The 2007–08 season is Sydney FC's third season of football (soccer) in Australia. The club finished seventh in the A-League Pre-season Challenge Cup and competed in the 2007–08 A-League season.
After a disappointing start to the season, the club sacked coach Branko Čulina in October, and appointed John Kosmina. The team recovered from its poor start to finish third on the league table, securing a place in the finals series but being eliminated in the semi-final by Queensland Roar.
The club represented Australia at the Pan-Pacific Championship in February 2008 and finished fourth after losing to American MLS sides Houston Dynamo and Los Angeles Galaxy.
Player details
Squad Players included in a Sydney FC squad in the 2007–08 season:
Transfers With Branko Culina installed at the helm, he sought to reconstruct the Sydney squad which had been plagued by injuries and financial constraints the previous year. Nikolai Topor-Stanley and Noel Spencer left for other A-League sides at the end of the Asian Champions League, but defender Nikolas Tsattalios was rewarded with a longer term contract. New signings from foreign leagues were unveiled in American Michael Enfield, Brendon Santalab and World Cup Socceroo Tony Popović. Popović's expected role in the club was further reinforced by being handed the captaincy for the A-League season. The club also fulfilled their youth player quota, signing Joey striker Ben Vidaic and winger Adam Biddle.
The club also sought to find a new marquee player as they had been unable to land a household-name since the departure of Dwight Yorke at the start of the previous season. The club unsuccessfully courted a number of high-profile internationals including Philip Cocu, Robbie Fowler, Hakan Şükür, Christian Vieri, Jay-Jay Okocha and John Aloisi. On 3 August 2007 Sydney announced, (two days after media reports broke the story) that Brazilian international Juninho Paulista will be their marquee player on a one-year deal. This came the same time as David Carney agreed to move to English side Sheffield United following speculation of his departure following the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. Sydney finalised their squad by signing a second Brazilian in striker Patrick da Silva.
With the season kicking off, new reserve goalkeeper Ivan Necevski suffered an injury in training expected to keep him out of action for up to two months. APIA Leichhardt custodian Matthew Nash impressed in his preseason trial to earn a short-term contract as cover. As first round matches were underway with Nash on the bench, Sydney agreed terms with veteran John Filan to join the club, having recently returned home after retiring at Wigan. The short-term agreement fell through less than a week later, Filan citing outside issues.
In PlayerFromLeagueFeeDate Michael Enfield Los Angeles Galaxy Major League Soccer Free 7 April 2007Sydney FC signs American attacker on two-year deal. 7 April 2007. Retrieved 30 April 2007. Brendon Santalab Újpest FC Borsodi Liga Free 22 June 2007Sydney FC sign striker. 22 June 2007. Retrieved 22 June 2007. Ivan Necevski Blacktown City Demons NSW Premier League Free 22 June 2007Shot-stopping Sydneysider joins squad 25 June 2007. Retrieved 4 July 2007. Nikolas Tsattalios Sydney FC (promoted from short-term deal) A-League – 2 July 2007 Tony Popović Al-Arabi Qatari League Free 11 July 2007Socceroos World Cup hero signs deal 11 July 2007. Retrieved 11 July 2007. Ben Vidaic Sydney United NSW Premier League Free 31 July 2007 Juninho Paulista Flamengo (free agent) Brazilian Série A – 3 August 2007 Adam Biddle Blacktown City Demons NSW Premier League Free 6 August 2007 Patrick da Silva Nacional Atlético Clube (SP) Campeonato Paulista Série A2 Free 18 August 2007 Brendan Renaud Blacktown City Demons NSW Premier League Free 12 December 2007
Out PlayerToLeagueFeeDate Nikolai Topor-Stanley Perth Glory A-League – 24 May 2007 .Topor-Stanley joins Perth theworldgame.com.au. 1 April 2007. Retrieved 13 April 2007.Topor-Stanley now a Glory boy The Daily Telegraph. 2 April 2007. Retrieved 25 April 2007. Justin Pasfield Sydney United (released) NSW Premier League – 24 May 2007Who's Going Where in the Hyundai A-League , 13 June 2007. Retrieved 4 July 2007. Noel Spencer Newcastle United Jets A-League – 24 May 2007 Luka Glavas Heidelberg United (released) Victorian Premier League – 24 May 2007 Dean Bouzanis Liverpool F.C. (loan terminated – delisted) Premier League – June 2007 David Carney Sheffield United Premier League A$125,000 4 August 2007 Mark Rudan Avispa Fukuoka J. League Div 2 A$100,000 17 December 2007 Brendan Renaud Retired – – 23 February 2008
Short-term signings PlayerFromStart dateEnd dateReason Matthew Nash APIA Leichhardt23 August 200710 October 2007Injury cover for Ivan Necevski21 December 200724 December 2007Injury cover for Clint Bolton Michael Herbet Waverley Old Boys6 September 200712 September 2007Cover for Clint Bolton while on international duty Matthew Jurman AIS6 September 200712 September 2007Cover for Mark Milligan/Ruben Zadkovich while on international duty Robbie Cattanach Manly United FC6 September 200712 September 2007Cover for Alex Brosque while on international duty Michael Bridges Hull City (loan)17 October 200721 January 2008Injury cover for Michael Enfield Mark Robertson FC Sopron13 December 200724 February 2008Injury cover for Adam Casey Ryan Walsh Blacktown City Demons20 February 200824 February 2008Injury cover for Robbie Middleby at Pan-Pacific Championship
Pre-season
AFC Champions League As 2005–06 A-League Champions, Sydney qualified for the 2007 AFC Champions League as one of the two teams representing Australia along with 2005–06 League Premiers, Adelaide United. Group matches were played from March to May 2007, during the A-League off-season. Sydney finished second in their group after two wins, three draws and one loss, a point behind Urawa Reds who progressed to the next stage of competition.
Squad preparation For the new season, Sydney have established an agreement with Macquarie University to use the Sport and Aquatic Centre as a training base and also establishing an off-field relationship offering educational, corporate and research linkages. As part of preparations, the club staged a training camp on the Sunshine Coast with a match against a team of local players in the lead up to their opening Pre-season Cup match. Sydney will also play a series of friendly matches against NSW Premier League and State League sides, to engage with the Sydney football community. These friendlies and Pre-season Cup matches also provided experience for trialling players Ben Vidaic, Cameron Watson, Daniel Severino, Robbie Cattanach, Shannon Cole, Chris Nunes, former short-term Sydney player Tolgay Özbey and goalkeepers Vendram Janjetovic and Matthew Nash.
Friendly matches
2007 A-League Pre-season Cup
The Pre-season Cup competition consists of two groups of four teams, each team to play each other once. All teams then progress to a playoff stage with opponents based on group position, followed by finals series to determine the cup winner. Sydney finished the group stage bottom of Group B behind Central Coast Mariners, Queensland Roar and Wellington Phoenix. After a loss and a win in the final placings matches, they were ranked seventh.
Group stage
Playoffs
2007–08 A-League
On 5 August, David Carney was transferred for A$125,000 to English Championship side, Sheffield United. The former Sydney player signed a three-year deal with the club which has been reported to earn him around A$1.25 million a year.
New players including former Socceroos regular Tony Popovic and former LA Galaxy Attacking Midfielder, Michael Enfield have signed with Sydney for the upcoming season. On 3 August 2007 Brazilian international Juninho Paulista, formerly of Celtic and Middlesbrough, signed with Sydney FC as their marquee player.Juninho signs as marquee player, 3 August 2007 Sydney have also announced the signings of youth players Ben Vidaic and Adam Biddle.
Former Socceroos Tony Popovic has been named the new skipper alongside current Socceroos Mark Milligan as vice-captain for the coming 2007–08 season.
On 15 October 2007 Michael Bridges was signed on a loan with Sydney FC, until the end of the 2007–08 season of the Hyundai A-League as a replacement for long-term casualty Michael Enfield, who has been ruled out for several months after sustaining a serious knee injury.
On 22 October 2007, it was announced that Branko Culina would be sacked from the club following disappointing results. It was announced on 23 October, that former Adelaide United coach John Kosmina will take the role as the new head coach of Sydney FC.
Kosmina got the side of to a flying start under his tenure, his first match in charge, a clash with then table-topping rivals Central Coast, a thrilling 3–2 victory in front of a crowd of nearly 18,000 at the SFS, a sign of bigger things to come for the Blues. This was followed by an impressive 1–0 away victory over Newcastle Jets; with former England junior Michael Bridges recording his first goal for Sydney FC. An entertaining 0–0 draw at the Telstra Dome, with rivals Melbourne, followed, with Sydney FC still undefeated under Kosmina.
Sydney FC suffered their first loss under John Kosmina on 15 December losing 4–2 to bottom side Perth Glory. Sydney goals were scored by Steve Corica and Michael Bridges.
On 22 December, a crucial match against the Central Coast Mariners resulted in a 5–4 victory in favour of Sydney. The match, held at Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium, was described by critics as the best game ever to come from the A-League. The crucial win moved Sydney FC up by 3 points to 4th place on the ladder, overtaking Adelaide United. The win was especially savoured after Sydney were down 2–0 after 15 minutes. The controversial sending-off of Mariners goalkeeper Danny Vukovic in the 16th minute turned the match in favour of Sydney, who scored their 5th goal via an Ufuk Taly penalty with the final kick of the match in stoppage time.
On Friday 28 December 2007, Sydney FC came from behind for the second time in two weeks to defeat a 10-man Adelaide United 3–1 and keep its unbeaten away record intact in front of a record crowd of 25,039 in Adelaide. This result forced Adelaide down to 5th on the ladder. With 3rd place Newcastle Jets unable to secure a victory over Wellington Phoenix in Round 18, Sydney leap-frogged the Jets into 3rd place, with only 3 points behind the tied leaders.
A week later Sydney travelled across the Tasman to face Wellington Phoenix at Westpac Stadium. Sydney came out of this match once again victorious winning 2–0 with goals from Northern Ireland superstar Terry McFlynn and current leading goalscorer for Sydney, Alex Brosque. This kept them in 3rd position on the A-League ladder and in good contention for a finals berth. This win also ensured that the Phoenix would not reach the finals.
As of 30 December 2007 rumours suggesting that Sydney had signed Simon Colosimo from the Perth Glory and Newcastle Jets striker Mark Bridge for the 2008/09 Season. Although these rumours have been proved true, no statements have officially been released as neither player wanted to cause trouble at their present clubs.