Brisbane Roar’s Hahn Australia Cup campaign came to an end on Sunday evening, falling 4-2 to Sydney FC in the Round of 16 despite a spirited second-half fightback in front of a sold-out Spencer Park home crowd.
The Sky Blues opened the scoring just minutes in. Ben Garuccio chipped a well-weighted cross onto the head of Takahiro Sekine, who calmly nodded it past the outstretched glove of Roar’s Dean Bouzanis.
The men in orange pushed back in response, and ten minutes later, newly signed South Korean international Nam Tae-Hee curled a free kick to Dimitri Valkanis, who headered it towards goal at the far post, but Sydney goalkeeper Gus Hoefsloot was there to collect.
Midway through the first half, Sydney threatened again when Rhyan Grant played a square pass to Sekine, whose effort ricocheted off the post before the Roar defence snuffed out the danger.
Minutes later, Garuccio latched onto a long ball on the left flank and rocketed a volley into the top corner from distance, doubling Sydney’s lead.
In the 35th minute, Milorad Stajić was caught in possession in front of goal, and the ball spilt to Tiago Quintal, who finished cleanly into the right of the net from close range, giving Sydney a 3-0 advantage.
In the final minutes of the half, Jacob Nasso’s shot deflected off the Sydney defence to Jordan Lauton, who powered it home, sending the Den at Spencer Park into raptures and breathing fresh hope into the home side before the break.
The Roar came out firing in the second half and came close when Sabit Ngor’s corner was met with a strong header from Hosine Bility, but his effort couldn’t catch Hoefsloot who leapt to keep it out.
The men in orange continued probing, and sixty minutes in, Nam collected the ball outside the box, and weaved through the Sky Blues’ defence before firing a curling effort that whistled just over the bar.
Just under the 70-minute mark, Sydney centre-back Alexander Popovic chested Nathan Amanatidis’s looping cross into his own net, pulling one back for the Roar to make it 3-2. The complexion of the match changed, and Spencer Park grew louder with every raid forward.
Michael Valkanis’s men pushed for an equaliser but couldn’t find a way through, and in the dying minutes, Sydney’s Al Hassan Toure sliced in a cross to Gabriel Popovic, who poked it into the net to bring it to 4-2. The full-time whistle followed soon after, sealing Sydney’s Hahn Australia Cup Round of 16 victory.
