Brisbane’s horror start to their title defence continued on Friday night when they went down 2-0 to a well-drilled and determined Sydney FC, who produced two candidates for the Hyundai A-League goal of the season in the process.
Marc Janko scored a stunning long-range goal in the first half before Milos Dimitrijevic curled in a screamer of his own in the second term to hand a third-straight defeat to Mike Mulvey’s side, who lacked ideas all night.
The Sky Blues can continue their hectic week in high spirits while the Roar have a huge amount to think about before their next fixture on Novemeber 8.
What they said
Marc Janko:
“I think it was a great team effort today, we made it very difficult for Brisbane to find some spaces in the attacking third, so I think the whole team did a fantastic job today.
“To be honest it was a once in a lifetime goal, if you give me 100 chances I will probably hit it not one. But it was a beautiful goal and I’m happy to have scored and I’m happy for the team we got the win.”
Matt Smith
“It’s very frustrating at the moment to be honest, we’re playing okay at times, we’re not creating too many chances.
“We’ll go back to training this week and identify the areas which are going wrong but we’ve got to stay positive.”
Goals
Janko (28)
Simply one of the most outstanding goals we’ve seen in the Hyundai A-League. Roar keeper Jamie Young attempted to clear the ball but Janko got to it first, and the big Austrian walloped a tremendous left-footed effort into the empty net from a good 40 metres out.
Dimitrijevic (54)
Following the earlier Austrian Opus, it was always going to be hard to come up with a similarly spectacular goal, but Dimitrijevic had a fair crack at matching it. His second half strike was a gorgeous, curling, dipping effort which sailed into the top corner following some neat interplay with Alex Brosque.
Opta Data Key Stats
Brisbane made 744 passes to Sydney’s 319, which demonstrates how fruitless it is to ping the ball around endlessly without any real incision. The Sky Blues were lethal, even from distance, and in the end that’s all that really counts.
Highlights reel
It will take something special over the rest of the weekend to beat the highlight from this game; Janko’s audacious chested-down volley from way downtown.
The Final Word
Sydney residents recently turned their clocks forward an hour for summer while Brisbanites opted to stick with the status quo, and the Queensland team on this occasion looked to be lagging well behind their counterparts in terms of tactics and imagination.
Graham Arnold out-foxed Mulvey on this occasion, and it may be time now to start talking about a crisis situation for the defending champs.
Teams
Brisbane Roar: Smith (c), Stefanutto, Kurtishi (Solorzano 68), Lustica (Borrello 62), Henrique (Miller 78), North, Donachie, Brattan, Young (gk), Broich, Petratos.
Sydney FC: Ryall, Ognenovski, Bojic, Gameiro (Gligor 89) Dimitrijevic, Ibini-Isei, Brosque (c), Antonis, Janjetovic (gk), Janko (Naumoff 78), Abbas.
Scorers: Janko 28’, Dimitrijevic 54’
Red cards: –
Yellow cards: Ibini 18’, Lustica 52’, Brattan 62’, Janjetovic 76’
Conditions: 22 °C, dry.
Attendance: 14, 141
