Two goals extra time goals from Bruce Djite have booked Adelaide United’s spot in the FFA Cup semi-final as the Reds beat 10-man Sydney FC 3-1 at Allianz Stadium.
Sydney, who made seven changes to the side that beat Western Sydney Wanderers in the A-League on Saturday, played the final 35 minutes of the game without central defender Nikola Petkovic who was controversially sent off for a challenge on Fabio Ferreira.
Sky Blues coach Graham Arnold was incensed by the decision after referee Ben Williams opted to brandish the red card after an Adelaide move had broken down.
Williams, who refereed at this year’s World Cup in Brazil, has now sent off nine players in his last 20 games, and booked eight players across the 120 minutes.
But more crucially for Arnold, he will now be without the Serbian stopper Petkovic for Friday’s A-League clash with Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium, having earlier lost his central defensive partner Sasa Ognenovski for this game through suspension for his swipe to the head of Wanderers’ Vitor Saba.
Sydney FC have already indicated they will seek to get the red card and the automatic one-match ban that comes with it rescinded.
The Reds dominated the first half with classy Argentine playmaker Marcelo Carrusca pulling the strings in midfield as Sydney failed to get a foothold in the game.
Sergio Cirio gave his side a deserved lead with a smart finish in the 27th minute after Nigel Boogaard’s excellent pass out of defence found the Spaniard who controlled the ball on his chest and rolled it past Ivan Necevski.
The hosts were much improved after the restart with Saturday’s match-winner Alex Brosque introduced for Marc Janko.
The skipper’s impact was immediate as he grabbed the equaliser just after halftime with a dinked finish after Chris Naumoff and Milos Dimitrijevic had combined for Nick Carle to square the ball into his path.
With Ali Abbas now more involved, Sydney looked the better side going forward with Hagi Gligor and Brosque both squandering good chances following dangerous crosses into the box from the Iraq international.
With neither team wanting the burden of extra time, the game opened up in the final 10 minutes with both sides throwing bodies forward looked in vain for the winning goal.
Petkovic’s absence was sorely felt in extra time as Adelaide passed and moved the ball comfortably around the depleted home side with Djite making it 2-1 in the 95th minute when he turned home Carrusca’s low cross.
The former Socceroos striker then added his second eight minutes from time with a smart volleyed finish into the roof of the net.
Catnap
Guest
I am talking about the a leugue and the socceroos who can hardly score look at the stats also more than half of a leugue goals are scored by imports!!!!!
AZ_RBB
Guest
https://mobile.twitter.com/tpignata9/status/524841298641944576 - explanation of why they went to the SFS
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
Given that Fox Sports have customers in cities other than Sydney it was a little disappointing that a more balanced commentary & punditry team wasn't sourced for the match.
Kasey
Guest
I would have liked to see this game at a different venue. If it's just the same old same old, there's no uniqueness factor to entice the less die hard punters along. They know they can catch SFC v AU at Allianz later in the season, but a one-off at Liechhardt or Lambert park? That becomes a special event especially if it's a Quarter/Semi Final of a cup comp.
Kasey
Guest
So it was noticeable to others? Sometimes I hesitate to comment lest I be accused of being overly sensitive. I have to say, there was a pathetic lack of credit given to Adelaide last night. Ask Wobbie, the only reason we won is because Petkovic was marched.
c
Guest
the bias of the sydney centric commentators was rather embaressing
Leonardo
Roar Guru
The game wasn't planned to be at Allianz, it was supposed to be at a suburban ground, but the other options dried up or were not ready or available in their PL off season.
Leonardo
Roar Guru
Tell me one league in the world where players don't miss chances or are denied chances to score. Otherwise we'd have EPL scores like 23-18. Follow Aussie Rules if you like plenty of goals.
Realfootball
Guest
Daft idea to put on a match at Allianzjust 2 days after the derby at the same ground. Frankly I thought they did well to get 3k of loud fans - the noise was impressive on tv. Hats off to those who went.
Franko
Guest
Perhaps look at pricing. $20 last night in GA, which I believe is the same as a regular season match. If they were expecting a lower crowd, why not have a $10 special or something. Arsenal often do £10 Cup games...
Catnap
Guest
The game last night summned up the problem with our local players in great positions to score jeggo and elrich lack of composure and technique failed them miserably!!!!!!
Gareth
Guest
After pulling 25K in Rd1 and 41K with WSW in Rd2, the FFA cup was also going to pale in comparison
langou
Roar Guru
Yeah I agree with that. Getting 3000 to a FFA Cup game is no big deal. I see no reason to move the game to a smaller ground either. It was Sydney's home game so they should play at their home ground.
TimO
Guest
(United fan) Arnold may whinge about the refereeing but if your tactics include deliberately fouling to break up play than copping cards is the risk you run.
Towser
Guest
Expecting the FFA cup to draw big crowds was always going to be a hard slog once it got down to the pointy end of the cup,as it clashed with big matches in the A-League.ie the 2 clubs in this clash were involved in a 41,000 crowd in Sydney & 33,000 in Adelaide. This cup should be recognised for what it really is in Australia a chance for A-league clubs to engage with the football levels below. It is not the FA cup, a cup formed in a country with a League & cup system,two seperate ideologys that created seperate traditions over a period of 100 plus years. Here the Grand final holds it's own seperate strong tradition,regardless of what supposed football purist's may think. How it pans out will be interesting ,but I believe that what others are saying about not playing in stadiums used for normal A-league matches has some merit. It may be in the end that it is a competition whose prime purpose is to bond the game from top to bottom & if it does that IMO it will be well worth while.
pete4
Guest
I agree suburban ground would have been a much better option only 3 days after the derby at the same venue
AZ_RBB
Guest
Tony Pignata said following the draw a few weeks back that a number of their options were not available due to renovations and SFS was a fallback option. I think the final crowd was 3500?
striker
Guest
Gotta agree these games should not be played at these massive stadiums for FFA cup.
Sydutd77
Guest
Looks like the part time fickle Sydney fc supporters couldn't back up their support midweek, What excuses will they have, too cold, it's a Tuesday night lol FFA missed an opportunity here not taking the game to lambert park, stgeorge stadium or even manly!