Spectacular goals to Karol Kisel and John Aloisi has seen Sydney FC secure their first Hyundai A-League Premiership with the Sky Blues downing arch rivals Melbourne 2-0 at the Sydney Football Stadium on Sunday evening.
Spectacular goals to Karol Kisel and John Aloisi has seen Sydney FC secure their first Hyundai A-League Premiership with the Sky Blues downing arch rivals Melbourne 2-0 at the Sydney Football Stadium on Sunday evening.
Played in front of a vocal crowd of 25,407 -the fifth largest ever for the Sky Blues – Sydney FC were spurred on by captain Steve Corica-s decision to retire at season-s end, putting in a stellar all round performance.
Despite leaving the field after 15 minutes with hamstring injury, the skipper was unable to hide his satisfaction as he raised the Premiers Plate proudly in front of the Sydney faithful.
The Sky Blues then embarked on a memorable victory lap with the Sydney FC faithful staying well after the whistle to celebrate with their heroes.
“I would love to go out on a high at the end of my career. It-s going to be a different ball game in the finals though we go in very confident,” Corica said.
In the middle Karol Kisel was dominant with hard running and precision passing the feature. On 34 minutes he showed great vision and innovation to put Sydney on the board in spectacular fashion.
From 30 metres out and with Langerak off his line, he used the outside of his boot to lob the ball over the keeper-s outstretched hand and into the back of the net to the delight of the large crowd.A superb strike from Aloisi five minutes into the second half had the fans on their feet in what turned out to be the sealer for the Sky Blues.
Taking the ball just inside his own half, he showed excellent control and poise to maintain possession just outside the area.
His strike was just impressive curving away from Melbourne keeper Mitchell Langerak and thundering into the top of the left hand corner to give Sydney a commanding 2-0 lead.
The goal continues an encouraging run of form for Aloisi going into final series, returning four goals in as many matches.
“It’s a great feeling, we-ve worked hard all year for this and now we want to go on and win the championship,” said a satisfied Aloisi.
Coach Vitezslav Lavicka also paid tribute to the hard work of the team.
“We had a real desire to succeed. I appreciate all the players, they worked very hard. I would also like to congratulate all the fans.“It’s a great experience for me winning this title. I enjoy every training session and I-m enjoying life in Sydney.”
Needing a win to take out the premiership, Sydney signalled their intentions early. From the outset they displayed a hard running, attacking style of play.
In just the second minute it was Sung-Hwan Byun with Sydney-s first shot on goal, with his 30 metre effort curving just wide of the left post.
Down at the other end Sydney-s defence was holding firm with the aggression of Simon Colosimo a highlight, propelling a number of Victory attempts.
Any chance the Victory had of getting back into the match were evaporated when Mrdja hit the post from close range just shy of the hour mark, and with Sydney putting numbers back late in the match they never really threatened to trouble the home side.
Match Details:
Sydney FC: 2 (6. Karol KISEL 34′, 9. John ALOISI 49′)
Melbourne Victory: 0
Sydney FC Line-up: 1. Clint BOLTON (gk), 3. Stephan KELLER, 4.Simon COLOSIMO, 6. Karol KISEL, 8. Stuart MUSIALIK, 9. John ALOISI (26. Hayden FOXE 90+2′), 10. Steve CORICA (c)(7. Brendan GAN 18′), 12. Shannon COLE, 14. Alex BROSQUE, 15. Terry MCFLYNN, 22. Sung-Hwan BYUN.
Substitutes Not Used: 16. Christopher PAYNE, 20. Ivan NECEVSKI (gk).
Yellow Cards: 6. Karol KISEL 28′, 15. Terry McFLYNN 79′.
Red Cards: Nil.
Goals: 6. Karol KISEL 34′, 9. John ALOISI 49′.
Melbourne Victory Line-up: 1. Mitchell LANGERAK (gk), 6. Leigh BROXHAM, 8. Grant BREBNER, 11. Marvin ANGULO (5. Surat SUKHA 60′), 12. Rodrigo VARGAS, 15. Tomislav PONDELJAK, 16. Carlos HERNANDEZ, 21. Robbie KRUSE (17 Mathew FOSCHINI 83′), 22. Nick WARD (13. Nathan ELASI 76′), 23. Adrian LEIJER (c), 29. Nik MRDJA.
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Glen MOSS (gk).
Yellow Cards: 8. Grant BREBNER 26′, 6. Leigh BROXHAM 48′, 23. Adrian LEIJER 63′.
Red Cards: Nil.
Goals: Nil.
Referee: Matthew BREEZE
Attendence: 25 407 at the Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
