Costa Stars In Sydney FC First Champions League win

A Douglas Costa inspired Sydney FC has defeated Hong Kong side Eastern SC 5-0 in their opening AFC Champions League 2 clash this evening at Jubilee Stadium.

Costa was involved in the first three strikes as a double from Anas Ouahim, one from Rhyan Grant and two own goals were enough to seal the three points and see the Sky Blues go top of Group E.

Sydney FC 5 (Ouahim 32’, 55’, Grant 44’, Dani OG 64’, Leung OG 72’) def. Eastern SC 0.

Anas Ouahim slots home the opener. Photo by Jaime Castaneda.

Moments That Mattered

26’ | HARRISON-DEVENISH MEARES SAVE – Eastern break after a tonne of pressure from Sydney FC and Victor Bertomeu goes through on goal but Devenish-Meares is down well to save.

32’ | OUAHIM GOAL – A delightful ball from Douglas Costa inside the full back to the overlapping Grant allows the full back to pull the ball back from the byline to Ouahim who finishes left footed.

38’ | KLIMALA DENIED – Lolley’s left wing cross is flicked towards goal by Klimala on the edge of the six-yard box but his strike is brilliantly saved by the keeper.

44’ | GRANT GOAL – A short corner which Costa whips across the goal for Grant to head home in the box and make it two.

46’ | GRANT CHANCE – Ouahim’s out-swinging right wing corner finds Grant at the far post on his left foot but he puts it wide.

53’ | KLIMALA HEADS OVER – Costa’s cross from the left is met by Klimala at the near post but he heads over.

55’ | OUAHIM SECOND GOAL – Costa’s direct ball into the feet of Klimala is beautifully flicked on by the Polish striker to Ouahim who makes no mistake from close range.

Ouahim celebrates his goal. Photo: Keith McInnes

61’ | KLIMALA PENALTY SAVED – Grant is hauled down in the box by a rugby tackle but a brilliant save diving full length to his left from goalkeeper Yapp denies Klimala from the spot.

64’ | DANI OWN GOAL – Lolley’s right wing cross is headed home with a diving header by the defender Dani.

72’ | LEUNG OWN GOAL – A shot from Lolley goes towards the byline and is pulled back by Burgess to be nudged over his own goal line by Leung.

90’+2’ | SENA SHOT SAVED – A long range effort from Leo Sena is well saved by Yapp in the Eastern goal.

Patryk Klimala on debut

What They Said – Ufuk Talay: “Definitely pleased with result tonight, we knew that we’d have a lot of the ball and it was up to us to break them down.

“It took us a while but once we did there was some good combination play which led to the first goal.

“Overall pleased and I think second half was probably even better once we got into rhythm and rectified a few things.

“We knew the opponent would set up in a low block and try to counter and I think in the second half we definitely pinned them back.”

Douglas Costa: “It was really special and I hope to get more minutes, but I’m really happy here on and off the field.

“I know I have a lot of things to improve fitness but for the first game, it’s ok.

“I’m probably at 65% (fit) but for the first game we won it and that’s the most important thing, and we score goals as a team.

Douglas Costa was immense on his Sydney FC debut involved in the first three goals.

Anas Ouahim: “We are very happy about the win, I think it’s very important especially with it being the first game of the group.

“It was a great performance from the whole team, we have a lot of quality.  We were very aggressive and defensively very good as well and didn’t let them have many chances.

On giving the penalty away to Klimala: “I scored already two and it’s nice to score a hat-trick but I wanted to help my team Patryk who is a new player.

“Especially as a striker it’s always good to score a goal and get a good feeling. 

“He didn’t score it but that’s ok he will get lots of goals.”

Douglas Costa salutes the crowd after his performance

Match Report:

Sydney FC has eased through their opening clash in the AFC Champions League 2 by beating Eastern SC 5-0 to move to the top of Group E.

The Hong Kong side made it difficult for the Sky Blues in the opening half an hour and it was a good save from debutant Devenish-Meares which kept the scores level.

However it wasn’t long before star Brazilian Douglas Costa made an impact feeding Grant to cross for Ouahim to finish from close range.

Costa was involved again just before the break when his cross was met by Grant to make it 2-0.

The Brazilian, playing in front of a host of South American fans, helped set up the third with a direct ball into fellow debutant Klimala to flick if off to Ouahim and he notched his second and Sydney FC’s third.

Two own goals added to the Hong Kong side’s misery as Sydney FC continued to pile on the pressure totalling 31 to 6 shots in the game.

The Sky Blues head to the Philippines for their next game against Kaya FC in two weeks.

Sydney FC: 12. Harrison DEVENISH-MEARES (GK), 4. Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS, 5. Hayden MATTHEWS (41. Alex POPOVIC 71’), 8. Anas OUAHIM (6. Corey HOLLMAN 82’), 9. Patryk KLIMALA, 10. Joe LOLLEY, 11. Douglas COSTA (22. Max BURGESS 69’), 15. Leo SENA, 16. Joel KING, 17. Anthony CACERES, 23. Rhyan GRANT (C).

Unused Subs: 7. Adrian SEGECIC, 19. Mitch GLASSON, 25. Jaiden KUCHARSKI, 27. Lachlan MIDDLETON, 28. Nathan AMANTIDIS, 30. Gus HOEFSLOOT (GK), 33. Marin FRANCE, 37. Will KENNEDY,

Yellow Cards: Ouahim 49’.

Red Cards: None

Eastern SC: 1. Yapp HUNG FAI (GK), 2. Callun HALL (44. Prabhat GURUNG 78’), 3. Tamirlan KOZUBAEV, 7. Noah BAFFOE (42. YEUNG TUNG KI 71’), 9. Victor BERTOMEU, 14. Jesse JOY YIN (23. Ma HEI WAI 63’), 16. Leung CHUN PONG (C), 19. Jojo ALEXANDER, 21. Daniel ALMAZAN, 27. Marcos GONDRA (22. Leung KWUN CHUNG 45’), 32. Lam HIN TING (11. Wong HO CHUN 71’).

Unused Subs: 15. Wong HO YIN, 17. Ng YU HEI, 26. Liu FU YUEN (GK), 28. Siu CHING, 30. Wong TSZ HO, 33. Gao MING HO,  77. Lee CHUN TING.

Yellow Cards: H T Lam 30’, Leung 61’.

Red Cards: None

Venue: Jubilee Stadium

Referee: Toriq Munir Alkatiri (Indonesia)

Attendance: 4,021