As all grand finals should, the 2018/19 A-League decider loomed as a tight and unpredictable affair. Both Perth Glory and Sydney FC had every reason to believe they would prevail at Optus Stadium.
The fervent local crowd gave the locals an extra leg, yet the superb recent form of the Sky Blues had every Glory fan trembling with fear after Sydney’s demolition of Melbourne Victory in the semi-finals.
As expected, a cagey atmosphere marked the early minutes. Both sides had half chances, mostly from promising headers.
Dino Djulbic went close for the home side before Rhyan Grant sneaked in at the near post and had a chance of his own.
Despite those early scares, the contest remained a little conservative. Both sides appeared to believe that the final half-hour of the grand final would make all the difference; biding their time for the dramatic events to follow.
Just short of thirty minutes, Sydney looked to have taken the lead when Michael Zullo and Alex Brosque combined on the left side of the Glory box and Adam le Fondre appeared to either nudge or force the goal home from close range.
Matthew Spiranovic seemed to provide the final touch as the ball trickled into the far corner of Liam Reddy’s net, yet Sydney were to be denied the goal after the assistant’s flag went up and the VAR saw no reason to overturn the decision.
Steve Corica and the entire Sydney bench exploded and rightly so, with the evidence suggesting that Zullo was marginally onside and le Fondre’s positioning legitimate as Spiranovic provided the final touch into his own net.
At that moment, it was hard not to reflect on the events of 12 months ago, when the Newcastle Jets felt the wrath of the VAR in their grand final loss to the Victory at McDonald Jones Stadium.
On that day, technological reliability was the issue yet on this occasion the hardware appeared to work just fine and it was the courage of the officials that appeared to be severely lacking.
The sides went to the break dead locked and goalless, with Sydney FC feeling aggrieved to say the least.
Soon after the break, the Sky Blues appeared to take advantage with a decent period of controlled possession. Yet it was to swing quickly and Diego Castro had the first real chance of the half, with a header that forced Redmayne into a terrific save.
The subsequent corner was cleaned up and a series of hard fouls followed, with both teams refusing to budge from the defensive task they had been assigned by their managers.
Castro and Milos Ninkovic were the major victims, as both midfields attempted to ensure that neither man was given the space to create the potentially match winning moment.
As the hour rolled by, Sydney took some control in midfield and the Perth Glory box became a busy place. Then, against the grain, Castro headed towards goal in the 67th minute, only for Redmayne to deny him for a second time.
By the 75th minute it was clear that the immense lead Perth had built on the A-League ladder during the season was something of a fallacy – there was nothing between the two teams and the final match of the season was enunciating that fact.
The managers went to their benches and fresh legs were thrown in to make the difference. Andy Keogh and Anthony Caceres were the first to enter the fray as the minutes ticked down and the probability of extra-time grew.
(Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
Grant and Jason Davidson continued their epic battle down the flank as the 90 minutes drew to a close and it was perhaps the most aggressive and entertaining match-up of the night.
Despite a few hairy moments at both ends of the pitch, neither side could break the tie and extra-time became the focus of both managers.
The first period began with a significant moment, as Alex Brosque left the pitch for the final time in his career.
The Perth Glory fans who booed the champion might want to reflect on the intelligence of those who would dare do the same to Diego Castro, when the veteran Spaniard does decide to leave the game.
To say the first period of extra-time was bland, dull and boring is an understatement – neither side showed a real intention to chance their hand, with risk outweighed by prudence.
The match headed into a second period of extra-time. Once again, the biggest match in Australian domestic football appeared destined for penalties, with neither side willing to take unnecessary risk when in possession of the ball.
With 120 minutes done and dusted, there had been just a handful of chances on goal and only one in the extra-time period. Perth had the best of the final minutes before Shaun Evans blew his whistle and ended the match with only penalties left to decide the 2018/19 A-League Championship.
The two sides traded successful attempts before Andy Keogh, taking the second penalty for Perth, could not score – a disadvantage which turned into a championship loss when Brendon Santalab took their next attempt and he, too, was denied. Reza Ghoochannejhad scored the sealer.
What a tragic end for the Glory with over 56,000 people on hand to witness the feat and a season where they looked to be the best team in the land.
Sadly, they were not and Sydney FC reign for the record-equalling fourth occasion in the A-League era.
What an achievement for Steve Corica and what a crippling blow for Tony Popovic, a man seemingly destined to never win an A-League championship.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Nemesis
Guest
Did you watch those other 3 grand finals? If you did then you'd have your answer. It's neither bad luck, nor bad management. It's just one team wins & the other team loses. None of these matches Popovic has lost were walk-overs. In this season's Grand Final, by any metric Popovic's team was the better team. His team lost on penalties. It tells me nothing about the quality of the coach, or any player. If Sydney had lost it would not mean Corica is a bad manager.
chris
Guest
Glad you guys arent coaches! "Whats the game plan coach"? "Pens boys...pens"!
Harry Selassie
Roar Rookie
That is how I see it too jupiter. VAR, however, can only be as effective as the officials monitoring it. But offside is not open to interpretation, which is why I earlier used the perhaps crass example of being pregnant, you either are or are not. Same with offside, you either are or are not. There is no middle ground open to interpretation as when determining if a handball was intentional or not. So if Zullo was offside and it looked clear from the replays we saw that he was not, then there was a “clear and obvious error” and the offside call should have been reversed and the goal counted. By not reversing the call, the VAR official thought there was not a reversible error so either he thought there was no offside or it was too difficult to tell if there was. I don’t think either my eyes or jupiter’s are deceiving us, but how could any official look at those replays and see offside there?
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Shot on goal. SFC had a goal disallowed that was perfectly legitimate and should have stood if VAR had done its job properly. I make yesterday Popovic's 4th grand final loss. Either bad luck or bad management?
Nemesis
Guest
You think Popovic lost because he was too timid & negative in his philosophy? Do you realise Sydney won the game without having a single shot on goal? Reddy didn't make a save over 120 minutes. Corica went with the negative tactics. Even Corica admitted after the match they didn't create. And Corica never admits such stuff normally.
m
Guest
Agree totally Stevo. He would need to change his style to win the big game in a knock-out comp. His opposition team in the ACL final would have felt hard done by for sure. WSW no doubt had the rub of the green in that game. But, a win is a win.....
Punter
Roar Rookie
Have to agree with Mister AFL here Waz, there is no real interpretation of offside, you either offside or you are not, perfect use of VAR, similar to goal line technology. Other decisions are open to interpretations & debate can continue. Last night based on what we saw, no-one could argue that is was not offside & a clearly a goal. This was a clear example of the poor work of the officials with the use of VAR.
jupiter53
Roar Pro
I am not sure why the ACL victory is being undervalued in this way. What bigger dance could there be? For Popovic and Wanderers to negotiate the group games, and then the succession of home and away fixtures to win with an at best workmanlike team is a spectacular coaching achievement. I would like the sceptics to nominate a greater achievement by an Australian coach.
Punter
Roar Rookie
We football fans are a modest lot, Mister AFL, yeah 4 championships, but I'm a more Premiership sort of guy, would prefer we win more premierships.
jupiter53
Roar Pro
Wasn't there a "clear and obvious error" in that Zullo was level when the ball was played? I accept that that only Kris Griffith-Jones and his team saw the VAR replays. However I have looked back at the Fox coverage and he continues to look level to me at the moment that the ball is played [and not just judging by Fox's yellow line]. Or am I blind? I understand that penalties etc. must remain primarily a matter for the judgement of the match officials, and that VAR is there to pick up "clear and obvious errors" when for reasons of [for example] restricted view the match officials are impaired in their ability to judge; but surely offside is a matter of fact rather than judgement? If not, then the current operation of VAR is an ass.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Don't be so modest Punter - that should read 4 Championships.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
you're Premiers Jordan. Congratulations. and I think everyone agrees, you are the best side in the A League this year, by a fair hit. Well done.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
The words the commentators used, and they said they came from the sideline reporter who heard it from the fourth official, was that it was too close to call (ie. not clear enough to overrule the linesman's call). That indicates a margin of error, which hasn't always been evident this season.
TPC
Roar Rookie
Keogh also had nearly an hr on the pitch so he plenty of time to win the game. Brosque and Le Fondre didn't have a sniff either just wasn't that type of game
Waz
Roar Rookie
Chianese didn’t have the desired impact anyway. So while it’s all just opinions it is a fact Poppa chokes in Grand Finals.
AGO74
Guest
Good comment which its hard to disagree with. Consistently good - but not great, and for these big matches you need to be great in order to succeed.
Waz
Roar Rookie
Stick to the facts. The VAR reviewed it and couldn’t see he was onside, therefore he was offside. You’re basing your decision on different footage to what the VAR uses. Fox often draw that yellow line in the wrong place, it’s often not in sympathy with the lines of the pitch, and it’s often drawn at the wrong time ie not exactly when the bell is kicked. So basing your decision on that is flawed. Happy to agree it was tight but with a VAR review they had to have seen it was offside or they would have over turned it. Have you mentioned the crowd yet (57,000) or the viewing figures (FTA (10 Bold) – 263K, Fox Sports – 191K, Total = 454,000 with regional and streaming to be added) – very good don’t you think?
AGO74
Guest
Yep - I was supremely confident that Sydney would win in penalties because: *Perth were terrible at penalties last week - its a mental thing; *Liam Reddy is not capable of stopping that many penalties 2 weeks in a row - he did well against a bad set of Adelaide penalties; and *Andrew Redmayne has been a master at penalty saves this season against No. 1 penalty takers from various teams.
Harry Selassie
Roar Rookie
Do we really know Waz that the VAR official agreed with the linesman or just that there was not in his mind, "clear and convincing" evidence of an error to overturn the original call? We don't know because the conversations between the officials are not broadcast. This is an area where rugby's TMO is way ahead of other sports in video review. Thanks to their mic'd hook up we know exactly what the TMO is being asked to review and what his analysis is. We just don't receive that in football and the sport is poorer for that. In addition did the main referee himself go and review the replay that VAR had? I thought they were supposed to do so unless the VAR official is absolutely certain of his decision. As close as Zullo's offside call was, why wasn't the centre official looking at a replay? (Or have I forgotten and he did look at one?)
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
I disagree, Corica knew he was super odds on thats why he wasnt that desperate to attack, and he didnt want to sub any of his potential penalty takers to go for the win in extra time. Redmayne is greater than 50% saving penalties this season and Perth as they showed cant hit them. I would back Redmayne against any other goal keeper in the world in saving penalties, he has , and I would back Sydney over Perth in hitting them.