Wasteful Sydney blows its chances

SYDNEY FC’S dreams of mixing it with the elite of Asia is over, after a night of pure frustration for the Sky Blues.

A goalless draw at home with Shanghai Shenhua, coupled with Suwon Bluewing’s surprise win in Kashima, evicted Graham Arnold’s side from the Asian Champions League at the end of the group stage.

Sydney fairly battered Shanghai last night but somehow failed to convert a multitude of chances — though in the end, the score from Japan rendered the result at Allianz Stadium irrelevant.

But the damage was done earlier in the campaign, one in which Sydney won only a single game and scored just seven goals in six games.

There is no doubt it improved as the ACL progressed, but a record of taking just one point from its three home games simply wasn’t strong enough to send it through to the knockout stages.

Sydney’s dominance was absolute, reflected everywhere but on the scoreboard. So densely was it camped around the Shanghai box, by halftime it had assumed squatter’s rights.

The problem was the lack of conversion of so many chances. From every angle Sydney attacked and Shanghai’s diffident defending was breached with regularity, but not the goal itself. As befitted a team already eliminated, Shanghai was desperately unambitious.

But Sydney’s profligacy was deeply frustrating for the home fans.