- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Sydney FC staged a dramatic comeback to seal their first Australia Cup since 2017, with new Brazilian striker Fabio Gomes stealing the show with a late double to defeat Brisbane Roar 3-1 at Allianz Stadium.
That makes it 0-3 for Brisbane in the last week, with the Roar joining the Broncos, who lost the NRL Grand Final and the Lions, who lost the AFL Grand Final. For the record, the Brisbane Tigers lost the second grade showpiece, too, and near-neighbours the Gold Coast Titans went down in the NRLW decider.
The win completes the set for one of Australian football’s long-serving figures, Sydney FC manager Steve Corica. With this win, he has now has an Australia Cup to go with A-League titles as a player and a manager, as well as an NSL title with Marconi and a stack of Socceroos caps.
“He (Gomes) is still finding his feet but he showed exactly what we brought him here to do,” said the coach.
“He’s been training as normal with the team but he wasn’t fully fit when he got here.
“It’s fantastic to win trophies. It’s been a few years since our last trophy so we’re happy to be back with one so early in the season.”
Cliches are widespread in football, but this was all of them. It was a proper cup tie, with both sides having plenty of chances, and a classic game of two halves, dominated by Brisbane until the break and then by Sydney FC after it.
There was the breakout star, Tom Waddingham, who looked like he would write the headlines by becoming the youngest ever Australia Cup Final goalscorer at barely 18, before the big name import made an instant impact as Fabio scored with his first touch in Sky Blue to equalise, then added a second late on to seal the result.
The crafty playmaker had his part, too, with Joe Lolley the clear best on ground and named Mark Viduka Medalist as player of the match, setting up Robert Mak for the second and posing a constant threat on the right wing.
There was the inevitable controversy, too, as Jake Girdwood-Reich caught Henry Hore in the face with a shoulder, but escaped with a yellow when more might have been expected, and VAR is not used in the Australia Cup.
“I don’t want to take too much away from the game because it was a really good game of football,” said new Roar coach Ross Aloisi.
“When a player swings an arm and the referee says to our players that if hit with the elbow it was a red card, but because he didn’t, it’s not a red card. I know people make mistakes but where is the VAR? It’s a hugely important game for both clubs.”
In between the tropes, there was an excellent football match. If this is the standard for the rest of the domestic season, then fans should be very excited indeed.
The Roar’s first half showed just how far they have improved under their new boss. they suffocated Sydney with their pressing and moved the ball rapidly across the field. Only their finishing let them down, with multiple chances spurned.
Corica read the riot act at half time and Brisbane’s high-octane style proved unsustainable, with more and more pressure coming their way, before a handball from Hore opened the floodgates.
When Waddingham, the breakout star of the early rounds, got the Roar on the board, it was a long time coming.
He had barely touched the ball in the opening quarter, but when the chance came, the 18-year-old was exactly where he needed to be to score.
Not for the first time, the Roar got to the byline, cut back and while Nikola Mileusnic’s shot was blocked, the 18-year-old pounced to slam home.
It was far from against the run of play. The Roar were all over their opponents, with their pressing far too intense for the favourites to deal with.
Jay O’Shea was running the game from central midfield and Hore constantly threatened along the left, but a second would not come.
Indeed, by the end of the half, Sydney FC might have equalised. Their best plan all night had been to find Lolley and Patrick Wood along the right channel, and the pair combined, only for Wood to fire wide under pressure from Scott Neville.
The first period somewhat fizzled out, albeit not without controversy. Sydney FC’s makeshift centre back Girdwood-Reich was late and high with a shoulder, catching Hore directly in the face.
The midfielder was down for almost five minutes, but only a yellow card was issued by referee Ben Abraham. It would have been a sin bin in the NRL, let alone the Australia Cup, but without no Bunker, the booking was all that followed.
Corica had seen enough. He yanked youngster Corey Hallman and debutant Jordan Courtney-Perkins at half time, with Max Burgess and Kealey Adamson introduced in an attempt to turn the tide.
It worked. Burgess enabled Sydney to keep the ball higher up the park, and suddenly, the chances flowed. Neville turned a dangerous cross behind and Macklin Freke denied Wood before the penalty that eventually brought parity.
When it came, it was more luck than skill: Hore’s reasoning for putting his hands in front of his face in the box when the ball came will be known only to himself, but Fabio, with his first touch in a Sky Blue jersey after arriving from Brazil, was nerveless from the spot.
The Roar were collapsing. Their attempts to play out only lost them the ball, and from one such turnover, Lolley was again free. This time, his cross was perfect for Mak at the back post.
That combination might have added to the score and finished the game, but the Slovak international fired wide. Undeterred, Lolley then found Burgess, who slipped in Fabio – who also missed.
Brisbane were given multiple lives and, eventually, it told as substitute Jaiden Kucharski’s shot was saved by Freke, only for Fabio to follow it in to seal the triumph for Sydney FC.