The False 9: Round 27 - The record Sydney FC would love to break most

Inaugural 'Ice Bowl' honours went in Perth's favour, with Glory set to further cool its heels in the finals; Sydney FC's epic road trip continues; Tarek Elrich reflects on his soloist act and a few Mariners old boys pay tribute to a retiring legend. It's all here in The False 9.

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Sydney FC players will be confident of success on the road during the finals. (Getty) Source: Getty Images Asia Pacific

Presuming the top two teams win through to the grand final, Sydney FC is going to have to break the A-League record for most consecutive away wins, originally set by Melbourne Victory, to clinch the championship - on Victory's home ground!

Sydney equalled the record of eight straight away wins with its 2-1 victory over Wellington Phoenix. The run began with Sydney's first game back from the Asian Cup break, on 24 January, when it beat Central Coast Mariners 5-1.

Since then it has claimed successive road wins over Perth (3-1), Western Sydney Wanderers (4-3), Newcastle Jets (1-0), Wellington (3-0), Perth (3-0), Newcastle (4-3) and Wellington, again, on Sunday.

Sydney finished the regular season with a phenomenal 10 wins and four draws from its 14 away games.

The only way Sydney can get a home grand final is if it wins its semi-final and Victory loses. Victory, as the Premier's Plate winner, has home-ground advantage throughout the finals and it will be on to AAMI Park for the big one if the Kevin Muscat-coached team qualifies.

But the Graham Arnold-coached Sydney wouldn't be afraid of going to Melbourne to play for the title. Its away form must have given the players enormous confidence going into road games and Sydney can also point to having beaten Victory in a decider in Melbourne.

That was in the 2009-2010 grand final, when Sydney won 4-2 on penalties after it was 1-1 at the end of both normal time and extra time.

Current Sydney squad members Alex Brosque and Seb Ryall played for the Sky Blues that day. Archie Thompson and Leigh Broxham were in the Victory squad and so was Muscat, who was captain.

How did that feel?

You know there can only be one choice this week - Tarek Elrich, for his 65-metre "slalom run" goal in which he beat three defenders, including one of them twice, before slotting the ball past the goalkeeper in Adelaide United's 4-1 win over Melbourne City.

"It was one of those runs where I kept looking for a pass," Elrich said. "I thought about shooting from outside the box, but I saw my shooting in the last couple of weeks. I haven't hit the target, so it just happened to be I was either looking for a shot from outside or a pass to 'Brucey' (Djite).

"I ended up chopping and weaving and not knowing what I was doing in the box and finally the ball fell for me and I spotted it (the goalmouth). I was ecstatic and it's something I'll never forget."

Video of the goal has , as the young ones say.



Elrich's goal is already spawning copy-cat efforts. Here is some little-known Argentinian doing his best to mimic the Socceroos' star's effort.
Man of the hour (and a half)

Mark Milligan was superb for Melbourne Victory in its 3-1 win over Central Coast Mariners.

The Socceroos star cut off attacks from the opposition, got the ball rolling for some of his own team's attacks and set up the goal for Besart Berisha that gave Victory a two-goal cushion for the second time, after Central Coast had pulled one back from 2-0 down.

In recognition of the fact Milligan has a steely focus and regularly grasps opportunities to excel in his chosen career, False 9 brings you another big achiever who goes by the same initials.
Tweet, tweet #1

Retiring Central Coast captain John Hutchinson is dead right when he says ex-Mariners players, no matter where in the world they are playing now, don't forget where they came from.
Tweet, tweet #2

The rink is ready for the last-round National Hockey League game between Western Sydney Wild and Perth Penguins.
Tweet, tweet #3

One of False 9's favourite members of the Twitterati, Sydney FC striker Marc Janko, declares - while sitting out injured and watching on TV as his team hangs on against Wellington - that he is no threat to Graham Arnold when it comes time to hang up the boots.
Next!

Who is going to take the kick if Wellington gets another penalty during the finals?

Phoenix has missed its last two - Nathan Burns shot meekly and straight at the goalkeeper in the 0-0 draw with Melbourne City in Round 25 and Roly Bonevacia missed the goal altogether against Sydney FC.

Just as he did when Burns missed, False 9 has come up with something to make Bonevacia feel at least a little bit better about his miss.

Here is the great Cristiano Ronaldo missing an absolute heap of spot kicks.
Power rankings (last week in brackets)

1 Melbourne Victory (1) Clinched the premier's Plate by beating up on Central Coast. Scored three goals and could have easily had twice as many.

2 Sydney FC (2) Established an advantage over Wellington in the first half and then stoutly withstood a typical second-half Phoenix comeback.

3 Perth Glory (4) Knocked over Western Sydney Wanderers to finish the season with back-to-back wins, but now reality bites because it is banned from the finals.

4 Wellington Phoenix (3) Missed a penalty while its game against Sydney FC was still goalless and then fell two goals behind before losing by one.

5 Adelaide United (7) Pumped four goals past Melbourne City, but that is no guarantee it will score goals this week. Inconsistency is a problem.

6 Melbourne City (5) Has potential but goes into the finals without any momentum after a draw, draw, loss, loss finish to the regular season.

7 Brisbane Roar (6) The defending champion only made the finals in place of banned Perth, but is capable of an upset on the road against Adelaide.

8 Western Sydney Wanderers (8) Lost the 'ice bowl' against Perth after start was delayed due to a massive hailstorm, but avoided the wooden spoon.

9 Central Coast Mariners (9) Was always likely to do it tough on the road against Victory in the final round. Showed spirit, but was outclassed.

10 Newcastle Jets (10) Consigned to the wooden spoon with last-round loss to Brisbane. Finally, the season from hell is over in Tinkler-town.

Can't wait for...

The return of the A-League to Adelaide Oval with the first of the elimination finals on Friday between Adelaide United and Brisbane Roar.

The surface was too slick for the clash between Adelaide and Melbourne Victory early in the season, but that was during the cricket season. Surely it will be a bit slower and more conducive to good football now we're in the AFL season.

Adelaide people have shown they will flock to this venue for a big A-League game, so the atmosphere should be fantastic.


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7 min read
Published 27 April 2015 4:29pm
By Greg Prichard
Source: SBS

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