Heartbreak
Well Sydneysiders, I don't know about you but I am just getting over the weekend. I'm still hoarse, grumpy and have not been good company!
Let's get it over with first: it was an absolute travesty that such a titanic contest was decided by not one, but two consecutive refereeing errors. To the immense and enduring credit of the Sydney team, they have taken the result manfully and with a self-deprecating acceptance that stands in stark contrast to the inevitable reaction had the positions been reversed. But however you cut it, we are not hosting the grand final because our players took the referee at his word and did not engage in the gamesmanship of standing on top of the ball after the free kick had been (incorrectly) awarded. There is something very wrong with that situation.
That Strebre got a handball wrong was not terribly surprising given his failure to get one right all game (how quickly the game would have been over if he had managed to do that). That he lacked the intestinal fortitude to call Muscat back to retake a kick taken whilst he was marching the wall back is disappointingly consistent with the observations of every other team insofar as it concerns dealings between Muscat and the A-league referees. For the Victory, it's a barely deserved magic carpet ride to a home final.
But that should not take away from the quality of what had gone before. The preceding 117 minutes had been brilliant; probably the best A-league game ever played. Cracking goals, amazing saves and end to end play. It was willing and skilful in equal parts and a cracking rebuttal to anyone who derides either the A-league or the finals series.
Heroes
Firstly, congrats to our super-coach. He and Michel Zach have changed our club immensely and have taken the Premiership with a combination of style and substance that has restored our great club to it's rightful place at the pinnacle. That Lavicka won the PFA award with more than double the vote of Ricki Herbert shows just how much he has brought to the club and to the A-league.
One of the biggest beneficiaries of Lavicka's coaching was Shannon Cole. Shannon started the season as a converted midfielder who specialised in taking free kicks. He had to win his position in the starting side off the very good Sebastian Ryall and at the same time lost the free-kick duties to our two imports Kisel and Byun. Whilst Lavicka and Cole were working on transforming his game, he was targeted by every coach and "expert" commentator as the biggest liability for the Sydney team. He finishes his second season as the premier right back in the league, with a starting Socceroos cap. As well as Seb Ryall did on Sunday, it was clear that Sydney missed Shannon's ability to overlap with Kisel and cause trouble for defences.
There is a reason that I have focussed on two people that didn't play on Sunday: because it would be terrible to single out (or leave out) anyone from that excellent performance. For the way they played and the manner in which they have accepted the defeat, every member of the team deserves admiration.
Unfinished business
Sydney had the wood on Wellington this season. They are the only team that we have done the triple over, blowing them away late first time out, early second time out and sneaking a 1:0 away win in the howling gale of Palmerston North.
None of that will count a jot come Saturday and Ricky Herbert will have something special lined up for this game. I'm sensing that it will be a great battle on and off the pitch.
If Sydney can win on Saturday, the grand final will be one for the ages. After last Sunday's heartbreak there is a massive wrong to put right.
