The Western Sydney Wanderers faced up against local side Sydney United in the FFA Cup Round of 16 tonight in Campbelltown, demolishing the NPL side and taking full advantage of poor defence and discipline to annihilate their opponents 7 goals to 1. Following the game the Wanderers were drawn in a Quarter Final clash away to Melbourne City.
After a back and forth opening, Daniel Georgievski cut back from deep on the United left flank but fired his shot high and wide. In the 11th minute Mo Adam found himself in space at the edge of the area, his shot curled away from the far post and out for a goal kick. Sydney United had their first major chance of the game in the 15th minute, breaking on the counter-attack with a sweeping move that ended without result as their striker mis-controlled the last cross, Daniel Lopar gratefully picking up the rolling ball.
The Wanderers struck the first blow via wingback Bruce Kamau. Georgievski created an opening on the left, passing onto Radoslaw Majewski, he cut back onto his left foot, crossed over the centre of the penalty area, Kamau chested down a deflection, then finished emphatically with his left boot. Georgievski continued his excellent game as he nearly scored the Wanderers second with a cross-shot that hit the crossbar.
Georgievski put an exclamation point on his performance by doubling the Wanderers advantage in the 22nd minute. Taking advantage of poor playing out from the United defence, letting Majewski pounce on the loose ball, launch a rocket that the United keeper could only push out to the 6 yard box, Georgievski was following through like a striker, reacted quicker than central defender Peter Markovic and he squeezed the ball through the gap between the on rushing keeper & Markovic's forlorn dive. Mo Adam almost made it 3 in the blink of an eye, Baccus nodding on a header that Adam ran on, United's keeper Daniel Sadaka threw himself to the feet of the young striker to prevent the scoreline getting any worse.
10 minutes from half-time the Wanderers lead was extended to 3-0. Pirmin Schwegler battling in midfield to win the ball, he quickly aimed a through ball behind the United defence, Adam lashed a shot that Sadaka blocked low with the foot, but once again the rebound fell to a Wanderer, as Yeboah flung himself into the air, right foot arcing through the air to knock the ball from a meter out.
In the first few minutes after half-time Sydney United had a penalty. After a corner, Patrick Antelmi dived in the 6 yard box when being marked by Schwegler, the referee was conned all ends up and Antelmi sent Lopar the wrong way to make it 3-1.
Daniel Lopar stepped up to keep the game at 3-1 with three miraculous saves in a row. The first, he stuck a hand out after looking beaten at the near post, then not long later he dove well down to his right on a long range strike then reacted magnificently to keep Perkatis from a tap-in.
The mini-comeback was stomped out with a Wanderers counter-attack in the 56th minute. Georgievski attacked down the left flank and delivered a cross into the centre and Matthew Bilic suffered the awful fate of seeing his attempted clearance skew into the top corner of his own net to make the match 4-1.
Flashpoint on the hour mark, after the Wanderers cleared the ball away from goal Vlastelica put in a shocking late lunge from behind on Tate Russel, sparking a melee that resulted in former Wanderer Yianni Perkatis throwing a punch. Kurt Ams giving Vlastelica a yellow for the tackle and a straight red for Perkatis.
Tate Russel who replaced Bruce Kamau at half-time sealed the match with a powerful left footed strike in the 70th minute. With United down to 10, he found acres of space on his flank and after a neat touch to bring the ball down, his shot beat Sadaka on his right.
Majewski then capped his game by scoring his first and the Wanderers 6th and then Georgievski scored another, but I couldn't tell you what happened as I'm writing this because Fox Sports decided the world needed to watch the Central Coast & Brisbane Roar game instead of the scheduled televised match. After having to watch that game for a while we eventually saw the goal, Majewski blasted a right footed wonderstrike that found top bins, then Georgievski cut back inside onto his right and placed a shot into the bottom corner to make it 7-1, and that was the scoreline at full time.
The Wanderers dominated the first half, fought their way back from a brief comeback by Sydney United then rammed home their advantage after the Perkatis red card. It was a thoroughly professional performance and leaves the Wanderers still in the hunt for the first trophy in years.
With 8 teams left in the FFA Cup draw the fixtures are: Adelaide United vs Newcastle Jets, Melbourne City vs Western Sydney Wanderers, Brisbane Strikers vs Moreland Zebras and Hume City vs Central Coast Mariners.
Recommended Comments
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now