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Opinion
This weekend’s elimination finals were a reminder of the quality of the product on offer for the APL to advertise, should they ever choose to focus on football instead of relentless gimmickry.
Sydney FC’s storming 2-1 win over the Western Sydney Wanderers at CommBank Stadium on Saturday night was one of the comebacks of the season.
The Sky Blues were second best throughout the first half and arguably deserved to go into the interval a goal down – even if the Wanderers were slightly fortunate to earn a penalty for Alex Wilkinson’s contentious handball.
Yet it was Steve Corica’s men who stormed out of the blocks in a ferocious second half and not for the first time, it was Robert Mak who made all the difference.
The Slovakian international was unstoppable after the break, calmly slotting home the equaliser after a poor defensive header by Adama Traore, before landing a pinpoint corner on the edge of the six-yard box for Adam Le Fondre to steer home the winner with a glancing header.
It was a fearsome display of attacking firepower from a team that has done it all before, and it sets up a genuinely intriguing two-legged semi-final with premiers Melbourne City.
(Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images)
Spare a thought for Wanderers fans, though. Six seasons after their last finals appearance, Marko Rudan’s men crashed out at the first hurdle after a bewilderingly timid second-half display.
They weren’t helped by their captain Marcelo, who was out-jumped by one of the smallest players on the pitch in Le Fondre for Sydney FC’s winner, before somehow heading substitute Yeni Ngbakoto’s free-kick over the crossbar with five minutes remaining when it looked easier to score.
Does an elimination final defeat garner a pass mark for a side completely rebuilt by Rudan? Or does the manner of Saturday night’s defeat take the shine off an otherwise successful season?
It will be interesting to see where Ufuk Talay ends up, after Adelaide United ended his four-season stint as Wellington Phoenix coach with a 2-0 win at Coopers Stadium on Friday night.
The visitors started brightly and almost took an early lead when their star Polish striker Oscar Zawada stung the palms of Joe Gauci following a defensive lapse from Ben Warland.
But if Gauci has fast developed into the safest pair of hands in the league, then Craig Goodwin is the competition’s biggest star.
Adelaide always looked the likelier winners when Goodwin took full advantage of Callan Elliot’s failure to deal with a swerving Louis D’Arrigo cross, with Socceroos winger Goodwin twisting and turning his Kiwi counterpart before burying a shot into the far corner of Oli Sail’s goal with his weaker foot.
If the Phoenix thought Goodwin was tough to deal with, they must have dreaded the sight of Nestory Irankunda coming off the bench.
It took the teenager less than four minutes to end the game as a contest, as he combined with Goodwin for a length-of-the-pitch counter-attack that was only ended by Elliot’s stumbling foul.
Was Goodwin ever going to miss from the spot? His impudent penalty straight down the middle should be plastered all over the APL’s marketing next season.
But they’re too busy spouting self-serving nonsense to get on with the job they’re supposedly paid to do.
Danny Townsend (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)
The latest bombshell that Bundesliga giants Bayern München had rejected the APL’s advances to play a friendly against the A-League All-Stars leaves their Grand Final plans in ruins.
Fresh from trashing 17 seasons of actual tradition and rushing through a neutral Grand Final venue nobody wanted, the APL has now failed to lock in the ‘festival of football’ that was supposed to justify the whole ridiculous endeavour in the first place.
There’s no sign of these fan-friendly travel packages they talked about either.
If the upcoming semi-finals match the sheer quality of the elimination finals, we’d have all the ingredients needed to effectively market the A-League to casual football fans.
If only our clumsy, Clouseau-esque administrators could see that.