Sydney FC suffered a 1-0 loss at the hands of Venezia in a spiteful game at Stadio Comunale Picch in Jesolo overnight.
Sydney FC suffered a 1-0 loss at the hands of Venezia in a spiteful game at Stadio Comunale Picch in Jesolo overnight.
An early goal to Venezia was enough to split the teams in a game played in hot conditions as coach Frank Farina took the opportunity to give all players a 45 minute hit out ahead of Wednesday night-s clash with Reggiana.
Sydney FC conceded after three minutes when a speculative long ball out of defence caught the Sky Blues square and Venezia striker Riccardo Bocolan beat an advancing Necevski to the ball and poked it into an empty net.
The goal shunted Sydney FC into gear and they started to play the possession-based game Farina is striving to adopt but the Venezia defence held strong, limiting Sydney FC to set piece opportunities in the opening exchanges.
There was little action in the Sydney FC goalmouth although Corey Gameiro showed remarkable pace to run down a Venezia breakaway after Sydney FC lost possession from a corner and cleared the danger in the 23rd minute.
Gameiro then came close at the other end after some great short passing from Emerton and Del Piero freed some space but his shot in heavy traffic went narrowly over the crossbar.
Del Piero also had two free kick opportunities from the edge of the penalty area, both forcing good saves from the Venezia custodian Alessandro Vigorito before he was replaced just before half time by Vedran Niksic.
Farina made another seven planned changes at half time with Necevski, Sebastian Ryall, Matt Jurman, Marc Warren, Brett Emerton, Nick Carle and Andrea Migliorini replaced by Vedran Janjetovic, Marco Modolo, Pascal Bosschaart, Daniel Petkovski, Ali Abbas, Peter Triantis and Terry McFlynn.
Despite the changes the game did settle into a good tempo early on with Gameiro once again coming close on 47 minutes before some last ditched defending denied Bocolan a second goal with McFlynn forcing a weak show that was well saved by Janjetovic.
Yairo Yau came into the match in the 55th minute and created some problems with his pace at the pointy end of the Sydney CF attack but it was Calvano who came closest in the 69th minute when he headed just wide from a corner.
It was to be Calvano-s last contribution as he was replaced by Josh MacDonald in the 70th minute, forcing a re-shuffle that saw Triantis move to right back and Modolo shifting to central defence.
The games meandered to its conclusion in the final 20 with neither side able to gain control on a bumpy pitch feeling the effects of four matches in 10 days as well as daily training sessions.
Sydney FC will take on Reggiana in the 6th and final match of its Italian tour on Wednesday at the Mapei Stadium in Reggio. The match kicks off at 9pm (5am Thursday AEST time)
Venezia 1 (Bocolan 3) d Sydney FC 0
Stadio Comunale Picchi, Jesolo
Crowd: 4,012
Sydney FC team: Ivan NECEVSKI (Vedran JANJETOVIC 46), Sebastian RYALL (Marco MODOLO 46), Matt JURMAN (Pascal BOSSCHAART 46), Tiago CALVANO (Josh MacDONALD 70), Marc WARREN (Daniel PETKOVSKI 46), Brett EMERTON (Peter TRIANTIS 46), Nick CARLE (Ali ABBAS 46), Andrea MIGLIORINI (Terry McFLYNN 46), Alessandro DEL PIERO (Vedran NIKSIC 40), Corey GAMEIRO (Yairo YAU 55), Joel CHIANESE (Mitch MALLIA 25)
