Sydney FC will use the last two games in this season’s Hyundai A-League as preparation for the upcoming Asian Champions League after their slim finals chances were extinguished by the 1-1 draw with the Newcastle Jets on Sunday.
Both Sydney and the Jets needed a win to keep their finals chances alive but the thrilling 1-1 draw left Sydney mathematically unable to make the top six.
“It was not enough,” Sydney FC coach Vitezslav Lavicka said after the match. “Six games unbeaten is a good in this series but we wanted more out of this game.”
“We are upset and disappointed because we believed that we still had a small chance to reach the finals, but not now.”
“I think it was good football because both sides needed to win and it was open football – we created some chances, the home team as well so for the spectator it was a good game tonight.”
“But I think this result wasn’t good enough for both sides.”
Sydney skipper Terry McFlynn said now the finals are out of the equation, the club would focus on the upcoming ACL campaign.
“It was almost like a cup final out there tonight because both sides had to win – but like the boss said a draw is not a great result for either side,” McFlynn said.
“It is never easy to take a defeat or a draw but you have to move on we will look to the future and the Asian Champions League now is our focus and that starts tomorrow.”
“We will get back training for the game Wednesday night and we will use the last two games in the A-league as preparation for the Asian Champions League.”
“It is a tough competition and these last two games will good preparation for that.”
Lavicka admitted that Sydney’s ‘champions hangover’ was the main reason why the club failed to reach the finals this year.
“We analysed before that we had a very poor start. It took 10 games to reach the first win and we missed many points in this stage,” he said.
“We improved after this but before Christmas and December we had some more poor results. We have improved again during January and this part of the season but we lost many points before – that is the reason.”
