Sydney FC has secured second spot on the table after defeating Wellington Phoenix 2-1 in the final round of the regular season.
Wellington lost the opportunity to take the lead early on in the match when Michael McGlinchey was fouled in the box. Roly Bonevacia stepped up to take the spot kick, with his attempting spraying wide.
Minutes later, Bernie Ibini scored a spectacular solo goal after picking up the ball before the halfway line, going on a superb rub down the left flank, beating two Wellington defenders and then goalkeeper Lewis Italiano.
Sydney then doubled its advantage 17 minutes later. Unlike Bonevacia, Shane Smeltz was able to score from the penalty spot after Chris Naumoff was brought down by Albert Riera.
The Phoenix continued their season-long run of strong second half performances with Michael Boxall scoring a minute after the restart. The short corner saw Nathan Burns cut back to the oncoming Boxall, who side-footed the ball into the net.
Despite a better performance by Wellington in the second half, Sydney held on to claim the win and earned progression straight to the semi-finals.
Formation
Both sides made three changes to their line-ups. For the Phoenix, Manny Muscat returned to the starting XI. This forced Louis Fenton to be pushed forward, replacing Roy Krishna in the front three, after an impressive cameo in the midfield last round. Lewis Italiano made his debut for Wellington, replacing injured goalkeeper Glen Moss. Vince Lia was picked to start ahead of Alex Rodriguez in the midfield.
Wellington Phoenix XI (4-3-3): Italiano (GK); Boxall, Sigmund, Durante, Muscat; Fenton, Riera, Lia; Burns, Bonevacia, McGlinchey.
Sydney welcomed back Mickael Tavares and Nikola Petkovic from injury. The duo replaced Sebastian Ryall and Alex Gersbach in the starting line-up. Shane Smeltz led the forward line for the Sky Blues, with the league’s top goal scorer, Marc Janko, not travelling to Wellington.
Sydney FC XI (4-4-2): Janjetovic (GK); Grant, Faty, Jurman, Petkovic; Ibini, Tavares, Dimitrijevic, Naumoff; Smeltz, Brosque.
Fenton’s move forward
The jury is still out on whether or not the decision to move fullback Louis Fenton from defence into the front three was a success. The move, based heavily on his cameo in the midfield last week against the Mariners, saw him replace Roy Krishna in the Phoenix front three.
Fenton provided width up forward, however this was something he consistently did at fullback as well. He had no shots on goal, created one chance and provided one cross. The majority of his passes occurred in the midfield, as shown below.
When compared with the contributions of Krishna last week, Fenton proves to be ineffective as a forward. The Fijian registered five shots on goal against Central Coast, had 100% passing accuracy, created two chances and put in three crosses.
Sydney favoured the quick, wide counter
Sydney’s incredible away form this season deserves a complete analysis of its own. The team’s continued success on the road is simply phenomenal and due to a number of reasons. One such reason, particularly evident against the Phoenix, was the preference to playing wide.
As seen above, the Sky Blues played almost exclusively out and down on the wings. When each player is looked at individually, most of their traffic is on the flanks as well.
Wellington had a more even spread of passing across the pitch but this did not translate into anything of use for the Phoenix.
A lack of goalscoring chances
Both these clubs have been amongst the league’s best for goals scored this season. However, the match had only a handful of goal scoring opportunities.
Sydney dominated the first half, recording seven shots on goal to the Phoenix’s one. The second half was the opposite, with Wellington creating six shots on goal to the Sky Blues’ two.
As seen by the shot charts below, the Phoenix only had two attempts that were on target, while Sydney had four.
With the Phoenix averaging 22 shots on goal in their previous two matches and Sydney scoring three or more goals in three of its previous four matches as well as averaging 16 shots on goal, this match lacked plenty of goalscoring opportunities.
Wellington Phoenix Conclusion
The Phoenix earned the right to a home final a few rounds ago but the team will be disappointed it did not capitalise on the chance to finish second and consequently progress straight through to the semi-finals.
Despite scoring three goals last week, and averaging 22 shots on goal in its previous two matches, Wellington was unable to look threatening in front of goal and struggled to find its range. The Phoenix need the goalscoring floodgates to open in their home elimination final against Melbourne City next week.
Sydney FC Conclusion
Sydney not only continued its unbeaten record on the road this season, but maintained its status as one of the form teams of the competition. The win sees it secure second spot on the table, meaning it will host a semi-final in two weeks’ time.
A solid defensive performance, coupled with an impressive attacking display, even without Marc Janko, has put the rest of the finals teams on notice.
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