Sydney FC season 2007-08

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Season 2007-2008
Sydney FC
Manager	Branko Čulina; John Kosmina
Chairman	George Perry; Andrew Kemeny
League	A-League
Final league position	3rd (league) 4th (finals)
A-League Preseason Challenge Cup	7th
Pan-Pacific Championship	4th
Top goalscorer	League: Alex Brosque (8 goals) All: Alex Brosque (11 goals)
Highest home attendance	League: 33,458 (20 January 2008, vs Melbourne); All: 80,295 (27 November 2007 vs LA Galaxy)
Lowest home attendance	10,732 (7 December 2007, vs Newcastle Jets)

The 2007–08 season is Sydney FC's third season of football (soccer) in Australia. The club finished seventh in the A-League Pre-season Challenge Cup and competed in the A-League 2007-08 season.

After a disappointing start to the season, the club sacked coach Branko Čulina in October,^[1] and appointed John Kosmina. The team recovered from its poor start to finish third on the league table, securing a place in the finals series but being eliminated in the semi-final by Queensland Roar.

The club represented Australia at the Pan-Pacific Championship in February 2008, finishing fourth after losing to American MLS sides Houston Dynamo and LA Galaxy.

[edit] Pre-season

[edit] AFC Champions League

As A-League 2005-06 Champions, Sydney qualified for the 2007 AFC Champions League as one of the two teams representing Australia along with 2005-06 League Premiers, Adelaide United. Group matches were played from March to May 2007, during the A-League off-season. Sydney finished second in their group after two wins, three draws and one loss, a point behind Urawa Reds who progressed to the next stage of competition.

[edit] Squad preparation

For the new season, Sydney have established an agreement with Macquarie University to use the Sport and Aquatic Centre as a training base^[2] and also establishing an off-field relationship offering educational, corporate and research linkages.^[3]^[4] As part of preparations, the club staged a training camp on the Sunshine Coast with a match against a team of local players in the lead up to their opening Pre-season Cup match.^[5] Sydney will also play a series of friendly matches against NSW Premier League and State League sides, to engage with the Sydney football community.^[6] These friendlies and Pre-season Cup matches also provided experience for trialling players Ben Vidaic, Cameron Watson, Daniel Severino, Robbie Cattanach, Shannon Cole, Chris Nunes, former short-term Sydney player Tolgay Özbey and goalkeepers Vendram Janjetovic and Matthew Nash.

[edit] Friendly matches

11 July 2007	Sunshine Coast Select XI	1–2	Sydney FC	Maroochydore Regional Football Complex, Sunshine Coast
	Tyson Holmes	Report	Ufuk Talay	Maroochydore Regional Football Complex, Sunshine Coast

18 July 2007	Sydney University SFC	0–3	Sydney FC	Valentine Sports Park, Sydney Attendance: 100
		Report	David Zdrilic 25' Mark Rudan 44' Ben Vidaic 80'	Valentine Sports Park, Sydney Attendance: 100

8 August 2007	Manly United FC	2–3	Sydney FC	Cromer Park, Sydney Attendance: 1,900
	Andrew Mailer 20' Brad Groves 77'	Report	Adam Biddle 15' Michael Enfield 40' Ufuk Talay 75'	Cromer Park, Sydney Attendance: 1,900

17 August 2007	Penrith Nepean United	2–1	Sydney FC	CUA Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 5,000
	Mitchell Long 44' Ben Gough ??' (pen.)	Report	Mark Milligan 27'	CUA Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 5,000

[edit] 2007 A-League Pre-season Cup

The Pre-season Cup competition consists of two groups of four teams, each team to play each other once. All teams then progress to a playoff stage with opponents based on group position, followed by finals series to determine the cup winner. Sydney finished the group stage bottom of Group B behind Central Coast Mariners, Queensland Roar and Wellington Phoenix. After a loss and a win in the final placings matches, they were ranked seventh.

[edit] Fixtures

[edit] Group Stage

14 July 2007	Queensland Roar	0–0	Sydney FC	Maroochydore Regional Football Complex, Sunshine Coast Attendance: 4,892 Referee: Chris Beath
	Danny Tiatto 43'	Report	Ufuk Talay 13' Terry McFlynn 66'

22 July 2007	Wellington Phoenix	3–0	Sydney FC	Westpac Stadium, Wellington Attendance: 6,039 Referee: Peter O'Leary
	Michael Ferrante 1' Shane Smeltz 13', 89' Mark Rudan (og) 14' Ross Aloisi 64' Cleberson 77'	Report	Ufuk Talay 84'

29 July 2007	Sydney FC	0–3	Central Coast Mariners	Canberra Stadium, Canberra Attendance: 5,735 Referee: Ben Williams
	Clint Bolton 51' Nikolas Tsattalios 63' Tony Popovic 65' Alex Brosque 68'	Report	Matthew Osman 36' Adam Kwasnik 44' Andre Gumprecht 51' Mile Jedinak 55' Nigel Boogaard 90'

[edit] Group B Table

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	BP
Central Coast Mariners	10	3	2	1	0	6	1	3
Queensland Roar	6	3	1	2	0	3	2	1
Wellington Phoenix	5	3	1	0	2	4	4	2
Sydney FC	1	3	0	1	2	0	6	0

[edit] Playoffs

4 August 2007	Sydney FC	2–3	Newcastle Jets	Parramatta Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 2,611 Referee: Peter Green
	Tony Popovic 21' Brendon Santalab 47' Ruben Zadkovich 79' Ufuk Talay 83'	Report	Joel Griffiths 5', 76' Adam D'Apuzzo 9' Jobe Wheelhouse 29' Scott Tunbridge 56' Steve Eagleton 82'

11 August 2007	Melbourne Victory	0–1	Sydney FC	Olympic Park, Melbourne Attendance: 3,400 Referee: Simon Przydacz
		Report	Alex Brosque 34' 47' Adam Biddle 58' Shannon Cole 79' Terry McFlynn 87'

[edit] 2007-08 Hyundai A-League

On August 5, David Carney was transferred for AU$125,000 to English Championship side, Sheffield United. The former Sydney player signed a three-year deal with the club which has been reported to earn him around AU$1.25 million a year. ^[7]

New players including former Socceroos regular Tony Popovic and former LA Galaxy Attacking Midfielder, Michael Enfield have signed with Sydney for the upcoming season. On August 3, 2007 Brazilian international Juninho Paulista, formerly of Celtic and Middlesbrough, signed with Sydney FC as their marquee player.^[8] Sydney have also announced the signings of youth players Ben Vidaic and Adam Biddle.

Former Socceroos Tony Popovic has been named the new skipper alongside current Socceroos Mark Milligan as vice-captain for the coming 2007-08 season. ^[9]

On October 15, 2007 Michael Bridges was signed on a loan with Sydney FC, until the end of the 2007-08 season of the Hyundai A-League as a replacement for long-term casualty Michael Enfield, who has been ruled out for several months after sustaining a serious knee injury.

On October 22, 2007, it was announced that Branko Culina would be sacked from the club following disappointing results. It was announced on October 23, that former Adelaide United coach John Kosmina will take the role as the new head coach of Sydney FC.^[10]

Kosmina got the side of to a flying start under his tenure, his first match in charge, a clash with then table-topping rivals Central Coast, a thrilling 3-2 victory in front of a crowd of nearly 18,000 at the SFS, a sign of bigger things to come for the Blues. This was followed by an impressive 1-0 away victory over Newcastle Jets; with former England junior Michael Bridges recording his first goal for Sydney FC. An entertaining 0-0 draw at the Telstra Dome, with rivals Melbourne, followed, with Sydney FC still undefeated under Kosmina.

Sydney FC suffered their first loss under John Kosmina on December 15 losing 4-2 to bottom side Perth Glory. Sydney goals were scored by Steve Corica and Michael Bridges.

On December 22, a crucial match against the Central Coast Mariners resulted in a 5-4 victory in favour of Sydney. The match, held at Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium, was described by critics as the best game ever to come from the A-League.^[11] The crucial win moved Sydney FC up by 3 points to 4th place on the ladder, overtaking Adelaide United. The win was especially savoured after Sydney were down 2-0 after 15 minutes. The controversial sending-off of Mariners goalkeeper Danny Vukovic in the 16th minute turned the match in favour of Sydney, who scored their 5th goal via an Ufuk Taly penalty with the final kick of the match in stoppage time.

On Friday the 28 December 2007, Sydney FC came from behind for the second time in two weeks to defeat a 10-man Adelaide United 3-1 and keep its unbeaten away record intact in front of a record crowd of 25,039 in Adelaide. This result forced Adelaide down to 5th on the ladder. With 3rd place Newcastle Jets unable to secure a victory over Wellington Phoenix in Round 18, Sydney leap-frogged the Jets into 3rd place, with only 3 points behind the tied leaders.

A week later Sydney travelled across the Tasman to face Wellington Phoenix at Westpac Stadium. Sydney came out of this match once again victorious winning 2-0 with goals from Northern Ireland superstar Terry McFlynn and current leading goalscorer for Sydney in 2007/2008 Alex Brosque. This kept them in 3rd position on the A-League ladder and in good contention for a finals berth. This win also ensured that the Pheonix would not reach the finals.

As of 30 December 2007 rumours suggesting that Sydney had signed Simon Colosimo from the Perth Glory and Newcastle Jets striker Mark Bridge for the 2008/2009 Season. Although these rumours have been proved true, no statements have officially been released as neither player wanted to cause trouble at their present clubs.

On Sunday 13 January 2008 Sydney flew up to Brisbane to play the Queensland Roar at Suncorp Stadium. The game finished 0-0, with both sides taking a point. Sydney only needed a draw to secure their place for a 3rd consecutive finals appearance. The draw means that the top 4 teams (Sydney, Queensland Roar, Central Coast Mariners, Newcastle Jets) are all on 31 points each, although Queensland are on top due to goal difference. Both teams had excellent chances to open the scoring for their club, but good keeping and failure to capitalise on good opportunities meant that many goals went begging. In the end the 32,000 strong crowd at Suncorp Stadium went home feeling disappointed that they didn't get their moneys worth for this State of Origin Match.

The final game of the 2007/2008 regular season saw Sydney's largest crowd of the season, it drew a large crowd of 33,458 people. Sydney needed to win by at least 2 goals, and they got off to a flying start, with Steve Corica scoring in the 3rd minute. For the rest of the half Melbourne looked shellshocked, and never really recovered from to shock early goal. But they hit back 25 seconds after the break, with Sydney's minds still back in the dressing room, Melbourne midfielder Nick Ward flew down the right wing and took a shot, which ended up rebounding into Sydney defender Mark Milligan, ending up as an own goal. With 15 minutes left in the game Alex Brosque scored, making the score 2-1. But 5 Minutes later Danny Allsopp scored for Melbourne, leaving the final score 2-2. Sydney failed to claim the minor premiership which ended up going to the Central Coast Mariners with their 2-0 victory over the Wellington Phoenix at Gosford. Sydney will now play Queensland Roar in the Semi-Final which is to be held at the Sydney Football Stadium.

On Friday 26 January Sydney played their first leg home final against the Queensland Roar in front of a crowd of 23,450 at the Sydney Football Stadium. The match which was supposed to be played up at Queensland's home ground Suncorp Stadium but it was moved to Sydney because of a concert by the '80s band The Police. Recent matches against the roar, had all be mostly uneventful affairs, including a 0-0 draw a couple of weeks beforehand, and it was the same again. Both sides had few chances during the 1st half, but Queensland's Brazilian import Reinaldo missed a golden opportunity when he air-swinged a cross in the opening 10 minutes. Sydney's best chance came in the 2nd half when Alex Brosque made a break, got around defender Andrew Packer and only had to slot the ball past the keeper but ended up booting the ball over the crossbar, and into the disappointed 'cove' supporters. Late in the 2nd half Sydney suffered a blow when midfielder Robbie Middleby was fouled heavily by Roar defender Sasa Ognenovski and injured his hamstring. Middleby is now expected to miss the next leg up in Brisbane, and possibly the Grand Final. Sydney had to chance to get a double late in the game when Brendon Santalab and Patrick missed golden opportunites.

Sydney and Queensland will now play the second leg of the minor semi-final at Suncorp Stadium on February 8, 2008. Two weeks later Sydney were up in Brisbane to face off in the second leg of the preliminary final. They had suffered a knock-back the day before they flew up with Marquee player Juninho ruled out with a knee injury that he picked up in training. Ruben Zadkovich was announced as his replacement. Sydney started the match well but with lots of poor decisions by referee Mark Shield including the sending off of Midfeilder Robbie Middleby for a tackle, which did not even deserve a yellow. Queensland scored in the 14th minute through their Brazilian import Reinaldo and Sydney never looked like coming back after that. Referee Shield made another poor call when Sydney captain Tony Popović allegedly shoved Roar striker Tahj Minniecon in the penalty box, and Sasa Ognenovski converted the penalty past keeper Clint Bolton. Many Sydney fans were disgusted at the poor display shown by referee Mark Shield, as most games refereed under him have turned out to be fair challenges, and as a result the small Sydney group that had travelled across the border booed him off.

[edit] Home-and-Away fixtures

Round 1 24 August 2007	Sydney FC	0 – 1	Central Coast Mariners	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 18,457 Referee: Peter Green
	Ufuk Talay 43'	Report	Dean Heffernan 41' Mile Jedinak 42' Sasho Petrovski 7', 52' Andre Gumprecht 61'

Round 2 1 September 2007	Sydney FC	2–2	Adelaide United	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 14,233 Referee: Mark Shield
	Ufuk Talay 12' Alex Brosque 74'	Report	Richie Alagich 8' Bobby Petta 45' Nathan Burns 76'

Round 3 9 September 2007	Perth Glory	0–0	Sydney FC	Members Equity Stadium, Perth Attendance: 7,907 Referee: Craig Zetter
	Tyler Simpson 61'	Report	Patrick da Silva 29' Iain Fyfe 45' Mark Rudan 81'

Round 4 14 September 2007	Sydney FC	1–2	Wellington Phoenix	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 11,491 Referee: Matthew Breeze
	Adam Casey 6' Mark Rudan 56' Brendon Santalab 64' Ruben Zadkovich 86' David Zdrilic 89'	Report	Felipè 8' Daniel 29' (pen), 30' Ross Aloisi 85' Glen Moss 86'

Round 5 22 September 2007	Queensland Roar	0–1	Sydney FC	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane Attendance: 16,582 Referee: Mark Shield
	Josh McCloughlan 33' Danny Tiatto 45'	Report	Ruben Zadkovich 37' Ufuk Talay 43' Terry McFlynn 67' Patrick da Silva 69' Brendon Santalab 87'

Round 6 29 September 2007	Sydney FC	1–0	Newcastle Jets	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 13,755 Referee: Craig Zetter
	Alex Brosque 36', 72' Ruben Zadkovich 84'	Report	Matt Thompson 6' Adam D'Apuzzo 12' Adam Griffiths 22'

Round 7 6 October 2007	Sydney FC	0–1	Melbourne Victory	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 18,436 Referee: Mark Shield
	Ruben Zadkovich 8' Steve Corica 25' Juninho Paulista 63' Alex Brosque 75' Mark Rudan 90'	Report	Kevin Muscat 12' Grant Brebner 36' Joseph Keenan 40' Danny Allsopp 81' Archie Thompson 90+3'

Round 8 12 October 2007	Perth Glory	3–3	Sydney FC	Members Equity Stadium, Perth Attendance: 6,876 Referee: Matthew Breeze
	Simon Colosimo 41' Naum Sekulovski 48' Jamie Harnwell 52' James Robinson 59' Mitchell Prentice 69', 73'	Report	Alex Brosque 40', 90+3' David Zdrilic 52' Patrick da Silva 71'

Round 9 20 October 2007	Sydney FC	0–1	Adelaide United	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 12,922 Referee: Matthew Breeze
	Mark Rudan 57' Robbie Middleby 85'	Report	Lucas Pantelis 52', 73' Dez Giraldi 52' Robert Cornthwaite 69'

Round 10 28 October 2007	Sydney FC	3–2	Central Coast Mariners	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 17,652 Referee: Mark Shield
	Alex Brosque 16', 25' Tony Popovic 31' Ufuk Talay 86' Clint Bolton 87'	Report	John Hutchinson 27', 50', 56' Mile Jedinak 53' Dean Heffernan 54' Tony Vidmar 64'

Round 11 3 November 2007	Newcastle Jets	0–1	Sydney FC	EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle Attendance: 16,433 Referee: Matthew Breeze
	Denni 25' Adam Griffiths 26' Ante Covic 84'	Report	Mark Milligan 22' Ruben Zadkovich 47' Michael Bridges 69', 86'

Round 12 10 November 2007	Melbourne Victory	0–0	Sydney FC	Telstra Dome, Melbourne Attendance: 31,844 Referee: Mark Shield
	Grant Brebner 41' Kevin Muscat 87'	Report	Iain Fyfe 32'

Round 13 17 November 2007	Wellington Phoenix	1–1	Sydney FC	Westpac Stadium, Wellington Attendance: 8,062 Referee: Peter Green
	Ross Aloisi 29' Steven Old 61', 90+2' Kristian Rees 76' Vaughan Coveny 78'	Report	Popovic 27', 70' Talay 90+3' (pen)

Round 14 25 November 2007	Sydney FC	0–0	Queensland Roar	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 16,659 Referee: Matthew Breeze
	Michael Bridges 39'	Report	Stuart McLaren 17' Liam Reddy 23' Andrew Packer 42', 82'

Round 16 7 December 2007	Sydney FC	1–0	Newcastle Jets	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 10,732 Referee: Matthew Breeze
	Robbie Middleby 35' Ruben Zadkovich 52' Tony Popovic 66' Steve Corica 90+2'	Report	Mark Bridge 71' Andrew Durante 80'

Round 17 15 December 2007	Sydney FC	2–4	Perth Glory	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 12,402 Referee: Michael Hester
	Steve Corica 50' Mark Milligan 64' Michael Bridges 90', 90+2'	Report	Billy Celeski 34', 35', 77' (pen) Leo Bertos 49' Dino Djulbic 61' James Downey 90'

Round 15 22 December 2007	Central Coast Mariners	4–5	Sydney FC	Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium, Gosford Attendance: 17,514 Referee: Matthew Breeze
	Mile Jedinak 3' John Aloisi 15' Danny Vukovic 16' John Hutchinson 44' Greg Owens 63' (pen) Alex Wilkinson 83' Adam Kwasnik 86', 90+4'	Report	Iain Fyfe 33' Terry McFlynn 50' Tony Popovic 62' Adam Biddle 71' Brendon Santalab 76' Mark Robertson 78' Ufuk Talay 90', 90+5' (pen)

Match rescheduled from 1 December 2007 due to unplayable pitch^[12]

Round 18 28 December 2007	Adelaide United	1–3	Sydney FC	Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Attendance: 25,039 Referee: Matthew Breeze
	Kristian Sarkies 20' Travis Dodd 28' Robert Cornthwaite 33' Eugene Galekovic 66' Cássio 76'	Report	Iain Fyfe 31' Mark Milligan 40' Brendon Santalab 44' Steve Corica 54' Robbie Middleby 65', 67' Brendan Renaud 83'

Round 19 4 January 2008	Wellington Phoenix	0–2	Sydney FC	Westpac Stadium, Wellington Attendance: 14,288 Referee: Ben Williams
	Kristian Rees 14' Shane Smeltz 81' Tony Lochhead 85' Ross Aloisi 91'	Report	Ufuk Talay 26' Terry McFlynn 79' Alex Brosque 83'

Round 20 13 January 2008	Queensland Roar	0–0	Sydney FC	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane Attendance: 31,933 Referee: Mark Shield
	Andrew Packer 33' Simon Lynch 39'	Report	Terry McFlynn 16'

Round 21 20 January 2008	Sydney FC	2–2	Melbourne Victory	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 33,458 Referee: Peter O'Leary
	Steve Corica 4' Alex Brosque 62' Brendon Santalab 82'	Report	Leigh Broxham 7' Sebastian Ryall 44' Mark Milligan (og) 46' Kevin Muscat 47' Danny Allsopp 76'

[edit] League table

#	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Central Coast Mariners	21	10	4	7	30	25	5sm=n	34
2	Newcastle Jets	21	9	7	5	25	21	4sm=n	34
3	Sydney FC	21	8	8	5	28	24	4sm=n	32
4	Queensland Roar	21	8	7	6	25	21	4sm=n	31
5	Melbourne Victory	21	6	9	6	29	29	0sm=n	27
6	Adelaide United	21	6	8	7	31	29	2sm=n	26
7	Perth Glory	21	4	8	9	27	34	-7sm=n	20
8	Wellington Phoenix	21	5	5	11	25	37	-12sm=n	20

[edit] Finals

Semi-final - Leg 1 25 January 2008	Sydney FC	0–0	Queensland Roar	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 23,450 Referee: Mark Shield
	Mark Milligan 7' Brendan Renaud 43' Ufuk Talay 56'	Report	Sasa Ognenovski 22' Matt McKay 55' Josh McCloughan 73'

Semi-final - Leg 2 8 February 2008	Queensland Roar	2–0	Sydney FC	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane Attendance: 36,321 Referee: Mark Shield
	Andrew Packer 3' Reinaldo 12' Massimo Murdocca 48' Liam Reddy 74' Sasa Ognenovski 83' (pen)	Report	Brendan Renaud 15' Robbie Middleby 20' Ufuk Talay 67' Tony Popovic 82'

Queensland Roar win 2-0 on aggregate

[edit] Hyundai Club Challenge

Sydney hosted the Los Angeles Galaxy in a one-off exhibition match at Telstra Stadium on November 27, including high-profile Galaxy signing David Beckham. Sydney won the exciting match 5-3, which included a picturesque Beckham goal from a free kick.

27 November 2007	Sydney FC	5–3	Los Angeles Galaxy	Telstra Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 80,295 Referee: Mark Shield
	Alex Brosque 5', 25' Ruben Zadkovich 29' Robbie Middleby 49', 53' Adam Biddle 76' Iain Fyfe 87'	Report	Kevin Harmse 31', 76' David Beckham 45', 64' Edson Buddle 49' Landon Donovan 90'

[edit] Pan-Pacific Championship

Sydney represented Australia in the inaugural Pan-Pacific Championship held in Hawaii.^[13] They placed fourth overall after losing both matches, first to American MLS champions Houston Dynamo and then LA Galaxy in the third place playoff.

February 20, 2008	Houston Dynamo	3–0	Sydney FC	Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, USA Attendance: 15,128 Referee: Alex Prus
	Dwayne De Rosario 28' Stuart Holden 29' Chris Wondolowski 43'	Report	Brendon Santalab 49' Ryan Walsh 57'

February 23, 2008	LA Galaxy	2–1	Sydney FC	Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, USA Attendance: 23,087 Referee: Brian Hall
	Ely Allen 3' Josh Tudela 45' Michael Gavin 72'	Report	Brendan Renaud 43' Terry McFlynn 49' Mark Robertson 51'

[edit] Home Attendances

#	Opponent	Round	Attendance	Result
1	Central Coast Mariners	1	18,457	L 1-0
2	Adelaide United	2	14,233	D 2-2
3	Wellington Phoenix	4	11,491	L 1-2
4	Newcastle United Jets	6	13,755	W 1-0
5	Melbourne Victory	7	18,436	L 0-1
6	Adelaide United	9	12,922	L 0-1
7	Central Coast Mariners	10	17,652	W 3-2
8	Queensland Roar	14	16,659	D 0-0
9	LA Galaxy	Exhibition	80,295	W 5-3
10	Newcastle United Jets	16	10,732	W 1-0
11	Perth Glory	17	12,402	L 2-4
12	Melbourne Victory	21	33,458	D 2-2
13	Queensland Roar	Semi-final	23,450	D 0-0

A-League Regular Season Total: 180,197

A-League Regular Season Average: 16,382

Season Total: 283,942

[edit] Player details

For current squad details see Sydney FC Current squad

[edit] Squad

Players included in a Sydney FC squad in the 2007-08 season:

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Clint Bolton
2	DF	Iain Fyfe
3	DF	Nikolas Tsattalios
4	DF	Mark Rudan
5	DF	Ryan Walsh
6	DF	Tony Popović (captain)
7	MF	Robbie Middleby
8	MF	Ruben Zadkovich
9	FW	David Zdrilic
10	MF	Steve Corica
11	FW	Brendon Santalab
12	FW	Patrick da Silva
13	FW	Ben Vidaic
14	FW	Alex Brosque
15	MF	Terry McFlynn
16	DF	Mark Milligan
17	DF	Jacob Timpano

No.	Position	Player
18	FW	Adam Casey
19	MF	Michael Enfield
20	GK	Ivan Necevski
21	MF	Adam Biddle
22	MF	Juninho Paulista
23	MF	Ufuk Talay
24	FW	Robbie Cattanach
25	MF	Matthew Jurman
25	DF	Cameron Watson
25	FW	Daniel Severino
26	MF	Brendan Renaud
27	MF	Shannon Cole
28	MF	Chris Nunes
28	FW	Michael Bridges
29	MF	Mark Robertson
30	GK	Matthew Nash
40	GK	Michael Herbet

[edit] Transfers

With Branko Culina installed at the helm, he sought to reconstruct the Sydney squad which had been plagued by injuries and financial contraints the previous year. Nikolai Topor-Stanley and Noel Spencer left for other A-League sides at the end of the Asian Champions League, but defender Nikolas Tsattalios was rewarded with a longer term contract. New signings from foreign leagues were unveiled in American Michael Enfield, Brendon Santalab and World Cup Socceroo Tony Popović. Popović's expected role in the club was further reinforced by being handed the captaincy for the A-League season.^[14] The club also fulfilled their youth player quota, signing Joey striker Ben Vidaic and winger Adam Biddle.

The club also sought to find a new marquee player as they had been unable to land a household-name since the departure of Dwight Yorke at the start of the previous season. The club unsuccessfully courted a number of high-profile internationals including Philip Cocu, Robbie Fowler,^[15] Hakan Şükür,^[16] Christian Vieri,^[17] Jay-Jay Okocha^[18] and John Aloisi.^[19] On 3 August 2007 Sydney announced, (two days after media reports broke the story^[20]) that Brazilian international Juninho Paulista will be their marquee player on a one year deal. This came the same time as David Carney agreed to move to English side Sheffield United following speculation of his departure following the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. Sydney finalised their squad by signing a second Brazilian in striker Patrick da Silva.

With the season kicking off, new reserve goalkeeper Ivan Necevski suffered an injury in training expected to keep him out of action for up to two months. APIA Leichhardt custodian Matthew Nash impressed in his preseason trial to earn a short-term contract as cover. As first round matches were underway with Nash on the bench, Sydney agreed terms with veteran John Filan to join the club, having recently returned home after retiring at Wigan.^[21] The short-term agreement fell through less than a week later, Filan citing outside issues.^[22]

[edit] In

Player	From	League	Fee	Date
Michael Enfield	Los Angeles Galaxy	Major League Soccer	Free	April 7, 2007 ^[23]
Brendon Santalab	Újpest FC	Borsodi Liga	Free	June 22, 2007 ^[24]
Ivan Necevski	Blacktown City Demons	NSW Premier League	Free	June 22, 2007 ^[25]
Nikolas Tsattalios	Sydney FC (promoted from short-term deal)	A-League	–	2 July 2007^[26]
Tony Popović	Al-Arabi	Qatari League	Free	11 July 2007 ^[27]
Ben Vidaic	Sydney United	NSW Premier League	Free	31 July 2007 ^[28]
Juninho Paulista	Flamengo (free agent)	Brazilian Série A	–	3 August 2007 ^[29]
Adam Biddle	Blacktown City Demons	NSW Premier League	Free	6 August 2007 ^[30]
Patrick da Silva	Nacional Atlético Clube	Campeonato Paulista Série A2	Free	18 August 2007^[31]
Brendan Renaud	Blacktown City Demons	NSW Premier League	Free	12 December 2007^[32]

[edit] Out

Player	To	League	Fee	Date
Nikolai Topor-Stanley	Perth Glory	A-League	–	24 May 2007 .^[33]^[34]
Justin Pasfield	Sydney United (released)	NSW Premier League	–	24 May 2007 ^[35]
Noel Spencer	Newcastle United Jets	A-League	–	24 May 2007 ^[36]
Luka Glavas	Heidelberg United (released)	Victorian Premier League	–	24 May 2007 ^[37]
Dean Bouzanis	Liverpool FC (loan terminated - delisted)	Premier League	–	June 2007 ^[38]
David Carney	Sheffield United	Premier League	AU$125,000	4 August 2007 ^[39]^[40]
Mark Rudan	Avispa Fukuoka	J. League Div 2	AU$100,000	17 December 2007 ^[41] ^[42]
Ufuk Talay	Avispa Fukuoka	J. League Div 2	–	12 February 2008 ^[43]
Ruben Zadkovich	Released	–	–	23 February 2008^[44]
Brendan Renaud	Retired	–	–	23 February 2008

[edit] Short-term signings

Player	From	Start date	End date	Reason
Matthew Nash	APIA Leichhardt	23 August 2007	10 October 2007	Injury cover for Ivan Necevski ^[45]
Matthew Nash	APIA Leichhardt	21 December 2007	24 December 2007	Injury cover for Clint Bolton ^[46]
Michael Herbet	Waverley Old Boys	6 September 2007	12 September 2007	Cover for Clint Bolton while on international duty ^[47]
Matthew Jurman	AIS	6 September 2007	12 September 2007	Cover for Mark Milligan/Ruben Zadkovich while on international duty ^[47]
Robbie Cattanach	Manly United FC	6 September 2007	12 September 2007	Cover for Alex Brosque while on international duty ^[47]
Michael Bridges	Hull City (loan)	17 October 2007	21 January 2008	Injury cover for Michael Enfield^[48]^[49]
Mark Robertson	FC Sopron	13 December 2007	24 February 2008	Injury cover for Adam Casey^[50]
Ryan Walsh	Blacktown City Demons	20 February 2008	24 February 2008	Injury cover for Robbie Middleby at Pan-Pacific Championship^[51]

[edit] Team kit

For the third A-League season, all clubs released new playing strip supplied by sponsor Reebok. Sydney FC retained the established colours in a new design, a sky blue home shirt with navy blue and orange secondary colours, and a white away shirt with sky blue trim.^[52]

Sydney also signed new sponsorships with Sydney-based electronics retailer Bing Lee and electronic brand JVC. The home strip will feature Bing Lee as the main shirt sponsor with JVC on the shorts, while the away shirt will feature JVC prominently and Bing Lee on the shorts. A second shirt sponsorship was secured with HBA Health Insurance, that will appear on the back of the shirt below the player number.