Sydney FC down Egyptians, secure fifth place

Sydney FC has secured fifth place in the Club World Championship, defeating Egyptian club Al Ahly 2-1 tonight at a boisterous National Stadium in Tokyo.

For Sydney, David Carney was instrumental on the right wing, while Sasho Petrovski looked dangerous up forward.

For Al Ahly, Mohammed Barakat created problems for the Sydney defence, while Emad Motab kept Al Ahly in the game with a classy finish under pressure.

The game started in emphatic style, with the Egyptians almost opening the scoring in the ninth minute when Abdel Wahab sneaked into the box undetected and fired the ball wide.

Three minutes later Al Ahly again looked likely to score, with Barakat crossing for Motab at point blank range, but Motab’s best efforts were thwarted by Mark Rudan, who somehow got boot to ball to deny the Egyptians.

The Egyptians continued to dominate the number of opportunities, as well as the possession with Sydney finding it difficult to control the tempo of the game.

A dazzling cross from Barakat, in the 26th minute, into the box was sent whizzing over the goal via the head of Motab in what was another opportunity gone begging.

Two minutes later Sydney had their first opportunity of the match, with a classy backheel from Kazuyoshi Miura collected by Matt Bingley who crossed to Petrovski whose header just missed the spot.

As Sydney started to take control of the midfield they were rewarded, with a well-struck free kick from former Socceroo Steve Corica, in the 35th minute, being headed into the back of the net by a jubilant Dwight Yorke.

Sydney’s celebrations were short lived, as Motab ran onto a brilliant through ball in the last minute of the half, going around keeper Clint Bolton and slotting home.

The referee blew his whistle to signal half-time, as Yorke and his troops walked off the field with their spirit slightly dampened.

After the break, Al Ahly came out firing with five very-gettable opportunities within the first 12 minutes.

Against the flow of the play in the 66th minute, Sydney broke the hearts of the Egyptians, with Petrovski putting through a great ball for the speedy David Carney to run onto and strike cleanly to find the back of the net.

The remainder of the match proved to be a stalemate as Sydney toiled hard to hang on to their slender lead, and did so successfully.

The result proved a historic one, as Japanese fans savoured their last opportunity to see their local hero “Kazu” in full flight.

Pierre Littbarski’s men will now head back to Australia, and resume the A-league on December 30 when they take on the New Zealand Knights.

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