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Sydney FC’s entertaining 3-1 win over Brisbane Roar in the Australia Cup Final was yet another reminder that what happens on the pitch is the best advertisement for football in Australia.
The Sky Blues had to come from an early goal down to defeat a fired-up Brisbane Roar in front of just over 15,000 fans on a chilly Saturday night at Allianz Stadium in Sydney.
Ross Aloisi’s men were all over the Sky Blues in the early proceedings and took the lead when teenage striker Tom Waddingham slammed home on the rebound after a lunging tackle from Rhyan Grant had blocked Nikola Mileusnic’s initial effort.
It was no less than Aloisi’s team deserved, with the Roar’s high press forcing Steve Corica’s side onto the back foot for the first half hour of the game.
Mind you, Sydney FC would have been level before half-time had Scott Neville not denied a surging Anthony Caceres with a superb last-ditch tackle, while Pat Wood volleyed wide on the stroke of half-time when it looked easier to score.
After the game, a handful of Sydney FC players said coach Steve Corica put a rocket up them during the half-time break – and it must have been some outburst, because the Sky Blues looked a completely different outfit in the second half.
Yet it wasn’t until just after the hour mark when the complexion of the game changed, after Henry Hore’s baffling hand-ball handed Sydney FC a lifeline from the penalty spot.
Up stepped new on-loan signing Fabio Gomes to confidently dispatch the spot-kick – and if Wood looked unconvincing leading the line for the Sky Blues, the Brazilian looked anything but.
But it was Joe Lolley who really cut the Roar to shreds on his way to deservedly winning the Mark Viduka Medal, with the former Nottingham Forest winger giving the Roar’s makeshift left back Louis Zabala a torrid time.
If there were two things we learned from a clinical second-half performance from the Sky Blues, it’s that wingers Lolley and the equally-effective Robert Mak will continue to haunt opposition defences – and that Brisbane Roar are a couple of key players short of a strong squad.
Mak tapped home Sydney FC’s second after excellent build-up play from Lolley – helped in no small part by Fabio Gomes enticing his defender Neville away – and the hosts sealed the victory when the Brazilian himself nabbed his second in what was a highly effective 30-minute cameo.
(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
Brisbane Roar will feel hard done by for Sydney FC’s third, with Rhyan Grant clearly in an offside position – and running straight across Macklin Freke’s eyeline – before the Brazilian toe-poked home his second.
But in truth, chalking off the goal would have only masked the fact that the visitors were battered in the second half – with Fabio almost completing his hat-trick at the death.
It was an awesome display of attacking firepower from Corica’s men and one that should send shudders through the rest of the A-League.
Meanwhile, Brisbane Roar’s lack of depth was telling – with Zabala looking anything but a long-term solution at left back, while teenage striker Waddingham is now off to Spain on international duty with the Young Socceroos leading into Round 1.
How the Roar could have done with former left back Jordan Courtney-Perkins – who has joined Sydney FC despite the presence of Joel King – while the Roar’s failure to sign an experienced striker to complement the 18-year-old Waddingham is equally concerning.
Equally noteworthy is the fact the Australia Cup is now viewed as a pre-season competition by supporters and A-League clubs alike.
Football Australia should have a serious think about what they do with the competition going forward because in its current guise, no one genuinely considers it to be a proper cup competition.
That shouldn’t take away from Sydney FC’s win. Steve Corica now owns a complete set of silverware.
And on a night when the Sky Blues laid down a marker, we also got a sense of just how entertaining the new A-League Men campaign should be.