A foot injury to forward Brandon Borrello has put a damper on Western Sydney’s 1-0 defeat of a wasteful Sydney FC in the rivals’ first derby of the A-League Men season.
Borrello’s first-half replacement Zac Sapsford broke the deadlock against the run of play after 72 minutes, getting one over the side who once had him in on their books.
Saturday night’s win at Allianz Stadium means the Wanderers will finish the weekend atop the ladder, ahead of Wellington on goal difference.
Borrello pulled up sore in back-play just after the 10-minute mark, apparently hurt from a previous tackle.
He initially attempted to continue but fell to the ground shortly thereafter and was assessed for a left foot injury on the sidelines, in clear discomfort when the area was prodded.
He watched from the pine with ice on his foot and a pair of crutches at hand.
“It’s just one of those things where your foot gets caught under a tackle,” Borrello told Paramount Plus.
“It’s all part and parcel of football. It could be a break, it could be nothing. There’s definitely a bit of pain there, discomfort.”
Any long-term absence would have implications for the Wanderers’ A-League and the Socceroos’ Asia Cup campaigns.
Borrello was among the Wanderers’ best players last season as they finished fourth on the ladder and has featured in seven of a possible eight games for the national side this year.
The injury came after Sydney targeted Borrello early, with skipper Luke Brattan collecting his right foot in a tackle and Jake Girdwood-Reich felling him in another.
The Wanderers’ free kick from the Girdwood-Reich challenge was the closest they came to scoring in the first half.
Jorrit Hendrix curled the ball into the area, where Marcus Antonsson appeared to have headed home but VAR intervened to call Antonsson offside.
The Sky Blues had the better chances after the break, though.
Most notably, Wanderers goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas slipped over trying to pass to captain Marcelo and instead booted the ball straight to an unmarked Jaiden Kucharski.
But with all the goal before him and no Wanderers within cooee, the Sydney young gun shot straight back to the keeper.
Sydney were made to pay for that and their other missed opportunities when Antonsson bamboozled lone defender Girdwood-Reich and flicked on to Sapsford.
The 21-year-old made no mistake with his opportunity, launching the ball into the left side of the net.
AxeMaster
Roar Rookie
Alex King should never be allowed to referee any derbys ever.
AxeMaster
Roar Rookie
Borrello just kept falling over and lying on the ground wasting time. It’s as though he was waiting for the planets to just start revolving around himself…..”Look at me world….look at me…oh the pain the PAIN”
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
i've spoken about this player at length on here a couple years ago. yet another example of why young players need to leave sydney asap, unfortunately hes gone to a club that it still struggling to intergrate youth
JoshW
Roar Rookie
Agreed. If it was SFC who scored the goal would have stood. Every time WSW have played them (and are winning) they are given extra injury time to try salvage a point. Saturday night they got 7 minutes - that's about the average for them when they are losing.
Marcel
Roar Rookie
SFC have a new coach...but what they really need is 4-5 new players. Mak, Lolley, Brattan, Caceres, Redmayne, Grant are all capable of one or two good showings per season, but for the rest of the time they are predictably ordinary. Gomes? I get that language and culture are difficult transitions..but he just doesn't seem to have the basic positional sense of a No 9....and his first touch is far from elite. Kucharski seems to have the minerals though...with extended game time and growing maturity he could be something special. And BTW....what is it with the SFC juniors and all of their clown haircuts? ( am I officially old now? )
coolncold
Roar Rookie
This match's atmosphere reminds that there should be an A-league club in Gold Coast or a scond A-league club in Brisbane area.
Garry
Roar Rookie
I can say the atmosphere was brilliant..until maybe the goal soured things a little.. :happy: :crying:
Garry
Roar Rookie
crowd, 28152, Sydney probably lost the entertaining first half but edged a dour second half without managing to get the ball over the line. Sydney played ok and the youngsters were good but WSW seems to have slightly better passing and flow.
Grem
Roar Rookie
It was a great strike by the former Sydney FC junior. I hope he goes well and this wasn’t a flash in the pan. It was a game with a lot of atmosphere, but not a lot of cutting edge football in the final third. Hopefully Sydney can get a win against Perth next v week. I think Talay will get more from them as the season rolls on.
NoMates
Roar Rookie
The first goal should have stayed, But you have understand its SFC your playing against and VAR always favors them. Other then that it was ok on the eyes and the crowd sounded good on TV.
mrl
Roar Rookie
Atmosphere felt great on channel 12. Loved it. Although I didn’t care who won.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Hendrix was the one who got away with a potential red card for his high foot and didnt even get yellow. I think he was lucky it was a glancing blow. Borrello is no loss he has been in bad form in this season and missing goals at local and Socceroos level. I think he was going to be lucky to make another squad. The commentary team saying he was going to be missed for the Socceroos and showing him constantly every other minute was over the top. If Alex King was favouring Sydney to win there was the perfect opportunity for him at the end with that penalty call in the area.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Sydney were very unlucky they dominated the second half. Kucharski was unlucky he shot the ball back across the keeper only from him to save it with his trailing legs. Then the next big chance Gomes instead of being a meter or two back and being free for the center he goes directly in line with the Wanderers defender so Kucharski shoots. The issue they had in the first half was bad positioning by the back four and Lacerda incompetence in the air. If Lacerda and Marcello shared a prison cell we know what would happen. It seemed the first three corners Marcello would get a free header with Lacerda on the ground then the fourth corner he stays upright and Marcello still wins it. If you look at the goal Grant was going to head the ball away coming from the best position, while Lacerda has to run back, Lacerda not only gets in his way but misses the header I think it hits him on the shoulder and the ball goes to the Wanderers who know have a 2 on 1 with heaps of space.
Waz
Roar Rookie
As a neutral I thought King had an excellent game and the game benefitted from the way he managed it. There were numerous occasions, in the first half especially, where he could have issues both sides yellow cards but he chose not to and overall I though he was equal to both sides.
Paul01
Roar Rookie
No comment on the poor officiating by Alex King. Time and again he let the Smurfs get away with fouls either by not awadong them to the Wanderers or by failing to card a Smurf player. This is especially the case for Brattan who stomped on Borello with his studs, a yellow card at every level. Wanderers without Brook, Simmons and Ninkovic So how does the 0-0 against the Nix in Round 1 look now?