Sydney FC
2
Match Complete
Adelaide United
1
| 74' |  | S. Mauk | ||
| 64' |  | J. D. D. P. LA3pez | ||
| 52' | | J. L. RodrA-guez | ||
| 49' | | J. D. D. P. LA3pez | ||
| D. R. D. Silva | | 43' | ||
| A. L. Fondre | | 24' |
| 7 | Shots | 16 | ||
| 4 | On Target | 5 | ||
| 12 | Fouls | 8 | ||
| 4 | Corners | 7 | ||
| 1 | Offsides | 1 | ||
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 | ||
| 0 | Yellow Cards | 3 |
The A-League grand final awaits for the victor as Sydney FC host Adelaide United in a semi-final showdown at Kogarah. Don’t miss a moment of the third-last game of what has been an exceptional season with live scores on The Roar from 7:05pm (AEST).
Two-time reigning champs the Sky Blues are in scintillating form at the moment. They won their last five home-and-away matches to secure the coveted finals week off, including a 4-1 demolition of their opponents tonight just three weeks ago. As an added bonus, the ongoing COVID-19 situation in Melbourne means that even if premiers Melbourne City win their own semi-final on Sunday, the decider could easily be held in Sydney as well.
A championship ‘threepeat’ has never been achieved in the A-League, but Steve Corica’s men are primed and ready to do just that. Gun trio Andrew Redmayne, Ryan McGowan and Rhyan Grant remain absent on Socceroos duty, with goalkeeper Redmayne in particular difficult to replace. However, that didn’t stop the Sky Blues defeating a finalist in the Brisbane Roar 2-0 in their most recent match.
Standing in their way will be the sporadic Reds. Their season looked to be petering out with a disappointing end to the home-and-away rounds, but last week’s 2-1 elimination final win over the Roar has thrown all that out the window. It was the first time the Reds had won a final away from Adelaide in their history, and even more impressively, they did it after star Craig Goodwin was a mid-week scratching with an ankle injury suffered at training.
The Reds have struggled mightily in recent times against the Sky Blues, however. They’ve won just once in the past 15 encounters between the two teams, though that 1-0 triumph did come at the start of the 2020-21 season.
Carl Vaert’s team haven’t made a grand final since the 2015-16 season, when they secured their maiden championship in front of a packed Adelaide Oval crowd. Can they stun the Sky Blues and set up another crack at the ultimate prize?
Game information
Kick-off time: 7:05pm (AEST)
Venue: Netstrata Jubilee Stadium, Sydney
TV: Fox Sports 5 (505), ABCTV (delayed, coverage begins at 9:05pm)
Live stream: Kayo Sports, Foxtel Now, Foxtel Go, MyFootball Live app
Betting: Sydney FC $1.60, Adelaide United $4.80, draw $4.10 (odds via PlayUp)
Squads:
Sydney FC
2. Patrick Flottmann, 3. Ben Warland, 4. Alex Wilkinson (c), 5. Alex Baumjohann, 8. Paulo Retre, 9. Bobo, 10. Milos Ninkovic, 11. Kosta Babarouses, 16. Joel King, 17. Anthony Caceres, 18. Luke Ivanovic, 20. Thomas Heward-Belle (gk), 21. Harry van der Saag, 24. Adrian Segecic, 25. Callum Talbot, 26. Luke Brattan, 30. Adam Pavlesic (gk), 33. Pat Wood, 34. Aaron Gurd, 99.Adam Le Fondre
Adelaide United
1. James Delianov (gk), 2. Michael Marrone, 3. George Timotheou, 4. Ryan Strain, 6. Louis D’Arrigo, 7. Ryan Kitto, 8. Stefan Mauk (c), 9. Tomi Juric, 17. Mohamed Toure, 18. Joe Caletti, 19. Yaya Dukuly, 21. Javi Lopez, 22. Michael Jakobsen, 23. Jordan Elsey, 24. Pacifique Niyongabire, 26. Ben Halloran, 27. Josh Cavallo, 28. Juande, 33. Dakota Ochsenham (gk), 35. Al Hassan Toure
Grem
Roar Rookie
But stronger in the comment above it!
coolncold
Roar Rookie
"worse then the Iran World Cup defeat of 1997>?" Is this a joke?
fabian gulino
Roar Rookie
Who ever plays Sydney will lose,beacuse all of the bias bulldust up there it happens every year.I hope if McCarther play them I hope they can beat them,but I doubt that very much.Victoria as a state has to play second fiddle to NSW crap of a state,not by my watch. To me NSW are up them selves.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
anyone with a self-chosen name like that needs to do some fairly serious self-reflection
fabian gulino
Roar Rookie
sydney bias again MATE.
fabian gulino
Roar Rookie
you are right GREM sydney bias every year.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Looking forward to The Paramount+, Channel 10 and Sydney era. A new dawn, a new beginning and a fourth grand final in a row.
Marcel
Guest
The ECJ is strong in this one :)
NoMates
Roar Rookie
Another dark day in the history of football in this country with SFC making the finals, worse then the Iran World Cup defeat of 1997>? Prob on pair with it. But then again this is the last of the foxtel/SFC era and we will have a clean start next season.
Marcel
Guest
Last night was the coldest most miserable game I've attended since a blizzard at Wembley in the early 90s Winter football eh !
Grem
Roar Rookie
Good to see no Covid in Melbourne today. If Melbourne win hopefully they can host the grand final otherwise ... guess what ... it's a conspiracy and Sydney bias and Foxtel, whose contract is finished want Sydney to win, and anything else we can throw out there!
Grem
Roar Rookie
Agree with your reflections. Sydney haven't performed as well as previous years and a bit of a rebuild is necessary or they will go down the same path as Victory. Enjoyed seeing The Roar have a successful season and hoping they can build on that next year. I think most followers on here support football and want the best for our code and that is all teams competing at a high level.
Grem
Roar Rookie
BS and ECJ Sydney get plenty of rough calls too. It's funny how the Sydney supporters I was sitting near last night felt they weren't getting yhe 50/50 calls. I guess most supporters have one eye only!
Punter
Roar Rookie
Salty!!!!
JOHN ALLAN
Guest
Players missing. What wasn’t missing was the usual help from match officials with Sydney receiving their normal allocation of spot kicks. Hope they get beaten next week as their arrogance is hard to stomach.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
congratulations to Sydney on making another grand final. Personally do not think they are as good as previous seasons, but that's reflective of the league overall. The fact they are in the grand final again is a big statement. I'm nothing short of jealous.
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
Having played both these teams in recent weeks and watched them closely through the season, they both use their hands to the limit and get away with it more often than not. Sydney have perfected the push with bent elbows while Adelaide just push, all the time. Both these sides go down easily, Adelaide more so. For either of them to complain about a push or a shove not going their way is a joke, nothing less.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Sydney - no Ninkovic, Redmane, Grant, McGowan, Zullo, Buhagiar and, Zuvella!
Punter
Roar Rookie
Adelaide excuses; Injuries, Adelaide the only team ever to get injuries oh & Liverpool. East Coast bias, just the constant whining coming out of Adelaide Small budget, Adelaide only club in country breeding young players because they are small club. This is everyone else fault. They lack a creative midfielder but instead has a diving little so & so in Mauk.
Grem
Roar Rookie
While I have a Sydney membership and also a 6 game Macarthur membership, I actually just support football. I'd have been just as happy to support a Central Coast Mariners v Whoever grand final. However, I will enjoy next week when Sydney play because I love watching and supporting the A League. And I am so disappointed that The Mariners are going to have to rebuild again after such a great season. Hoping new owners will be found who really look after the club. The scenes at your home ground recently have been amazing.