When the crowd figure (25,208) was announced, the crowd cheered itself, recognising the significance of their number (it made football the winner after all).
But it also indicated the reality that the crowd figure was as, if not more, important than what was happening on the pitch.
The Cove in Bay 23 (described even before the season began as ’Äúcolourful, atmospheric and fanatical’Äù) had a good game, which is more than can be said of Sydney FC.
The Cove and other punters by many accounts went home happy ¬‚ despite queuing in traffic for over an hour to make the last couple of blocks to the ground; despite arriving in their A class pre-paid seats or filing into the southern end, opposite The Cove, half an hour after the game started.
The Melbourne Victory went home happy having taken a point, though realising they should have had three.
But the Sydney coach and players did not go home happy. They knew they were lucky not to have lost; they knew for the second time in their home stadium they had performed poorly.
The memory of the two well-taken headed goals (one by Dwight ’Äúmarketing tool with a Colgate smile’Äù Yorke and the other by Archie ’Äúhe should be playing in Europe’Äù Thompson) will probably outlast recollections of the many missed chances and gaffes, such as goalkeeper Clint Bolton throwing the ball directly into the path of a Victory-an.
Sydney looked better in the first half, had more of the ball, and looked like they thought they were better.
Reality hit home in the second half and use of the bench didn’Äôt get the balance right. The Bling establishment must be anxious about what will eventuate during the next two games when Yorke and one of my favourites, Saso Petrovski, will be away.
Will two losses on the road dampen the enthusiasm of the next home crowd?
On this evening, Sydney’Äôs first ball into the Melbourne box, by Terry McFlynn, was too long. It was one of many Sydney passes to go astray.
For Melbourne, Andy Vlahos and Carl Recchia worked the ball down into the right corner, before Vlahos brought down Petrovski on a break while Yorke went down behind play.
Sydney won a corner that was punched clear by young goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic.
Ufuk Talay looked to be making good progress into the Melbourne penalty area until Adrian Leijer gave him some close attention from behind.
There was lots of solid contact, the sun was still shining and the Cove was alive with vocal merriment. Ahhh!
McFlynn and Alvin Ceccoli combined well and David Zdrilic made a nice run.
But the first real excitement was thanks to Melbourne when, in the ninth minute, Michael Ferrante played to Kristian Sarkies who’Äôd made a great run into the top right of the Sydney penalty area. Sarkies seemed to have just the keeper to beat but, instead of shooting, put the ball across the box to Vlahos, who missed a good chance.
Vlahos and Thompson combined to get a cross over, and Thomson and Ferrante set up a shot for Daniel Allsopp, who missed.
Sydney had a good piece of play, started from Ceccoli to Talay, from McFlynn back to Ceccoli, and from Petrovski to Zdrilic, whose shot was saved by Galekovic.
Another string of passes breezed through Melbourne: McFlynn to Steve Corica to Talay to Yorke and Petrovski. Then Fyfe to Ceccoli who hit a long ball for Zdrilic.
Corica started well, using some classy touches.
Yorke seemed always to be in the wrong place, starting deep and too far behind play when his team mates needed him.
Steve Pantelidis made an important intercept of a return pass from Ceccoli to Yorke. But in the 19th minute a right-footed cross from Ceccoli found Petrovski who shot over his shoulder with his left foot ¬‚ too high to score.
Geoffrey Claeys made a last second tackle to stop Zdrilic coming into the right side of the Melbourne goal box, after neat play by Sydney down the right side of the field.
A couple of times early in the game Iain Fyfe made himself useful coming forward.
A great ball from the left for Melbourne found two attackers in the face of Clint Bolton who was in trouble but punched clear, taking out one of his opponents.
In the 28th minute Thompson and Sarkies had the Sydney defence in a muddle before Thompson chipped a ball onto the crossbar.
Sydney again got near the Melbourne goal box but again couldn’Äôt get the penultimate touch right ¬‚ thanks to good pressure by Kevin Muscat.
Then came a moment which was perhaps symptomatic of Sydney’Äôs problems. Corica, who is supposed to excel with the ball on the edge of the penalty area, was on the edge of the Melbourne penalty area with Yorke. And Corica deferred to the star billing ¬‚ who strolled the ball forward until he was surrounded and dispossessed.
At this point, 31 minutes in, with fans still streaming in, I recorded for posterity: Sit the f*** down and watch the football! (Yeah, yeah, Stephen, this is why God invented the Press Box.)
A fantastic ball by McFlynn from half way found the chest of Ceccoli charging down the left flank. But Ceccoli’Äôs second touch didn’Äôt equal his first and McFlynn could only vent as he watched the ball speed harmlessly over the goal line.
Petrovski made a good run down the right and won a corner when his cross was blocked by Ferrante.
And, a few moments after Petrovski and Muscat had a bit of a to-do, Muscat blocked another Petrovski cross from the right.
In the 40th minute Thompson made a good turn and shot on target. Bolton saved, though couldn’Äôt hold the ball.
McFlynn had a shot for Sydney, just wide.
And in the 44th minute Packer, with great use of his body, feinted past Muscat on the right sideline before racing downfield and crossing to Yorke. Yorke pulled up and bent low to direct the ball inside the left post. The sort of finesse that money ’Ķ er ’Ķ can buy.
The Cove went nuts. The Sydney players went nuts. The crowd came alive after a period of muffled uncertainty.
This was the beginning of what they’Äôd come to see!
Or was it the end?
Claeys blocked a cross from Yorke and that was about it for the first half. And for Sydney.
Melbourne came out with more grunt in the second half (perhaps reflected in the first yellow card of the match going to Steve Pantelidis in the 56th minute).
Thompson had the first decent shot of the half, over the bar. Then Yorke and Corica and then Petrovski and Corica put together some passes.
But Thompson had the next shot on target, thanks to a cross from Vlahos on the left. Thompson headed but Bolton saved well and Melbourne had a corner that was pushed just left of goal.
Zdrilic (who will be a precious commodity for Sydney in the next few weeks) was replaced by David Carney.
Mark Rudan made a couple of magisterial headers clear, Petrovski was still very involved and Yorke was pushing further forward.
Substitute Chris Tadrosse had a free kick for Melbourne when Packer fouled Vlahos. Bolton punched clear.
Sydney’Äôs inability to keep tabs on Thompson was punished in the 73rd minute when Thompson, unmarked, ran onto a cross from Recchia and headed fiercely past Bolton.
A couple of minutes later Carney hit a lovely ball into the box for Petrovski who took the ball too close to the goal line to have much of a chance of beating Galekovic.
Shocked into action by the Melbourne goal, Sydney replaced Rudan with Jacob Timpano and took off Talay to insert Matthew Bingley.
Allsopp was good running onto a through ball, only just offside (if not for the offside decisions Sydney would have been slaughtered). He then hit a fine cross which Thompson would have converted for his second goal had not Ceccoli intervened.
Melbourne were on top in attack and defence. And, typically, as soon as I noted that, a Petrovski header on a throw from the left gave Galekovic something to think about.
A Ricky Diaco shot went wide, after Thompson pulled the ball back across goal. And Recchia made a good long run until brought down. The free kick fell well for Allsopp but Bingley fought him off.
In the 89th minute Diaco wasted a great chance to win with a feeble touch on the end of a lovely through ball.
Sydney had a corner, given away but for a good chase back by Petrovski. Yorke had the ball to chest in front of goal but was bundled away by Claeys.
In extra time Thompson missed an easy target coming into the left side of the Sydney penalty area, under no pressure.
McFlynn had a long soft shot and Petrovski had a drive on target deflected upward.
The game ended. The fans cheered uproariously. And the home team responded with gratitude.
Sydney coach Pierre Littbarski said after the match he was not thrilled by his team’Äôs performance. ’ÄúWe had a few good moments in the first half. We had a 1-0 lead at half time but we forgot to play soccer. We just defended.’Äù
He said, ’ÄúWe looked not really good in the centre today. We gave Archie Thompson too many goal chances and escaped with a draw. We didn’Äôt play what we can play. Too many mistakes in the midfield, in the building up.’Äù
He said, though the game was entertaining and the crowd was good, the team had to improve.
He said the problem was not the formation with three strikers, but losing the ball in midfield and not closing the middle quickly.
There were too many long balls in the second half and not enough use of the flanks, he said.
On the other hand, he was so pleased with Bolton that he said he would ’Äúbuy him a cake’Äù. He said Bolton made three good reaction saves and stayed on his feet in a one-on-one situation. Littbarski said he’Äôd told Bolton he thought he was the best keeper in the league.
Sydney captain Mark Rudan said the game was disappointing. He thought Sydney played okay in the first half, but he didn’Äôt know what happened in the second half. ’ÄúWe’Äôve got to change things.’Äù
But take the game away, he said, and the crowd made the event one of his most memorable experiences. ’ÄúAt the end of the day I just wish we gave the fans a win.’Äù
Melbourne’Äôs coach Ernie Merrick of course looked at the result a little differently: ’ÄúI thought it was a fantastic game. It was really exciting. There was entertaining football, there were goal-scoring opportunities, there were great tackles, great possession play. I thought it was a great game.’Äù
He said, ’ÄúI thought we created enough scoring opportunities to come away with the three points.’Äù
He spoke highly of Thompson who he said was electric and probably one of the best strikers in the league.
Thompson said he thought he hit the target at least ten times (though the stats indicate he was less accurate than that) and it was a relief to get a goal. ’ÄúWe just worked really hard for that second half, even towards the end of the first half.’Äù
Merrick was concerned about some inexperience at the back, but was full of praise for his defenders.
He said he had Carl Recchia at left back and Muscat at right back with Steve Pantelidis to stop Sydney’Äôs strikers coming through. That way Sarkies and Ferrante could attack more, he said. When he brought on fresh midfielders the team was able to surge forward again.
He said he had four players under 20 playing today including 19-year-old Adrian Leijer in the back four, who he thought handled Dwight Yorke really well.
Now, I might have sounded somewhat negative at the start of this report, but I did have to bolt from the car in the Anzac Parade traffic jam, along with dozens of others after taking 40 minutes to crawl bumper to bumper from Southern Cross Drive; along with hundreds of others I missed the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half queuing for the limited ’Äúfood’Äù on offer (though I enjoyed standing behind a guy trying to convey his enthusiasm for the game to a couple of kids)
I sat at the end of a row and missed half the game because every one of the 10,000 late arrivals chose to stand on the steps right beside me to look for their seat and nearly everyone who had found their seat obviously didn’Äôt like it that match or didn’Äôt like the game because they kept leaving it ’Ķ and walking past me just as the ball was crossed in front of goal.
My poor partner, left stuck in traffic while I was in the beer queue, politely inquired of the police person in charge why someone had not been assigned to direct traffic. The response was that (a) the lights work better than police on point duty (b) the police were too busy keeping pedestrians away from the traffic (c) it was really a matter to be raised with (i) the event management (ii) the RTA but ultimately (iii) the Premier’Äôs Department. ’ÄúThat would be right,’Äù she said. ’ÄúBloody Iemma!’Äù
Apparently there were hundreds of calls to talk back radio praising the game and the standard of play. Contrasted to what, you could wonder? Many who actually attended games in the old NSL don’Äôt see much difference.
Sydney skipper Mark Rudan, an NSL vet, before the game wrote: ’ÄúThe A-League has been built and launched by administrators who have experience in creating elite football competitions. Marketing and advertising, which was nonexistent in recent national competitions, is exciting and prominent.’Äù
He said, ’ÄúPierre Littbarski, Dwight Yorke, Anthony LaPaglia and the number of players who have come back from overseas: it is something we have not had in Australia before and is exciting for everyone ’Ķ
’ÄúEverything is in place for what I believe will be the start of a football revolution in Australia. What we need is support.’Äù
Rudan was at pains to make clear that it is not all new ¬‚ there are still football people involved who survived the ’Äúdark ages’Äù. And his coach tonight cast aspersions about the contributions of players back from overseas ¬‚ not mentioning any names.
The football revolution is not about the football. Or even 'how many dudes y’Äôknow go like this'. Not yet.