A gutsy Sydney FC have gone down to a solitary goal against high flying Japanese outfit Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
The Sky Blues were denied multiple times by goalkeeper Osako, and were denied three penalties however they still have qualification for the next stage in their hands.
Sydney FC 0 def. by Hiroshima Sanfrecce 1 (Kato 61’)
Moments That Mattered
15’ | GRANT SHOT SAVED – After a goalmouth scramble, Grant pings the ball towards goal and it takes a deflection off Matsumoto but Osako gets a hand to it while diving the wrong way.
19’ | SEGECIC SHOOTS WIDE – Ouahim feeds Segecic who takes a touch and just fires a shot wide of the post.
42’ | KLIMALA SHOT SAVED – Klimala gets through on goal at a tight angle but the Japanese international keeper is out well to block.
45’+2’ | KASHIWA MISS – Sydney FC give away the ball just before the break and the ball is crossed to Kashiwa who misses a sitter – no other way to put it.
59’ | BURGESS SHOT OVER – Burgess gets some space in the channel of the penalty area but it’s deflected over.
61’ | KATO GOAL – A curling cross from the left is headed home by substitute Mutsuki with his first touch off the bench.
63’ | OUAHIM DENIED – Fantastic intricate play in the box between Segecic and Klimala falls to Ouahim who hits it first time but Osako makes a fabulous one handed save low down.
70’ | BURGESS DENIED – Great play from Quintal on the left to beat his man and cross but Burgess’ goal bound flick is saved.
83’ | REDMAYNE FULL LENGTH – the keeper dives full length to his left to prevent Arai scoring.
Match Report: Sydney FC have gone down 1-0 to Japanese title contenders Sanfrecce Hiroshima in their 4th group game of the AFC Champions League 2 at Jubilee Stadum tonight.
Having created some good chances and dominated large parts of the game they were caught on the counter by a second half header from substitute Mutsuki Kato.
The Sky Blues started brightly with Grant having a shot brilliantly saved and Segecic putting a good chance wide.
Chances were few until just before half time when Klimala who’d earlier had claims for a penalty waved away, had a shot saved from an acute angle.
Perhaps the miss of the season came just before half-time when a right wing cross came to the unmarked Kashiwa who missed an open goal from six yards.
The Japanese visitors took the lead against the run of play on the hour when substitute Kato headed home from a left wing cross.
Two great saves from Sanfrecce keeper Osako denied Ouahim and Burgess in the ten minutes following the goal, with the latter also being denied another penalty.
Rhyan Grant was later felled in the box at a corner but yet again no penalty was given.
What They Said: Ufuk Talay: “Nothing is ever out of reach, there are two more games to go and we are going to try to get maximum points out of the two games and see where we end up.
On the penalty claims: “I thought Patryk’s [Klimala’s] one was the most obvious one to me. There was a lot of bodies in the way for Max’s one.
“You can’t always hide behind the decisions the officials make and you have to be brave enough to score goals and we didn’t do that tonight.”
Max Burgess: “I think we deserved something out of the game, I thought we tried to be the aggressor, we tried to press and play in their half and I thought we did that in large parts and it wasn’t our night.
“I think there were a couple of decisions [which didn’t go our way], in the moment I thought it was [a penalty after a foul on him] but I’ll have to have a look at it again.
“I thought we were really positive, I guess we’ll need to win the last two games and there’s a lot of belief in this squad.
“There’s a lot of depth as well, we’ve got some players out, the young boys played brilliantly tonight as well. Segecic was brilliant in the first half and Tiago came on an made impact.
“It’s positive signs but unfortunately we didn’t get the win.
Sydney FC: 1. Andrew REDMAYNE, 4. Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS (16. Joel KING 87’), 5. Hayden MATTHEWS, 7. Adrian SEGECIC (20. Tiago QUINTAL 65’), 8. Anas OUAHIM (33. Marin FRANCE 87’), 9. Patryk KLIMALA (25. Jaiden KUCHARSKI 78’), 15. Leo SENA, 17. Anthony CACERES, 22. Max BURGESS, 23. Rhyan GRANT (C) (37. Will KENNEDY 87’), 41. Alex POPOVIC.
Unused Subs: 12. Harrison DEVENISH-MEARES (GK), 3. Aaron GURD, 13. Pat WOOD, 27. Lachlan MIDDLETON.
Yellow Cards: Popovic 90’.
Red Cards: None.
Sanfrecce Hiroshima: 1. Keisuke OSAKO, 5. Hiroya MATSUMOTO, 6. Toshihiro AOYAMA (15. Shuto NAKANO 46’), 9. Douglas VIERA, 10. MARCOS JR (51. Mutsuki KATO 60’), 11. Makoto MITSUTA, 16. Takaaki SHICHI (19. Sho SASAKI 85’), 18. Yoshifumi KASHIWA, 25. Yusuke CHAJIMA (13. Naoto ARAI 70’), 33. Tsukasa SHIOTANI, 35. Yotaro NAKAJIMA,
Subs: 21. Yudai TANAKA (GK), 14. Taishi MATSUMOTO, 20. Pieros SOTIRIOU, 21. Yuda TANAKA (GK), 22. Goro KAWANAMI (GK), 24. Shunki HIGASHI, 34. Kohei HOSOYA, 66. Hayao KAWABE, 99. Goncalo Mendes PACIENCIA.
Yellow Cards: Aoyama 27’, Sotiriou 79’, Shichi 83’,
Red Cards: None
Venue: Jubilee Stadium
Referee: Ammar Ebrahim Hasan Mahfoodh (Bahrain)
Attendance: 3,512
