United 58 deal critical blow to APIA’s title defence
Sydney United 58 have all but ended APIA Leichhardt’s chances of retaining the NPL NSW Men’s Premiership with a thrilling 2-0 win at the Sydney United Sports Centre on Sunday afternoon.
After an intense first half where both sides staked their claim to be in the lead, it was the final half hour where the game was decided by two well-taken chances from the hosts.
Alessandro Lacalandra opened the scoring in the 62nd minute after cleaning up a goal line clearance from the APIA defence before a lethal strike from Shunta Nakamura in the 81st minute sealed the win for United 58.
With both sides coming into the clash on the heels of a disappointing run of form it was APIA who quickly asserted themselves as the aggressor going forward and wasted little time to get their attack going.
Ben Gibson had the first chance of the game after a delightful long-ball from Sean Symons played him through on goal where he sent his first-time effort wide of the target.
After starting on the backfoot, United 58 began to even out the possession and attacking chances as Aiden Milicevic fired his side’s first chance of the afternoon, an effort that was defused by Anthony Bouzanis.
APIA continued their surge in attack and hit the post on two occasions, firstly through a low driven effort from Rory Jordan shortly before a headed chance from Josh Symons which had Oliver Kalac beaten riffled off the back stick.
On the other side of that, United 58 came within inches of finding an opener as S. Simons did his best to clear a Bailey Rule header away from the path of goal.
The hosts began to look dangerous on the counterattack, catching out the APIA defence on a handful of occasions in the later stages of the first half. Shunta Nakamura was the beneficiary of this as an attack he triggered nearly gifted him the opener as his shot narrowly dragged across the face of goal.
Both sides continued to trade blows in the final moments of the opening half, ensuring the opposing keepers were both kept rather busy.
Coming out of the halftime break it was APIA who replicated their fast start in the first half and immediately put the home defence under a mountain of pressure.
Jordan became central to his side’s attack, having a couple of dangerous efforts denied by Kalac before playing Armson through on goal where he was too met by a strong save from the United 58 shot stopper.
After seeing his side slowly losing the momentum they had worked hard to build up throughout the game, United 58 coach Zeljko Kalac went to his bench to make the game-defining difference.
The fresh legs of Stephan De Robillard and Patrick Antelmi in attack began to shift the tide of the game back into the control of the hosts, with both players marking their presence felt in the final third.
United 58 opened the scoring just moments after the hour mark after a dangerous set-piece from Tariq Maia picked out Vlastelica, the centre-back’s effort was cleared off the line but only as far as Lacalandra who riffled his chance home.
Antelmi nearly doubled his side’s advantage with a fierce shot from the edge of the box that forced a quickfire save from Anthony Bouzanis.
As the game began to even out again, it was Jordan who came close to levelling the score with his close-range chance just going over the target.
With the game hanging in the balance, Nakamura put the result beyond doubt with a first-time strike to stung the hands of Bouzanis on route to the back of the net for United 58’s second.
Despite conceding a second, APIA looked motivated to find at least one goal before the conclusion of the match and looked the likelier of the two sides in the final stages.
Gibson was stunningly denied from point blank range by Kalac, whilst Jack Stewart was left to ponder what could’ve been as his curling effort just missed the back stick.
Reflecting on his side’s massive win post-game, Zeljko Kalac was impressed with his side’s showing, especially in the second half.
“First half I thought was a real scrappy affair, both teams were probably scared to lose,” Kalac said.
“Second half we were much better, I thought our structure was good, but the subs made a big difference when they came on.”
Despite the result, APIA coach Franco Parisi didn’t hide his pride in his team and maintained a positive outlook for the remainder of the season.
“Putting the result aside, I’m happy with the performance and with what we’re doing as a team, from a football perspective I thought we dominated that match,” Parisi said.
“But as well know goals are what it’s about, today we didn’t score any and they scored two, but as a playing group I’m really proud of what the players are working through, we’ve got a schedule that is very challenging.
“I’m just super proud of the team we’re playing as and we’ll go again, there’s still a few more rounds to go and we want to be there at the big end of the season.”
Match Stats
Sydney United 58 FC 2 (Lacalandra 62’, Nakamura 81’)
APIA Leichhardt FC 0
Sydney United Sports Centre, Edensor Park
Sunday 21st July, 2024
Referee: Craig Fisher
Assistants: Patrick Teleki and Alexis Johnson
Fourth Official: Blake Sanchez-Cruz
Sydney United 58: 1. Oliver Kalac, 3. Bailey Rule (11. Matthew Hatch 67’), 4. Adrian Vlastelica, 5. Anthony Tomelic, 7. Jordan Ivancic (6. Adam Zervas), 8. Shunta Nakamura, 10. Carlos De Oliveira, 13. Alessandro Lacalandra (44. Anthony Krilic 70’), 15. Tariq Maia, 19 Aiden Milicevic (9. Patrick Antelmi 55’), 32. Mason Wells (22. Stephan De Robillard)
Subs not used: 58. Ryan Warner
Yellow Cards: Tomelic 12’, De Oliveira 14’, Rule 43’, Kalac 77’
Red Cards: Nil
APIA Leichhardt FC: 1. Anthony Bouzanis, 2. Seiya Kambayashi, 4. Josh Symons, 7. Jack Stewart, 9. Ben Gibson, 11. Rory Jordan (38. Maksim Kasalovic), 14. Jack Armson (19. Luigi Ditroia 70’), 17. Jordan Segreto, 18. Adiran Ucchino (8. Jordan Segreto 62’), 21. Michael Kouta, 22. Edward Caspers (41. Nicholas Azzone 82’), 25. Sean Symons (23. Dakota Askew 70’)
Substitutes Not Used: 20. Alexander Parkes
Yellow Cards: J.Symons 41’, Ucchino 60’
Red Cards: Nil
Player Ratings
3 – Carlos De Oliveira (SU)
2 – Oliver Kalac (SU)
1 – Shunta Nakamura (SU)
By Football NSW Match Report Dominic Criniti @DominicCriniti
