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After pulling off a massive upset in South Korea, Sydney FC will have a very unique opportunity when they return to their home ground to finish their AFC Champions League Two quarter-final. The Sky Blues hold a two-goal lead over the vaunted Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, and if Sydney can hang on for two more halves, they’ll be through to the semis. Before it all goes down, let’s recap how exactly Sydney got into this favourable position and consider what it’ll take to finish the job.
Klimala stuns South Koreans
Sydney entered Yongin Mireu Stadium with the odds against them. Not only did Jeonbuk fly through the Round of 16 while Sydney struggled into extra time, not only did they bring far bigger backing and pedigree to the table, but the Dinos had never lost to the Sky Blues in any of their four previous matches.
However, despite a menacing chance in the 12th minute and seeing slightly more of the ball in the first half, the Hyundai-owned giants were far from invincible.
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Sydney proved more capable of creating shots, and that paid off in a major way in the 36th minute, when Anthony Caceres launched a high pass from beyond midfield that arced over all defenders and right onto Patryk Klimala’s chest. A bit of a run and a left-footed strike later, Sydney had the early lead. Klimala tried for more almost immediately, forcing Jeonbuk keeper Song Bum-keun to make a double save just a couple of minutes later. But while his hunt was unsuccessful for the moment, Harrison Devenish-Meares made a crucial save, stopping an attempted retaliatory header from Andrea Compagno to keep Sydney in the lead going into half-time.
In the second half, Jeonbuk would choke up on the bat and try to tighten things up, establishing a much stronger hold on possession than they had in the first half. However, that turned out not to mean much by the 66th minute, when Leo Sena got the ball on an absolute Jeonbuk giveaway and mailed it to Klimala with a through pass. The Dinos defenders gave Klimala all the time and space in the world to move forward and set up his shot, and when he fired from outside the box, he hit his mark perfectly to complete his second brace of the tournament.
Patryk Klimala. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
The home fans had to be panicking at this point, and with good reason. Despite Jeonbuk flipping things from the first half and taking more shots than their opposition in the second, Devenish-Meares didn’t have to make a single save the rest of the way, as every single Dinos attempt to sully the sheet either went wide, hit the woodwork, or bounced off a Sky Blues defender.
As a result, things finished 2-0 to the Sydney side, and they’ll come home with a far simpler path forward than anyone could’ve guessed. As if that wasn’t enough, the Sky Blues are now unbeaten in their last seven, the longest such streak of the 2024/25 campaign, while Jeonbuk’s 1-0 loss to K League 1 foes Gangwon officially puts the Dinos on a three-loss skid. The wind is at the Sky Blues’ sails here, and they now have a golden opportunity to cross this harbour through the friendlier waters of Sydney Football Stadium and punch their ticket to the team’s first continental semi-final since 2005.
The keys to sealing the deal
It may have been a thrilling trip to Korea for the Cove, but sitting two up is a uniquely dangerous lead. It’s a close enough margin that Sydney can’t just play the kids and coast, but it’s also big enough that Jeonbuk will certainly have taken every possible moment to analyse what went wrong and adjust. It’ll take a delicate balancing act to approach with the right mindset and make this opportunity count.
Given the situation and what worked last week, Sydney’s game plan will likely lean towards the defensive side, but they can’t afford to full-on park the bus. There’s no guarantee that Jeonbuk’s shots will be as errant or easy to block as they were in the second half of the previous game, especially if the Dinos send in their sharpest shooters.
(Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
Therefore, to balance things out, the Sky Blues should be prepared to spot and seize as many counterattacking opportunities as they can possibly get. As we saw twice in Korea, one good long pass to their striker is all the Sky Blues need to break things open and make magic happen.
As for who Sydney will face if they advance, Sanfrecce Hiroshima appeared to get a 6-1 jump over Singaporean Cup winners Lion City Sailors in their first leg, but it was overturned to a 3-0 Sailors victory because Sanfrecce subbed on the newly-signed Valere Germain without realising he was on a three-game AFC suspension. The Three Arrows certainly have the firepower to overcome that, but if the Sailors can bunker down and survive, it could create an absolute bracket-buster that takes Sydney’s biggest obstacle to this point out of the running entirely.
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