Roaring Along – Sydney Preview

 

• Where:  Brisbane, Suncorp Stadium
• When:  Saturday 19^th October 2013
• When They Last Met:  Brisbane Roar 3 – Sydney FC 1, Suncorp Stadium, 28/03/2013

Likely Starting 11: Michael Theo (GK), Besart Berisha, Ivan Franjic, Liam Miller, Jade North, Shane Stefanutto, Jack Hingert, Matt Smith (C), Thomas Broich, James Donachie, Luke Brattan.

The visit of Sydney FC to Brisbane always draws a reasonably large crowd and I expect this round 2 clash to be no exception, there are a few factors that always make this fixture exciting for both players and fans alike. The visit of ex Roar coach Frank Farina, the game has a “state of origin” feel about it as it is QLD vs NSW, and we all get to see the talented silky skills of Alessandro Del Piero. As it is the first home game of the season for the Roar I expect to see “the den” in full verse at the Caxton Street end of the stadium, and with the above mentioned factors, the atmosphere should be fantastic.

As it is the first home game of the season for the Roar I expect to see “the den” in full verse at the Caxton Street end of the stadium, and with the above mentioned factors, the atmosphere should be fantastic.

Sydney FC must really hate visiting Suncorp stadium as they have not won there in over 5 years now; in fact they have lost their last seven away games to the Roar, which gives the Roar an instant psychological advantage over their opponents this weekend. Although the Sydney FC coach (Frank Farina) has come out this week in the media and stated that “they are a much better team than they have been in previous years and are looking forward to the challenge of the Roar”.

Both teams head into this fixture full of confidence after their first round wins, Brisbane winning a come from behind victory against a spirited Wellington Phoenix in Wellington and Sydney putting in an impressive home performance against the Newcastle Jets. Both sides face different challenges, for the Roar their challenge will be to keep up to their high standards of recent seasons and for Sydney it will be one of consistency.

Although the Roar’s performance was not that impressive, they still found a way to win when all looked lost as the Phoenix played extremely well, last season the Roar probably would have lost or taken a point from this fixture so the signs are there they have improved and with all their new players, it will take a few more games for this team to gel.

Both sides have quality players across the park and here lays the challenge, how to close these players down and nullify their game; a lack of concentration from any player on either side could have dire consequences for their respective teams, as a moment of brilliance is all it will take for that ball to meet the back of the net.

In what I see as a close fought encounter I am going to predict a draw, hopefully with plenty of quality goals and skills on show.

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