAL! Sydney FC 1-0 Adelaide United
18 mins: Ibini smashes one into the roof of the net! Great finish after a pull back from Naumoff. Such a calm finish from about 10 yards.
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16 mins: Just looking at that Janko offside again, I think he’s complaining that he wasn’t interfering with play as Brosque was lurking to his left. He blatantly was interfering though.
14 mins: Janko offside after almost bustling through the Adelaide defence. Good work from Ibini to create the chance despite a poor final ball.
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13 mins: Cheap free-kick to Adelaide on the right of the box. Sydney aren’t happy about it and there’s a bit of push and shove in the area as the players jostle for position. The ball swings in from Goodwin but it fails to beat the first man. First signs of tension.
11 mins: Adelaide starting to get back into it, controlling possession - as they love to do. They’ve still not created anything though. As soon as they get near the Sydney area, they’re swarmed by sky blue shirts.
9 mins: Ryall gets a warning from the referee for a cruncher on Carrusca. Could have been a yellow on another day... some of the Adelaide players certainly seem to think so.
7 mins: Oooooo! First shot of the day and Naumoff curls one inches wide. Great run from the halfway line to the edge of the area to create the chance.
5 mins: Sydney making most of the early running, Adelaide happy to try and hit on the counter. Unless an early goal shakes things up, this could become a very familiar pattern.
4 mins: Malik with an unconventional header back to his keeper under pressure from a cross. Not entirely sure he meant to do that - not that he’d admit it. Benefit of the doubt.
2 mins: Early corner for Sydney, headed away at the near post and the Reds get a foot on the ball to alleviate the danger.
Kick-off
1 min: Peeeeep! And we’re off. Plenty of noise in the stands. No doubt there will be a fair few watching in Melbourne too.
They start ’em young in Sydney. Great atmosphere at Allianz, they’re hoping for a gate of over 30,000. Off go the fireworks as the teams head on to the pitch.
At least one respected pundit reckons Galekovic is the key to success for Adelaide tonight. But which Galekovic will turn up?
Mr Impregnable?
Or Mr Unfathomable from a week later?
Pre-amble
Hello everyone, thanks for joining me again. Unless your name is Kevin Muscat or you have “Victory” tattooed across your chest, last night’s much-hyped “Mel Clasico” didn’t really get pulses racing. No one could deny there were some highlights and the result was fair, but it wasn’t much of a contest. Essentially, it was the A-League equivalent of Mayweather v Pacquiao – but with more chance of someone getting hurt (especially while Leigh Broxham was on the pitch).
But if last night’s match was as predictable as an episode of Wonderland, tonight’s should be as gripping as an episode of Struggle Street. Sydney finished the season with four points more than Adelaide but all week the stat men (and Eugene ‘mind games’ Galekovic) have been pointing to Adelaide’s record of two wins and a draw against Graham Arnold’s men. And that’s just this season. What those figures don’t show is the full story of the previous clash between the teams. Last month, Sydney battered Adelaide for 90 minutes only to be denied by Galekovic’s fine impression of a salmon on steroids, leaping around to deny shot after shot from Marc Janko and co. A late suckerpunch from Awer Mabil and suddenly the Reds were on a plane back to South Australia with all three points.
A wise man once said the definition of madness is doing the same thing and expecting a different result. I think it was Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist from the Hives. But after the defeat, Arnold said his team would win more than they lost if they played that way every week. He’ll be hoping to put that theory to the test tonight.
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Richard Gadsby is the man tasked with being your eyes and ears in Sydney tonight. While we’re waiting for him to slip into the hot-seat, have a read of Rob Brooks’ match preview:
Having finished second behind Melbourne Victory, the Sky Blues will have the comfort of playing in Sydney when they face Adelaide in Saturday’s second A-League semi-final. But, how much help is it for a team which only picked up a sorry 16 points at Allianz Stadium during the regular season?
Indeed, this campaign was Sydney’s worst at home in six years, and their opponents this week defeated them twice at this venue this term alone. What is it that has prevented this genuinely talented team, coached by one of the best in the business in Graham Arnold, from picking up maximum points on their own turf? Do they not take enough initiative in attack? Does the pitch somehow not suit Arnold’s highly structured style of football? Were their best players simply not available enough of the time?
Read Rob’s full piece here.
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