One and a Half Technicals

Sydney Football Club 5 – 3 Los Angeles Galaxy

80,295 fans packed into the sold out Sydney’s Telstra Stadium to watch one person show his magic on the 27^th of November, 2007. That person was David Beckham, and the fans got what they wanted. He scored a free kick from 25 yards out just before halftime to claw Los Angeles back into the game.

The game started off very evenly, with both sides attempting a few shots on goal. The David Beckham show started early, with him crossing the ball into the box for strikers to head into goal. That was not the answer, however, as the Sydney defense cleared the ball out. The first goal for Sydney came around the 20^th minute, off a LA free kick. Beckham attempted a shot on goal, but Sydney goalkeeper Clint Bolton safely saved it. He then threw the ball out to a Sydney F.C. player and seconds later, Juninho had the ball. He passed the ball through the Galaxy’s offside trap, letting Alex Brosque score the first goal of the game.

Sydney scored once again off Alex Brosque 6 minutes later, making it 2-0. Zadkovich scored once again off a Juninho pass to make the score 3-0 and to decide the game early. The Galaxy team seemed to slack off until halftime. However a Galaxy player was fouled 25 yards from goal. David Beckham striked the ball well and it hit the top left corner of the Sydney goal to make the score 3-1.

After halftime, it seemed that Sydney was now playing a different LA Galaxy team. Buddle scored at the 49^th minute to claw the Galaxy score back to 3-2. However Middleby (who was originally on the bench and was booed after it was announced he’d replace Juninho) scored against an unguarded goal to make the score 4-2. It was unselfish play from Brosque that made the score happen. Both teams both traded shot attempts again until a poor mistake by the Los Angeles keeper minutes from full time made the score 5-2.

#0 Cronin would have saved a simple shot from Sydney, but however he fumbled the ball, and Sydney defender Fyfe slotted the ball into the net for a 5-2 scoreline. Landon Donavon then showed some skill by running around Bolton for a final 5-3 goalline.

Middleby was yellow carded for a body check against Beckham; however Beckham slid under Middleby minutes later. They both exchanged comments and hugged. Beckham was also yellow carded for the incident.

When F.C.’s Santalab tackled Beckham, he was down for minutes and it seemed that he injured his left ankle. On the reply, it was obvious that Santalab couldn’t avoid contact and kept his cleats down. He was not carded for the incident, and Beckham was back to his best minutes later.

Zadkovich dangerously tackled Juninho on the 30^th minute. The Brazilian reacted and a small brawl broke out. Zadkovich received a yellow card.

A huge brawl broke out during the latter half of the second half. Harmes tackled Sydney’s Biddle, who then pushed Harmes over. But when Biddle was on the ground, Harmes stood on Biddle’s arm. I am not one to make assumptions, but it looked very intentional (if you look at the replay, Harmes takes a very unnatural and small step to stamp Biddle’s arm). Biddle was yellow carded while Harmes was sent off.

The game was huge in Australia. More than 80,000 fans turned out to see an exhibition Sydney F.C. match, whose average attendance until that point was a low 15,200. Alex Brosque received “Man of the Match” for his two goal, one assist effort while Beckham’s shirt was given to Juninho.

Match Details:

SYDNEY FC – 5 (Brosque 20‘, 26‘; Zadkovich 29‘; Middleby 54‘; Fyfe 87‘)

LA GALAXY – 3 (Beckham 45‘; Buddle 49‘; Donovan 90‘)

Crowd: 80,295 @ Telstra Stadium, Sydney. Referee: Mark Shield.

Sydney FC Squad: 1 Clint Bolton (gk), 2 Iain Fyfe, 3 Nikolas Tsattalios, 5 Tony Popovic (captain), 8 Ruben Zadkovich, 11 Brendon Santalab, 14 Alex Brosque, 16 Mark Milligan, 21 Adam Biddle, 22 Juninho, 23 Ufuk Talay.

Substitutes: 4 Mark Rudan, 7 Robbie Middleby, 9 David Zdrilic, 13 Ben Vidaic, 15 Terry MCFlynn, 20 Ivan Necevski (gk), – All substitutes were used. Out/rested: 10 Steve Corica, 28 Michael Beidges, 17 Jacob Timpano (injured), 12 Patrick (injured).

Los Angeles Galaxy: 1 Joe Cannon (gk), 4 Ante Jazic, 5 Chris Albright, 6 Kevin Harmse, 7 Chris Klein, 10 Landon Donovan, 14 Edson Buddle, 16 Kyle Veris, 20 Carlos Pavon, 23 David Beckham (captain).

Substitutes: 0 Steve Cronin (gk), 8 Peter Vargenas, 13 Cobi Jones, 19 Josh Tudela, 35 Lance Friesz (gk). Red Cards: Kevin Harmse 76‘. Out/Rested: 12 Troy Roberts, 15 Quavas Kirk, 21 Alan Gordon, 27 Michael Caso.

Written by Brendan X aka brennerdlinger of http://www.inthagame.net