Sydney FC must win next two games to keep finals hopes alive

Perennial contenders Sydney FC are in a perilous finals position after their latest drubbing and face two make-or-break matches.

Sydney FC coach Steve Corica has a big job to do to lift his players. Picture: Mohamed Farag/Getty Images

Sydney FC boss Steve Corica believes the next two games could potentially define their season, with his side’s finals hopes hanging by a thread.

Sydney was on the end of a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Melbourne City on Wednesday night and now sit delicately poised inside the top six heading into the final month of the campaign.

Corica’s charges fell to sixth place on the table, only a point and two points clear of Wellington Phoenix and Central Coast Mariners respectively who both have three games in hand.

Before jetting over to Vietnam to begin their Asian Champions League campaign, the Sky Blues face both the red-hot Mariners on Saturday and fifth-placed Adelaide United on Tuesday, with both games ultimately having a huge say on whether Sydney plays finals for a sixth consecutive season.

When asked about whether the next two games could make or break their season, Corica answered in the affirmative and called for a response from his side this weekend.

“One hundred per cent. I think they are two obviously very important games,” he said.

“Both teams are in and around, so you know Central Coast have got games in hand but Adelaide obviously they’re close as well, so we obviously need to win both games.

Sydney FC’s Max Burgess challenges Melbourne City’s Mathew Leckie. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

“You have to try and pick up maximum points against teams that are in and around you, especially when we played the extra games.

“We’ve told them this. It’s a very important game against Central Coast and we can’t afford to have a poor performance like this.

“We’ve gone from a fantastic performance against the Wanderers three days ago and then put on this performance.

“It’s definitely not what we came here for, so we need to turn it around again and get them ready for the Central Coast.”

In a rematch of last-season’s grand final, Sydney was blown out of the water by a scintillating City outfit who put the game away in a stunning second-half performance.

Corica believes “everything” went wrong in the final 45 minutes and described the overall performance as ”poor”.

“I think at halftime it was only 1-0, we were only 1-0 down and we thought we could have got back in the game,” Corica said.

“But even from the start of the first half, we didn’t compete. That’s as simple as it is … They outplayed us, we didn’t want to play, we were quite negative.

Sydney FC fans won’t have anything to cheer about if the club doesn't make the finals. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

“Then when we started to step out in the second half we got caught a couple of times and individual mistakes cost us.”

Meanwhile, City coach Patrick Kisnorbo lauded both his side‘s preparation and overall attitude as they made it 11 games unbeaten.

“I thought we prepared well for the game. The boys did fantastically well coming off a short turnaround,” Kisnorbo said.

“Just the general attitude of the players. Again, I couldn’t fault them. They worked hard. They were connected … In those aspects I was really happy.”

Originally published as Sydney FC must win next two games to keep finals hopes alive