Sydney FC have fallen frustratingly short of an AFC Champions League 2 Grand Final spot, despite winning the semi-final second leg 1-0 through a solitary Joe Lolley goal.
The result means a 2-1 loss on aggregate to Lion City Sailors with Lolley’s late effort unable to prove decisive and their AFC Champions League 2 campaign concludes.
The Sky Blues shift their focus towards an Isuzu-UTE A-League top six finish and Finals football, starting this Sunday when they take on the Newcastle Jets at Allianz Stadium.
Sydney FC 1 (Lolley 85’) (1) def. Lion City Sailors 0 (2)
Moments That Mattered:
11’ | COURTNEY-PERKINS OFFSIDE-GOAL – A beautifully illustrated corner ball from Costa finds its way to the head of Grant who does well to put it back into the danger area. A deflection off Segecic sees the ball find Courtney-Perkins who rockets the ball home, however VAR rules Segecic off-side in the build-up.
43’ | GRANT OFF-SIDE GOAL – Just shy of the of the 18-yard boxCaceres found the run of Grant who slipped by the Singaporean defender and was able to tap a headed ball beyond Mahbud who dived at full stretch. The assistant however flagged Grant correctly for offside.
71’ | SEGECIC CHANCE – Costa plays a deft pass across the box and the Lion City Sailors defender mistimed his interception allowing Grant to obtain possession. He whipped in a ball across the penalty area which found Segecic but he put it wide.
74’ | KLIMALA CHANCE – Caceres found Costa who wasted no time in distributing the ball into the penalty area. Klimala gets his head to the ball but not with any conviction.
85’ | LOLLEY GOAL – Costa looped in a ball from wide left to the back post which Grant heads back to Lolley. The Englishman times his shot to perfection hitting a mesmerising half-volley to fire Sydney FC in front on the night and make it 2-1 on aggregate.
Match Report: Sydney FC suffer an AFC Champions League Final 2 semi-final exit in bitter fashion, to the hands of Singapore’s Lion City Sailors at Sydney Football Stadium, losing 2-1 on aggregate, as their Grand Finals hopes came to a stifling close.
Drama early in the first half made for an exciting opening 10 minutes of the contest, with constant attacking pressure on the away side.
A corner via Costa found Grant in 13 minutes who headed the ball goal bound. It fell off the back of Segecic who scrambled to get a footing, and Courtney-Perkins was there to pick up the pieces, firing a shot of power past Mahbud, but it was unfortunately ruled offside by VAR.
The Sky Blues shared the bulk of the possession for the next 30 minutes with Segecic and Costa having moments and just before half-time Ufuk Talay’s side thought they’d scored.
Caceres tracked down a loose ball just outside the edge of the 18-yard box, whipping in a direct pass into the path of Grant who headed the ball home.
Celebrations were cut short as the assistant referee ruled Grant’s run was made just a fraction too late, and the Sky Blues went into halftime level on the night and 2-0 down on aggregate.
The action continued in the second half as Sydney FC found themselves continually in the opponents final third, but unable to capitalise on the Sailors rigid defence.
With 20 minutes to go and time ticking down an array of chances were created by Ufuk Talay’s men as Costa’s orchestrated vision allowed for moments of true promise. However, his finding of the runs of both Grant and Klimala saw them unfortunate not to find the net.
A series of unwanted fouls slowed down Sydney FC’s pressure, however with five minutes left in the 90 Costa looped in a ball towards the back post. Grant lept over the central defender to find Lolley, who hits a perfectly timed half volley to fire the Sky Blues in front and back to 2-1 on aggregate.
However they were unable to draw level in the last few minutes and their Asian campaign ends.
Their focus turns towards an Isuzu-UTE A-League top six finish, with Newcastle Jest at Allianz Stadium on Sunday.
Post-Match Coach’s Interview: Ufuk Talay (Sydney FC Head Coach) and Joe Lolley (Sydney FC Player)
What they said: Ufuk Talay: “For now we are out of the AFC competition, but we have the A-League and the boys will have to shift their focus.
“We have three important games and we must cement ourselves in the top six, we have a game against Newcastle on Sunday and we go from there.
“We will see how the boys pull up, they have a rest tomorrow and back in on Friday, to get the most out of the game on Sunday.”
Joe Lolley:- “I just felt we were going to do it as the game went on and we scored. I felt like that next goal was coming, we were probing.
“We had two disallowed goals in the first half and it felt like we were going to get over the line, but it wasn’t to be.
“The first leg is where we lost it, we gave them something to hang onto.”
Sydney FC (Home) | Formation: 4-2-3-1: 12. Harrison DEVENISH-MEARES (GK), 41. Alexander POPOVIC, 23. Rhyan GRANT (C), 16. Joel KING (20. Tiago QUINTAL 67’), 4. Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS, 11. Douglas COSTA, 15. Leonardo SENA, 17. Anthony CACERES, 9. Patryk KLIMALA, 7. Adrian SEGECIC (8. Anas OUAHIM 90’)10. Joe LOLLEY.
Head Coach: Ufuk TALAY
Unused Substitutions: 1. Andrew REDMAYNE (GK), 42. Kyle Reilly SHAW, 37. Will KENNEDY, 21. Zachary DE JESUS, 38. Jaushua SOTIRIO, 24. Wataru KAMIJO, 6. Corey HOLLMAN, 25. Jaiden KUCHARSKI
Yellow Cards: 41.Alexander POPOVIC 32’, 11. Douglas COSTA 55’.
Red Cards: None
Lion City Sailors (Away) | Formation: 5-4-1: 1. Izwan MAHBUD (GK), 4. Toni DATKOVIC, 26. Bailey WRIGHT, 14. Hariss HARUN (C), 29. Diogo COSTA, 17. Maxime LESTIENNE (7. Shawal ANUAR 65’), 8. Rui PIRES, 15. Song Ui YOUNG, 10. Bart RAMSELAAR, 16. Hami SYAHIN (5. Lionel Tan 87’), 9. Lennart THY
Head Coach: Aleksandar RANKOVIC
Unused Substitutions: 13. Adib AZAHARI (GK), 23. Haiqal PASHIA, 21. Abdul RASAQ. 11. Hafiz NOR, 19. Zulqanaean SUZLIMAN, 68. Ali Al RINA, 18. Obren KLJAJIC, 20. Sergio CARMONA, 30. Akram AZMAN, 12. Adib AZAHARI, 28. Zharfan ROHAIZAD
Yellow Cards: Maxime LESTIENNE 45’, 1. Izwan MAHBUD 90+7’
Red Cards: None
Venue: Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, Australia
Referee: Abdullah JAMALI
Attendance: 10,588
