A devastating ten minute spell just after half-time during which Melbourne Victory scored two and Sydney had a player dismissed was the platform for Victory's comprehensive five-nil whitewash at Olympic Park on a warm Melbourne Sunday afternoon. The win ¬‚ Melbourne's fourth in a row ¬‚ takes Victory to the top of the A-League.
Richard Kitzbichler opened the scoring just after the half-hour, volleying home after Archie Thompson had stormed up Victory's left wing. Kevin Muscat netted the second from the penalty-spot after Kitzbichler had been brought down by Ian Fyfe.
Thompson then took the game beyond reach with Victory's third when it looked like the four defenders who surrounded him should surely have cleared. And if coach Pierre Littbarski thought things couldn't get worse, within two minutes he saw Sydney reduced to ten men as Ufuk Talay was dismissed for violent conduct, striking Kitzbichler in the face.
Thompson scored his second shortly after, his header from a Kitzbichler cross was blocked by Clint Bolton, but Thompson was able to tuck away the rebound, showing his London return trip for the Socceroos had no lasting ill effects.
Then Muscat stepped up to take his second penalty with still a quarter-hour to go. Andy Vlahos had been brought down in the area at a time when Ricky Diaco, Daniel Allsopp, and Vlahos were queuing up to score as the Sydney defence chased shadows.
"It was a fantastic result," said a beaming Victory coach Ernie Merrick. "If the performance is right individually and collectively, the results look after themselves. It was a great performance in front of a record-breaking crowd. (It was) a great day for Melbourne and Victoria."
"I told the players after the game that one (loss) five-zero is better than five losses (each) of one-nil," said Littbarski, vying with the curate in putting the best possible light on an unfortunate circumstance. "I think we started very well, but after the second goal went in we lost direction. The third goal was a killer, and you saw it in the faces of the players."
"It was a great game for Melbourne, good for the A-League, but bad for us," he said.
The ’ÄòSold Out' signs which festooned the stadium went up more than a day before kick-off such was the fans' anticipation of this fixture ¬‚ the only time in the 21-round season Melbourne would see the league's highest-profile team. Football comprises the only major sport followed equally in both of Australia's most populous cities, and so provides the only sporting avenue their citizens have to express their deep-seated rivalry.
Within a few minutes of the game's start, it was obvious the rivalry was even more intense on the field. Muscat had been cautioned for an off-pitch incident involving Terry McFlynn. Moments later, Sasho Petrovski saw yellow after bringing down Muscat making a gallop down the right. Then McFlynn was cautioned before the game had re-started as he leant over the prone Muscat presumably not exchanging pleasantries. And Steve Corica argued his way into referee Matthew Breeze's book when he continued beyond reasonable bounds with a penalty appeal Breeze had waved away after his shot crashed into Geoffrey Claeys' arm from a metre.
The wounds were physical too. Petrovski played most of his game with his skull bandaged after a clash of heads on the half-way line.
But there was guile and speed on display as well as the cudgel. Kitzbichler picked up where he'd left off on Monday against New Zealand Knights and probed for weakness down the right side, and Thompson burnt up the grass on runs which defied tracking. Fyfe will still be wondering how he was so comprehensively bamboozled just before the half-hour when Thompson found space behind on the chase of a long Adrian Leijer forward pass, brought down the ball, and juggled it into a shooting position. Although Thompsons' shot went over the bar, it was a moment of breathtaking skill and confidence.
Dwight Yorke had supplied Sydney's best moment a few minutes beforehand after his side had forced a series of corners. In the last of them, a ball fell his way close-in only for the Trinidad international to find Eugene Galekovic in precisely the right spot to block, then gather before further danger eventuated.
The game was in fine balance, but it was tipped by Kitzbichler's opener just after the half-hour. Thompson had made yet another rapier run down the left, leaving Andrew Packer on the ground in his wake. Thompson squared the ball as he cut inside. Kitzbichler had made a late run and connected from 25 metres wrong-footing Clint Bolton who could only watch leaden-shoed as it sped into the net low to his right.
The second half was just minutes old when Victory extended its lead. Kitzbichler had burst through the Sydney defensive line only for Fyfe to hold him back. Muscat netted a regulation penalty.
The game was put beyond Sydney two minutes later with another moment of Thompson trickery. With four defenders and Bolton surrounding him at the edge of the six-yard box, the Socceroo striker stood on the ball, dragged it back, turned, dragged it back again to give him just enough space to shoot and score. Awaiting alone in the centre-circle for his team-mates to form up again for the re-start, Petrovski stood alone shaking his bandaged head in disbelief.
Talay then let the emotion get the better of him to make what was a difficult task an impossibility, and his departure was to leave sufficient space for a now rampant Victory to score twice more. "That was sad," said Littbarski. "I told the players not to do anything stupid, especially in a game like (this) when you are emotional and more involved than a regular game. A little bit more patience would have helped."
Thompson was the first to take advantage of the extra man. Allsop released Kitzbichler on the right. Kitzbichler's lofted cross was pinpointed to Thompson but Bolton was able to reach his header only to parry it back into Thompson's path for a tap-in.
And then with Victory players lining up, Diaco crashed a shot off the post, it fell to Allsopp whose shot in turn was scrambled clear only to fall to Vlahos. Vlahos' first was blocked by Bolton, but in attempting to reach the rebound, he was fouled by Matthew Bingley. Muscat effortlessly converted his second penalty of the afternoon.
"Even if I realised (Thompson) had (scored) two, I still wouldn't have given (the penalty) to him," said Muscat. "I noticed a bit of jet-lag so I thought I'd better take it. I'm going to compete with him (for top scorer) for the rest of the season."
Amazingly the game was not covered live for television, leaving those not quick enough off the mark in obtaining tickets, tuning in to radio coverage. That the game was seen only by Olympic Park's 18,000 capacity crowd is surely a disappointment to the league and the teams' followers and sponsors.
Both teams' pedigree strikers ¬‚ Thompson for Victory and Yorke for Sydney ¬‚ had made their sides' starting elevens, despite returning from international duty in distant time-zones only a few days earlier. Whilst Thompson was truly stunning, Yorke was to play only a supporting role, capably marshalled by Claeys and Adrian Leijer to the extent that Littbarski withdrew him into a more central midfield role during the second half. "Every time (Yorke) comes back, we lose," said a rueful Littbarski. "He's only human and he had two tough games. He tried his best but in the end he ran out of petrol."