Adelaide United V Sydney FC @ Adelaide Oval

[redden whites]

look at those poor buggers in the chappell stands they must be roasting looking into the sun.

[Wedgie]

You little beauty!

[Dirko]

Good crowd just over 25000...biggest crowd to EVER watch a game in South Australia, I think eclipsing the City v Juve in 84 ??
Sold out "officially" but could of got another 5000 odd into the members area and surrounds.

Well done Sydney FC. Too good. They will be very hard to beat for the title...

Only bitch for the night. The FFA need to look at the ref. Some bloody disgraceful calls tonight BOTH ways.

We have a professional league, full time players, full time coaches and support staff, yet only part time refs.

Move into the real world and give these blokes some decent cash, better facilities and make them FULL time, and accountable.

The A-League only needs 6 FULL TIME refs....Not hard...

[Dirko]

look at those poor buggers in the chappell stands they must be roasting looking into the sun.

I was one....wasn't too bad...Saw LEH there in his bloody Fulham gear too, but missed out on saying hi !

The view from the Trevor Chappell stand was very good IMO...

[Wedgie]

Good crowd just over 25000...biggest crowd to EVER watch a game in South Australia, I think eclipsing the City v Juve in 84 ??

Close, the official highest crowd I have for a soccer game in SA was 20,870 at Footy Pk in 84 in the match between Australia and Juventus.
There is a rumour going around that a State team versus Everton in 1964 at Norwood got around 25k but I find that hard to believe.
Fantastic that over 25k got out to see how bad AU really are but to put it in perspective we got around 30k for a Rugby League game at Adelaide Oval under lights in the early 90s between St George and Balmain. Its a novelty thing.

[magpie in the 80's]

Record crowd witness Breeze Shocker
4:49 AM Sat 29th Dec, 2007 - Admin

Hyundai A-League –Round 18 – Friday 28th December 2007
At Adelaide Oval

Adelaide United 1 (Sarkies 20m)
were defeated by
Sydney FC 3 (Santalab 44m, Corica 54m & Middleby 67m)

A-League football arrived at Adelaide Oval with a record crowd of 25,039 in attendance and several thousand more turned away when the full house sign went up before kick-off. The attendance set a new record for a football match in South Australia.

An evening that started with so much promise was turned on its head by a shocking performance by referee Matthew Breeze. Never a favourite of Adelaide crowds, Breeze saved his worst ever performance for the biggest ever footballing stage in South Australia. In the past week Breeze has officiated for two Sydney matches, has sent of three players from the opposing side and made several controversial decisions that have determined the outcomes of both games in favour of Sydney. Quite frankly the standard of officiating in the A-League is not up to the standard of the football and this is one of the biggest challenges facing the A-League.

Adelaide was denied a clear penalty when Cassio was tumbled into the ground after breaking through the Sydney FC defence lines. Cassio was only metres from goals with only the keeper to beat when he was dragged down. But Breeze saw it differently to the 25,039 fans inside Adelaide Oval and then proceeded to enrage the fans when he booked Cassio for diving. It was a terrible decision by Breeze.

Tempers amongst the fans reaching boiling point when Djite stole the ball from Sydney FC defender Milligan and headed goalwards. With Adelaide seeming likely to score, Breeze blew his whistle for an apparent foul on Milligan. The television replay clearly showed Djite had not made contact with Milligan and the fans let Breeze know what they thought of him.

Adelaide continued to attack in the closing minutes by Sydney saw off the late charge to record a 3-1 win and grab the crucial 3 points.

It was a convincing and deserved win for Sydney FC. While referee Breeze had a shocker it was clear that Adelaide was struggling to remain competitive with Sydney for much of the match. Adelaide has too many players putting in sub par performances and too many players that are clearly underdone due to injuries. Coach Aurelio Vidmar was, once again, punished for persisting with struggling defender Cornthwaite.

Adelaide has assembled possibly the strongest squad in the A-League. While injuries have taken their toll, every club suffers injuries and Adelaide, with its strong squad, should be well placed to cope. However on current form Adelaide is the worst performing club in the A-League having recorded on one win its last eight matches.

Best for Adelaide was goalkeeper Galekovic who put in another solid performance. Midfielder Bobby Petta was a standout in the first half until he was sacrificed for a defender. Cassio raided down the left flank though his defensive qualities were questioned by Sydney FC in the second half. Djite toiled hard up front but suffered from very poor service and isolation.

Best for Sydney FC was referee Matthew Breeze. His decisions guaranteed Sydney would take all three points.

Adelaide United 1 (Sarkies 20m)
were defeated by
Sydney FC 3 (Santalab 44m, Corica 54m & Middleby 67m)
)

Crowd: 25039

Adelaide United Squad

Eugene Galekovic (gk)
Richie Alagich (sub 74m Jonas Salley)
Angelo Costanzo
Cassio
Lucas Pantelis
Kristian Sarkies (sub 74m Matthew Mullen)
Bruce Djite
Travis Dodd (c)
Bobby Petta (sub 45m Milan Susak)
Robert Cornthwaite
Diego

Substitutes Not Used: Robert Bajic (gk)

Coach: Aurelio Vidmar

Yellow Cards: 28m Dodd & 66m Galekovic
Red Cards: 33m Cornthwaite

Sydney FC Squad:

Clint Bolton (gk)
Iain Fyfe
Tony Popovic (c)
Robbie Middleby
Ruben Zadkovich (sub 68m Juninho)
Steve Corica
Brendon Santalab (sub 78m Ben Vidaic)
Alex Brosque
Terry McFlynn
Mark Milligan
Adam Biddle (sub 65m Brendan Renaud)

Substitutes Not Used: Ivan Necevski (gk)

Coach: John Kosmina

Yellow Cards: 30m Fyfe, 40m Milligan, 65m Middleby & 83m Renaud
Red Cards: none

RATINGS:

Referee: Matthew Breeze, Rating 1/10
Pitch: Rating 7/10

Game rating: 6/10

Best Players: (3 points for best on field)

3. Breeze (Sydney)
2. Corica (Sydney)
1. Galekovic (Adelaide)
Source: FootballNews

[Dogwatcher]

Where did this wrap up come from Maggies?
Very fair summation.
Cornthwaite's send off was very questionable.

[TroyGFC]

Wasn't a bad game to watch, shame the xxxx mid strengths though!! I think crowd was well over 25k as i know of heaps of people who were passing tix through fence and getting extra 20 people in.
I was lucky as heard had sold out but just as my mate was going to off load his tix a good samaritan gave me his tix as he couldn't be bothered lining up to get in.

[Wedgie]

Cornthwaite's send off was very questionable.

I thought it was an obvious red card, stupid move too, had time to regain balance and get behind him again too.

[Thiele]

saying on radio this morning that it was 31k there were a few free tickets for memebers

[magpie in the 80's]

Where did this wrap up come from Maggies?
Very fair summation.
Cornthwaite's send off was very questionable.

footballnews.com.au DW

[JK]

Enjoy your Pizza this morning Punk?

Great night at the game apart from the result obviously, awesome atmosphere, will def get along the next time United are back there.

DW, sorry I missed ya last night mate, will def catch up throughout the new year though at some stage.

[redden whites]

Cornthwaite's send off was very questionable.

Most obvious decision of the season I thought, could not be more blatantly correct.

[Dirko]

Cornthwaite's send off was very questionable.

Most obvious decision of the season I thought, could not be more blatantly correct.

He gave the free for the shirt pull outside the box. Red Card harsh, yellow for sure...
The Sydney dude took a dive in the box as an added affect yet got away with it. Cassio
gets scragged and gets a card....

Wait for Viddie to get his fine from the FFA as he has said some comments re the ref.
Nothing unwarranted mind you...

[Wedgie]

Squealing must be an AU thing as Kossie seems to have developed some class since being in charge of the bling.

Talked to a mate who went last night and he said despite it being a great crowd the atmosphere was zero, could anyone else confirm that?

Hate to think of how big the crowd might have been if a couple of decent sides such as Central Coast and Queensland had played.

[Dirko]

Squealing must be an AU thing as Kossie seems to have developed some class since being in charge of the bling.

Talked to a mate who went last night and he said despite it being a great crowd the atmosphere was zero, could anyone else confirm that?

Hate to think of how big the crowd might have been if a couple of decent sides such as Central Coast and Queensland had played.

IMO the atmosphere up where I was sitting in the Chappell stand (North) it was OK...
The Chappell stand was made up of season ticket holders for United, so don't know if that made the atmosphere better or not...

How could the crowd be bigger when it was officially sold out

[Wedgie]

How could the crowd be bigger when it was officially sold out

Yeah, good call, I was being silly with that comment, from all reports hundreds were turned away too.

[Dutchy]

I couldnt go so gave my free tickets away....6500 free tickets were given to SACA members, my old man went to his first game of soccer and actually really enjoyed it and is now talking about going to a game at hindmarsh

[Blue Boy]

I thought the atmosphere was great but the result was poo !!!

[Blue Boy]

I thought the atmosphere was great but the result was poo !!!

Sorry forgot to mention the ref it seemed he lacked the C word - funny about that hey !!!