Sky Blues’ ACL campaign blown off course

Sydney FC were kept scoreless by Ulsan in their opening match of the Asian Champions League.

Adam Le Fondre of Sydney FC unleashes a shot at goal against Ulsan. Picture: Getty Images

Sydney FC coach Steve Corica stressed before the start of the club’s Asian Champions League campaign the importance of winning their home games if they are to advance further than the group stage.

But it wasn’t quite the start he would have hoped for after the Sky Blues were held to a scoreless draw in their opening group match against Ulsan Hyundai at Jubilee Stadium last night.

A howling wind and a sparse crowd of just 4039 made it hard work for Sydney, who dominated large parts of the game but could not come up with a killer punch in the end.

And things don’t get any easier as they fly off to Japan next week to play J-League champions Kawasaki Frontale.

Sydney looked decent at various stages and had more chances, particularly in the first half.

Playing into a stiff wind, they started with good intent and created a number of half chances inside the opening 12 minutes with Adam le Fondre in the thick of most of it.

The Englishman caused the Koreans a few problems whenever he ran at the defence such as in the fourth minute when he made his way into the box, got past one defender before shooting from a tight angle, forcing the goalkeeper to make a good save.

The Koreans were content to allow Sydney to have possession while they patiently waited for the Sky Blues to make a mistake and turn over the ball. When that happened, Ulsan looked very good on the counterattack.

With the wind at their back in the second half, Sydney stepped it up and the Koreans pegged in their own half for long periods.

That allowed Sydney to have a lot of possession in more attacking areas, but they had difficulty breaking down the resolute Korean defence.

Meanwhile, Sydney were embroiled in a second playing kit controversy within 24 hours after they were forced to play in their away strip last night.

Unlike the Melbourne Victory, who were forced to play with a sponsor-free strip in their ACL match against Daegu FC because of concerns the sponsor had ties with a betting agency, this was far less sinister though there was still a touch of farce about it.

The AFC approved the playing strips for all clubs involved in the competition when the group draw was made back in December.

However, the match officials decided late yesterday that Sydney’s home strip would be too much of a clash with Ulsan’s away jersey and that meant Sydney had to change.