FOOTBALL is an easy game which is made more complicated by the presence of the other team.
You see this quote doled out in football literature all the time. It was coined by a small French coffee drinking, womanizing and philosophy geek called John Paul Satre. Watching Sydney smash a pretty awful Newcastle Jets 4-0 it seemed like even John Alosi would get a goal.
It wasn’t to be though, Aloisi provided a trade mark air swing with his first opportunity after coming on as a sub around the 60th minute.
It’s hard to really talk about this match seriously because Newcastle were so bad, they did not complicate things for Sydney at all.
Adam Griffiths, I personally admire for his resolve; to be able to bluff his way into the A-League, and still not be found out as an imposter after four season is incredible.
And he provided Sydney with two goals after striker Alex Brosque skinned him twice to give Sydney a two goal lead at half time. The second goal, a glorious feint before chipping over the goalkeeper, the ball floating onto the net at the same time Ante Covic was falling on his backside.
Mark Milligan, Sydney FC’s ex glamour boy for three seasons returned to the SFS to a chorus of boos every time he touched the ball in defence for the Jets; and talk about déjà vu, he managed to score in the last game of the regular season again, making it two own goals in a row for two different clubs at the same ground. That one moment is a sports statistician's wet dream.
Mark Bridge looked sharper and fitter than at any time this season, I think that is what they call tapering. But usually it’s the beginning, not the end of the season, where this is supposed to happen.
Rhyan Grant was moved to a midfield position for this game and he was busy running around breaking down the Jets play, and always in good position to receive the ball from his team mates. How Stuart Musialik would wish he had someone like Grant playing alongside him all season.
Kofi Danning showed some good touches after he came on in the second half. It’s worth paying the money just to watch this young kid show some of his more experienced contemporaries how it’s done.
Straight after John Aloisi hit an open header on to the cross bar, my brother said that he felt sorry for him; nothing seemed to be falling his way.
I feel a little different and after reading that Shannon Cole is the leading crosser in the league with close to two hundred crosses this year I don’t buy the argument that he hasn’t received enough quality service. My eyes tell me that he is too slow to that service.
After coming fifth and missing the top four by only two points some can argue the season wasn’t a total waste. They will argue about injuries, loss of form to key players and the success of some of Kossie’s kids.
Questions remain regarding future of the club and the main one is Will they stay or will they go? Will Kossie stay or go? Will Johnny Aloisi stay or go?
So far nine players have been confirmed as leaving: Iain Fyfe, Robbie Middleby, Jacob Timpano, Brendon Santalab, Mike Enfield, Nik Tsattalios, Adam Biddle, Bobby Petta and Beau Busch and if you include Tony Popovich that is almost half the squad.
It makes the argument that keeping Kossie as a coach for the sake of stability laughable; isn’t letting 10 players leave in a squad that has maximum of 23 players a sign of instability?
Let the games begin...
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