Will Booth 
Sydney FC coach Ufuk Talay. Photo: Joshua Davis/Round Ball Australia
A Douglas Costa-less Sydney FC took on Auckland FC away in what promised to be an exciting fixture, with both teams impressing in their respective first round matches to kick-off the season.
Costa would miss out through a slight injury, with Corey Hollman starting in the deep-lying midfield position and Anthony Caceres pushing up into an attacking role in his wake. Ufuk Talay hopes the injury sustained is a short-term one.
“He felt tight in his hamstring, so we sent him home yesterday to get him scanned today so we have a better picture of what it looks like for him moving forward,” Talay said post-match.
That was the only change to the side from the previous two matches, the latest of which came against Sanfrecce Hiroshima in a mid-week Champions League Two fixture in Japan, where Sydney were hard done by to not earn a result.
Against Sanfrecce, Sydney dominated the possession and chance tallies, but struggled to find the final touch in their attacking moves and eventually went down 2-1, with Adrian Segecic nabbing a 90th minute consolation goal.
It was a similar story in their match against Auckland, leading in possession for the game but failing to put away their chances as the game opened up.
Auckland dealt with the same issues, carving out a few promising opportunities throughout the game but failing to convert.
It was Sydney who thought they had broken the deadlock in the 82nd minute through Hayden Matthews after a goal-mouth scramble, although after a lengthy VAR intervention, Patryk Klimala was adjudged to have been in an offside position in the lead up.
It would not be the last instance of VAR intervention or lack thereof in the game, with Auckland eventually going ahead in the last minute of play through equally calamitous scenes.
Jake Brimmer swung in a free kick from wide, with the ball falling to Nando Pijnaker in the box who was able to back-heel a shot that snuck through Andrew Redmayne’s legs.
Ufuk Talay was not pleased that the goal was allowed to stand, believing there to be an infringement in the build-up.
“I believe it’s a handball,” Talay said after the match.
“I don’t know how VAR missed it.
“It took a lot of time to look at how to disallow a goal when we scored, and they went through it very quickly to allow the goal on the other side.”
Sydney FC must deal with another tight turnaround as they take on Brisbane Roar in their third-straight away match in the league on Friday night, but all eyes will be on the results of Costa’s scans due to other injuries sustained in this match.
Joe Lolley went down with what appeared to be a groin injury and had to be substituted in the 35th minute, leaving question marks surrounding two of Sydney’s starting wide-attackers.
Max Burgess returns as an option after serving his one-match suspension from round one, with Talay likely to look to his youngsters who have so far only been trusted with cameos off the bench.