Sydney FC Break Newcastle Hearts in Penalty Shootout to Book Place in A-League Grand Final
Sydney FC’s head coach Patrick Kisnorbo has hailed the “resilience and mental toughness” of his side as they punched their ticket to the A-League Men grand final, winning a pulsating semi-final against premiers Newcastle on penalties.
The Sky Blues opened the scoring on Saturday night through Piero Quispe’s 64th-minute goal, before a relentless Eli Adams made it 1-1 with a thunderous strike late in injury time to send the game into extra time at McDonald Jones Stadium.
When neither side could find a match-winner, Sydney goalkeeper Harrison Devenish-Meares held his nerve to deny Kosta Grozos and Xavier Bertoncello in the shootout, before defender Ben Garuccio converted the winning spot kick.
The tie ended 2-2 on aggregate, but the Sky Blues claimed the tie 4-2 on penalties and will head across the Tasman to face Auckland FC in next Saturday’s grand final at Go Media Stadium.
Led by interim coach Kisnorbo, Sydney will make their first grand final appearance since their 3-1 loss to Melbourne City in 2021. Missing out on finals last year under Ufuk Talay, the Sky Blues will vie for a record sixth championship after just seven games under Kisnorbo.
“To concede a goal with a minute-and-a-half to go, it can break teams. And it didn’t,” said Kisnorbo, who guided City to victory in 2021. “The resilience and mental toughness the players showed in high-pressure moments, I was very pleased with. Nothing’s done yet, but it’s just showing belief and confidence within the group. Sometimes it’s very hard to come in as a new coach, and you don’t know where the group is at … I’m quite demanding, and they’ve been great.”
It was a heartbreaking end to Newcastle’s fairytale season under first-year coach Mark Milligan. After winning their maiden premiership after 15 regular-season victories, the Jets missed out in their bid for a historic domestic treble, having claimed the Australia Cup in October. They haven’t played for a championship since finishing runners-up to Melbourne Victory in 2018.
With their championship dream over, Milligan’s message was simple: remember the pain. “Of course it’s difficult, because ultimately we fell short of our ultimate goal,” Milligan said. “But I’m extremely proud of the group. We’ve asked a lot of them from day one, and they’ve consistently responded. You saw again tonight the character of the group. They need to remember this moment, because if you want to be a team that is successful, then you need to make sure you learn from the biggest lesson, which was tonight.”
Milligan said “this team did not overachieve”. “I saw how much ability this group had – we had to give them a platform to allow them to express that,” he said. “They earned everything that they got.”
Sydney FC will travel across the Tasman for Saturday’s grand final against Auckland FC, who booked their place in the decider with a slick 3-0 victory over Adelaide United on Friday night. The visitors were far too strong at Coopers Stadium as Auckland picked apart United to win the two-leg tie 4-1 on aggregate. Jake Girwood-Reich headed in a Lachlan Brook corner on 44 minutes before Sam Cosgrove doubled the lead from the penalty spot just before the hour, with substitute Logan Rogerson icing the win in the 88th minute.
Auckland coach Steve Corica was immensely proud of his side securing a maiden appearance in the grand final. “I’m very happy obviously; we said it from the start it was going to be a tough place to come here,” he said. “Everyone wrote us off and we perform like that, 3-0 away from home. Everyone performed at a very high level and we’re through to the final.”
United coach Airton Andrioli said the Reds’ end to the season was bittersweet. “It’s sort of a double feeling,” he said. “A sense of being proud of what we’ve done this year and sort of a sadness or disappointment of getting so close but not crossing over that line to go to a grand final.”
