Despite dictating play Sydney FC were still left looking for their first Asian Champions League win after drawing 1-1 in their action packed clash with Shanghai Shenhua at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Shanghai’s Colombian striker Duvier Riascos put the visitors in front in the sixth minute with Sydney’s marquee man Nicky Carle slotting home his first half equaliser.
With both teams yet to win in the ACL and occupying the bottom two spots in their group they were desperate for a win.
Shanghai came out on the attack from the get go and it paid off as Riascos found himself on the end of a long ball and got past Sydney’s Stephan Keller, his shot deflecting off defender Sebastian Ryall into the back of the net.
Brazilian import Bruno Cazarine created the Sky Blues first chance in the 11th minute and then again a minute later.
But it was Carle who broke through to equalise in the 12th minute amid a flurry of chances for Sydney.
His goal, the product of a precision pass from Cazarine after the Brazilian got on the end of a superb long ball from stand-in skipper Stuart Musialik.
Sydney striker Mark Bridge proved a worthy replacement for the suspended Terry McFlynn, stinging the palms of Shenhua gloveman Qiu Shengjiong with a dangerous shot on goal in the 29th minute and testing him again just before the break.
Shanghai midfielder Feng Renliang also had a double attempt at scoring, rattling the woodwork near the end of the first stanza, and taking advantage of a Sydney defence caught napping to break through again moments later to force a desperate save from `keeper Liam Reddy.
The pace died down in the second half but crafty Riascos caused all sorts of problems for Sydney’s defence, with a powerful shot on goal in the 54th minute and a misfired header minutes later.
Sydney’s Japanese import Hirofumi Moriyasu created one of the only chances for the Sky Blues in the second stanza, his long range effort sailing over the crossbar.
Sydney coach Vitezslav Lavicka brought on young-gun striker Dimitri Petratos to try to inject some firepower with about 10 minutes to go but he failed to break the deadlock.
Lavicka was left lamenting Sydney’s missed opportunities, after drawing their second ACL match, with both games played at home.
“Most of the game we kept possession,” he said.
“We did plenty of crossing in both halves but there just wasn’t good enough quality to penetrate them (Shanghai).
“They blocked many strike attempts but they were always dangerous on the counter attack.
“We created chances and of course we expected more than one point from this game.”
Having not played a match in over a month after March’s match against Japan’s Kashima Antlers was postponed in the wake of the country’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, Sydney were left without as much match practice as they would have liked at this stage of the competition.
“It’s a strange situation to not play a regular game for five weeks but what happened, happened,” Lavicka said.
“It caused trouble for us but for the people of Japan there is much more trouble there so we can’t complain.”
Sydney will now play their rescheduled ACL match against the Antlers at the SFS next Wednesday.
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