Sydney FC started its pre season campaign with an emphatic 6-0 victory over Belmore United at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre tonight.
Sydney FC started its pre season campaign with an emphatic 6-0 victory over Belmore United at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre tonight.
Goals to Brett Emerton, Rhyan Grant, Mitch Mallia and Ali Abbas as well as a double to youth team striker Christopher Naumoff gave the Sky Blues a victory in front of a healthy crowd of around 1,000.
Coach Frank Farina has set out to change the way the Sky Blues play football and that was evident from the kick off with Sydney FC keeping possession, rotating through the midfield and trying to get in behind the Belmore outfit on the flanks.
Fullbacks Mark Warren and Pedj Bojic were encouraged to go forward while Nick Carle regularly dropped deep to get possession from the central defensive pairing of Matt Jurman and Sebastian Ryall.
Brett Emerton and Rhyan Grant completed the midfield trio, while Corey Gameiro was deployed as a central striker with width from Joel Griffiths (right) and Joel Chianese (left).
The Sky Blues started strongly and scored the opening goal after five minutes when Emerton finished off a wonderful move down the left flank. Grant doubled the lead in the 12th minute with a well-taken finish and at that stage Belmore had not had any possession.
The Sky Blues continued to dominate the rest of the first half, having 17 shots before half time with Chianese, Gameiro and Griffiths all looking dangerous. It was only some shoddy finishing that allowed the hosts to stay within sight.
After the break, Farina changed the entire squad with Ivan Necevski replacing Vedran Janjetovic, while Daniel Petkovski, Abbas, Mallia, Tiago Calvano, Hagi Gligor, Peter Triantis, Josh MacDonald, Naumoff, Jacob Esposito and Luke Clifford all came into the match.
The second half continued along the same lines as the opening half and Naumoff was the first to strike, scoring Sydney FC-s 3rd goal on the hour mark.
Mallia and Abbas fired a pair of goals within a minute midway through the second half before Naumoff rounded off the scoring with his second of the evening in the 74th minute.
The victory was a solid start for the Sky Blues as they embark on a marathon pre season that will see the team play 15 friendly matches ahead of the Hyundai A-League season opener against Newcastle Jets at Allianz Stadium on 11 October.
Sydney FC will play another friendly against Sydney University next week before leaving for Japan to take on J-League club Sagan Tosu on 24 July.
Sydney FC 6 (Brett Emerton ‘5, Rhyan Grant ‘12, Chris Naumoff ‘60, ‘74, Mitch Mallia ‘67, Ali Abbas ‘68) d Belmore United 0
Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre
Sydney FC (first half): Vedran Janjetovic, Sebastian Ryall, Mark Warren, Pedj Bojic, Matt Jurman, Nick Carle, Rhyan Grant, Brett Emerton, Joel Chianese, Joel Griffiths, Corey Gameiro.
Sydney FC (second half): Ivan Necevski, Daniel Petkovski, Tiago Calvano, Ali Abbas, Josh MacDonald, Hagi Gligor, Mitch Mallia, Peter Triantis, Chris Naumoff, Jacob Esposito, Luke Clifford
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