Into the Grand Final – Sydney Olympic 4-0 Sydney United

Sydney Olympic is the first team into the 2018 NSW NPL Grand Final, after seeing off Sydney United in the Major Semi-Final on Sunday Night. A hat-trick from Alejandro Sanchez and 1 from Jason Madonis did the damage for the Blues.

Despite the score-line and what appears to be an easy, straight-forward victory, it was anything but in the opening stages of the first-half. We were under the pump early on and could well have gone behind inside the first 10 minutes. The opposition had a couple of good chances to take the lead, but fortunately for us we were able to dodge these bullets. We were looking a little rattled, before we finally composed ourselves and got ourselves into the match. Somewhat against the run of play, we managed to hit them with a dagger after a great poacher’s goal from Alejandro Sanchez. Mid-way through the first-half Sydney Olympic found itself in front. From this point on, we dominated the rest of the first-half, we capitalised on this dominance by getting our 2nd goal of the game via a Sydney United error, and Jason Madonis was on hand to take full advantage to put us 2-0 up. Not even 60 seconds later we had our 3rd and Alejandro Sanchez grabbed a double, as he was found with a good pass before doing the rest to smash his shot home and put us 3-0 up. It was the opposition who now found themselves shell-shocked. We had chances to extend our lead in the closing stages of the first-half, but at the half-time break we had to settle for our 3-0 lead.

As expected, Sydney United came out the hungrier at the start of the second-half, looking to claw back the deficit. To their credit, they did create a few opportunities, but some good defending by us kept them at bay and kept our clean sheet. Just as they were looking to get on top, 20 or so minutes into the second-half, we hit them with the sucker-punch as Alejandro Sanchez broke free, beat his defender and then finished with a plomb for his hat-trick and put us into an unassailable 4-0 lead. We were on fire and could have quite easily made it 5 or 6, but we just lacked that little bit of composure, maybe we were too excited. The last 15 or so minutes of the match were end-to-end, as the opposition went searching for a miracle and for some quick goals, but they left themselves open at the back for counter-attacks. We easily could have scored a few more goals, but everybody was satisfied enough at the full-time whistle with the 4-0 victory and securing a spot in the Grand Final.

We were the better side overall and deserved the victory. Form is all about timing, and we are playing very well at the right time of the season, led of course up front by the revelation that has been Alejandro Sanchez.

We here and most Sydney Olympic Supporters have been saying for some time now, that we have had a good enough XI, all be it with a lack of squad depth, but in this league, you need a quality striker who can make the difference in the important matches, and we definitely have that this season.

The Grand Final this year will be held at Leichhardt Oval on Sunday September 9th. We will now wait to see who we face from the Winner of the Preliminary Final this coming weekend, APIA Leichhardt or Sydney United.

Whoever it might be, all Sydney Olympic Supporters should be at the Grand Final to push the team to victory, see some good football and to salute the players on what has been a fantastic season up to this point.

Obviously beyond the Grand Final, we are also involved in the end-of-season National NPL Finals Series. The draw which has already been done, sees us host Perth SC (Azzuri), the Western Australian Minor Premiers in an Elimination Final on the weekend of the 15th/16th of September.

COME ON OLYMPIC!

We are the Premiers – Sydney Olympic 1-0 Sydney United

Sydney Olympic are the NSW NPL Minor Premiers or Premiers (whichever you prefer), after a 1-0 win over Sydney United at Belmore Sports Ground on Sunday afternoon, coupled with a slip-up from APIA Leichhardt at Lambert Park at the same time. They went down 2-1 to Hakoah Sydney City-East, to give us the title.

A great crowd rocked up to Belmore Sports Ground on Sunday afternoon to see if a miracle would occur. Would we first and foremost do our job and get the victory against Sydney United and would one of our eternal enemies Hakoah, do us a favour against another old rival APIA. It was all very exciting and nerve racking trying to watch the game and then looking at the phone to see what was happening down the road.

For our match, it was a first-half in which we totally dominated and started off like a house on fire. We had the ball in the back of the net very early on, but the referee decided to disallow it. Not long after this, we did get our goal through some good build-up play and a brilliant finish from Alejandro Sanchez, sending the crowd into a frenzy. We had several, clear-cut, golden opportunities to increase our lead throughout the first-half, but some fine goalkeeping and more importantly some poor finishing from us kept Sydney United in the game, who late-on in that first-half, went down to 10 men after a last man challenge which if it did not occur, would have had Alejandro Sanchez 1-on-1 with the goalkeeper and almost certainly a goal.

At half-time we went to the break leading 1-0, while over at Lambert Park, we were astonished to learn that Hakoah were actually the ones leading 1-0 there at half-time. In perhaps what was a good omen or some bit of irony, Hakoah’s goal-scorer was former Sydney Olympic player Amaury Gauthier.

Like we have seen a few times this season and also in the reverse fixture against Sydney United earlier in the season, we struggled to play our normal game against the 10-men and for some reason even retreated into our shell. With this nervy backdrop, we were finding out via updates, that APIA had equalised early in the second-half to make their game 1-1. The nerves were really jangling now and the tension was filtering throughout the ground. We didn’t know whether to push for more goals or to hold on to what we had and this mindset clearly played tricks on the minds of the players. But despite this, we still had more than enough chances to kill the game off and ease our nerves at least at the ground. With 5 minutes to go, we were dismayed to hear that APIA were awarded a penalty in their game, fortunately for us that was missed and Hakoah went down the other end and scored themselves to take the lead, the cheers at Belmore were as loud for that as for our goal.

As full-time was blown at Lambert Park, APIA had been defeated 2-1 by Hakoah, meaning all we had to do was hold on to our 1-0 lead or at the very least get a draw and the Minor Premiership was ours. The full-time whistle was blown a few minutes later at Belmore, cue the pitch invasion and the trophy was on its way to Belmore.

It was a fantastic moment for all Sydney Olympic Supporters and everyone involved at Sydney Olympic as we had clinched our 5th Minor Premiership in our history – (1958, 1960, 2003, 2011, 2018)



Of course this is Australia, and much more importance is given to the Grand Final Winner, as they are the team which are declared the Champions of the season, so the job is only half done. We celebrate and bask in what we have achieved, but we’ve got to push on now.

The capture of the Premiership also qualifies us for the National NPL Finals Series, which is a tournament for the Minor Premiers of the 8 Australian State and Territory Football Federations. The reward for the Winner of this tournament, is to qualify directly for the 2019 FFA Cup National Round of 32.

In the Club Championship, the U18s won 3-1 and in the U20s we lost 4-0. We ended up finishing 4th in the Club Championship, on the face of it very respectable. But look a little closer and First Grade carried us to safety this season, we cannot afford to be that bad again in the U18s and U20s again.

For finishing 1st, we have earned a week off in Week 1 of the Finals, so we will sit back and see how it unfolds and find out who we play the week after. 
 

Wollongong Wolves 0-4 Sydney Olympic

Sydney Olympic has made it 3 wins a row, after defeating the Wollongong Wolves down in Wollongong on Sunday afternoon. The team has come through a difficult spell in the middle of the season and is now entering into some good form at the right time of the season, with Finals around the corner.

Tension was in the air in Wollongong, as both sides had something riding on the result, Wollongong a potential Finals spot and us, chasing the Minor Premiership. It was a fairly even first-half, although Wollongong made the early running in the opening 15 or so minutes, having a couple chances in the process. They could not take advantage, allowing us to settle back into the contest. We dominated the final 25 minutes of the first-half, dominating possession and piling on the pressure onto Wollongong’s backline, we just could not create that one golden chance to put us ahead. But we kept trying, kept pushing and we were eventually rewarded in the shadows of the half-time break. A nice ball found Alejandro Sanchez, who drove towards goal and let off a stinging shot passed the Wollongong goalkeeper to put us 1-0 up. Which was how the score stayed heading into half-time.

5 minutes into the second-half we extended our lead, via a rare headed goal from Niko Tsattalios. After this, we relaxed a little bit too much and invited Wollongong back into the game. They had a couple of chances of their own to pull a goal back, but our defense held firm. After surviving this scare, with 15 minutes to go we went and grabbed our 3rd of the afternoon, with Alejandro Sanchez picking up goal number 2 for himself through another clinical finish. Despite the score-line, the Wolves kept threatening to score themselves, but we continued to keep them at bay and kept our clean sheet. Perhaps cruelly for Wollongong, in injury time we made it 4 thanks to a goal from Max Burgess. At the full-time whistle, we were extremely happy to come away from there with a big win and the important 3 points.

It was a clinical Sydney Olympic display and an even better result, as we continue to keep up the pressure on 1st place APIA Leichhardt, in the tussle for the Minor Premiership.

As the full-time result was known from our fixture, we all turned our attention to the match at Lambert Park, where at the same time, APIA Leichhardt was 30 minutes into their match with the Bonnyrigg White Eagles and happened to be 3-0 down.

What happened next, can only be described as one of the most bizarre turn-arounds ever seen. APIA went on to score the next 6 goals, unanswered, while Bonnyrigg also happened to have 3 of their players sent off during this same period. Remarkable to say the least.

If that happened in Greece, Italy, Croatia, Serbia etc. you can bet your bottom dollar match-fixing accusations would have been thrown around like confetti. While no one is suggesting anything untoward occurred yesterday at Lambert Park, all we can do is read the comments of the Bonnyrigg coach at the conclusion of their match, where he said in his post-match interview – “I don’t think I should say anything, I might get in trouble.” – Make of that what you will.

Questions must also be asked of Football NSW, on why it staggered the Kick-Off times for the 2 teams in the running for the Minor Premiership? Why didn’t Football NSW, knowing what the table was looking like, make the necessary changes to avoid any funny business? Well we are talking about Football NSW at the end of the day, they have no idea.

In the Club Championship, the U18s drew 1-1 and the U20s lost 1-0.

Next week is the final home game and final round of the regular season. No matter what happens, or what needs to happen, or what happens elsewhere, Sydney Olympic Supporters should get down to Belmore Sports Ground after what has been a magnificent season for Sydney Olympic and support the players as they take on Sydney United. So get there this Sunday Afternoon, Kick-Off is at 3pm.