Sydney FC face an uphill task to qualify for the AFC Champions League Two final following their 2-0 loss to Lion City Sailors in the opening leg of their semi-final clash in Singapore.
Ufuk Talay’s Sydney were rocked in just the 18th minute as Lion City winger Bart Ramselaar fired a stunning drive beyond keeper Harrison Devenish-Meares from distance which kissed the bar before bouncing in to make it 1-0 on Wednesday night.
To make matters worse for the Sky Blues, striker Lennart Thy then thumped home a ferocious effort from a tight angle midweek.
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Sydney substitute Adrian Segecic came close to pulling one back for the away side but his powerful show flew past the far post while Thy was then thwarted by Devenish-Meares in the 81st minute.
The result leaves the Isuzu UTE A-League side with plenty of work to do in the return leg at Allianz Stadium in a week’s time as they bid to make it through to the final of the ACL Two, a game which would be held at their home venue.
Playing in hot and humid conditions on an artificial pitch in Singapore, the visitors survived a scare in the 16th minute as a VAR check was ordered to determine whether or not keeper Devenish-Meares had handled the ball outside his box.
No offence was committed on that occasion but two minutes later, Devenish-Meares was using his hands to pick the ball out of his net
Collecting the ball on the left, Ramselaar took a touch to steady himself before unleashing an unstoppable strike from the left edge of the area which flew beyond the keeper and into the back of the net to make it 1-0.
Despite controlling possession of the ball in Singapore Sydney FC were struggling to fashion any real meaningful chances with Brazilian Douglas Costa curling a left-footed free-kick over the bar.
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Far from impressed with the Sky Blues’ first-half performance, head coach Ufuk Talay went to his bench at half-time and brought on in-form attacker Adrian Segecic in place of midfielder Corey Hollman.
The Sky Blues looked to have a bit more attacking impetus in the second-half and whipped some dangerous balls into the box but to no avail and before they knew it, they were 2-0 down.
Running into acres of space, Thy latched on to a flighted ball over the top and, having cushioned the ball down, then drilled a stunning effort beyond Devenish-Meares and into the roof of the net.
Now desperately needing to find some sort of spark, Segecic rifled a shot towards goal which was brilliantly defended by Socceroo Bailey Wright as he deflected the ball over the bar.
So reliable when it comes to scoring goals off the bench the season, Segecic then went even closer to pulling one back however he dragged a powerful left-footed effort wide of the far post after combining well with Costa and striker Patryk Klimala.
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Whilst the home side were happy to sit back and defend their lead they did come close to bagging a third goal in what would have potentially be a tie-killer for the Sky Blues.
Racing on to another pass over the top, Thy lifted the ball beyond Sydney captain Rhyan Grant but his left-footed shot was well-saved by Devenish-Meares to keep the score at 2-0.
Sydney got into plenty of good positions in the final third but were guilty of over-playing at times as they head back to Allianz Stadium with plenty of work to do ahead of the semi-final second leg on Wednesday April 16.
Featured image: AFC
