Just five games into his managerial career Dwight Yorke has claimed his first piece of silverware, lifting the Australia Cup after his Macarthur FC side ground out a 2-0 win over Sydney United 58.
The Bulls ended NPL underdog United’ss hopes of becoming the first non-A-League side to claim the Australia Cup, a pair of penalties seeing the Bulls claim glory after just two years in the top-flight competition.
Daniel Arzani starred for the victors, who took the lead through an Al Hassan Toure penalty but were unable to shake a gutsy Sydney United outfit, whose fans turned out in force hoping for their team to make history.
A second penalty from captain Ulises Davila finally sealed the result, the win earning Macarthur their first Australia Cup title, and first piece of silverware after just two seasons in the A-League.
The win also ensures the Bulls will take their place in the 2023/24 AFC Cup.
The Bulls had plenty to overcome at Sydney’s CommBank Stadium, not least a boisterous crowd of 16,461 which was dominated by United’s fans displaying Croatian flags.
Around 3000 United supporters marched down Parramatta’s Victoria Road before the match, with flares and banners generating an electric atmosphere from kick-off.
The crowd were then at the centre of disappointing scenes before kick-off, nearly drowning out the Welcome to Country with loud cheering and later booing.
Part-timers United, who became the first NPL team to reach the cup final, beating ALM sides Brisbane Roar and Western United en route, were buoyed by the backing and were up for the fight.
That filtered through to the pitch when a push-and-shove erupted over United’s treatment of Macarthur winger Daniel Arzani.
The six-cap Socceroo was a class above, causing United countless problems down the left flank until being taken off with 15 minutes to go.
A 14th-minute Arzani corner found the head of Jonathan Aspropotamitis and were it not for the reflexes of United goalkeeper Danijel Nizic the Bulls would have taken an early lead.
The Bulls continued to press forward and got their reward when Davila was brought down inside the box following a clumsy challenge from United defender Anthony Tomelic.
Toure converted from the spot and was greeted with projectiles from the United fans as he ran towards their end cupping his ears in celebration.
United pushed forward but could not fashion an equaliser no matter how hard they tried, Chris Payne taking a touch too many when they countered Macarthur.
Striker Patrick Antelmi, who had perhaps the best chance of the night, could only cushion a header into the hands of Bulls goalkeeper Filip Kurto.
The Bulls, who went close through Lachlan Rose in the second half, eventually got their second when substitute Craig Noone was felled in the United box and Davila wrapped up the result in the 90th minute with a well-taken penalty.
Hoolifan
Guest
Amazing that the pile on about the perception of what or what didn't happen gets all the attention in the media. I saw the match and I did not notice any 'racism'. It is all a massive beat up.
jbinnie
Guest
Grem - Arzani is not the only Bull who needs to improve his finishing. If Toure, Da Silva, Rose, Noone and even Davila had improved their striking attempts the score could have been 5 or 6 -0 long before the end. Yorke will have noted that. By game's end Kurto was little better than a spectator in the Bulls goal. Because of the goals and when they were scored, the game itself remained entertaining, but .as others have noted, "conditioning" (or lack of it) was becoming obvious before the end. Crowd behavior????? Nothing that the FFA didn't know was possibly about to happen but it is easier to suggest how to stop that sort of thing than it is to actually do so. Cheers jb.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Macarthur played some nice football last night without the clinical finishing. They have some wonderful attacking players, the defence looks good and they have a quality coach. This should be a good season. If Arzani could tidy up his finishing he’d be great to see at The World Cup. Perhaps he and Garang could play one half each!
Nick Symonds
Guest
I think that Arzani and Toure both need to play more centrally. If most of the attacks go down the left through Arzani, then the right gets neglected. But if Arzani was in the centre then he could bring in players from both sides, not just one, which then creates more options. If everything goes down the left, it gets predictable. As for Toure, it wasn't just that most attacks were going down the left, but he was mostly playing out wide as a traditional winger. I'd prefer to see him playing more centrally so that he can take part in the attack more often, especially with his goal scoring record. Both players should be considered as potential Socceroos bolters.
Garry
Roar Rookie
Arzani & Davila were great and set up others numerous time. Toure did fade a little late but had a good game. What was missing was a finisher.
Garry
Roar Rookie
16,461.. I went because a friend wanted to go and was pleasantly surprised by the size of the crowd. ALSO they were generally well behaved irregardless of the apparent efforts by a few morons.
Garry
Roar Rookie
Macarthur did not need Holman, they had sufficient ball. Da Silva was amongst the best players.. Rose is not A League standard despite being a fan favourite. They need a striker.
Nick Symonds
Guest
Arzani - Still good at taking on defenders, but still not much of a record of scoring goals Toure - Most attacks went down the left through Arzani, didn't have many chances himself
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
Well done to Dwight Yorke, a sensational start to his managerial career, and Macarthur, first silverware. Enjoyable game, looked like a pretty good crowd, and Sydney United kept going right up to the end, and put together some decent passages of play.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Arzani was both impressive and dissapointing. At the start of the match he would take on heaps of players and looked great but needs better end product, after the 60 minute mark he was basically finished though. Toure had the same issue as well. If you factor Macarthur scored 5 goals in a short space of time only after the central defender for Oakleigh got injured just before half time and their striker was put at left back. The other big factor for Macarthur was Holman against Oakleigh, Holman was the chief ball winner in that match. De Silva did well as a link man but wasn't the same as a ball winner and didnt cover as well as Holman did. I dont know what happened to Holman and Mwoomba maybe they had niggles but they were needed. I thought Yorke was smart when he took off Arzani early against Oakleigh , maybe that was just because they had a big lead, in this case he left him on long enough for Sydney United to get a look in. This will be a problem throughout the season Yorke needs to have the 60 minute mark pencilled in for Arzani to come off. Sydney United unlike the normal NPl teams by this stage they improved on their fitness, though obviously they had more incentive to do that because it was a final. Was the coach keeping Klut for extra time again.