A-League football arrived at Adelaide Oval with a record crowd of 25,039 in attendance and several thousand more turned away when the full house sign went up before kick-off. The attendance set a new record for a football match in South Australia.
An evening that started with so much promise was turned on its head by a shocking performance by referee Matthew Breeze. Never a favourite of Adelaide crowds, Breeze saved his worst ever performance for the biggest ever footballing stage in South Australia. In the past week Breeze has officiated for two Sydney matches, has sent of three players from the opposing side and made several controversial decisions that have determined the outcomes of both games in favour of Sydney. Quite frankly the standard of officiating in the A-League is not up to the standard of the football and this is one of the biggest challenges facing the A-League.
The person with the biggest smile after the match was Sydney FC coach John Kosmina. The victory was sweet revenge for Kosmina who was axed by Adelaide United at the end of last season. With only three rounds remaining it is now looking likely that Kosmina will be the only surviving remnant of last seasons A-League grand final with both Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United likely to miss out on finishing in the top four this season.
A depleted Adelaide United went into the game welcoming back defensive talisman Angelo Costanzo, Brasilian midfielder Diego and Dutchman Bobby Petta from injury. Sydney FC was strengthened by the return of goalkeeper Clint Bolton and defender Mark Milligan from injury and Ruben Zadkovich from suspension.
Adelaide started brightly taking an early lead in the 19th minute. Bobby Petta set up the goal with a brilliant cross from out wide that drew Sydney FC goalkeeper Bolton off his line. As Bolton fell short of the cross the ball flew off several heads to the feet of Sarkies well in side the penalty area. The midfielder placed his shot with Bolton stranded in no-mans land. 1-0 to Adelaide.
Adelaide's game plan went pear shaped in the 33rd minute. Defender Cornthwaite misjudged the ball and allowed Sydney FC striker Alex Brosque to get goalside. The clumsy Cornthwaite flailed an arm towards Brosque in an attempt to pull him back but Brosque had little trouble staying on his feet as he was outside the penalty area. Brosque continued on into the penalty area before employing his trademark dive. Referee Breeze was well behind play and fell hook line and sinker for the Brosque ploy. Breeze had no hesitation showing Cornthwaite a straight red card and then awarded Sydney FC a free kick outside the box. Cornthwaite was downright stupid to attempt to drag back Brosque but there was no doubt that Brosque took a dive.
It's a tough call but a booking for Brosque for diving would have equal weighting as a booking for Cornthwaite. One thing is certain though - the sending off of Cornthwaite ended the match as a footballing spectacle.
Down to ten men Adelaide United simply lost the plot. Attacking midfielder Travis Dodd was pulled into the backlines to plug the hole left by Cornthwaite. Unfortunately Dodd just does not have the qualities required by a central defender. Adelaide compounded its problems by defending way too deep giving Sydney FC the space to take advantage of its extra player and making life very difficult for its sole and now isolated striker in Djite.
Sydney progressively got closer and closer to levelling the scores keeping goalkeeper Galekovic busy. Eventually it was the rejuvenated Santalab who levelled the scores in the 44th minute. Santalab was given too much space by the Adelaide defence on the edge of the penalty area. Santalab does not need an invitation to try his hand at long range and took advantage of the poor defending to unleash a powerful drive that curled into the top corner.
At half time the scores were levelled but on the balance of play the signs were ominous that Adelaide would struggle to keep Sydney FC at bay.
Adelaide started the second half with Bobby Petta sacrificed for defender Milan Susak.
In the 54th minute Steve Corica gave Sydney FC the lead. Corica was headed goalwards but his path seemed to have been stoped by defender Costanzo. But a fortunate deflection favoured Corica who continued on into the Adelaide penalty area before placing the ball past Galekovic and just inside the left upright. 2-1 to Sydney.
Tempers amongst the fans reaching boiling point when Djite stole the ball from Sydney FC defender Milligan and headed goalwards. With Adelaide seeming likely to score, Breeze blew his whistle for an apparent foul on Milligan. The television replay clearly showed Djite had not made contact with Milligan and the fans let Breeze know what they thought of him.
Sydney sealed the result in the 66th minute when it controversially scored its third goal. Again poor defending was a major contributor with Sydney given too much space to cross the ball from out wide. However Adelaide was once again given harsh treatment by the match officials with Ruben Zadkovich clearly offside. Zadkovich crossed the ball into to the near post and it was knocked on to Middleby who prodded the ball home from very close range. Referee Breeze subsequently booked Adelaide United goalkeeper Galakovic for remonstrating over the failure to rule out the goal for offside.
Sydney threatened to tear open Adelaide United and went close to turning the match into a rout. But in the closing 20 minutes Adelaide started to spring to life and began to take the game to Sydney. But any chance of a comeback was quickly quashed by referee Breeze much to the ire of the fans.
Adelaide was denied a penalty when Cassio was tumbled into the ground after breaking through the Sydney FC defence lines. Cassio was heading towards goal when he was dragged back in very similar fashion to the previous incident involving Alex Brosque and ended up with a red card for Cornthwaite. But forever the master of inconsistency, Breeze saw it differently to most of the 25,039 fans inside Adelaide Oval and then proceeded to enrage the fans when he booked Cassio for diving. It was a terrible decision by Breeze.
Adelaide continued to attack in the closing minutes by Sydney saw off the late charge to record a 3-1 win and grab the crucial 3 points.
It was a convincing and deserved win for Sydney FC. While referee Breeze had a shocker it was clear that Adelaide was struggling to remain competitive with Sydney for much of the match. Adelaide has too many players putting in sub par performances and too many players that are clearly underdone due to injuries. Coach Aurelio Vidmar was, once again, punished for persisting with struggling defender Cornthwaite.
Adelaide has assembled possibly the strongest squad in the A-League. While injuries have taken their toll, every club suffers injuries and Adelaide, with its strong squad, should be well placed to cope. However on current form Adelaide is the worst performing club in the A-League having recorded on one win its last eight matches.
Best for Adelaide was goalkeeper Galekovic who put in another solid performance. Midfielder Bobby Petta was a standout in the first half until he was sacrificed for a defender. Cassio raided down the left flank though his defensive qualities were questioned by Sydney FC in the second half. Djite toiled hard up front but suffered from very poor service and isolation.
Best for Sydney FC was referee Matthew Breeze. His decisions guaranteed Sydney would take all three points. In summary Breeze gifted Sydney a one man advantage for two thirds of the match, denied Adelaide a one on one between Djite and Bolton, awarded Sydney an offside goal and denied Adelaide a penalty. In the most simplest of analysis - if these controversial decisions had gone the other way Adelaide would have won the match 3-2.