Last year Kosmina pushed Adelaide hard. Perhaps beyond their capability and they reached the grand final. He pushed too hard. Got himself suspended and fired. His team lost 6-0 and a large proportion of the club were sacked or left.
This year, rescued by the football establishment, he took over a faltering Sydney FC and led them to the finals. Last night we saw the toll of that effort.
Sydney, favoured by the rub of the decisions in the first leg, had the pressure table turned by the Roar's 36,000 fans (even these numbers were limited by a massive pre-game storm). And Sydney wilted. Its game plan of fouling Zullo and Kruse and Alex Brosque diving around up front and calling for attention, back-fired - even when there was a case the decision went against them. Arguing with the ref on-mass rarely pays dividends. And the sight of Bolton get ting stuck into teenage - and very late substitute - Biddle after the game was very sour and sorry.
The emergence of Reinaldo as a great striker just as he may be leaving the club, and the superb match and penalty kick by Ognenovski as he also is on his way, could be great parting gifts if repeated for the next two weeks.
3 comments:
Yep, we'll miss Oggy and Reinaldo. Is the latter moving set in stone?
Thanks for the picture of the rain. I had a go at writing about it on my blog as the dramatic impact was brilliant. Where were you in the maelstrom?
Ognenovski owned Brosque last night
Hamish, the State gov committing $500,000 per year, plus the last too crowds, probably worth a net $500,000 each, are likely to mean the Roar have more options next year. Where this will take them I am not sure. Financially they are conservative, and this has been necessary.
It is obvious that if they don't have Og, they need someone as good in his role. Unless Topor-Stanley is available (wither Perth if he is), I can't see who. O/S? it is a big risk that is why clubs poach.
Re the maelstrom, I went to buy an ice block just before it started, then waited until it stopped.
Post a Comment