Sydney FC walk suspension and finals tightrope

Sydney FC has four players walking the yellow card suspension tightrope on Sunday afternoon when they take on Perth Glory at Members Equity Stadium in what has already been a spectacular penultimate round of the Hyundai A-League.

Sasho Petrovski, Alvin Ceccoli, Iain Fyfe and David Carney are all one card from a suspension at a critical time of the season and Sydney FC can ill-afford to miss their services.

The A-League play off permutations are numerous, as they have been all weekend, with Sydney FC able to cement a semi final place, go into the last round in the box seat to snare second place or move into a game of Russian Roulette next weekend, depending on the result against Perth.

Newcastle’s loss on Thursday night opened the door for Sydney and the Central Coast Mariners, which the Mariners accepted last night with a 3-1 win that sent Melbourne to the travel agent to book an end-of-season trip.

Sydney FC goes into the game against Perth in 4th place but a win will see them secure a finals place and move back into second, setting and set up a massive final round clash with Premiers Adelaide at Aussie Stadium on Friday.

A draw with Perth Glory will also secure a finals place but will see Sydney, Central Coast and Newcastle go into a three-way tie on 31 points with the Central Coast holding a goal difference advantage.

A Perth Glory win over Sydney FC on Sunday will set up the bizarre situation where four teams (Central Coast, Newcastle, Sydney FC and Perth) could all finish anywhere from second to fifth, setting up a marketing dream for the FFA. It also brings the Queensland Roar back into finals contention, giving all four final round matches a semi final knife edge.

The numerous possibilities mean it is win-at-all-costs football for Sydney FC but for Petrovski, Carney, Ceccoli and Fyfe there is the added distraction that one false move could see them miss a crucial game.

Petrovski is the player in most danger as he has already accumulated six yellow cards this season and a misdemeanor could see him miss not only next week’s clash with Adelaide but the first round of the semi finals.

Carney, Ceccoli and Fyfe have three yellow cards and will miss one match if they are booked on Sunday afternoon.

“We would not like to miss any of the players with suspension but this is normal for all teams at this time of the year,” Littbarski said.

“I think Adelaide, Central Coast and Newcastle have already had players suspended and we already have missed Terry (McFlynn) for the last game and against Perth.

“It is a part of the game at this time of the season and we will be careful not to miss any of the players but make sure they give us everything in the (Perth) game because it is very important.”

A-League Round 20

Perth Glory vs Sydney FC
Members Equity Stadium, Perth
Sunday January 29
5:00pm kick off (local), 8:00pm (NSW time)