Sydney To Host Final
Posted by Jasper Reed in A-League, Sydney FC | 20 February 2006
Sydney FC 2 Adelaide United 1
Sydney booked thier place in the Grand Final, and hosting rights, by beating Adelaide at the Sydney Football Stadium on Sunday. In another high quality game, Sydney scored first when Sasho Petrovski pounced on a mistake by left back Adam van Dommelle to squeeze the ball under Daniel Beltrame. Adelaide upped the pace in the second half and were back on level terms when Shenqing Qu scored a trademark goal on the hour. Cutting in from the left he effortlessly curled in from 10 yards for his 8th goal of a highly impressive season.
The goal galvanised Sydney, watched by a record crowd of 30,000 including part owner and Hollywood actor Anthony La Paglia, a former Adelaide goalkeeper. It was they who put the tie beyond doubt on 79 minutes when Mark Rudan slid home a Mark Milligan cross. Both sides had further chances, and an Adelaide goal would have sent the tie into extra time. It looked on the cards in the 85th minute, but skipper Ross Aloisi's shot rebounded off the post, with Rudan smothering the rebound. And at the death, Greg Owens should have done better when the ball fell invitingly on the edge of the area, but Sydney, and Football Australia, can now look forward to a 40,000+ crowd on March 5th for the big one.
It was the 3rd meeting between these two teams in this arena....and each has ended in the same scoreline. Adelaide need to find answers...but before they do, they must overcome Central Coast, now unbeaten in 10 games, at Hindmarsh on Sunday.
