A-League

Sydney FC into Grand Final
 By Corinthian

A-League Season 2005-06 - Major Semi Final - 2nd Leg
5pm, Sunday 19 February 2006
at Aussie Stadium (SFS), Sydney

Sydney FC 2 (Saso Petrovski 39', Mark Rudan 76')
defeated
Adelaide United FC 1 (Qu Shengqing 60')

(Sydney FC through on aggregate to the Grand Final, and Adelaide United to play Central Coast Mariners in Adelaide next week)

Sydney FC advanced to the first ever A League Grand Final and snared home advantage after an exciting encounter with Premiers Adelaide United at a packed Aussie Stadium on Sunday night.

Sydney, with the advantage of two away goals from the first leg’s 2-2 scoreline, were in the box seat and played accordingly

But they enjoyed plenty of good fortune in protecting their ‘goals in hand’, having the lead through a piece of direct play that bamboozled Adelaide and by surviving some enterprising play by their opponents that yielded one fine goal and almost a second, the crossbar coming between star striker Qu and another notch on his belt.

In addition Adelaide laid siege to the Sydney goal for the latter part of the game and had home coach Pierre Littbarski pacing the sidelines like an expectant father.

The game went within a whisker of being taken into extra time, despite what at first was acclaimed as a great third goal by Sydney, soon to be legitimately ruled offside.

What was not offside, though, - uncertain enough that even the goal scorer, Sasho Petrovski, appeared to think he might be, so diffidently did he tuck the ball under keeper Daniel Beltrame in the 29th minute - was the opening strike of the game.

A long ball punted forward by Ruben Zadkovich, for a good 50 yards, found Petrovski running through easily past a defence appealing fruitlessly for the offside infringement when a defender on the opposite side was clearly ahead of the former Wollongong marksman.

Keeper Beltrame hesitated and so did Petrovski, after a futile attempt by last defender, Michael Valkanis, to rob him of the ball, while the remainder of the Adelaide defence stood by watching helplessly, waiting for the whistle that never came.

Almost apologetically Petrovski found the net with a weak effort that trickled over the line as if he didn’t really mean it.

Beltrame appeared to get something on the shot but not enough to stop its passage into the net.

Sydney had almost opened the scoring in the first minute when David Carney was played down the right by a great ball from Matt Bingley but the ex Evertonian’s cross was just too sharp for a late arriving Steve Corica.

Later, Petrovski was also too late to cash in on a similar cross from the left in a first half that belonged more to Sydney than the second was to, after a longer than usual break.

Needing a win or at least a two-all draw to force the game into extra time Adelaide began the second period with great dash and élan.

Shengqing Qu’s header had already rocked the bar in the 37th minute and his tantalising corners, of which Adelaide were winning the majority late in the first half, were creating mayhem in the Sydney defensive ranks.

Adelaide looked even more dangerous in the 50th when Carl Veart raced past the Sydney defence on the right and pulled the ball back cleverly from the by-line. Before any United player could reach it Sydney’s back-to-form defender, Mark Rudan, hooked the ball to safety.

We were to see more of Rudan later.

Nine minutes after Rudan’s piece of desperate covering Qu had his team level and brimming with confidence.

Fernando Rech provided the pass that enabled Qu to turn sharply inside and slam a great low shot past Clint Bolton and we then had a real game on our hands.

In the 65th Richie Alagich, at his best going forward, got the better of Alvin Ceccoli down the left and tested Bolton with a great shot that the keeper did very well to block and thus preserve his side’s aggregate lead.

Mark Milligan, who collected his second yellow of the series and will miss the Grand Final, was the provider who killed off Adelaide’s hopes when he sent over a telling cross from the right that was met emphatically at the far post by Rudan, who stretched out a defender’s boot and smashed the ball into the net with some venom.

A minute after this goal Sydney fans in ‘the Cove’ thought their side had a third but it was soon seen that, despite Dwight Yorke’s cross being nodded back by Petrovski, for Andrew Packer to slice home at close range, the latter was clearly offside.

Adelaide redoubled their efforts knowing that a second goal would send the game into extra time and the way they looked that additional time could well have suited them, so many ideas did they display.

It was not to be, however, though in the 82nd it almost was.

Adelaide substitute, Greg Owens, who a week earlier had featured in the Johnny Warren Cup Final with Sydney United, threaded a superb ball in the path of his skipper, Ross Aloisi, who went on to hit the left hand upright. The ball came back to Rech but Iain Fyfe was able to block the shot on the line with Bolton left helpless.

After Petrovski had found himself one of three Sydney players converging on one Adelaide man and the keeper, in the 97th, it took a big effort from Beltrame to deny the striker, whose prowess these days is nowhere near what it was at the start of the season.

Still chasing the draw Adelaide, through Owens, nearly grabbed their second, in stoppage time, but the ex-Newcastle Breakers man blasted high and wide from the edge of the box.

Adelaide did look the better side for long periods and should these two meet again in the Grand Final it would be a brave man to rule them out after losing three times now in Sydney, each time by the same 2-1 scoreline. It could well be different next time - if indeed there IS a next time.


A-League Season 2005-06 - Major Semi Final - 2nd Leg
5pm, Sunday 19 February 2006
at Aussie Stadium (SFS), Sydney


Sydney FC 2 (Saso Petrovski 39', Mark Rudan 76')
defeated
Adelaide United FC 1 (Qu Shengqing 60')

(Sydney FC through on aggregate to the Grand Final, and Adelaide United to play Central Coast Mariners in Adelaide next week)