Sydney FC has qualified for the 2011/12 Hyundai A-League finals after a pulsating 3-2 win over Newcastle Jets at Allianz Stadium saw them finish the regular season in 5th place.
Sydney FC has qualified for the 2011/12 Hyundai A-League finals after a pulsating 3-2 win over Newcastle Jets at Allianz Stadium saw them finish the regular season in 5th place.
The victory sees Sydney FC travel across the Tasman Sea to take on Wellington Phoenix on Friday night in the 4th v 5th elimination final.
Sydney FC had numerous heroes on the night. Striker Joel Chianese bagged a double. Marquee men Brett Emerton and Nick Carle were standouts. Slovakian midfielder Karol Kisel didn-t stop running and Bruno Cazarine started the procession with the opening goal.
Sydney FC presented out-going coach Vitezslav Lavicka with a present before the match as it looked likely to be his last in charge at Allianz Stadium but if Sydney FC beats Wellington and Melbourne Heart beats Perth next weekend, Sydney FC will play another home semi final.
Lavicka made two changes to the team that drew 2-2 with Melbourne Heart, rewarding Shannon Cole for his two-goal substitute-s performance and bringing Kisel back into the side with Rhyan Grant and Terry Antonis the unlucky pair. Antonis took his place on the bench alongside Sebastian Ryall, Mark Bridge and Liam Reddy.
The game with started with Sydney, who needed to win the game to progress to the finals, trying to make the running with Newcastle content to sit back and play on the break.
It wasn-t a pretty opening with neither side having any real chances. The match resembled a chess battle but the mindset of both teams changed in the 11th minute when Cazarine opened the scoring for the Sky Blues.
Cazarine scored his 8th goal of the season with a bullet header, getting on the end of an inch perfect Emerton cross to put the home side in the box seat.
It set the scene for a see-sawing afternoon and in the 19th minute Newcastle had a free kick, which could easily have been given as a penalty. The ensuing shot from the edge of the penalty area was blocked by the Sydney FC wall and from a quick break, Sydney should have gone 2-0 up.
Emerton gain was the engineer, playing in Kisel who was free on goal. He rounded Ben Kennedy but could not cut the ball back to the waiting Chianese, who would have only had to sidefoot the ball into an empty net.
The energy of Sydney continued to cause problems for the Jets and Scott Jamieson was the next to break free after causing an error in the Newcastle defence. Jamieson took the ball to the byline in the 25th minute but could not get it through the Jets cover defence.
The match turned again in the 26th minute when Michael Bridges equalised after he tapped in from the edge of the six yard box following a direct run and cross from Ruben Zadkovich.
At 1-1, the game was evenly poised but you got the feeling there was plenty more to come.
Three minutes later the match took a turn the Sydney FC way when Pascal Bosschaart hit Chianese with a beautiful diagonal ball and the young striker-s shot took a deflection and ballooned over Kennedy to make it 2-1 Sydney.
Chianese scored his second of the game in the 33rd minute thanks to some terrier midfield defence, a delightful pass from Emerton and a beautiful first touch and finish from Chianese. It was champagne football and Sydney had taken a 3-1 lead.
The game threatened to boil over in the 40th minute when Zadkovich hit Jamieson with a crude challenge, which resulted in a yellow card. Newcastle coach Gary van Egmond then replaced the former Sydney FC midfielder at half time, introducing Jeremy Brockie.
Sydney FC had the first opportunity after the break when Chianese broke free and tried to beat the final defender despite the fact both Emerton and Kisel were free on the edge of the penalty area in the 51st minute.
Two minutes later Ali Abbas blazed wide with the goal at his mercy after Bridges made a smart run down the left channel and his shot was parried into Abbas- path by Ivan Necevski.
It was end-to-end action.
The match hit a dead patch in the middle stages of the second half, as both sides resembled punch drunk heavyweight fighters who had thrown everything at each other in a frantic first 45 minutes.
But, it pounced into life in the 85th minute when Newcastle pulled a goal back through Jobe Wheelhouse after he was first to react to a Nikolai Topor-Stanley header than came back off the crossbar.
The last five minutes saw Newcastle throw caution to the wind and both sides had opportunities to find the back of the net but it was Sydney FC who hung tough and progressed through to the finals with a 3-2 win.
Sydney FC now faces Wellington Phoenix in an elimination final at Wesptac Stadium (Wellington) on Friday night.
Sydney FC Members can purchase tickets to the match on Monday and Tuesday as part of the Hyundai A-League Members and Football Family pre-sale period before tickets go on sale to the general public on Wednesday. Check out www.sydneyfc.com for all ticketing details.
Sydney FC 3 (Bruno Cazarine 11, Joel Chianese 30, 33) d Newcastle Jets 2 (Michael Bridges 26, Jobe Wheelhouse 84)
Allianz Stadium
Crowd: 14,494
Referee: Chris Beath
Sydney FC: 20. Ivan Necevski (gk), 4. Pascal Bosschaart, 5. Michael Beauchamp, 7. Brett Emerton, 8. Karol Kisel (2. Sebastian Ryall ‘89), 9. Bruno Cazarine, 10. Nick Carle (19. Mark Bridge ‘83), 12. Shannon Cole, 15. Terry McFlynn (c), 16. Joel Chianese (17. Terry Antonis ‘77), 21. Scott Jamieson.
Sub not used: 1. Liam Reddy (gk).
Yellow cards: Terry Antonis 86.
Red cards: Nil
Newcastle Jets: 1. Ben Kennedy (gk), 2. Taylor Regan, 4. Nikolai Topor-Stanley, 6. Ben Kantarovski (26. Connor Chapman ‘81), 9. Michael Bridges (11. Tarek Elrich ‘66), 10. Ruben Zadkovich (8. Jeremy Brockie ‘46), 12. Jobe Wheelhouse, 13. Sung-Hwan Byun, 22. Ali Abbas, 23. Ryan Griffiths, 25. Jacob Pepper.
Sub not used: 19. Matthew Nash (gk).
Yellow cards: Ruben Zadkovich 40, Nikolai Topor-Stanley 47.
Red cards: Nil
