{"id":326775,"date":"2026-03-07T13:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T13:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/326775\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T13:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T13:32:10","slug":"sydney-fc-comeback-to-win-big-blue-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/326775\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney FC Comeback To Win Big Blue Point"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sydney FC\u00a0has secured a crucial point in the Big Blue\u00a0with\u00a0back-to-back late goals ensure they remained unbeaten in four games and put an end to Mata\u2019s Melbourne magic.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sydney FC 2 (Stamatelopoulos\u00a073\u2019, Arslan 75\u2019) draw with Melbourne Victory 2 (Mata 34\u2019, Nduka 69\u2019)\u00a0<\/p>\n

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED\u00a0<\/p>\n

7\u2019 | QUINTAL SHOT \u2013\u00a0Quintal and Arslan link up with a classy 1-2 to find Tiago through traffic for a shot within the\u00a018-yard\u00a0box,\u00a0but the shot is just sent right of the target for a Melbourne goal kick.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

27\u2019 | VERGOS SHOT\u00a0\u2013 A ball Is tapped around the body of Alex Grant by Vergos giving him possession from 10 yards out however the shot is played high and the scoreboard unchanged.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Popovic is kicked in the head challenging for the ball. Photo: Jaime Castaneda.<\/p>\n

\u00a033\u2019 | MATA GOAL \u2013\u00a0A forward run from\u00a0Velupillay\u00a0looks threatening and forces Quispe to draw a foul giving a free kick from 25 yards out which is struck by Mata to the top right of the goal and out of Devenish\u2019s reach to secure\u00a0Victory\u00a0a 1-0 lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a045\u2019 | LAST MINUTE SCRAMBLE \u2013\u00a0A Sydney corner sees the ball float to the back post for Popovic to\u00a0header\u00a0but the it hits the crossbar and when he goes to head it again it\u2019s cleared by with a high foot.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a062\u2019 | STAMATELOPOULOS CHANCE \u2013\u00a0A Victor Campuzano left footed cross soars past Melbourne\u2019s last defender to find Stamatelopoulos in front of goal;\u00a0however,\u00a0the Sydney forward\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0make the right contact with the high ball and the shot flies wide.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a069\u2019 | NDUKA GOAL \u2013\u00a0Valadon receives the ball for Melbourne on his left and drives to the goal line before cutting the ball back hard to\u00a0Nduka,\u00a0who is able to take a touch, turn and slot it on the ground past Devenish to take Melbourne to a pretty 2-0 lead.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a073\u2019 | STAMATELOPOULOS SCORES \u2013\u00a0Ben Garuccio finds the space to cross the ball into the box which finds the head of Stamatelopoulos who directs the ball past Warshawsky to keep Sydney alive at 2-1.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

75\u2019 \u2013 ARSLAN GOAL \u2013\u00a0A Toure fast break from kickoff finds two Sky Blues against 1 Melbourne keeper. Toure does well to square the ball back to Arslan for an easy tap in to bring Sydney the\u00a0equaliser\u00a0they were looking for.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Match Report:<\/p>\n

Sydney FC has come back from two goals down to secure a big draw with Melbourne Victory in the last Big Blue of the regular season.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both teams were searching to secure three points in a tight title race. Victory entered four games unbeaten while Sydney sat as the favourite, four points above Melbourne on the ladder.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The game opened with a high energy Sydney FC being met with an equally passionate Melbourne Victory. Both teams played the first half with\u00a0a very active\u00a0midfield\u00a0and big chances were kept to a minimum.\u00a0Possession was shared with both teams passing methodically, with mistakes rare to see.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0The 33rd minute of the game saw Velupillay\u00a0threaten Sydney FC\u2019s defence and force Quispe to foul the attacker outside the box leading to a Juan Mata free kick which was stuck into the top right of the goal outside of Devenish-Meares\u2019 reach.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Popovic hit the bar with a header from a Sydney FC corner in the 45th minute and from the scramble in front of goal the ball is\u00a0cleared to deny Sydney\u2019s hopes of an\u00a0equaliser\u00a0before halftime.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Ben Garuccio looks on <\/p>\n

The second half saw momentum shift with Sydney FC using a cross from Garuccio to\u00a0Stamatelopoulos\u00a0and a fast break from Toure to Arslan to cancel out Mata\u2019s free kick and Nduka\u2019s\u00a0six yard\u00a0goal in the 69th minute to grab Sydney an\u00a0ever important\u00a0point in a close title race.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What they said:\u00a0Ufuk Talay: \u201cI thought we actually started the game alright. There was a bit of miscommunication in the first half and we turned the ball over, which led to a free-kick on the edge of our box. To be honest, it\u2019s a world-class finish from Mata and there\u2019s not much H can do about that one.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second goal was a little bit sloppy defensively. I think they only had one player in the box and we had enough numbers to deal with the situation, but we allowed him to turn and score. That said, I still think we created enough chances to go out there and win the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought the response was positive and it showed good character from the boys. After the second goal we made a change which helped us, gave us some pace down the side, and that\u2019s where the second goal came from as well. Overall, to come back from 2\u20130 down against a good side like Victory and walk away with a point is positive in that sense.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Cove in full voice.<\/p>\n

LINEUPS:\u00a0SYDNEY FC\u00a0| 5. Alex\u00a0GRANT, 7. Piero\u00a0QUISPE, 9. Victor\u00a0CAMPUZANO,\u00a0(11.\u00a0Abel\u00a0WALATEE\u00a0(90\u2019+2\u2019)),\u00a012. Harrison\u00a0DEVENISH-MEARES, 17. Ben\u00a0GARUCCIO, 20. Tiago\u00a0QUINTAL,\u00a0(22. Mathias\u00a0MACALLISTER\u00a0(90\u2019+2\u2019)),\u00a023. Rhyan\u00a0GRANT, 24. Paul\u00a0OKON JNR,\u00a0(35. Al\u00a0HASSAN TOURE\u00a0(70\u2019)),\u00a041. Alexandar\u00a0POPOVIC, 70. Ahmet\u00a0ARSLAN, 80. Apostolos\u00a0STAMATELOPOULOS\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unused Substitutions:\u00a0\u00a029. Joe\u00a0LACEY,\u00a030. Alexander\u00a0ZAVERDINOS, 32. Marcel\u00a0TISSERAND, 36. Rhys\u00a0YOULLEY\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yellow Cards |\u00a023. Rhyan\u00a0GRANT\u00a0(44\u2019)\u00a0,\u00a0Victor\u00a0CAMPUZANO(57\u2019)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Red Cards |\u00a0N\/A\u00a0<\/p>\n

Manager |\u00a0Ufuk\u00a0Talay\u00a0
\u00a0<\/p>\n

MELBOURNE VICTORY:\u00a07. Reno\u00a0PISCOPO\u00a0(83\u2019),\u00a08. Jordi\u00a0VALADON, 9. Nikolaos\u00a0VERGOS,\u00a0(10.\u00a0Denis\u00a0GENREAU\u00a0(83\u2019)),\u00a011.\u00a0Clerismario\u00a0SANTOS\u00a0RODRIGUES,\u00a0(14. Matthew\u00a0GRIMALDI\u00a0(68\u2019)),\u00a015. Sebastian\u00a0ESPOSITO,\u00a0(16. Joshua\u00a0INSERRA\u00a0(85\u2019)),\u00a017. Nishan\u00a0VELUPILLAY, 21. Roderick\u00a0MIRANDA, 22. Joshua\u00a0RAWLINS, 23. Keegan\u00a0JELACIC, 34. Xavier\u00a0STELLA, 40. Jack\u00a0WARSHAWSKY,\u00a044. Charles\u00a0NDUKA\u00a0(68\u2019),\u00a064. Juan\u00a0MATA\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0Unused Substitutions:\u00a019. Jing\u00a0REEC, 25. Jack\u00a0DUNCAN,\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0Yellow Cards |\u00a022. Joshua\u00a0RAWLINS\u00a0(15\u2019), Juan\u00a0MATA\u00a0(57\u2019)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Red Cards\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0N\/A\u00a0<\/p>\n

Manager |\u00a0Arthur\u00a0Diles\u00a0<\/p>\n

Referee |\u00a0Lachlan\u00a0KEEVERS\u00a0<\/p>\n

Venue |\u00a0Allianz Stadium\u00a0<\/p>\n

Attendance |\u00a015,\u00a0071\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sydney FC\u00a0has secured a crucial point in the Big Blue\u00a0with\u00a0back-to-back late goals ensure they remained unbeaten in four…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[161563,85,46,161564,18328,105,114186],"class_list":["post-326775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-big-blue","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-match-report","tag-melbourne-victory","tag-sports","tag-sydney-fc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}