Over 1,200 local football fans turned out to the VALO Football Centre in Angle Park on Wednesday night to witness Adelaide Olympic crowned Federation Cup Winners for 2021 after beating Adelaide City 2-1.
The first ten minutes of the match were cagey, as both City and Olympic were feeling their way into the game and unable to sustain possession.
From there, City started to stamp their authority on the game and were creating chances through their young forward line – as Ayoubi and Kasumovic’s silky-footwork was causing headaches for Olympic.
Twenty minutes in and it was still 0-0. On the odd occasion, Olympic were making in-roads, but only through the means of the occasional long-ball.
City continued to push forward for the remainder of the half, but both teams went into the sheds at 0-0.
Through their talisman Nic Bucco, City took the lead seven minutes into the second half.
Olympic surrendered a free kick on the edge of the box after a misunderstanding between Olympic’s centre-back and keeper – who picked the ball up after a direct pass back. Bucco stepped up and capitalised, as his shot struck the wall and went past the keeper’s right-hand side to give the Black and White’s a deserved lead.
However, despite City’s dominance, Olympic fired themselves back into the Final with a cracker.
A moment of absolute individual brilliance from Olympic’s Jason Konstandopolous as he controlled the ball on the right wing, cut in and curled his effort into the far left corner-post and in.
With ten minutes remaining, Olympic pounced again after an astonishing, pin-point over-the-top through ball from one of Olympic’s centre backs, saw captain, Fausto Erba, kick a goal. As City’s keeper came to meet it, Erba delicately chipped it over his head and sent the Olympic faithful into hysterics.
From there, it was back and forth, City were desperately surging forward and could have had a penalty. Despite City having the run of play, in the end it was Olympic’s night.
Source: Football SA.
