- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
It is a shame Ian Crook’s exit as Sydney FC coach will dominate discussion this week because the A-League round just gone was one of the best we have witnessed this season.
Crook’s shock decision to step down as coach of the Sky Blues came as a surprise to just about everyone in the game.
For 78 minutes of a pulsating clash at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night, Sydney FC appeared to have exorcised the demons of their embarrassing 7-2 defeat to the Central Coast Mariners a week earlier.
Instead the Sky Blues capitulated in spectacular fashion, blowing a 2-0 lead to concede three goals in the final 12 minutes on the back of a brace from unheralded teenager Andrew Nabbout.
Crook’s distress was plain for all to see when he booted away his plastic chair on the sideline, later becoming involved in an animated discussion with fans angered by his decision to substitute Alessandro Del Piero and Yairo Yau.
Taking Del Piero off after he not only missed last weekend’s clash but also most of the week’s training sessions because of tight hamstrings was a no-brainer, while Crook later explained that Yau himself asked to be substituted.
That didn’t stop a bunch of halfway heroes from verbally abusing one of the nicest guys in football, and those ‘fans’ who thought they knew better than Crook would do worse than read Ange Postecoglou’s pre-match column about how even the A-League actually is.
For all his apparent problems, Crook’s decision to step down still came as a surprise and sadly it detracts from what was one of the most enthralling matches seen in recent years.
But judging from some of the football we’ve already seen this season, the fact Sydney FC’s showdown with bitter rivals Victory turned into such a classic was less of a shock.
The standard of football in this year’s competition hasn’t so much as surpassed previous campaigns as it has blown them out of the water.
Melbourne Heart’s stunning 4-1 thumping of champions Brisbane Roar on Friday night is a case in point.
The Heart were all over the visitors by the time Patrick Gerhardt turned home a clever near-post finish, although the Roar should have had an equaliser before the break when Henrique’s strike was controversially disallowed.
But in the final half hour we saw some of the best of Melbourne Heart – and indeed some of the best counter-attacking football – as the Josip Tadic-inspired hosts took control thanks to goals from Richard Garcia, a penalty converted by Tadic himself and a spectacular David Williams effort.
Tadic wasn’t the only foreigner creating goals, with Western Sydney’s Japanese star Shinji Ono at times tormenting the Newcastle defence in his team’s 2-1 defeat to the Jets on Saturday afternoon.
It was always going to take Ono time to find form given how sparingly he was used by Shimizu S-Pulse this year, but the marquee man is quickly winning over the sceptics with some sparkling form.
Not to be outdone, Emile Heskey once again got among it against the Wanderers, though his ‘goal’ will invariably be credited as an own-goal to unlucky Wanderers goalkeeper Ante Covic.
Sunday’s fixtures also heralded plenty of attractive football as Mariners phenom Tom Rogic set up a resurgent Daniel McBreen for the winner against Wellington Phoenix, while Billy Mehmet and Dario Vidosic both contributed neat finishes in the 1-1 draw between Perth Glory and Adelaide United at Hindmarsh Stadium.
It’s a shame then that all the talk will be about Crook and Sydney FC, because the standard of football on show in the A-League is going from strength to strength.
Saturday night’s pulsating Allianz Stadium clash was a great example of the best the A-League has to offer, even if it will mostly be remembered for the wrong reasons.