Sydney FC put to the sword by Kawasaki Frontale

Sydney FC suffered their worst ACL defeat after fielding a depleted team in their final group game.

Damiao of Kawasaki Frontale launches a bullet-like shot to score his team’s fourth goal against Sydney FC. Picture: Getty Images

The difference could not have been more stark.

A little over 48 hours after claiming a fourth A-League championship in front of a record crowd of 56,000, a severely under strength Sydney FC, largely fielding a bunch of kids, were cruelly forced to back up in a meaningless Asian Champions League game against Kawasaki Frontale at Jubilee Stadium on Tuesday night.

The outcome was very predictable.

Watched by a crowd of probably no more than 2000 hearty souls, the A-League champions performed as one would expect — totally outclassed by the J-League outfit in going down 4-0 in their worst defeat in the ACL.

Of course, the result really didn’t matter for the Sky Blues given not a single player who started against Perth Glory was included in last night’s line-up. However, four players who were on the bench on Sunday — Anthony Caceres, Reza “Gucci” Ghoochannejhad, Paolo Retre and Danny De Silva — were given a start against Kawasaki.

Caceres (42 minutes) and Gucci (30 minutes) got game time in the grand final but came through without any issues while coach Steve Corica handed Sydney FC debuts to goalkeeper Tom Heward-Belle, Liam McGing and Patrick Scibilio.

Kawasaki only opted to field six regulars in their starting XI with just three players backing up from a 1-1 draw in the J-League on the weekend. Still, the Japanese fielded two of their foreigners, Brazilians Damiao and Maguinho.

With their best players in the stands watching on and no doubt enjoying all the delights of a private suite and continuing their celebrations, Sydney were never going to be any match against a quality club with excellent resources.

Unlike Sydney, who were eliminated from the tournament several weeks ago, Kawasaki had all to play for knowing a win for them and a loss for Shanghai SIPG in the other group game would secure their passage into the knockout stage of the tournament.

If there was ever a case of boys v men then this was it.

The technically gifted Japanese ran rings around the inexperienced, youthful Sky Blues in what was nothing more than a glorified training run.

Cheered on by a boisterous group of their fans, numbering around 100, the visitors found themselves up 3-0 inside the half-hour with Yasuto Wakizaka helping himself to a nice brace.

When Ao Tanaka added the third goal on 28 minutes there were genuine fears the Japanese would go on to post a double-digit score.

To their credit, Sydney managed to restrict any further damage for the remainder of the half, though the Japanese could easily have had another two or three goals.

It took Kawasaki 14 minutes into the second half to increase their advantage with Damiao racing 30 metres down field in the clear before finishing with a searing shot into the back of the net.

However, it was all academic for Kawasaki given Shanghai beat Ulsan in the other game leaving the Japanese outfit third in the group and eliminated from the tournament.