The Foxtel National Youth League’s conferences will come together this weekend when Conference A champions Adelaide United take on Conference B champions Sydney FC at Central Coast Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Both sides qualified with the same record – six wins and two losses for a total of 18 points, however they qualified for the season’s showpiece in contrasting fashion.
Adelaide United
The young Reds sealed grand final qualification with a week to spare thanks to a narrow 2-1 home victory in round 9 against Conference A wooden-spooners Perth Glory and were afforded the luxury of putting their feet up in the final round thanks to the bye.
With some impressive wins under their belt this season – 4-2 against Melbourne Victory, 3-1 against Melbourne City and 3-0 against Perth, combined with the fact they had qualified for the grand final with a week to spare and their 6-2 record, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was smooth sailing all the way for the Conference A champions. After conceding five goals in their first two matches, the Reds tightened up at the back – conceding just 1 goal in their next three matches, which made their next result all the more surprising. In the last game of 2015, the trip to Brisbane proved to be disastrous as the Reds conceded a jaw-dropping ten goals in a 10-0 defeat. To their credit, they bounced back well in the next match, a 2-1 win in Melbourne against the Victory. Adelaide finished the season strongly and proved the heavy defeat was just an anomaly on their way to the grand final.
Sydney FC
In contrast to Adelaide, Sydney FC suffered no heavy defeats, however left it late on the final day of the regular season to seal their passage to the decider, while the Reds already had their feet up.
The only occasion the Sky Blues dropped points this season was a pair of defeats to the Newcastle Jets – going down 2-1 in Sydney and 1-0 in Newcastle in the reverse fixture. Newcastle proved to be the thorn in Sydney’s side on their way to the grand final. The Jets kept pace with the eventual Conference B champions all the way and set up a very interesting final day as they defeated the Central Coast Mariners 3-2 the day before to move to the top of the conference and put all the pressure on the Sky Blues who required only a point against the FFA Centre of Excellence, who gave them an almighty scare.
The Canberra based outfit went toe-to-toe with Sydney and made it 2-2 with 12 minutes left and pushed for an unlikely winner which would have seen Newcastle taking part this weekend. With the CoE committing numbers forward to try and pull off the upset of the season, Sydney capitalised on a turnover and perfectly executed a breakaway to seal a 3-2 win and the Conference B title in the 86th minute.
Despite not taking points from all opponents as the Reds did, the Sky Blues racked up some impressive victories of their own – 5-0 and 4-2 against the Western Sydney Wanderers immediately spring to mind, however arguably the most impressive was a 5-3 victory against a Central Coast Mariners side which fielded a very strong side which featured the likes of A-League contracted players such as Matt Sim, Glen Trifiro, Anthony Caceres and Nick Fitzgerald.
Final Word
The fact that Adelaide and Sydney’s season had many differences but ended up with the same record makes this clash all the more intriguing. The Sky Blues finished with more goals scored and less goals conceded than the Reds (21-11 vs 17-18), but did not reach the finish line as comfortably as their opponents.
There is far less travel involved in the preparations for Sydney FC and this may work in their favour – a one-hour drive north along the M1 Motorway for the Sky Blues, as opposed to a two-hour flight plus the road trip to Gosford for the Reds. However, competing in Conference A involved significantly more travel than Conference B and despite two away defeats this season, Adelaide will be well and truly used to travelling long distances for away matches.
With both sides ending their campaigns with the same record, it seems likely that 90 minutes may not be enough to split them on the day. It’s likely that it may be a case of ‘survival of the fittest’ with the prospect of extra time and penalties on a warm summer’s afternoon on the Central Coast of New South Wales.
National Youth League – Grand Final
Adelaide United Youth vs Sydney FC Youth – 4pm Saturday 23 January 2016
Central Coast Stadium, Gosford.
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