Sydney FC will travel to Melbourne to face the Victory next week following a resounding 4-1 win over the highly touted Adelaide United on Saturday night. Sydney overcame a string of lacklustre results against the Reds to progress, granting them a place in the Grand Final for the first time since 2010.
Sydney FC started the brighter of the two sides and dominated much of the first half. Bernie Ibini struck earliest for the Sky Blues after a Chris Naumoff cut back evaded captain Alex Brosque. The ball rolled to the edge of the box where Ibini side-footed a controlled effort into the top left hand corner of the net.
Despite what the scoreline might suggest, Josep Gombau’s men grew with the match. Their most threatening effort on goal came in the form of a curling free kick from Spaniard Pablo Sanchez, which crashed against the crossbar.
But Sydney’s lead would be doubled on the stroke of half-time. Ibini turned provider after being played in by the ever-creative Milos Dimitrejivic, driving a low cross to the near post. Brosque would be first to meet it, a delicate back heel beating Eugene Galekovic at the near post.
Brosque all but killed the contest only minutes into the second half too. Naumoff slipped in a clearly-offside Marc Janko, and with Nigel Boogard unable to fully clear Alex Brosque tucked his left-footed strike just inside the bottom corner.
With the match seemingly gone, Adelaide finally began their fightback. Craig Goodwin, scoring in last week’s elimination semi-final, seemed the most likely to net for the away side. Goodwin’s mazy dribbling finally paid off in the 74th minute, when he broke clear and forced an effort under the oncoming Vederan Janjetovic to throw his side a lifeline.
Chance after chance then flowed for the Reds, the most opportune falling to Sergio Cirio. However, the Spanish centre forward could not direct his header on target and in turn, the match was wrapped up by Naumoff in the 90th minute.
Formations
Setting up in the same 4-2-3-1 that has accompanied much of their late-season success, the Sky Blues dominated Adelaide’s 4-3-3.
Sydney’s two holding midfielders, Dimitrejivic and Mickael Tavares, strangled the supply to arguably Adelaide’s most potent attacking threats, Marcelo Carrusca and Sergio Cirio. While the back four were not too busy, the side’s overall assured performance was a testament to the individual battles they won. Meanwhile, Ibini and Naumoff enjoyed fantastic individual performances aided by the freedom of their wide roles. Club captain Brosque was instrumental as the attacking midfielder, often dropping in to assist in build-up play and arriving late in the box to grab himself a vitally important brace.
It was Sydney’s ability to overload the midfield that caused the Reds to struggle throughout the match. Usually dominant in the middle third of the pitch, Sydney’s weight of numbers in the middle corridor meant James Jeggo, Carrusca and Isaias struggled to find the space to orchestrate meaningful play. At the back Adelaide were unable to handle both the width and narrowness of Sydney’s attack, with its full-backs constantly forced to make decisions to go infield with their man or stay in wider areas. All of which resulted in a lack of service to Sanchez, Goodwin and Cirio.
The midfield battle
A season-long strength of Josep Gombau’s team was their ability to dominate the midfield battle in almost every match. However, on Saturday night it was a battle they lost.
For the entire 90 minutes, United struggled to cope with the wide players’ inverted movements, and Brosque’s clever runs in behind the more defensive Isaias leading to chance after chance for the home side. With the ball, the two sitting midfielders meant that the supply to chief creator, Carrusca was obviously hampered.
Tavares, for the most part, took the Argentinian out of the game and he often looked frustrated at his lack of involvement. The most-telling statistic being that the only created one chance and in a major semi-final, that is just not enough.
Ruthlessness the key
The warning signs have been there for a while now, but Sydney seem to have realised their goal-scoring form at just the right time of year. With Janko and Shane Smeltz in the side, it was always going to be able to score goals but interestingly, neither were able to find the back of the net on Saturday night despite their teams 4-1 rout.
Instead Sydney looked to their secondary goal-scorers. Ibini’s goalscoring form has been on the up recently and the young Socceroo proved his worth once more to get the ball rolling with his fourth goal in four matches. However, Brosque’s brace highlighted the two pivotal moments in the match. Scoring just before and just after the halftime interval, the seasoned professional almost single-handedly granted his side a grand final berth.
Curiously, Adelaide had more shots on the night, but with a woeful 33% of those hitting the target, ruthlessness or their lack thereof was the key.
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Naumoff provides more than just the icing on the cake
It had already been a brilliant performance by Sutherland-junior Chris Naumoff before he slotted home in the 90th minute to begin the celebrations.
A delightful performance saw the youngster’s pace and trickery trouble an experienced Adelaide defence for much of the night. He went closest in the early exchanges after drifting inside of his fullback, picking up the ball and piercing the heart of Adelaide’s defence before sending his curling effort just wide and it set the tone for the rest of his performance.
Naumoff’s quick feet landed him an assist for the first goal and he was heavily involved in the third, before scoring the fourth. It was a fine performance from the 19 year-old who is certainly coming of age in the A-League.
Conclusion – Adelaide United
For the early parts of the season, Adelaide threatened to run away with the competition and while a semi-finals exit is certainly a good result, Gombau would have wanted more – expect them to be competitive again next season.
Conclusion – Sydney FC
The boys in blue go marching on and into the Grand Final against a bitter rival, too. Thoroughly deserved based on their form and performance on the night – playing without fear has got them this far and could see them undo the Minor Premiers in less than a weeks’ time.
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