Sydney prevail, Victory draw against Asian giants in ACL
Sydney FC have taken down Guangzhou Evergrande, edging the cashed-up Chinese heavyweights 2-1 to steer their Asian Champions League campaign back on track.
Meanwhile, Melbourne Victory remain in pole position to qualify from their group despite letting slip an early lead to draw 1-1 with Gamba Osaka in Japan.
In Sydney, Huang Bowen cancelled out Robert Stambolziev’s first-half opener at Allianz Stadium last night, before substitute Milos Dimitrijevic struck a dramatic 88th-minute winner.
The question had always been whether Sydney could stack up against Evergrande, the reigning ACL champions and one of Asia’s most expensively assembled sides.
Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side were classy but displayed a fitness befitting a squad still in Chinese Super League pre-season.
Guangzhou’s $65 million man Jackson Martinez lurked and took a couple of stabs, but could not put a goal away against his less-opulent but grittier Australian counterparts.
Having warned they wouldn’t be intimidated, Sydney gave as good as they got, David Carney and Milos Ninkovic thriving in space not usually afforded to them in the A-League.
Maybe that was the key, as it was one of the Sky Blues’ best performances this season and one that yielded the opening goal.
Off a corner and some superb build-up play, Carney latched onto a through ball and headed to Shane Smeltz.
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The striker flicked his own header back to Stambolziev, whose left boot sent a snappy first-time finish past Guangzhou gloveman Zeng Cheng.
Sydney barely had minutes to celebrate before the unthinkable happened.
Seb Ryall yanked Martinez to the turf by his shirt, earning a yellow card and conceding a penalty.
Goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic incredibly saved Ricardo Goulart’s strike from the spot, but an equaliser came three minutes later.
On the counter-attack, Huang found space on the right flank and drove in a goalward bullet, which Aaron Calver inadvertently buried into the net while trying to clear.
From there, the Sky Blues absorbed wave after wave of attack, ACL debutant Brandon O’Neill and Matt Jurman doing a particularly diligent job.
When their defence had no answer, Janjetovic made more crucial saves.
The second half was just as open-ended, and chances came and went for both sides.
Smeltz and Ninkovic both fired wide and Yu Hanchao botched a simple point-blank strike.
Both coaches, Graham Arnold and Scolari, were on fire in the dugout but only the former had cause to celebrate when, two minutes from time, Carney flicked a shot to Dimitrijevic, who threaded through two defenders and made no mistake.
“We’ve had a pretty tough five weeks, but our performance tonight was outstanding,” Arnold said.
“Our tactical discipline and structure was perfect, and the boys carried out the game plan very well.”
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Scolari agreed: “Sydney deserved to win.”
In Japan, Victory led for almost an hour at the home of the former ACL champions when Nick Ansell’s pressure forced Shu Karata to trickle a ball into his own goal.
But the A-League champions were denied by a diving header from decorated veteran Yasuhito Endo after the break.
While Victory were on course for a first win outside Australia after taking the game to Gamba, by fulltime they would owe Danny Vukovic for making a string of second-half saves to maintain parity.
Masaaki Higashiguchi’s embarrassing howler allowed Victory to steal a march on their well-credentialled opponents inside three minutes.
The goalkeeper conceded a corner after miskicking a regulation backpass, with Victory taking full advantage.
Ansell’s pressure told from the set-piece, with the unlucky Kurata’s attempted clearance dribbling over the line.
On 57 minutes, poor marking at a Gamba corner cost Victory their lead.
Jai Ingham, the hero of last week’s win over Shanghai SIPG, allowed his marker Endo plenty of space to head home Takashi Usami’s fine centre.
Gamba were finishing the stronger, with Matthieu Delpierre excelling as he tried to contain key frontman Patric.
The powerful Brazilian cleaned up Oliver Bozanic in a second-half aerial contest, with the midfielder substituted shortly after.
As Gamba chased a winner, Vukovic was on hand twice within two minutes to deny Patric from long-range and Takashi Usami’s volley at close quarters.
Patric missed a golden chance to win it 10 minutes from time when his header shaved the crossbar, with Vukovic stopping another short-range shot as the clock ticked down.
The visitors were by far the happier team to hear the final whistle, adding the away draw to their opening 2-1 success over Shanghai.
Victory will have the chance to solidify their position at the top of group G when they host Korean side Suwon Bluewings on March 15 in their next match.
-AAP
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